“First, let me describe the general phenomenon I’m referring to. Here’s what happens in the generic case: a person, in whatever culture he finds himself, begins to notice that life is difficult. He observes that even in the best of times — no one close to him has died, he’s healthy, there are no hostile armies massing in the distance, the fridge is stocked with beer, the weather is just so — even when things are as good as they can be, he notices that at the level of his moment to moment experience, at the level of his attention, he is perpetually on the move, seeking happiness and finding only temporary relief from his search.
We’ve all noticed this. We seek pleasant sights, and sounds, and tastes, and sensations, and attitudes. We satisfy our intellectual curiosities, and our desire for friendship and romance. We become connoisseurs of art and music and film — but our pleasures are, by their very nature, fleeting. And we can do nothing more than merely reiterate them as often as we are able.
If we enjoy some great professional success, our feelings of accomplishment remain vivid and intoxicating for about an hour, or maybe a day, but then people will begin to ask us ‘So, what are you going to do next? Don’t you have anything else in the pipeline?’ Steve Jobs releases the iPhone, and I’m sure it wasn’t twenty minutes before someone asked, ‘When are you going to make this thing smaller?’ Notice that very few people at this juncture, no matter what they’ve accomplished, say, ‘I’m done. I’ve met all my goals. Now I’m just going to stay here eat ice cream until I die in front of you.’
Even when everything has gone as well as it can go, the search for happiness continues, the effort required to keep doubt and dissatisfaction and boredom at bay continues, moment to moment. If nothing else, the reality of death and the experience of losing loved ones punctures even the most gratifying and well-ordered life.
In this context, certain people have traditionally wondered whether a deeper form of well-being exists. Is there, in other words, a form of happiness that is not contingent upon our merely reiterating our pleasures and avoiding our pains. Is there a form of happiness that is not dependent upon having one’s favorite food always available to be placed on one’s tongue or having all one’s friends and loved ones within arm’s reach, or having good books to read, or having something to look forward to on the weekend? Is it possible to be utterly happy before anything happens, before one’s desires get gratified, in spite of life’s inevitable difficulties, in the very midst of physical pain, old age, disease, and death?
This question, I think, lies at the periphery of everyone’s consciousness. We are all, in some sense, living our answer to it — and many of us are living as though the answer is ‘no.’ No, there is nothing more profound that repeating one’s pleasures and avoiding one’s pains; there is nothing more profound than seeking satisfaction, both sensory and intellectual. Many of us seem think that all we can do is just keep our foot on the gas until we run out of road.
But certain people, for whatever reason, are led to suspect that there is more to human experience than this. In fact, many of them are led to suspect this by religion — by the claims of figures like Jesus… And such a person may begin to practice various disciplines of attention — often called ‘meditation’ or ‘contemplation’ — as a means of examining his moment to moment experience closely enough to see if a deeper basis of well-being is there to be found.
Such a person might even hole himself up in a cave, or in a monastery, for months or years at a time to facilitate this process. Why would somebody do this? Well, it amounts to a very simple experiment. Here’s the logic of it: if there is a form of psychological well-being that isn’t contingent upon merely repeating one’s pleasures, then this happiness should be available even when all the obvious sources of pleasure and satisfaction have been removed. If it exists at all, this happiness should be available to a person who has renounced all her material possessions, and declined to marry her high school sweetheart, and gone off to a cave or to some other spot that would seem profoundly uncongenial to the satisfaction of ordinary desires and aspirations.
One clue as to how daunting most people would find such a project is the fact that solitary confinement — which is essentially what we are talking about — is considered a punishment even inside a prison. Even when cooped up with homicidal maniacs and rapists, most people still prefer the company of others to spending any significant amount of time alone in a box.”
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From Sam Harris’s talk on The Problem with Atheism.
witnessandwait said:
I have been following Sam Harris closely since his incendiary entrance into the mainstream literary and intellectual world in 2003 (the publication of The End of Faith), and I could probably say without exception there has never been a moment I doubted his genius. His clarity is impeccable, and I think in the speech given at the Atheist Alliance conference in 2007, that talent of clarity, and moreover honesty, especially considering his audience, was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen someone do. For him to basically tell his audience of atheists that they should refrain from calling themselves “atheists” because it was… well… dumb (he argued that the term “atheist” was really meaningless and the usage of the term is in fact counterproductive to the goals of such an organization as the Atheist Alliance) was needed, and I doubt anyone for another five years would have thought to point it out. The national debate has taken great bounds of progress because of this man, and I am overjoyed to see you’ve excerpted from arguably his greatest moment.
Well, maybe his talk at the TED Conference on “the moral landscape” was more impressive.
drgeraldstein said:
“Many of us seem think that all we can do is just keep our foot on the gas until we run out of road.” A great line. Overall, he sounds a bit like Ernest Becker (“The Denial of Death”) in describing the desperate nature of the human condition.
MasterMind secret of Law of Attraction said:
Hi … I stumbled across your blog and stopped to read. My journey may possibly not be interesting to another … but funnily I stopped to analyze myself from the point of view of your article. Till about 3 years ago I’d be fearful if I did not have anybody around me and would even find it tough to sleep alone when my husband was travelling … and then the Law of Attraction came into my life and because I was always spiritually inclined I was able to dive right into the subject immediately. God started communicating with me through the birds around my home .. parrots, mynahs, owls , dogs and cows. They all represented my higher forms … my sub-conscious through which we connect to God and I was never alone again. I work out of a spare bedroom on the ground floor of my home and I work long hours alone on this floor …on most days late into the night … but with God communicating with me and teaching me all I wanted to learn for I specifically wanted only Him to teach me. I often tell God … I don’t want another’s opinion I want to learn all truths directly from you and sometimes I am led to a book and when the correct portion is reached by me the parrot will tell me … here … now read this … this is the truth on this subject. And I am honoured at the care lavished on me. When I play on my i-pad I am sent messages through words. Sometimes its just everyday banter and sometimes its a message. Like write through poetry or use songs to make a point and if you go through my articles I have done just that.
My journey is the most wonderful …. something I never imagined even in my wildest imagination and the only thought that comes to me is that I am profoundly blessed and all that I take to be authentic and natural in my life comes alive before my eyes when I write about it. I seldom talk about this aspect of my life fearing any wrongful comment by another lesser thinking individual to sully and mar something of much importance to me. However I am amazed I have opened myself here … I guess I am talking to a kindred spirit. Thank you for the space I have occupied here and God Bless. From all I have experienced firsthand God is truly as beautiful as we imagine him to be and then some. …Roda
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