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

Huberman Lab Clips

7 Jan 202309:18

Summary

TLDRThe 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.

Outlines

00:00

😕 False assumptions underlying the logic of meditation

The paragraph discusses some false assumptions in the logic underlying meditation practice. It uses an anecdote of a tourist bus where an Asian woman goes missing but later realizes she was the missing woman to draw an analogy to the meditative journey. Just as the search party's logic was erroneous, assumptions about finding the self through meditation are also misguided. The self or center of experience cannot be found through seeking, similar to how the search party does not find the woman as expected.

05:03

😌 The illusion of a seeker or looker separate from experience

The paragraph further analyzes the illusion of a seeker or looker separate from present moment experience during meditation. When you pay attention to the breath or sounds, the notion that there is a 'you' over here doing that is just thought. This undercurrent of thought creating a subject/object duality goes unseen. The practice involves continually looking for this assumed mind/center of experience and recognizing the error in its formation, leading to an unexpected dropping away rather than a fulfillment through seeking.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡meditation

Meditation refers to the practice of focusing one's attention in order to achieve greater awareness and insight. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses how the logic and expectations people often have about meditation are flawed. He explains that people often approach meditation as a way to find or improve themselves, not realizing that the self they believe exists is an illusion. The point is that meditation leads to the insight that there is no substantive self to be found, which happens in an unexpected way, not through fulfilling the seeker's goals.

💡self

The concept of the self or one's sense of personal identity. The speaker argues that most people feel an unsatisfactory sense of self, seen as the root of unhappiness, distraction, etc. People then take up meditation to find their "true self" or make their self better in some way. However, a key insight from meditation is that this sense of self is an illusion - there is no substantive, permanent entity that can be improved. Instead, the self "dissolves" upon close inspection.

💡attention

The act of focusing one's concentration or awareness. Meditation often involves paying attention to something like the breath. The speaker points out the illusion that there is a "you" that is paying attention from some removed point - rather, attention dissolving the sense of self reveals that consciousness is all there is.

💡search

The idea of seeking something, like seeking to improve yourself through meditation. The speaker uses the metaphor of a search party looking for a missing tourist, who turns out to be part of the search party itself. This parallels how meditation often involves wrongly believing there is a substantive self that is seeking some enlightened state.

💡logic

Reasoning and assumptions. The speaker contends most people's logic about meditation and the self is fundamentally flawed. We wrongly believe there is an unsatisfactory self that can be improved through finding some truer self. Proper meditation reveals there is no substantive or permanent self underlying consciousness.

💡process

The practice or journey of meditation and self-realization. The speaker stresses that while meditation promises to improve the self through some process, it actually works by revealing the illusion of that substantive self. So the process and logic most people expect does not match the actual mechanics of insight.

💡enlightenment

A state of heightened wisdom, clarity, or liberation from suffering. Though we may take up meditation to attain enlightenment and improve ourselves, the speaker suggests that real enlightenment comes from the dissolution of the sense of self, which was the source of suffering to begin with. It happens in an unexpected way.

💡thought

The experience of thinking or cognitive perceptions arising in consciousness. The speaker notes that the sense of being an observing subject or "self" is simply a form of uninspected thought or thinking that has not been consciously noticed in the moment of paying attention. As thought is noticed, the illusion of stable selfhood subsides.

💡subject

The sense of oneself as a subjective perceiver of experience, as opposed to an external object. The feeling there is a stable "self" observing reality or one's own inner states. The speaker claims dismissing this illusion of being an enduring subjective self is key to meditation leading to liberation rather than self-improvement.

💡perception

One's interpretation or awareness of reality, often shaped by our subjective point of view rather than things as they objectively are. In terms of meditative insights, learning to distinguish perception from reality allows one to see the constructed and impermanent nature of the seeming egoic self observing subjective perceptions.

Highlights

There are false assumptions in the logic of the meditative process that are worth addressing

The story of the missing Asian tourist illustrates the flawed logic of seeking enlightenment

The Asian woman unknowingly joins the search party looking for herself

At some point the Asian woman realizes the search party is looking for her

The problem is not solved through the expected logic of the search

There is an analogy between this story and the structure of the meditative journey

Meditation often starts from a place of seeing oneself as the problem needing a solution

The logic and angle of seeking enlightenment is inherently flawed

What you are seeking is right on the surface, not somewhere to be found

There is no separate 'you' doing the seeking or paying attention

The sense of a subjective 'you' is actually just uninspected thought

The search party is formed in error, based on a false premise

The problem evaporates unexpectedly, not through fulfilling the original search

The metaphor of directions shows the absurdity of 'getting there' from the starting point

The sense of subjective 'you' does not make the journey to realization