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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
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.
amandasupak's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
3.75 stars
I picked this book up because I had started using Sam Harris's mindfulness/meditation app called Waking up, and he mentioned he had written a book about meditation. I had no idea the subtitle to the book was "spirituality without religion", I thought it was just a book about meditation. I loved how the book started with the idea that a lot of scientific-minded secular people often scoff at anything labeled as spiritual because that concept can encompass many subjects from just run-of-the-mill religion, tarot card reading, or simply enjoying a nice sunset. I personally lean heavy on the "do no accept claims that do not have evidence" side of things, which means I shy away from any "spiritual" ideas. The first chapter did a great job discussing how English doesn't have a great term for what meditating is, and likely spiritually is a good fit, but that spirituality also encompasses a lot of other concepts as well.
<blockquote>
"Being mindful is not a matter of thinking more clearly about experience; it is the act of experiencing more clearly, including the arising of thoughts themselves. Mindfulness is a vivid awareness of whatever is appearing in one’s mind or body—thoughts, sensations, moods—without grasping at the pleasant or recoiling from the unpleasant. One of the great strengths of this technique of meditation, from a secular point of view, is that it does not require us to adopt any cultural affectations or unjustified beliefs. It simply demands that we pay close attention to the flow of experience in each moment.”
"The principal enemy of mindfulness—or of any meditative practice—is our deeply conditioned habit of being distracted by thoughts. The problem is not thoughts themselves but the state of thinking without knowing that we are thinking. In fact, thoughts of all kinds can be perfectly good objects of mindfulness. In the early stages of one’s practice, however, the arising of thought will be more or less synonymous with distraction—that is, with a failure to meditate. Most people who believe they are meditating are merely thinking with their eyes closed. "
“Some people are content in the midst of deprivation and danger, while others are miserable despite having all the luck in the world. This is not to say that external circumstances do not matter. But it is your mind, rather than circumstances themselves, that determines the quality of your life. Your mind is the basis of everything you experience and of every contribution you make to the lives of others. Given this fact, it makes sense to train it.”
</blockquote>
This book if filled with lots of interesting thought experiments about consciousness, and a few techniques on how to start meditating. There were definitely some sections I was less interested in like a brief history of other religions and their teachings, discussion on how some people proclaim their near-death experiences for financial gain, or being aware that some spiritual leaders can be abusive. I was hoping for more techniques and ideas about meditation from a secular perspective, but I guess that's what the app is for ;)
I picked this book up because I had started using Sam Harris's mindfulness/meditation app called Waking up, and he mentioned he had written a book about meditation. I had no idea the subtitle to the book was "spirituality without religion", I thought it was just a book about meditation. I loved how the book started with the idea that a lot of scientific-minded secular people often scoff at anything labeled as spiritual because that concept can encompass many subjects from just run-of-the-mill religion, tarot card reading, or simply enjoying a nice sunset. I personally lean heavy on the "do no accept claims that do not have evidence" side of things, which means I shy away from any "spiritual" ideas. The first chapter did a great job discussing how English doesn't have a great term for what meditating is, and likely spiritually is a good fit, but that spirituality also encompasses a lot of other concepts as well.
<blockquote>
"Being mindful is not a matter of thinking more clearly about experience; it is the act of experiencing more clearly, including the arising of thoughts themselves. Mindfulness is a vivid awareness of whatever is appearing in one’s mind or body—thoughts, sensations, moods—without grasping at the pleasant or recoiling from the unpleasant. One of the great strengths of this technique of meditation, from a secular point of view, is that it does not require us to adopt any cultural affectations or unjustified beliefs. It simply demands that we pay close attention to the flow of experience in each moment.”
"The principal enemy of mindfulness—or of any meditative practice—is our deeply conditioned habit of being distracted by thoughts. The problem is not thoughts themselves but the state of thinking without knowing that we are thinking. In fact, thoughts of all kinds can be perfectly good objects of mindfulness. In the early stages of one’s practice, however, the arising of thought will be more or less synonymous with distraction—that is, with a failure to meditate. Most people who believe they are meditating are merely thinking with their eyes closed. "
“Some people are content in the midst of deprivation and danger, while others are miserable despite having all the luck in the world. This is not to say that external circumstances do not matter. But it is your mind, rather than circumstances themselves, that determines the quality of your life. Your mind is the basis of everything you experience and of every contribution you make to the lives of others. Given this fact, it makes sense to train it.”
</blockquote>
This book if filled with lots of interesting thought experiments about consciousness, and a few techniques on how to start meditating. There were definitely some sections I was less interested in like a brief history of other religions and their teachings, discussion on how some people proclaim their near-death experiences for financial gain, or being aware that some spiritual leaders can be abusive. I was hoping for more techniques and ideas about meditation from a secular perspective, but I guess that's what the app is for ;)
rossbm's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Even though a short booked (~200 pages), found that it dragged on a bit, especially towards the end. Last chapter is about gurus, death and drugs. Not really interested in the talk of gurus; maybe that is preoccupying for people who are really into this spirituality business and are suckers for charlatans who demand sex or whatever, but not something I think I am likely to encounter. Reading all that made me skim the parts on death, then jumped over the drugs part.
Earlier chapters can be quite good. Still hard to understand, but think there are some interesting reflections on the concepts of consciousness and self.
Earlier chapters can be quite good. Still hard to understand, but think there are some interesting reflections on the concepts of consciousness and self.
rkcobb's review
4.0
Spirituality is something that has been around all my life, yet isn't something I thought I needed to pay much attention to while living life on my own terms. Having experienced this year and the slew of new realities it brought with it, I thought it best to sit down and figure out where I can love myself the fullest, in hopes of that awareness reaching out into the other levels of my psyche and readjusting everything. While that didn't exactly happen in the most eye-opening and succinct way imaginable, I am now able to think (or lack thereof) more clearly about my current existence, how it affects others, and how they (being everyone around) live just as incredible and complex lives that I do, something that has always been hard for me to grasp. Knowing that spirituality is something that everyone takes a different approach to, be it culturally or religiously, it is one of the most important parts of the human experience that we can all collectively and individually access whenever we choose. Harris does a good job taking his straight-laced, scientific thought process to the forefront and picks apart pieces of philosophy and psychedelia into manageable bites. The theory of "headlessness" really stuck with me as a direct lens to view consciousness in, especially in a non-sober state.