Meditation & Searching for The Self | Dr. Sam Harris & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Summary

The transcript discusses the illusion of self and the futility of seeking it directly through meditation. It uses analogies of a tourist who joins a search party looking for herself without realizing it, and someone asking for directions to a destination they cannot logically reach from their starting point. The key insight is that the subjective 'self' constructed in our minds does not make the journey to enlightenment intact - it comes apart through properly inspecting our moment-to-moment experience. Like a fist trying to become an open hand, the contracted sense of self releases rather than progresses in the traditional goal-oriented sense.

Takeaways

• 😀 The script discusses a story of a tourist bus where an Asian woman changed clothes and was then searched for by her fellow travelers who didn't recognize her
• 😮 The woman joins the search party looking for herself without realizing it due to language barriers and confusion
• 🤔 The metaphor is used to illustrate aspects of the meditative journey - looking for the 'self' but not finding it as expected
• 💡 There is a false assumption in believing there is a solid, fixed 'self' that is the root of unhappiness that must be found and transformed
• 🔍 Meditation reveals the illusion of this subjective self when examined closely enough
• 😶 Just as the tourist realizes she is what the search party seeks, there is a similar dropping away of the illusion of self in meditation
• 🧘‍♂️ The self or subjective center is actually constructed out of uninspected thought rather than being an inherent existing thing
• 📝 The logic and expectations around meditation finding and improving the self are inaccurate
• ⏳ There is no fist or fixed self that gets better, but rather a coming apart of the constructed sense of self
• 😌 The self evaporates unexpectedly rather than being fulfilled or transformed into something better through practice

Q & A

What is the parable the speaker references about the missing tourist?

The parable is about a tour bus with about 30 people that stopped at a rest area. An Asian woman on the bus changed her clothes while there. When everyone got back on the bus, they realized the Asian woman was missing. However, she had just changed her clothes and no one recognized her. She joined the search party looking for herself without realizing it.

How does the parable of the missing tourist relate to the process of meditation according to the speaker?

The speaker argues there are parallels in the structure and logic between the experience of the missing tourist searching for herself and the meditator searching for the self or center of experience in meditation. In both cases, what is being searched for is already present in the searching itself.

What false assumption does the speaker say people often make about the process of meditation?

The speaker says there is often an assumption that through meditation, we start out with an unenlightened self with problems, and we search for and finally discover the enlightened self. He argues this logic is actually backwards or flawed.

What does the speaker say actually happens as we practice meditation?

The speaker says that rather than the sense of self being brought along and transformed through meditation, it actually 'evaporates' or drops out unexpectedly. He uses the analogy of a fist trying to become an open hand - the fist itself does not transform, but comes apart.

What is the purpose of the analogy about asking for directions to Central Park?

This analogy highlights the absurdity of the idea that there is nowhere you can't get to from where you start. The speaker relates this to how the subjective sense of self does not get brought along the meditative path to enlightenment in the way we expect.

What does the speaker say is the actual object of inspection and looking in meditation?

He says rather than there being an actual self that we inspect, it is the thoughts and the sense of being a subject located somewhere that should be investigated. This sense of being a localized subject is revealed as just more thinking.

What is the relevance of the tourist being Asian, according to the speaker?

The speaker says the relevance is that there were likely language barriers that contributed to her not realizing the search party was looking for her.

Where does the speaker say this parable of the missing tourist originated from?

He says he came across this story on the internet about 12 or 13 years prior, and believes it took place on a tourist bus in northern Europe, possibly in Norway.

What does the speaker say happens from the tourist's point of view?

He says from her perspective, she joined the search party looking for the missing tourist, not realizing that missing tourist was actually herself.

How does the speaker relate the fist analogy to the sense of being a subject?

He relates the fist trying to become an open hand to the sense of being a localized subject - just as the fist itself does not transform, the sense of being a subject does not get brought along the meditative path in the way we expect.