Episode
Dr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
4:21:55
Published: Mon Jan 02 2023
Description
My guest is Sam Harris, Ph.D. Sam earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Stanford University and his doctorate (Ph.D.) in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is the author of multiple best-selling books and is a world-renowned public-facing intellectual on meditation, consciousness, free will, psychedelics and neuroscience. He is also the creator of Waking Up and the host of the Making Sense podcast. In this episode, we discuss meditation as a route to understanding “the self” and experiencing consciousness, not just changing one’s conscious state. Sam describes several meditation techniques and their benefits, including how meditation fundamentally changes our worldview and how it can be merged seamlessly into daily life. It can help us overcome universal challenges such as distractibility and persistent, internal dialogue (“chatter”) to allow for deep contentment and pervasive shifts in our awareness, all while acknowledging the more immediate stress-lowering and memory-improving effects of meditation. We also discuss the therapeutic use of psychedelics and the mechanistic similarities between the benefits of a psychedelic journey and long-term meditation practices. And we discuss the rationale behind Sam’s recent decision to close his social media (Twitter) account. This episode should interest anyone wanting to learn more about the higher order functions of the brain, the brain-body connection, consciousness and, of course, meditation and why and how to meditate for maximum benefit. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman Levels: https://levels.link/huberman WHOOP: https://join.whoop.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://www.insidetracker.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Huberman Lab Premium https://hubermanlab.com/premium Timestamps (00:00:00) Dr. Sam Harris (00:04:36) Levels, WHOOP, Eight Sleep, Momentous (00:08:54) Sense of Self & Meditation, Dualism of Self (00:18:07) Sense of Self in Brain & Body (00:25:28) Consciousness vs. Contents, Meditation (00:28:25) Interrupting Sense of Self & Attentional Focus, Visual Saccade (00:33:30) Observer & Actor, Default Mode Network & Meditation, Blind Spot (00:40:48) AG1 (Athletic Greens) (00:41:57) Mediation & Paths to Understanding Consciousness, Non-Dualistic Experience (00:57:32) Sense of Self throughout Evolution (01:07:40) Sense of Self from Human Development, Language (01:18:42) InsideTracker (01:19:46) Internal Dialogue, Distractibility & Mindfulness (01:26:27) Time Perception & Mindfulness, Vipassana Meditation, Resistance & Pain (01:37:13) Consciousness & Sense of Control, Free Will (01:43:14) Authoring Thoughts: Storytelling & Ideas, Free Will (01:52:11) Meditation & the Paradoxical Search for Self (02:06:44) Meditation & Concentration Practice (02:11:58) Mindfulness, “Skylike Mind” & Thoughts (02:15:11) States of Self & Context, Dualistic Experiences (02:32:39) Distraction & Identification of Thoughts, Meditation & “Flow” States (02:42:58) Eyes-Open Meditations, Sense of Self, Visual Cues & Social Interactions (02:54:59) Paths to Meditation, Mindfulness Meditation Step-Functions (03:05:58) Psychedelics, MDMA & Experiences in Consciousness, Religion (03:21:11) Meditation, Psychedelic Journeys & Inner Truths (03:29:48) Psilocybin, Ego-Dissolution & Thought Expansion (03:40:09) Process vs. Achievement of Goals, Fulfillment in Present (03:54:29) Leaving Twitter; Conflict, Life Interruption & Politics (04:06:14) Social Media, Attentional Disruption & Deep Work (04:15:39) Meditation & Sense of Self (04:19:02) Sam Harris & Waking Up App, Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac
Chapters
In this podcast episode, Sam Harris discusses how meditation allows one to view and understand conscious experience, and how the understanding of free will has evolved through philosophy and neuroscience.
00:00 - 02:55 (02:55)
Summary
In this podcast episode, Sam Harris discusses how meditation allows one to view and understand conscious experience, and how the understanding of free will has evolved through philosophy and neuroscience. He also touches on his own political views and their relation to his work.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Whoop is a fitness wearable that goes beyond activity and sleep tracking by providing feedback on how to adjust training and sleep schedules in order to improve performance and feel better.
