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Sam's remarkable ability to use the precisely perfect word to elucidate the concepts he's explaining never ceases to amaze me. If there were ever a wizard of language, he's it.

ARE YOU SERIOUS THIS FINALLY HAPPENED ALLEEEXXX!!!!?

Sam talks slowly but says so much in every word that I have to replay it 5 times. He is unbelievably careful and clear and it’s such a blessing to hear him for free.

Two of my favourite thinkers speaking together, what a beautiful day

Can’t wait for full version

I could not be more jealous of this conversation! My two favorites together. Thank you both for all your influence.

I also started as a meditation skeptic but it has become without doubt the most valuable tool I know of. Can't wait to see the full episode

Having Sam Harris on the podcast is a longtime coming

If meditation hasn't worked for you so far because you cant seem to sustain attention on your breath or something similar please remember such focus aspects are not necessary. Meditation's 'breakthrough' moment is when your mind goes from being in a state similar to riding a motorcycle to sitting in a bus. From excessive active participation with what you see, hear feel etc to passive and relaxed observation of whats passing by. No formula exists for getting from one state to the other. Gentle regular practice of physical stillness.

Great to see Alex and Ben Stiller talking about meditation.

Meditation has completely changed me. I almost feel like the person I “thought” I was is dead or doesn’t exist anymore or that I can’t really remember who that character was. I had chronic anxiety attacks which I know longer have. I rarely worry at all. The downside for me is that I feel bored more now. I’m just going through the boredom without judging it with hopes it’ll pass. Good luck to anyone starting out meditating and stick with it.

Almost tempted to say that I can't believe this moment ever came, but I do. Alex made it happen. I'm actually proud of him. This is great!

Finally, Sam Harris is on the podcast. Hope they discuss about morality in the full episode , very keen to see how Harris responds to Alex' criticisms

I hope you drop full podcast here Alex. If not it’s also okay, I hope you do. Thanks for this interview.

One way to know you've finally made it as a podcaster: crushing that first one-on-one interview with Ben Stiller! Well done Alex!

Oooooooh wow! Can't wait for the whole conversation!

WOOHOO, been waiting for this conversation for so long! Hoping it comes out soon!

Oh I'm looking forward to the full version of this!

Can’t wait for the full conversation! I’ve followed you for a long time and thought this would be a great conversation

I had no idea there was such an overlap of people who appreciate both Alex and Sam. I thought I was the only one. Nice to see I was wrong! 🤣

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

I’ve been watching your channel for the last 6 years (my god it doesn’t feel like that long at all), and I’m so excited you’re finally having this convo. I’ve been a subscriber almost since the beginning, and I’m so proud of what you’re doing today - not that that means anything from a random subscriber lol. But still congrats on the growth and I look forward to the full interview!!!

I love how sam Harris digs at other people who have large amounts of experience in meditation and then reels of his experience in suggestive way as to say this is the way to look at it while disregarding others experiences. Quite an oxymoronic way to calculate experiences when all are as valid. My own experience I see places as clear as I see with my own eyes in my mind. Now you can poo poo it but because you haven’t experienced it, does that really mean it can’t be done. How you view the possibility is the key to you unlocking the technique, you think it’s hard to do, then it will be hard, if you feel it’s impossible then it won’t ever happen. Meditation is a window into your belief system and the basis of what you believe deep within your subconscious will arise. Now remember how you dream and that you see in your dream,same mechanism. For those who didn’t think it was possible to see places in your mind and I gave you an example of the mechanism within dreams see how your belief system was blocking you from thinking it can be done. All things are possible, miracle is just a word telling you that it can’t be done. You decide the definition always

Best collab ever, so excited

FINALLY!! An Alex and Sam conversation, I know it will be great!

Buzzing for this one!

Superb convo guys. Very nice!

Sam got me into a meditation practice a number of years ago. I’ve done a few 1-2 week long silent meditation retreats, and it’s been one of the richer aspects of my life. Without needing to buy into the more preposterous supernatural elements of Buddhism and the surrounding culture, meditation can provide deep experiential insights into truths of the nature and structure of our consciousness. I’d definitely encourage people to try Sam’s short meditation on KZfaq for a few days running and see if you don’t find it a beneficial and pleasant experience.

