Sam Harris Flashcards
The traditional goal of meditation is to arrive at a state of ____ - ____ that is constant, or easily ____.
The traditional goal of meditation is to arrive at a state of WELL-BEING that is constant, or easily REGAINED.
Waking Up, 44
Don’t worry about achieving enlightenment - the near goal is to simply have an increasing healthy m___, and to be moving in the ____ direction.
Mind
Right
Waking Up, 44
A
With practice, you will no longer identify with your _____.
You will no longer feel there is an inner self, the thinker of _____.
Thoughts
Thoughts
Waking Up, 45
Realizing the i______ of your mental states can be transformative. Every mental state has arisen and then p____ away.
Impermanence
Passed
Waking Up, 45
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___.
Knowing
Are
46
A
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.
Luck
Mind
Waking Up, 47
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.
Seeing
Well-being
Waking Up 48
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.
Free
Happening
49
A
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
Unaware
Consciousness and its’ Contents
Waking Up, 52
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____.
Materials
Organization
Contemplate
Waking up, 53
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.
Over-estimate Baseline Neurotic Sam, interviewed by Tim, May 2020, 23:30 A
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____.
Message
Remembering
Observe
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_____
Transformational
Change
Seriously
Sam Mushroom Trip Video, Jan 2020
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.
Wrong
1930
Page 55
A
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 ____.
Miracle
Mystery
56
A
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.
Evolution
Unconscious
Product
Hard
Waking Up, 56
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.
Incomprehensible
Itself
Waking up, 57
A
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.
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
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.
Know
Introspection
Understanding
Waking up, 62
Most evidence suggests the two hemispheres differ in t____,
And may feel d_____ about the self and the world.
Temperament
Differently
Waking u, 68
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.
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
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.
Mystery
Something
Waking up, 79
Like many illusions, the sense of self disappears when closely examined,
And this is done through the practice of ______.
Meditation
Waking up, 82
We have a problem that will not be solved by acquiring more conceptual ______,
That is by ___ about it.
Knowledge
Thinking
Waking up, 83
