Sam Harris

Question 1

The traditional goal of meditation is to arrive at a state of ____ - ____ that is constant, or easily ____.

Answer 1

The traditional goal of meditation is to arrive at a state of WELL-BEING that is constant, or easily REGAINED.

Waking Up, 44

Question 2

Don’t worry about achieving enlightenment - the near goal is to simply have an increasing healthy m___, and to be moving in the ____ direction.

Answer 2

Mind
Right
Waking Up, 44
A

Question 3

With practice, you will no longer identify with your _____.

You will no longer feel there is an inner self, the thinker of _____.

Answer 3

Thoughts
Thoughts

Waking Up, 45

Question 4

Realizing the i______ of your mental states can be transformative. Every mental state has arisen and then p____ away.

Answer 4

Impermanence
Passed

Waking Up, 45

Question 5

The promised of spiritual life is that there are truths about the mind we are better off k____.
We don’t need more pious illusions - we need a clearer understanding of the way things a___.

Answer 5

Knowing
Are
46
A

Question 6

Some people are content in the midst of deprivation while others are miserable despite having all the l___ in the world. Despite circumstance, your m____ can have a big influence on the quality of your life.

Answer 6

Luck
Mind

Waking Up, 47

Question 7

According to Buddhist view,
By ____ things as they are,
We cease to suffer in the usual ways,
And our minds can open to a state of w___-_____ that is intrinsic to the nature of consciousness.

Answer 7

Seeing
Well-being

Waking Up 48

Question 8

The goal of spiritual practice is not enlightenment.
It’s to be f___ in this moment,
In the mindset of whatever is h_____,
As least for a few minutes.

Answer 8

Free
Happening
49
A

Question 9

There are millions of biological processes we are ____ of,
Like the electrochemical events happening at our trillions of synapses in our brain.
As a matter of experience, we are not our body.
We are c_____ and it’s c_____,
Passing through various stages of wakefulness and sleep,
From cradle to grave

Answer 9

Unaware
Consciousness and its’ Contents

Waking Up, 52

Question 10

The emergence of consciousness doesn’t depend on a change in m_____,
We are built on the same atoms as a fern or ham sandwich.
The birth of consciousness seems to be the result of o_________:
Arranging atoms in certain ways appears to bring about an experience of being that very collection of atoms.
This is undoubtedly one of the deepest mysteries given to us to c____.

Answer 10

Materials
Organization
Contemplate

Waking up, 53

Question 11

We consistently o_____-e______ the effect of both good and bad things on our f____ self.
Instead we come back to b_____ much quicker and permanently than we think.
So don’t get n_____ about long-term negative effects on Brandon.

Answer 11

Over-estimate
Baseline
Neurotic
Sam, interviewed by Tim, May 2020, 23:30
A

Question 12

With anxiety, the ideal is to let it go as soon as we get its ____.
There’s no point stewing in it.
There’s not serious effort. When it works it’s simply r______ that it’s a thought that’s triggering this feeling. So step back and simply o____.

Answer 12

Message
Remembering
Observe

Question 13

The goal with psychelics should be to have good trips that lead to genuinely t____ insights.
Many people have good experiences that don’t ____ their lives very much.
To achieve your goal, it’s important to approach these tools s_____

Answer 13

Transformational
Change
Seriously

Sam Mushroom Trip Video, Jan 2020

Question 14

According to Sam, New Age authors who claim things based on quantum mechanics are w___.
They misinterpret the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics from way back in ____30.

Answer 14

Wrong
1930
Page 55
A

Question 15

When we linger on the idea of just how consciousness emerges, the idea of emergence seems merely a placeholder for a ____.
Even to Sam it is a ____.

Answer 15

Miracle
Mystery
56
A

Question 16

To say that consciousness arose at some point during the ____ of life,
and that it results from neurons firing in the brain,
doesn’t give us any idea of how consciousness arises
from such ____ activity.
Consciousness may be the ___ of unconscious information processing,
But Sam admits he doesn’t know what that sentence means,
And doubts anyone else does.
This is sometimes referred to as the _____ problem of consciousness.

Answer 16

Evolution
Unconscious
Product
Hard

Waking Up, 56

Question 17

Sam is sympathetic with philosopher Colin McGinn and psychologist Steven Pinker
who suggest the emergence of consciousness
is simply i____ in human terms.
Every chain of explanation generally ends with a brute fact that neglects to explain i___.
Consciousness many present this sort of impasse.

Answer 17

Incomprehensible
Itself
Waking up, 57
A

Question 18

There is nothing about a brain,
Studied at any ___,
that suggests it might harbor ___,
Apart from the fact we have correlated many of consciousness’ contents,
Or lack there of,
With processes in our ____.
Yes the contents of consciousness are clearly influenced by the brain’s neurophysiology,
But when we ask why there should be any experience in the first place,
We return to the ____ of consciousness in full.

Answer 18

There is nothing about a brain,
Studied at any SCALE
that suggests it might harbor CONSCIOUSNESS,
Apart from the fact we have correlated many of consciousness’ contents,
Or lack there of,
With processes in our BRAINS.
Yes the contents of consciousness are clearly influenced by the brain’s neurophysiology,
But when we ask why there should be any experience in the first place,
We return to the MYSTERY of consciousness in full.