02:55 - 10:16 (07:21)
Summary
Whoop is a fitness wearable that goes beyond activity and sleep tracking by providing feedback on how to adjust training and sleep schedules in order to improve performance and feel better. It tracks daily activities, sleep patterns, and even blood sugar levels in response to food, fasting, and exercise.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The sense of a distinct and permanent self may be a proper illusion, as it is based on the feeling of being separate from the body and having an interior subjectivity separate from experience.
10:16 - 15:55 (05:38)
Summary
The sense of a distinct and permanent self may be a proper illusion, as it is based on the feeling of being separate from the body and having an interior subjectivity separate from experience.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Andrew Huberman discusses the brain's role in our sense of self, including the brain-body connection and the importance of motor engagement with objects.
15:55 - 25:44 (09:49)
Summary
Andrew Huberman discusses the brain's role in our sense of self, including the brain-body connection and the importance of motor engagement with objects.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
This episode discusses the default mode network, a set of midline structures in the brain, which increase their activity when one is not on task.
25:44 - 40:30 (14:45)
Summary
This episode discusses the default mode network, a set of midline structures in the brain, which increase their activity when one is not on task. It explains the significance of the default mode network's discovery and how it has been impacted during hypnosis and challenging personal beliefs.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The insight into selflessness and non-duality is considered as close to normal consciousness as the knowledge of the optic blind spot, which is normally unseen due to compensation of each eye for the other's blind spot.
40:30 - 47:03 (06:33)
Summary
The insight into selflessness and non-duality is considered as close to normal consciousness as the knowledge of the optic blind spot, which is normally unseen due to compensation of each eye for the other's blind spot.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Biasing your vision to one eye early in life, even for a few hours, can create a permanent asymmetry in the flow of visual information from the eye to the brain.
47:03 - 52:07 (05:04)
Summary
Biasing your vision to one eye early in life, even for a few hours, can create a permanent asymmetry in the flow of visual information from the eye to the brain. This has implications for learning various skills and may relate to Buddhist teachings.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The speaker believes that neural circuits related to healthy or unhealthy parent-child relations originate from the initial demands of internal vs. external states, emphasizing the vulnerable and illusory nature of a sense of subject-object division in consciousness.
52:07 - 1:02:56 (10:49)
Summary
The speaker believes that neural circuits related to healthy or unhealthy parent-child relations originate from the initial demands of internal vs. external states, emphasizing the vulnerable and illusory nature of a sense of subject-object division in consciousness.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The flexibility of human development and the functionality of our time of immaturity have allowed us to learn and evolve culture over the last 10,000 years, leading to the present diversity in human society that is causing conflict, due to our tribalism and xenophobic nature.
1:02:56 - 1:11:51 (08:54)
Summary
The flexibility of human development and the functionality of our time of immaturity have allowed us to learn and evolve culture over the last 10,000 years, leading to the present diversity in human society that is causing conflict, due to our tribalism and xenophobic nature.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
As we play the language game with others, talking and even talking to ourselves, we embody a sense of self which gets confirmed with the social interaction.
1:11:51 - 1:20:32 (08:41)
Summary
As we play the language game with others, talking and even talking to ourselves, we embody a sense of self which gets confirmed with the social interaction. In a movie theater, however, our invisibility from others initiates a self-loss of consciousness but allows for a unique mimetic facial play observation.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
In this podcast, the speaker claims that most people are unable to sustain focus for even 30 seconds without getting lost in thought.
1:20:32 - 1:30:35 (10:03)
Summary
In this podcast, the speaker claims that most people are unable to sustain focus for even 30 seconds without getting lost in thought. He suggests that meditation can help individuals align various streams of attention to form a more stable perception.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Mindfulness Meditation practice is paying scrupulous attention to sensory moments which helps break down emotional states that map back into oneself in the same meaningful way, leading to a better and more effective emotional regulation.
