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eknowledger's review against another edition
3.0
“Is there a happiness that does not depend upon having one’s favorite foods available, or friends and loved ones within arm’s reach, or good books to read, or something to look forward to on the weekend? Is it possible to be happy before anything happens…in spite of life’s difficulties, in the very midst of physical pain, old age, disease and death?… Most of us are living as though the answer were ‘no.’” This is the center focus of Harris's new interesting book. The book is very light, informative, and straight to the point. Its a mix of spiritual guidelines, practices, experiences and some scientific research on the matter of Meditation and spirituality.
Here are some of my notes during the reading:
* It's hard not imagine the forces of chaos will be triumph
* Most religions make perceptions about reality that are not compatible
* zero contest of all against all
* Very hard on any faith no matter how elastic to honer the other faith claims
* Abrahamic religion: dualistic existence of self Soul and Body, and Dualistic existence of self and god
* Self Transcendence and the trouble of Sufism in religions
* The Barriers to embrace some of the practices of Abrahamic religions is high! you have to believe certains perceptions about reality in order to embrace this view point, not the same concept in eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism (Personal experience of MUM)
* our minds and bodies are shaped by the way we use them
* Mindfulness ( The Body, Feelings, The Mind, The Object of Minds "Mental States )
* The truth of suffering = Unsatisfactoriness
* Meditation
* Enlightenment (Religious Dogmatism vs Spiritual Way of Life)
* Conventional sources of happiness are unreliable (being dependent on constant changes)
* Can you keep the machinery of happiness running day after day?
* Consciousness, What is like to be a bat?
* Continuity of Life
* The Split Brain
* Identity: Psychological Continuity vs Physical Continuity
* Illusion of the Self
* The Feeling "I"
* The Man teleportation to the Mars Thought Experiment
* Stimulus Independent Thoughts (Mind Wondering)
* Mind Wondering is the source of all suffering and dissatisfaction
* A Human Mind is a Wondering Mind, a wondering mind is unhappy mind!
* Default mode region/network in the brain
* Early Stress alter the brain structure, Meditation works the opposite way
* The deep goal of spirituality is to free one from the illusion of self
Here are some of my notes during the reading:
* It's hard not imagine the forces of chaos will be triumph
* Most religions make perceptions about reality that are not compatible
* zero contest of all against all
* Very hard on any faith no matter how elastic to honer the other faith claims
* Abrahamic religion: dualistic existence of self Soul and Body, and Dualistic existence of self and god
* Self Transcendence and the trouble of Sufism in religions
* The Barriers to embrace some of the practices of Abrahamic religions is high! you have to believe certains perceptions about reality in order to embrace this view point, not the same concept in eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism (Personal experience of MUM)
* our minds and bodies are shaped by the way we use them
* Mindfulness ( The Body, Feelings, The Mind, The Object of Minds "Mental States )
* The truth of suffering = Unsatisfactoriness
* Meditation
* Enlightenment (Religious Dogmatism vs Spiritual Way of Life)
* Conventional sources of happiness are unreliable (being dependent on constant changes)
* Can you keep the machinery of happiness running day after day?
* Consciousness, What is like to be a bat?
* Continuity of Life
* The Split Brain
* Identity: Psychological Continuity vs Physical Continuity
* Illusion of the Self
* The Feeling "I"
* The Man teleportation to the Mars Thought Experiment
* Stimulus Independent Thoughts (Mind Wondering)
* Mind Wondering is the source of all suffering and dissatisfaction
* A Human Mind is a Wondering Mind, a wondering mind is unhappy mind!
* Default mode region/network in the brain
* Early Stress alter the brain structure, Meditation works the opposite way
* The deep goal of spirituality is to free one from the illusion of self
briannadasilva's review against another edition
informative
reflective
4.0
I'll admit, this book was a little bit of a letdown for me, but more in an audience mismatch kind of way rather than due to flaws with the book.
Harris clearly wrote this for skeptics who do not currently have a spiritual practice. His goal is to convince non-religious people and atheists that spirituality—that is, practices that lead to meaningful altered mind states—is both possible and beneficial for anyone. Being "spiritual" does not require belief in the supernatural or metaphysical.
Rather than "A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion", I feel the subtitle should have been "An Introduction to Secular Buddhism for Skeptics", because that's really what it is.
If you are already convinced of these ideas—and even already have a spiritual practice—you will not get as much out of this book.
Still, despite being in that camp, I still found aspects of this book interesting, new, and practical. I took some ideas from here into my meditation practice and found the results to be profound.
My one true gripe is that this book just feels so limited in scope, to me. It does not at all capture the vast variety of experiences that are possible within secular spirituality. But I suppose that is okay, for its purpose.
This book is an interesting introduction—a first step. But there are still many further places one might go.
Harris clearly wrote this for skeptics who do not currently have a spiritual practice. His goal is to convince non-religious people and atheists that spirituality—that is, practices that lead to meaningful altered mind states—is both possible and beneficial for anyone. Being "spiritual" does not require belief in the supernatural or metaphysical.
Rather than "A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion", I feel the subtitle should have been "An Introduction to Secular Buddhism for Skeptics", because that's really what it is.
If you are already convinced of these ideas—and even already have a spiritual practice—you will not get as much out of this book.
Still, despite being in that camp, I still found aspects of this book interesting, new, and practical. I took some ideas from here into my meditation practice and found the results to be profound.
My one true gripe is that this book just feels so limited in scope, to me. It does not at all capture the vast variety of experiences that are possible within secular spirituality. But I suppose that is okay, for its purpose.
This book is an interesting introduction—a first step. But there are still many further places one might go.
libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition
2.0
Read this book after doing the Introductory course on Sam's Waking Up app with the hope of better understanding some of his musings on "looking for the thinker of the thought" and others.
The first few chapters talking about consciousness and eastern versus western religions were nice casual learning. Laughed aloud at his sentiment that spiritual agnostics infuriate believers and atheists equally.
The first few chapters talking about consciousness and eastern versus western religions were nice casual learning. Laughed aloud at his sentiment that spiritual agnostics infuriate believers and atheists equally.
rsr143's review against another edition
5.0
##2018 Review##
Listened to the audiobook this time. Upped the rating from 4 to 5 stars. Really great as an audiobook. Given my readings in the realm of spirituality, psychology, and neuroscience over the past year, many more concepts clicked into place this year, compared with my reading of the book last year.
##2017 Review##
A good read for anyone interested in learning more about the full potential of the human mind. If you are someone who has grown jaded with organized religion, Waking Up will expand your awareness to the value of a non-religious but highly spiritual life. Some of the chapters were tough to parse, Sam Harris is just too smart for his own good I think! I had to re-read a few sections several times to get the message. Aside from those moments (particularly when he goes into the details of consciousness and human brain) I found the book easy and enjoyable to read.
Listened to the audiobook this time. Upped the rating from 4 to 5 stars. Really great as an audiobook. Given my readings in the realm of spirituality, psychology, and neuroscience over the past year, many more concepts clicked into place this year, compared with my reading of the book last year.
##2017 Review##
A good read for anyone interested in learning more about the full potential of the human mind. If you are someone who has grown jaded with organized religion, Waking Up will expand your awareness to the value of a non-religious but highly spiritual life. Some of the chapters were tough to parse, Sam Harris is just too smart for his own good I think! I had to re-read a few sections several times to get the message. Aside from those moments (particularly when he goes into the details of consciousness and human brain) I found the book easy and enjoyable to read.