You DO have Aggrieved White Man Syndrome/White Fragility.

Tho figured you'd understand it better if you heard it from another white man.

Just food for thought. You know, meditation material.

Critically thinking curriculum.

The moment you banish God...eye-eating creatures cease to exist?

What we have here is a failure to understand. Why is anyone asking this pseudo-intellectual any questions at all? You can't expect much in the way of profundity. He's a performer. He's an ex-con. I'll grant his intelligence, but intelligence won't get you that far.

Ask someone who spends his life in meditation and you will find far greater answers. Ask Krishnamurti or Tolle or just about any one else. Why are you wasting time with an actor of all people?

I know exactly what he means and have the same thought.. unconditional love for all after having a spiritual 'awakening'. Mine however wasn't born of psychodelic use but rather spiritual pursuits such as meditation during the most stressful time of my life. It was like my mind broke and a new me was born. It utterly changed how I think and feel. If I were religious at the time I'm sure I would have taken it as a sign some god had chosen me and for this reason I don't consider people who 'find god' or are 'born again' to be bat-shit crazy. They've simply had a similar experience.

I never understood exactly what happened to me physiologically to cause such a radical shift in the way I think and feel so I'm glad science is researching this phenomenon. That 'event' happened 20+ years ago but it still affects me every day.

Promotion of his book is all fine and dandy, but if Russell keeps trying to squeeze this much content into such short and superficial interviews, he's going to need more meditation if he doesn't want to have a stroke on air...

Sam practices the same type of meditation as I have for the past decade: vipassana.

Sam Harris has two guided meditations you can download here: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/mindfulness-meditation

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
Psalm 1:2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

I remember meditating as a teenager. I found my consciousness shrinking into a tiny sphere. My head was a vast empty space, miles in diameter. Did it make me a better person? Who knows.

Your video, Dan Harris: Hack Your Brain's Default Mode with Meditation, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

There's a zen story about a cat who lived in a monastery.
When the spiritual teacher and his disciples began their evening meditation, the cat made such noise that it distracted them. One day the teacher ordered that the cat be tied up during the evening practice.

Years later, when the teacher died, the cat continued to be tied up during the meditation session. And when the cat eventually died, another cat was brought to the monastery and tied up. Centuries later, learned descendants of the spiritual teacher wrote scholarly treatises about the religious significance of tying up a cat for meditation practice.

This is so misleading. It makes me sad. Of course "The Answer" is hogwash, but to say that "Positive Thinking" and the so called "Law of Attraction" are the same thing is a lie.

The Answer, by John Assaraf and The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne (whom Ehrenreich references) are not representations of what most people consider positive thinking, nor does it have much to do with the idiocy of firing those that warned about the dangers of out-of-control sub-prime mortgage loans.

In other words, this video confuses many separate philosophies and psychological principles, some of which are real, and some of which are false.

There have been numerous studies on positive thinking, meditation, and mental practice that point to positive gains in actual performance. Retorhic and references to George W Bush, don't make this video accurate, though they do garner applause, as evidenced by the number of votes and promotes this video has earned.

Research points to the following benefits of positive thinking:
Increased life span
Lower rates of depression
Lower levels of distress
Greater resistance to the common cold
Better psychological and physical well-being
Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

Positive thinking SHOULD NOT be confused with blinding yourself to realities and dangerous actions, as in the George Bush example given, nor should it be confused with "The Law of Attraction," as in the numerous references she gives to people getting things simply by thinking them.

Positive Thinking is a very powerful force that can lift one into a self reliant and full life. Positive thinkers impact the world with invention, ingenuity, and an uplifting influence on their community.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_visualization
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156028/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/positive-thinking_b_3512202.html

@Chairman_woo, agreed on pretty much everything. I try not to get into the whole "european vs japanese sword" debate, because I think the whole point is moot. Guns > swords

I study the sword for three reasons.
1. meditative practice. Doing a few hundred cuts is a great way to clear the mind.
2. as an aide to empty-handed work. Using a weapon is a great way to amplify flaws in your technique.
3. Swords are awesome.

I'm under no illusions as to how I'd fare against someone who really knew what they were doing, and given a choice, I'd run the hell away

Poor guy turned a bout 8 shades of red in 3 seconds

Luckys' right, those fuzzy-hat goons have a that serious inoperable corn-cob obstruction condition. I hear they are all required to carry a recent naked picture of the Queen during her morning constitutions on their person at all times to meditate upon during breaks...

I would hasten to guess that most prayers made by the devout fall into the category of meditative exhortations on behalf of others with a view to their well-being or similar sentiments-That the effects of such contemplative meditation can't be codified to satisfy another individual's satisfaction is completely meaningless.
Rigorously shown to whose satisfaction? Who but an egoist or some faithfully obsessed compiles such 'statistics' or would take the time to prove, falsify, or invalidate the actions or motivations of another individual, but some delusional autocrat? Probably some asshole I most certainly would never want to sit down with and break bread with.

Non-empiricism ruins peoples' lives.

I'm currently watching an extended family member destroy her end-of-life financial planning because she thinks she just needs to meditate/pray harder.

Instead of living below her means before it's too late, she's planning on being able to "manifest" the money needed to continue her needlessly exorbitant lifestyle.

Naturally, she's lost a lot of money to salesmen and con-artists with "high integrity" who pitched her "alternative investments" that were "sure things."