1:30:35 - 1:37:42 (07:07)
Summary
Mindfulness Meditation practice is paying scrupulous attention to sensory moments which helps break down emotional states that map back into oneself in the same meaningful way, leading to a better and more effective emotional regulation.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The human brain can be manipulated and can confidently believe false reasons for choices made.
1:37:42 - 1:43:10 (05:28)
Summary
The human brain can be manipulated and can confidently believe false reasons for choices made. If the brain was rewound back to a certain decision, it would consistently make the same choice each time.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The human mind operates in mysterious ways, causing us to remember certain things and forget others.
1:43:10 - 1:48:45 (05:35)
Summary
The human mind operates in mysterious ways, causing us to remember certain things and forget others. This podcast explores the strange process of memory and how it affects our lives.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
This podcast episode explains the neuroscience behind how our ideas and spontaneous thoughts come to us, and why meditation can help us realize that certain thoughts may not have actually been present in our minds.
1:48:45 - 1:55:04 (06:18)
Summary
This podcast episode explains the neuroscience behind how our ideas and spontaneous thoughts come to us, and why meditation can help us realize that certain thoughts may not have actually been present in our minds.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Exploring the practice of mindfulness with a focus on awareness of breath and noticing thoughts, and the orienting nature of the practice in the search for the center of experience.
1:55:04 - 2:07:54 (12:50)
Summary
Exploring the practice of mindfulness with a focus on awareness of breath and noticing thoughts, and the orienting nature of the practice in the search for the center of experience.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
In this episode, the speaker breaks down meditation into its basic component parts, including the use of laser focus on breathing, the exclusion of thought and a move towards non-dual mindfulness.
2:07:54 - 2:14:06 (06:11)
Summary
In this episode, the speaker breaks down meditation into its basic component parts, including the use of laser focus on breathing, the exclusion of thought and a move towards non-dual mindfulness.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The key to becoming socially confident is to become a more intelligent curator of your conscious states and capacities, allowing yourself to recognize how different situations affect you and how you can consciously affect them in return.
2:14:06 - 2:26:01 (11:54)
Summary
The key to becoming socially confident is to become a more intelligent curator of your conscious states and capacities, allowing yourself to recognize how different situations affect you and how you can consciously affect them in return.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The speaker reflects on his experience balancing notoriety and graduate school, including a warning about the potential pitfalls of social media.
2:26:01 - 2:38:51 (12:50)
Summary
The speaker reflects on his experience balancing notoriety and graduate school, including a warning about the potential pitfalls of social media.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Sam Harris talks about the importance of breaking the spell of thoughts and self-identification, and how it can bring a sense of freedom and relief.
2:38:51 - 2:45:26 (06:34)
Summary
Sam Harris talks about the importance of breaking the spell of thoughts and self-identification, and how it can bring a sense of freedom and relief.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The perception of self through the eyes of others shapes how we access different rule sets about what to say and not to say, giving us the free attention to pay real attention to others.
2:45:26 - 2:51:06 (05:40)
Summary
The perception of self through the eyes of others shapes how we access different rule sets about what to say and not to say, giving us the free attention to pay real attention to others.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
In emergency situations or times of motivated desire, fear can act as a helpful salience cue, but it's important to dial down self-awareness to be more effective in situational awareness.
2:51:06 - 2:54:40 (03:34)
Summary
In emergency situations or times of motivated desire, fear can act as a helpful salience cue, but it's important to dial down self-awareness to be more effective in situational awareness. However, it's important to question how long emotions like fear and anger should persist in these situations.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Being mindful lets us experience the difference between being lost in thought and being aware of any part of experience, including thoughts, which leads to psychological freedom.
2:54:40 - 3:03:42 (09:01)
Summary
Being mindful lets us experience the difference between being lost in thought and being aware of any part of experience, including thoughts, which leads to psychological freedom. Our body, as a matter of experience, is only an appearance in consciousness.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The use of psychedelics creates an experience that is the opposite of meditation, changing the content of our conscious experience.