FINALLY. I have been waiting for this one.

Hyped to watch this once it goes live!

Sam's waking up app is brilliant.

Never has anyone described meditation this precisely, incredible segment

I’ve been a serious meditator for about 25 years (Soto Zen Buddhism is my home lineage, but have studied under teachers in various traditions). I always say: meditation is like any bodily discipline (sport, dance, yoga, martial arts), except that instead of training the body, it is for training your attention. There are countless techniques and methods, but ultimately you are just training your attention to not wander, as Sam articulates well. And as he points out, that’s why so many people hate it. Besides it being a difficult and boring task, many people are very disconcerted by the profound implications of the fact that no matter how hard we try, we cannot introspectively perceive where our thoughts come from.

I'm so hyped for this

I was skeptical of meditation until I started meditating. Thankfully I was willing to put aside my own beliefs and ideas about what meditation is and what it could do for me. I have been meditationg now every day for 26 years.

I've been awaiting this!

Been waiting for this one, been waiting a long time

Oh my gosh. Couldn’t be more excited about this.

I've been waiting for this interview! Awesome bro

Excellent segment from Sam, great clip - thanks!

I don't agree with Sam on everything, but as someone who suffers from depression and anxiety, his app has helped me tremendously.

Alex, you should talk to Dr.K(Alok Kanojia) about meditation. He's a great psychiatrist and very insightful to listen to. Even though he's religious, I find him much more understanding of the current generation's(my) problems than any atheist I listen to.

Love this. It actually gave me an idea for how meditation is a distinct experience from just sitting with your thoughts. (I did already have some ideas of what mindfulness meditation in particular is though.)

I can't wait for this to be on youtube, I love listening to you both!

Meditation is not the best word, in India and Tibet is best described as " cultivation" or "familiarization" because you can use your mind to cultivate a virtue or mental state or to know your experience,. Obviously there are many techniques for different proposites under the umbrella of meditation, there is concentration, analyses, mere awareness, resting awareness, self inquire and the union of tranquility and insight as in Tibetan Buddhism or just witnessing like Mahamudra or Dzogchen.

Let’s goo I can’t believe this finally happened, soo looking forward to it!

Sam is my absolute favourite!! Alex please get into meditation !! we'd love to hear your experience from the very basics

Great explanation, so excited about this one!

Congrats on climbing up in the world man!

“Just push really hard, and eventually you’ll start feelin it”

Yooooo finally! I'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR YOU TO DO A PODCAST WITH SAM HARRIS 😁😁😁

Finally, been waiting for this

Alex, I met you in Piccadilly Circus a few weeks back and have been eagerly awaiting this since! Fantastic stuff 👏👏

Now I really want Alex to talk to Dr K too haha

This is awesome! Great job getting Sam on your show!

Amazing to have been apart of this journey. I remember your debates with rationality rules and Oakes so many years ago on free will and how essential Sam Harris was to the topic.

Meditation is a practice of calming down and clearing thoughts. It isn't some supernatural thing. It's about putting yourself into the moment.

You've got me. Take my Patreon money this month. I can't afford it every month, though. But Sam Harris is a rare treat, and I want it now :-)

Happy Birthday Alex!

This is single-handedly the best explanation of meditation that I have yet to come across. You're not communing with the divine, you're simply controlling your attention and being the ever present observer. I can't wait to see the full episode, this is sure to be a great conversation

Omg this is kind of a full circle moment since i came across Alex because of his critique of Sam Harris.

Happy birthday Alex!

Harris-fantastic. Elegant and sharp like a diamond.

I'm glad Alex brought up how the reports of the meditator can be like the reports of the religious experience. The point is that one doesn't necessarily need to "try it for oneself" or have the experience, to have justified doubt about the claims being made on the basis of the experience. In other words, one can accept that the experience feels like it does, but reject that the INFERENCES made from that experience are sound. Sam wants to push back on that by saying he's not making prima facie implausible metaphysical claims from religion. But Sam IS making all sorts of claims about the nature of identity and the self and free will based on the nature of meditation. And, like the guys on Decoding The Gurus have pointed out, I also find many of Sam's inferences to be quite dubious.

Alex needs to explore Eastern spiritualites a bit more. Sam Harris is definitely a gateway.

In Zen Bhuddism we consider the mind a sixth sensory organ (the usual 5 plus the mind). It’s simply an organ that secretes thoughts - the problem is as Sam says, that we attach to these thoughts and we ascribe them as “ours.” We are not our thoughts - it’s easy to prove this as you don’t cease to exist when you manage to quell your thoughts.

Oooh yeah, been waitin for this one

This is a great advertisement for mindfulness/meditation. Exceptional speakers, both of you, but Sam Harris' explanations are the most crystal clear I've ever heard.

I've just been listening to Making Sense with Sam Harris today, so this is perfect timing haha

Beyond helpful and I will be listening to this repeatedly

Been waitin for these two to collaborate for 5 years! Finally!

No one would say they're a piano skeptic if they have never tried to learn piano. Meditation is something you can get better at with practice. You can find out for yourself what Sam is saying

OMG DREAMS COME TRUE

Close your eyes and put your attention upon your breath as it goes in and out. First focus on your abdomen as it rises and falls. Then you can move to focusing your attention on the breath going in and out of your nostrils. It matters not what you focus on. It could be any image. it could be a mantra or a candle flame. The object is only used as a method to hold your attention to. As you put your attention either on the breath, within 2 or 3 seconds you will find your thoughts come in and your mind begins to wander away from your focus of attention. As soon as you become aware that you are not focusing on the breath, you gently bring your attention back to it. You keep doing this. Keep practicing, and one day you will find you can sit still with mind focused upon the object of your attention without your mind drifting away for about 10, 15 or 20 minutes. When you get to that stage, your mind is now completely still - having no thoughts, no images and no memories - nothing. You become "aware" of that Space or Void. You become aware of the Space between thoughts. The trick is to hold on to the Space between thoughts. You are no longer thinking. You now have "awareness" - with no thinking. You have the awareness of the "I am" - that you exist. You now know that your awareness exists without thoughts. You know that your self is separate from thoughts. The next stage is you turn your "awareness" upon that Space or Void. You keep holding your attention upon that Space and slowly you will find that that Space is the "I AM" - the consciousness of Cosmic Consciousness. You will find that your consciousness is connected to the "I AM". What is happening here is your consciousness is turning in upon itself - upon consciousness itself. Where you direct your thoughts, is where your energy and consciousness goes. Before you took up meditation, your consciousness was pulled outwards through the 5 senses to the outer world of matter. Your thoughts pulled you into the world of matter. Hence, that is the reality that you see and believe in. Scientists use their consciousness to measure and observe the outward manifestations of matter - in the world of form. And what is form? Form is a manifestation from energy grouped into electrons, atoms and molecules. Science now knows that all seemingly physical objects are not physical at all but ultimately come from energy. In other words, reality has no form but is made up from a sea of energy. And this sea of energy is consciousness. You have consciousness. And your consciousness springs from the Source of the greater Consciousness. Scientists come to the false conclusion there is no Intelligence or God because they are using consciousness through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The five senses of humans are perceived through the use of sensory organs. They will never get to the Truth and to Ultimate Reality of existence if they employ their consciousness through the false illusion of the five senses. In order to know the Supreme Intelligence and Creation behind all that is, in order to know Truth and Reality, you have to turn your awareness inwards to your inner consciousness and not through the five senses. Meditation is the key and the science to knowing the Ultimate Reality. In meditation you are now using consciousness to focus in upon Consciousness itself! That is the Secret Path that sages in the past have kept to a select few. But now meditation is known world-wide and accepted. Now science is recognizing, through quantum physics, that form is an illusion and that energy and consciousness is the reality. And in order to become aware of that energy and consciousness one has to direct one's consciousness and awareness away from the illusion of the five senses and turn one's energy and focus within oneself upon consciousness itself - stilling your mind and focusing in upon that Silence and Void. The more you are able to reside your awareness upon this Silence or Void, you will slowly begin to feel stirrings of peace and contentment. Later this feeling of peace will turn into ineffable joy. And you will have no doubt that you are in the Presence of All That Is. You are in the Presence of Mind behind all individual minds. You are in the Presence of Consciousness that is behind all separate individual consciousness. You are making contact with Source or in religious terms, God. The fundamental Truth that material scientists are not aware of, is that the Universe is Mind. Everything is a sea of Mind - a sea of Consciousness. Ultimately nothing is physical. Having reached this "awareness" of the Space, it will create a vacuum. And one day that vacuum will be filled by the Presence of God or Infinite Intelligence or whatever name you call it. When that happens, you have made contact with Source. From that moment on, your Path in life will become smoother. In fact, even before you make contact with Source, the closer you move towards this Source through meditations, the more you find your ego stands aside and allows the Higher Power to come into operation. Providential help and extraordinary guidance may begin to appear of their own accord. Without lifting a foot or moving a finger, the true needs of a man who has begun to come into communion with his spiritual Source may be supplied at his very doorstep and always at the psychological moments of necessity. This applies to his spiritual and mental needs no less than to material needs.

