Waking Up
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Andrew Wilkinson

Waking Up - Guided meditation with Sam Harris

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Join Sam Harris—neuroscientist, philosopher, and bestselling author—on a course that will teach you to meditate, reason more effectively, and deepen your understanding of yourself and others.

The Waking Up Course is for anyone who wants to begin the practice of mindfulness meditation, as well as for those with an established practice.

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Cam Lindsay
Thanks for your efforts Sam. I’ve enjoyed the beta immensely, can’t wait to see what new content brings. On a side note, your thoughts about free will, and your books (particularly lying, the moral landscape, and waking up) have been profoundly life changing for me over the last few years. I know you take a lot of heat for some of your opinions, but please keep up the good work.
Sam Harris
Maker
@cam_lindsay1 So glad you have found my work useful. And many thanks for participating in the the app beta.
Dylan Moffitt
Thrilled to finally the opportunity to experience it! I was wondering how familiar Sam is with similar apps (headspace etc.) and how this app approaches the subject in comparison?
Sam Harris
Maker
@dylan_moffitt I'm familiar with several other apps, including headspace (which I like a lot). My app isn't a pure mindfulness app. I'm bringing more of a philosophical point of view to the practice—and my own view has been heavily influenced by the nondual approach of Dzogchen. So my guidance is a little more assertive in the sense that there are some fundamental insights about the nature of consciousness that I'm trying to get people to have.
Chris Marin
Your book Waking Up, as well as your guided meditations and discussions with Joseph, Dan, and Richie, have all had a profound impact on my life. Very excited this app finally hit production. My question is about the tangible benefits you've enjoyed since embodying a state of selflessness. What have been some of the most positive life experiences resulting from losing your sense of self? Similarly, were there any adverse life experience that arose from jettisoning this sense of self? We love that you are doing this Sam! There are thousands of us who believe this, for every one of us who state it outright -- thank you all the work you do thinking in public @samharrisofficial
Sam Harris
Maker
@_chrismarin Thanks, Chris! Very glad to hear it. Re: selflessness — Being able to recognize the illusoriness of the self on demand (rather than having the feeling of self fall away from time to time at moments of peak concentration, likely on intensive retreat) is a very important life skill. It has the power to cut through psychological suffering in a way that just "being mindful" of the suffering often doesn't. Of course, if you're lost in thought in the next moment, you'll be miserable again. But it really is possible to develop a type of (nondual) mindfulness that frees you in every moment that it arises.
Dante Quilici
One of the goals of your app is to help improve "reason." Are you planning on incorporating this into the meditation side of the app or the lecture side? I'm not sure if this technique exists but a method of learning how to meditate/contemplate one concept or idea would be invaluable. I know there are visual techniques of meditation; but, I've never come across a technique that involves linguistic thought focused on reasoning. Any chance you could develop/incorporate this technique (assuming it exists)?
Sam Harris
Maker
@dante_quilici Yes, that will probably happen more on the lesson side. But some of the lessons will be very experiential, not merely conceptual.
Kenny Sabarese
@samharrisofficial Do you think it is possible to raise "enlightened" kids or, more accurately, to prevent children from forming a sense of self? Methods that come to mind on how to achieve this would be parenting techniques or medicines such as psychadellics. I know your wife teaches meditation to children around age 5 or 6, but their sense of self has already formed by then. Beyond that, do you think it is possible that humans could ever evolve to a point where a sense of self never develops at all?
Sam Harris
Maker
@fusioncompound Some (hippy psychologist whose name escapes me) once said that "you have to become someone before you can become no one." And I think that's right. In other words, don't give your kids acid!
Kenny Sabarese
ThisIsAnAccount
Heads up Sam: All your responses are being tweeted (in case you didn't know)
Sam Harris
Maker
@arbitrarylabel Whoops... That's very Trumpian. Now I see the box that got checked.
Daniel Fernandes
Do you have any thoughts on EEG medtitation headbands, like Muse, or other neurofeedback devices?
Sam Harris
Maker
@dferb I experimented with neurofeedback about 15 years ago, but haven't tried it since. Not sure how much it's developed. I should check.
Mike Fiorillo
Excited to give this app a whirl @samharrisofficial. I'm a fan of your podcast, and also a regular user of @get_headspace and @choosemuse. I don't see the meditation app space as a winner take all market, so I absolutely think there's space for new apps with unique styles / approaches.
Sam Harris
Maker
@get_headspace @choosemuse @mikefiorillo Definitely not winner take all. There are very different approached to teaching meditation—and even very different approaches to teaching mindfulness. I think @get_headspace is great!
ThisIsAnAccount
Hey Sam! Thanks for keeping at this despite the hassle of software development. Will there ever be a live component of the app?
Sam Harris
Maker
@arbitrarylabel re: Live component — We're considering that.
Brian Burns
I have been waiting for this app to get more serious about meditating. No more excuses!
Sam Harris
Maker
@bburns That's right. You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me...
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