3:03:42 - 3:09:18 (05:35)
Summary
The use of psychedelics creates an experience that is the opposite of meditation, changing the content of our conscious experience. At the same time, psychedelics are an altered perception, both internally and externally, which can bring about a different mode of being in a singularly conscious life.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
In this podcast, neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris discusses how the effects of different types of psychedelics can differ, and how some people may not be ready for a meditative practice until they have some experience with these substances.
3:09:18 - 3:11:59 (02:41)
Summary
In this podcast, neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris discusses how the effects of different types of psychedelics can differ, and how some people may not be ready for a meditative practice until they have some experience with these substances.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The speaker reflects on his early experiences with psychedelics and how they ultimately shaped the trajectory of his life, as well as the challenges of trying to recall those experiences long after they occur.
3:11:59 - 3:19:31 (07:32)
Summary
The speaker reflects on his early experiences with psychedelics and how they ultimately shaped the trajectory of his life, as well as the challenges of trying to recall those experiences long after they occur.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The pursuit of only peak experiences on psychedelics can lead to a neglect of the mundane, ordinary human experience and the potential for personal growth and wisdom.
3:19:31 - 3:28:41 (09:09)
Summary
The pursuit of only peak experiences on psychedelics can lead to a neglect of the mundane, ordinary human experience and the potential for personal growth and wisdom. This can ultimately lead to a limited perspective and a failure to address underlying issues.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The speaker describes his experience communing with nature on LSD at a grove of redwood trees, where he had powerful unity experiences that brought him closer to understanding his conscious thoughts.
3:28:41 - 3:35:15 (06:34)
Summary
The speaker describes his experience communing with nature on LSD at a grove of redwood trees, where he had powerful unity experiences that brought him closer to understanding his conscious thoughts.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Sam Harris discusses how psychedelic experiences and mindfulness practice can expand one's model of what is possible, desirable and normative in terms of ethics, politics and self-identity.
3:35:15 - 3:43:21 (08:06)
Summary
Sam Harris discusses how psychedelic experiences and mindfulness practice can expand one's model of what is possible, desirable and normative in terms of ethics, politics and self-identity.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The podcast discusses how people search for good reasons to stay present in the moment.
3:43:21 - 3:54:48 (11:26)
Summary
The podcast discusses how people search for good reasons to stay present in the moment. It explains how one can spend time regretting the past or anxiously expecting the future while bouncing between the two, overlooking the present.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
Sam Harris, in his podcast, talks about his experiences with Twitter and how it became both a source of information and a platform for communication.
3:54:48 - 4:06:22 (11:33)
Summary
Sam Harris, in his podcast, talks about his experiences with Twitter and how it became both a source of information and a platform for communication. For many years, he had a love-hate relationship with Twitter and he expresses how it was both rewarding and harmful to him.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
The speaker reflects on how their sense of self, engagement with audience, and digital presence affect their behavior on social media, particularly Twitter, while acknowledging possible dangers of losing touch with certain aspects of culture and the question of whether Twitter is real life or mass delusion.
4:06:22 - 4:16:20 (09:58)
Summary
The speaker reflects on how their sense of self, engagement with audience, and digital presence affect their behavior on social media, particularly Twitter, while acknowledging possible dangers of losing touch with certain aspects of culture and the question of whether Twitter is real life or mass delusion.
EpisodeDr. Sam Harris: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind
PodcastHuberman Lab
This podcast discusses the benefits of supplements for enhancing sleep, focus, hormone support, and other aspects of mental and physical health and performance.
4:16:20 - 4:22:41 (06:20)
Summary
This podcast discusses the benefits of supplements for enhancing sleep, focus, hormone support, and other aspects of mental and physical health and performance. The speaker emphasizes that while supplements are not necessary for everyone, many people can derive tremendous benefit from them.