Waking Up by Sam Harris

I think most people are familiar with Sam Harris. In this book, he tackles the question of spirituality or mysticism through a scientific mindset, exploring whether there is any value in it independent of religious superstition and convoluted metaphysical claims.

The book contains the following sections: first, he uses philosophical and neurological arguments to show that consciousness can be divided, and from this he argues that there is no unified self — that the I is illusory. Next, he applies Buddhist meditation techniques to deepen the understanding of this insight. Finally, he explores his own experiences with spirituality.

Personally, I found one of the most convincing arguments to be the case of a split-brain patient, which demonstrates how consciousness is more complex than we often assume. You can see a shortened version of that argument here.

I think it’s a helpful book for our modern times, where — due to scientism — so much value is placed on objectivity, and subjectivity is often disdained. This book highlights the importance of the subjective perspective. It neatly fits in with other things I wrote abouts such as What it is like to be a bat?, The Eiffel Tower is NOT in Paris! and On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy.