In late March 2023, Sam Harris and I had a 90-minute online meeting exploring a range of issues of mutual interest. Title. The Whole of Life. Content below includes a brief bio of Sam, outline of meeting, quotes from listeners and edited message. …
The discourse of the Buddha to the Kalama People of north India constitutes one of the most profound statements ever uttered in the history of humanity in terms of the inquiry into beliefs, views and standpoints of people exercising authority. …
I received this email – a reminder of the benefits of spiritual practice/mindfulness/meditation and the support it provides in emotionally challenging situations.
Here is the email along with a short response from myself. The writer gave me permission to post her email on the blog.
Dear Christopher,
Last week, I experienced the most emotionally challenging situation in some years with intense feelings of sadness, despair, anger and overwhelm. In the midst of it, I also noticed change.
Would I have found myself in this situation some years ago, I would not have had faith in the fact that this too will change. The mental state of despair would have lasted for days if not weeks and would have resulted in nights without sleep and mental and physical exhaustion.
This is not my experience anymore.
Instead, whilst still experiencing quite intense suffering, there is something inside me that knows that this will not last. That just like everything, this feeling of despair will go away and be replaced by joy again. I now know what to do in a situation like this: Go out and walk. Look at nature and wildlife. Talk to friends. Concentrate on bodily sensations, even if it’s just possible for a few seconds to remain with these. Not beating myself up for how I feel and act. Not beating myself up for not sitting down to meditate. Not being ashamed.
In this difficult situation, I strangely experienced a feeling of happiness that I had not experienced before. I felt a gentle flame burning inside of me that didn’t want to be extinguished, not even in this situation of despair. A deep willingness to be alive in this world with all its suffering and beauty. For a short while, I was even thankful for this suffering, because it had shown me a resilience inside of me, I hadn’t felt in this way before.
This resilience has slowly developed over the last years and to know that it will grow even bigger in the years to come fills me with joy.
I am writing this text knowing that I might not feel this hopeful in an hours time, but what I do know is that there is something inside of me now that can never be taken away again.
There will be situations where I won’t be able to feel this way, but I do know that this doesn’t mean this light inside me is not here anymore – it is only invisible to me for a short while and will become visible again.
The change that has taken place inside me didn’t happen by accident. Some years ago, at the lowest point of my life, I was lucky (and persistent) enough to find a good therapist. I started practicing meditation and became interested in Buddhism. In the last year, my practice deepened through the help of very good teachers. I could not have done this by myself.
During these last years, I have learned some lessons. I forget them frequently, sometimes on a daily basis-hence I am writing them down for moments when I can’t see clearly.
2) Don’t hide your true feelings. Get help from outside if needed. Friends, a therapist, a teacher. Or a dog.
3) If you don’t feel like going for a walk, force yourself. If you can’t force yourself, don’t beat yourself up about it. In fact, don’t beat yourself up about anything. Just try again tomorrow.
4) If you’re caught between pride and love, choose love.
5) What other people think about you is none of your business.
6) Change inside can change every situation. Yet it sometimes needs outer change, in order to start inner change.
7) Listen.
8) In the darkest of your nights, go outside and hug a tree. It might not help, but surely the tree won’t mind anyway.
9) Your childhood might determine how easily you can be happy. It does NOT determine WHETHER you can be happy.
10) Fear is not a good advisor.
11) If you feel a purely positive impulse inside of you arising, don’t hesitate and wait for your mind to supply you with reasons not to act.Follow it.
12) You don’t help other people by making their problems your own. You help by being there, listening and keeping your calm.
13) Everything changes.
Love
Dear ..
Thank you for your very thoughtful reflection.
Your wise responses to the arising of emotions that can oppress consciousness develop a deepening of your trust in your capacity to accommodate these troubling moods – like dark and stormy clouds.
152 words
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA stated on Thursday (13 May 2021) that masks and social distancing are no longer necessary for people who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. …
In his books, articles and public lectures and debates, Sam Harris engages in frequent diatribes against Muslims. He appears obsessed with the undermining of the Islamic faith in every fault-finding way he can dig up.
While occasionally, he makes a mild acknowledgement to moderate Muslims, he pursues his condemnation of Islam. Extremist Muslims also condemn the West. Extremists of any persuasion live in blame of the other.
Yet, I don’t think Harris has a phobia about Muslims. I define a phobia as an extreme, irrational fear of an unresolved issue triggering anxiety attacks or panic. He comes across as intensely anti-Muslim.
Sam Harris has around three decades of experience in Insight Meditation (referred to as Vipassana in the Buddhist tradition). He has attended short retreats of a week to three months in the West and Myanmar, as well as engaging in spiritual exploration in India. He has years of interest in the teachings of Non-duality (Advaita) but does not appear to have understood. He seems to have identified his extremist and dualistic views as Pro-West and Anti-Islam, which he sees as the external reality, rather than his state of mind.
I suspect Sam lacks real contact with Muslims in the Muslim world. Alienation from the Muslim community reinforces these verbal/written attacks. It is hard to perceive a threat, an enemy, if you spend time in their homes, culture and benefit from their hospitality.
As the English proverb states: “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” In his 300-page book, The End of Faith, Sam Harris devotes sections of his book to targeting Islam with little reference to a critique of other faiths. (See the Index for the number of references to Islam/ Muslims compared to Judaism and Christianity). His attitude feeds into the stereotype of Muslims, prominent in the USA and elsewhere in the West. His views do not support wise and responsible approach to the Muslim community or US citizens.
Muslims in the West would feel understandably concerned at this concerted put down of their faith by a Jewish intellectual.
Quotations from Sam Harris and Source
What on Earth happened in the past of Sam Harris to trigger such violence in his views against Muslims?
Views change, become a different view, as much anything else changes, adapts or dissolves. In the years ahead, perhaps Sam Harris will have a turning point, gradual or sudden, enabling him to see how his views harm Muslims and feed the violent prejudices of non-Muslims. He may conclude his anti-Muslim views reveals neither wisdom nor compassion.
On a Muslim country acquiring long-range nuclear weaponry, Harris endorses war crimes.
“If history is any guide, we will not be sure about where the offending warheads are or what their state of readiness is, and so we will be unable to rely on targeted, conventional weapons to destroy them. In such a situation, the only thing likely to ensure our survival may be a nuclear first strike of our own.
This would be an unthinkable crime—as it would kill tens of millions of innocent civilians in a single day—but it may be the only course of action available to us, given what Islamists believe.
Sam Harris, a Vipassana meditator
In his blog, Sam Harris tells his readers he is a Vipassana meditator. He wrote:
“I spent two years on silent retreat myself (in increments of one week to three months), practicing various techniques of meditation for twelve to eighteen hours a day.
I believe that such states of mind have a lot to say about the nature of consciousness and the possibilities of human well-being.
Buddhism in particular possesses a literature on the nature of the mind that has no peer in Western religion or Western science.
For beginners, I usually recommend a technique called vipassana (Pali for “insight”), which comes from the oldest tradition of Buddhism, the Theravada. One of the advantages of vipassana is that it can be taught in an entirely secular way.
My friend Joseph Goldstein, one of the finest vipassana teachers I know, likens this shift in awareness to the experience of being fully immersed in a film and then suddenly realizing that you are sitting in a theater watching a mere play of light on a wall. Your perception is unchanged, but the spell is broken.”
Final Word
Sam Harris needs to engage in soul searching. He could apply his intellect to showing concern for the immense suffering of Muslim communities in the Arab world and the West. He could write fierce criticisms of the ideology of superiority of the USA government, NATO and the Israeli government with the massive bombings, invasions and slaughter of Muslims in cities, towns and villages. He could reflect on the anti-Muslim propaganda in the media to justify the West’s engagement in mass murder.
I trust in my experience over years with many Muslims in many Muslim countries rather than identify with views/doctrines that feed division and suffering.
MAY ALL BEINGS BE FREE FROM ISLAMAPHOBIA
MAY ALL BEING BE FREE FROM ANTI-SEMITISM
MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY
I published this blog in 2015 and edited years later. Here is the link to click on on Islamophobia..
