Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind | Dr. Sam Harris

About this video

Dr. Sam Harris joins Huberman to discuss meditation, consciousness and free will. Huberman says Dr. Harris taught him meditation’s greater value is not only changing conscious experience for relaxation, focus or memory, but allowing a person to view consciousness itself and thereby shift how they engage with the world and themselves. They discuss the mind-body problem, duality, perception and time perception, which Huberman describes as elastic in the brain. In the middle excerpt they wrestle with an apparent contradiction between the illusion of a separate self and the illusion of authorship over thoughts, and Dr. Harris argues the two are opposite sides of one coin: the sense of self is also the feeling of being the locus of attention and agency, the supposed author of the next action or thought.

Key takeaways

• Dr. Harris argues meditation can reveal consciousness itself, not only change experience.
• Dr. Harris links the illusion of self and the question of free will as sides of one coin.
• Dr. Harris describes the sense of self as feeling like the locus of attention and agency.
• Huberman highlights time perception as elastic and state-dependent.
• Huberman presents Dr. Harris’s practices as tools for focus, stress and self-understanding.

Episode details: published January 2, 2023 · 1.5M views · 4:21:56 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The science and protocols described are Andrew Huberman’s, presented for education — not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before changing your own health practices.

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