The Dissolution of Self

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The usual experience as a meditator is that the self might be an illusion. People often have brief experiences wherein you know they're paying attention to the breath say. That moment goes away and immediately thoughts come online, says Tamblar. It wasn't until I started practicing zogchen practice which is a Tibetan practice that I was able to do that he said. "You can't start it until you can actually just recognize this about consciousness on demand"

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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