Sam Harris on Psychedelics, How to Cope During a Pandemic, Taming Anxiety, and More (#433)
Photo by Christopher Patey“Nothing’s changed, but yet, on some level, everything has changed, and I feel like I’m in a spaceship where at any moment, the leak or the breach in the wall can be catastrophic. It’s a very bizarre feeling, which I know everyone is sharing to one or another degree.” — Sam Harris
Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) is a neuroscientist, philosopher, and author of five New York Times bestsellers. His work covers a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focuses on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz).
Sam hosts the popular Making Sense podcast and is also the creator of the Waking Up app, which offers a modern, rational approach to the practice of meditation. Sam has practiced meditation for over 30 years and has studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation teachers, both in the United States and abroad. He holds a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA.
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#433: Sam Harris — Psychedelics, Meditation, and The Bigger Picturehttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/084844f6-7026-43e6-8e4e-2d2fab01f3cd.mp3Download
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Want to hear Sam’s previous appearance on the show? Check out this episode in which Sam discusses guided meditation, the optic blind spot, the distinction between meditation and psychedelics as tools, Sam’s post-MDMA perspective of spirituality, and much more.
#342: Sam Harris, Ph.D. — How to Master Your Mindhttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/68f17387-c3a7-48c4-8d2e-7326283fa300.mp3Download
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Connect with Sam Harris:
Website | Waking Up (App) | Making Sense (Podcast) | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Sam’s first, second, and third appearances on this podcast.
Books by Sam Harris
SXSW Conference & Festivals
Is the Protestant Work Ethic Real? (#360) | Freakonomics
“I Think We Have to Take Peyote and Speak to the Pangolin” | Twitter
The Amygdala in 5 Minutes | Big Think
How to Meditate | Sam Harris
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) | CDC
Apple iPad
The Work of Byron Katie
How to Debunk COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories | The Verge
What You Need to Know About Climate Change (#95) | Making Sense Podcast
Electric Cars, Solar Panels, and Clean Energy Storage | Tesla
Psychedelic Science (#177) | Making Sense Podcast
A DMT Trip ‘Feels Like Dying’ — and Scientists Now Agree | BBC Three
Time Is Speeding Up — Terence McKenna | After Skool
What Do Scientists and Philosophers Say About LSD? Here’s 4 Great Minds on Acid | Big Think
Sam’s Mushroom Trip | Sam Harris
2-Minute Neuroscience: Serotonin | Neuroscientifically Challenged
MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy | MAPS
Zendo Project
Burning Man
Triscuit
Heat Stroke (Hyperthermia) | Harvard Health
What Do We Know About the Risks of Psychedelics? | Michael Pollan
Psychedelics — Microdosing, Mind-Enhancing Methods, and More (#377) | The Tim Ferriss Show
Is Ecstasy An Empathogen? Determinants of Drug Preference in Humans | MAPS
Frontiers | Ego-Dissolution and Psychedelics: Validation of the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI) | Human Neuroscience
My Hellishly Bad Acid Trip, and What I Learned in the Aftermath | Vice
Spirit Rock
Messiah Complex | Wikipedia
What an Ayahuasca Retreat Showed Me About My Life | Vox
Drug Scheduling | DEA
Official Site Of The Grateful Dead
9 Reasons Why Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Is The Perfect Martial Art | Evolve Daily
The Dark Web | Investopedia
Some Thoughts on Coronaviruses and Seatbelts | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
Flexport.org
Operation Masks
The Ready State
September 11 Attacks: Facts, Background & Impact | History
Did Ayn Rand Receive Social Security Benefits? | Snopes
Coronavirus Is Causing a Huge PPE Shortage in the US | Time
Elon Musk Says He Sent Ventilators to California Hospitals, They Say They Got Something Else Instead | CNN
Drugs and the Meaning of Life (#1) | Making Sense Podcast
SHOW NOTES
In the midst of a pandemic, is the time nigh for meditation, psychedelics, pangolins, musings on nuclear annihilation, and other dangerous ideas? Let’s see if Sam’s commitment to making the worst episode of the Tim Ferriss Show ever aired pays off. [04:16]
Three things Sam has learned about fear. [08:18]
A situation in which Sam was experiencing acute anxiety or fear and used mindfulness as an intervention. [11:37]
How long does it take to clean and reassemble the gun of mindfulness? [18:41]
What has Sam changed his mind about recently? [24:21]
Is there anything Sam has been particularly surprised or excited to learn about in the past year? [30:27]
Where can curious listeners find out more about Sam’s recent mushroom trip? Where can twisted listeners find out more about crocodile rape? [38:07]
Did Sam notice any persistent changes to his perception or behavior after the immediate effects of the mushrooms wore off? How does it compare to other psychedelic experiences he’s endured? [39:36]
Navigating time and in-between spaces on different psychedelics — in different increments — and returning to planet Earth and its delicious Triscuits. [46:05]
Can psychedelics kill you? Why does Sam prefer to err on the side of more over less when it comes to taking them? [50:28]
Is MDMA a psychedelic? What constitutes I? Another consequence to consider when underdosing without a sitter. [55:57]
In his youth, Sam’s LSD experiences were free from the famous “bad trips” everyone warned him about — until they weren’t. [59:42]
What we hope to see in the future for the use of psychedelics and empathogens as therapy. [1:02:32]
The messiah complex in novice users of psychedelics: You’re not Jesus. You’re not even Woody Allen. And against all instincts telling you otherwise, your grandma, nephew, and Sunday school teacher probably don’t need to do ayahuasca. Here are some great reasons to hold off on being a psychedelic evangelist after only trying these powerful compounds once or twice. [1:05:32]
Is self-quarantining an ideal time for an introductory experience with psychedelics? Well… [1:11:21]
Honestly, you couldn’t be blamed for wanting to do crazy amounts of drugs of every variety right now. These are trying times that make all of us question everything we know. [1:17:33]
What methods of relief would Sam recommend to people who are scared and suffering right now? What’s the best thing we can each do to make things easier for all of us? [1:23:22]
Worthwhile nonprofits and the most important four-word sentence you can be asking in abundance right now. [1:31:15]
Why it’s worth remembering how disruptive this emergency really is and why the stress you’re feeling is not a character flaw, but something everyone on the planet is enduring at some level right now. [1:34:20]
Stray bullets and silver linings. [1:38:34]
Parting thoughts. [1:44:14]
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Jocko Willink
Byron Katie
Donald Trump
Roland Griffiths
Terence McKenna
Jesus
Woody Allen
Rick Doblin
Kelly Starrett
Ayn Rand
Elon Musk