Waking up 60

Question 19

Consciousness appears irreducible.
Only consciousness can k___ itself.
That’s why rigorous i ___, Spirituality in the widest sense, Is an indispensible part of u____ the mind.

Answer 19

Know
Introspection
Understanding

Waking up, 62

Question 20

Most evidence suggests the two hemispheres differ in t____,

And may feel d_____ about the self and the world.

Answer 20

Temperament
Differently

Waking u, 68

Question 21

We have ethic responsibilities to other creatures… because our actions can effect that their conscious experience for better or ____.
we have obligations to any creature that can suffer or be deprived of h____.
We care for other conscious beings because we can cause them to s_____ or deny them happiness.

Answer 21

We have ethic responsibilities to other creatures…
Because our actions can effect that their conscious experience for better or WORSE
we have obligations to any creature that can suffer or be deprived of HAPPINESS
We care for other conscious beings because we can cause them to SUFFER or deny them happiness.

Waking up, 78

Question 22

The fact that the universe is illuminated where you stand is a ____,
Exceeded only by the mystery that there should be ____ rather than nothing in the first place.

Answer 22

Mystery
Something

Waking up, 79

Question 23

Like many illusions, the sense of self disappears when closely examined,
And this is done through the practice of ______.

Answer 23

Meditation

Waking up, 82

Question 24

We have a problem that will not be solved by acquiring more conceptual ______,
That is by ___ about it.

Answer 24

Knowledge
Thinking

Waking up, 83

Question 25

According to Buddhism, there is no stable ___ that is carried along from one moment to the next.
Really?

Answer 25

Self

Waking up, 87

Question 26

We have every reason to believe that the contents of consciousness,
Not necessarily consciousness itself,
Depend on structures in the ____.

Answer 26

Brain.

Waking up. 88

Question 27

The pronoun I refers to the sense of possessing a continuum of experience,
Rather than ___ this continuum.

But then I say the pronoun I could point to personal identity, not the more essential identity that we are, perhaps the field of this specific consciousness, if not the field of all consciousness.

Answer 27

Being

Waking up 91

Question 28

Sam’s suffering at the sight of the leaking roof which meant 2 more weeks of discomfort
Was entirely the product of his ___
Whatever the needs of the moment, I have a choice: I can do what is ____ calmly, patiently, and attentively, or do it in a state of ___. Every moment of the day offers an opportunity to be ____ and responsive or to suffer largely unnecessarily.

Answer 28

Sam’s suffering at the sight of the leaking roof which meant 2 more weeks of discomfort
Was entirely the product of his THOUGHTS
Whatever the needs of the moment, I have a choice: I can do what is REQUIRED calmly, patiently, and attentively, or do it in a state of PANIC. Every moment of the day offers an opportunity to be RELAXED and responsive or to suffer largely unnecessarily.

Waking up 95

Question 29

To reduce suffering, which is always caused by our thoughts, we can either use ____ themselves or stand b____ from thoughts.
To use thoughts, look at the ___ side:
Imagine it being ___ and be ____ it isn’t.
For example, if water is leaking through the roof, be grateful it isn’t ____.

Answer 29

To reduce suffering, which is always caused by our thoughts, we can either use THOUGHTS themselves or stand BACK from thoughts.
To use thoughts, look at the BRIGHTside:
Imagine it being WORSE and be GRATEFUL it isn’t.
For example, if water is leaking through the roof, be grateful it isn’t SHIT.

Waking up, 95

Question 30

Simply witnessing the mind can at times help to restore a sense of calm e_____
Either we can play it like a video game intelligently, or get killed by the same monster again and again (J)

Answer 30

Equanimity

Waking Up, 97

Question 31

“Breaking The Spell Of Negative Emotions”
Thoughts lead to negative emotions, which then lead to more negative thoughts, and so on. It’s a self-reinforcing ____.
One solution is a pattern ____. They happen naturally, great examples on page 99. Cultivate them consciously too. Realize it’s our continued thinking the supports the emotion, or perhaps the lack of more skillful positive thinking. Cultivate the latter.

Answer 31

Cycle
Interrupt

Waking Up, 99

Question 32

Most people either fear death or ___ it.
There’s a third approach, one of intellectual ______.
That’s the purpose of Waking Up.

Answer 32

Deny
Honesty

Sam, Waking Up, 42

Question 33

There is nothing p___ about Mindfulness.
It is being u_____.
Being mindful isn’t about t___ more clearly about experience, it is the act of experiencing more clearly, including the arising of thoughts, without grasping at the pleasant or recoiling from the unpleasant.

Answer 33

Passive
Undistracted
Thinking

Page 36

Question 34

Thoughts are appearances in a wider field of c_____.

Do not identify oneself as the t____ of thoughts.

Answer 34

Consciousness
Thinker

102

Question 35

When you glimples consciousness between thoughts, you may conclude tht Consciousness does not feel a s___.

This is the way to truly understand thoughts as t______ expressions of consciousness.

Answer 35

Self
Transient

103