Listen to the hole episod. Wonderful conversation with two great minds 😊

Sam Harris’ one eyebrow is messing with me😂

👍If you understand the McGilchristian diagnosis of brain activity then what Sam points to is a practical awareness of its cofunctioning process. Alex is greater than what Alex thinks. Does this make sense?

Congratulations for finally doing it Alex :)

been waiting a long time forthisss

The camera quality is so good!

This is my most anticipated podcast episode ever. I can't wait to see the full length interview!

Alex you are an inspiration to me!

Been waiting for this for years 💪

Alex is meeting the neo atheist heroes one by one. Daniel Dennet's next. We just have ressurect Hitchens and we're done!

Why is only 1 of Sam's eyebrows raised all the time

"The curious thing about breath is that it can be looked at both as a voluntary and an involuntary action. You can feel on the one hand I am doing it, and on the other hand, it is happening to me. And that is why breathing is the most important part of meditation: because it is going to show you, as you become aware of your breath, that the hard and fast division that we make between what we do on the one hand, and what happens to us on the other, is arbitrary" -- Alan Watts

How is Alex dropping this without a warning? I've been waiting for this for years! 🎉

Hey Alex I am a muslim but I enjoy your respectful conversations. That being said the five daily prayers our form of meditation definitely helps especially the prayer before dawn. I hope everyone finds contentment and happiness ❤

Can anyone answer me this? If free will doesn't exist, then your destiny is a real thing? 'Destiny' IS real?

Alan Wallace wrote a book called the attention revolution. One of the best books that i have ever read.

Was just listening to Sam’s Podcast. Inspiring just the way he articulates himself. Excited for this one ❤

This better be a short 4hrs+ conversation Alex..

Oh gosh Alex is killing it with these guests. Its such a thrill going through your channel and recent uploads

This is great!!! Thank You!

Never thought I'd see this. Also first

Being a "meditation skeptic" is so weird. Especially for a smart guy like Alex. That's like being a "healthy food skeptic". There are so many forms of meditation. Could it be that Alex is just completely ignorant to the concept of meditation in general?

Meditation doesn't have to be what most people think of it is. It's not that difficult and it doesn't require some ritual or method to meditate. Just sit quiet with your thoughts, that's it, but it can also be done while busy with other tasks. Listen to your mind and what it has to tell you, that's all meditation is. I've been doing this my entire life. Allow your mind to understand itself and you will gain clarity. Allow yourself to become lost in your thoughts. Don't think about trying, just let go.

I’ve been waiting so many years for this!!!!!!!

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see Alex interviewing casually the Pope.