The Importance of Faith in Meditation

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Sam Tamler: I think for you to focus only on the aspects of consciousness that are immediately observable to anybody is absolutely critical. He says his approach here is more intrusive and philosophical than is normal in a meditation app but it's important to give people an expectation of just what what success looks like, he adds. "Some people find that very valuable but some people can find it distracting well"

Sam Harris returns to the podcast to talk about meditation and his new Waking Up meditation app. What are the goals of mindfulness practice - stress reduction and greater focus, or something much deeper? Can it cure David's existential dread? Tamler's fear of his daughter going away to college? Can sustained practice erode the illusion of self? Is that even something we'd want to do? What if it diminishes our attachment to people we love? And what is the self anyway? Is Sam a defender of panpsychism? So many questions... Plus, the ethics of creating talking elephants by curing them of their autism through bonding and possibly mounting. (Seriously.)

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