Waking Up by Sam Harris - Chapter 1: Spirituality
The discussion was very lively this week, and everyone had a chance to digest the majority of the material prior to the meeting which made for a more full and inclusive meeting than we sometimes are able to produce.
I'll begin with some of my notes from the chapter, and finish with the comments from the group.
Harris emphasizes the need to separate spirituality from religion because of the fact that people of different faiths (and those who don't identify with a religion) have similar spiritual experiences like "self transcendence, love, ecstasy, bliss, and inner light." He says it is "logically incompatible" to attribute these experiences to faith or religion because not all of the religious doctrines can be correct, but individuals who adhere to different doctrines make claims of experiencing the same thing (Harris 2014).
Harris outlines the purposes/goals of the book as follows:
1. a seekers memoir
2. an introduction to the brain
3. a manual of contemplative instruction
4. a philosophical unraveling of the feeling of self we call "I" (Harris 2014)
Harris defines mindfulness:
"It is always now"
"A state of clear, nonjudgmental, undistracted attention to the contents of consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant"
The last thing that I will share from my personal notes is the four foundations of mindfulness and a quote given by Harris attributed to the Buddha regarding them:
1. Body - breathing, changes in posture, activities
2. Feelings - senses of pleasantness, unpleasantness, or neutrality
3. Mind - moods and attitudes
4. Objects of the mind - senses, other mental states such as: volition, tranquility, rapture, equanimity, and mindfulness (Harris 2014).
"The direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realization of nibbana/nirvana" - Buddha
Finally, I'll comment on the actual discussion of our group.
Overall the meeting was positive, but some of the feedback towards the content of the first chapter, namely Harris' "oversimplification" and generalizations regarding religious traditions which he discusses was harsh.
Group members felt that Harris was perhaps speaking out of turn on some issues regarding religious tradition and history, and they are eager to continue the discussion when we reach the sections of the book which include more information on meditation, neurosciences, and contemplation, or in other words - areas in which Harris is undoubtedly an authority.
Harris, S. (2014). Chapter 1: Spirituality. In Waking up: A guide to spirituality without religion (Paperback ed., pp. 1-42). New York, 2015: Simon and Schuster.
