Just did not care for this book—apparently I fail even at spirituality for atheists. :P

In general I take issue with movement atheists and therefore did not get on with Harris for the first chapter or so. I feel that secularism conceals a lot of hidden biases and falls into the trap of assuming that behaviors are functional if and only if they are rational or bring us closer to objective truth. As someone who tends toward rational skepticism, I find this to be a lovely idea, but based on my observation of the rest of humanity, it just ain't so.

I did enjoy his discussions of neuroscience and philosophy and was really excited for the rest of the book. However, once we got to the meat of his argument about meditation, I was literally frustrated to tears. His insistence on the illusion of the self only filled me with a kind of existential anxiety. I feel certain he is onto something, but I was simply unable to grok his explanation or figure out how I could possibly come to this conclusion on my own via meditation.

Undoubtedly this would be a great book for the right reader, but I need something about meditation and mindfulness that's more guided and less didactic and will allow me to develop my own vocabulary and best practices for understanding and regulating my mind. ( )

A Curate's Egg for me. Large parts of the discussion are very hard to follow for a neophyte, but feel very important and will definitely be ripe for a re-read.
The last chapter was out of step with the rest of the book and I drew very little from it. ( )

A thoughtful argument for the value of meditation and self-analysis. TLDR: "spirituality" is a loaded word, but can be separated from religion with a little work. Consciousness is a Hard Problem to define and study in a rational fashion. Meditation can be demonstrated to have some benefits for stress relief. Mindfulness and self-reflection can help make you a calmer and more compassionate person. Apply the same skepticism to all the claims of religious scholars and gurus alike, because the scientific method is superior in all senses to wishful thinking and/or faith. ( )

Liked this book a lot. Harris wasn't as overbearing as usual, and the subject matter (consciousness) is something I'm really interested in. ( )

You know I have to have a very high regard for Mr. Harris to read a whole book exhorting me to consider Buddhism and meditation. And I do. He presents an empiricist's take throughout.

I still really need to sit down with somebody who practices these things and ask all my questions.

I guess first off, WHY. Why do you want to transcend the self in the first place? The self is all we have. Harris' main claim however is that the self is an illusion. Well, so is free will; but do you wake up every morning and lay there doing nothing, saying, let's see what I do today?

And if you can alter your consciousness and see that the self is an illusion, if this is a way to mitigate anxiety and bad feelings, doesn't it get rid of the good feelings too? Why would you want to live that way?

It's sold as a way to get off the hedonic treadmill. We are constantly chasing pleasure, avoiding pain, bounced around among our emotions, seeking something that can never be permanent. Yup. That's called the HUMAN CONDITION. The pursuit of happiness... it's what life is ABOUT. I don't get why you'd want to spend the effort fighting human nature, eliminating the joy that comes from achieving goals and looking forward to the future and looking back at happy times, in exchange for some steady state of emotion-free selflessness.

I know I'm not getting it entirely. That's why I need to sit down with somebody.

I really do appreciate Harris' efforts here. He is against every form of faith-based religion and claims nothing that is not empirically testable. My readings here and elsewhere about meditation and psychedelic use have 'opened my mind' a bit - to the extent I actually can read about Buddhism and meditation without running away screaming (much).

One exercise I did enjoy much was about "having no head." You can't see your head. Try pretending you don't have one. Just pretend for a moment, don't dwell on it. Look around. How does the world look? Douglas Harding: "This hole where a head should have been, was no ordinary vacancy, no mere nothing... It was a vast emptiness vastly filled, a nothing that found room for everything: room for grass, trees, shadowy distant hills..." Trippy. ( )