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Sam Harris giving a lecture at the 2007 Atheist
Alliance International Conference about the problem with atheism,
the need to use reason, and the usefulness of meditation.
The first part is about the word "atheist." The
section on meditation begins at 23:25.
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Sam answers audience questions about
atheism, dualism, spirituality, consciousness, and meditation
at the 2007 Atheist Alliance International Conference. Sam replies
adeptly to the last question posed by Dan Dennett (an admitted
practitioner of TM) toward the end of the video about whether
it's necessary to spend so much time meditating. |
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Questions of good and evil, right
and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But
Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority
on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes
a good life. |
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Sam Harris talks about the importance
of openly debating and discussing religious views as the most
important means to affect a positive impact on the world. Considering
all of the ways in which religion negatively affects us, if
we could change our religious beliefs, it would have the most
far-reaching impact on humanity of anything we could do. He
posits that religious moderation is a roadblock to progress,
and recommends reason and intellectual honesty as the best guide
for religious discussion.
"Whatever is true spiritually and ethically about our
circumstance...there is no doubt there are spiritual truths...there
are spiritual experiences human beings can have...and there
are ethical truths. Whatever is true about that has to transcend
culture; it has to transcend our cultural differences. There's
a reason why we don't talk about Christian physics and Muslim
mathematics. It's because an experiment run here and in Bagdad
actually works in both places if it's teasing out something
fundamental about the nature of the universe. That is true
ethically; that is true spiritually." -- Sam Harris
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Misconceptions about Atheism
July 4, 2007
Aspen Ideas Festival
"There's nothing that prevents an atheist from going
into a cave for a year or a decade practicing meditation like
a proper mystic. What atheists don't tend to do is make unjustified
or unjustifiable claims about the cosmos based on those experiences."
-- Sam Harris
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Why I Criticize Religion |
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Why Do We Need Religion? |
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Choosing the Right Religion |
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| Debates |
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Sam
Harris & Michael Shermer vs Deepak Chopra & Jean
Houston
The Future of God |
| It's Time to Upgrade Science |
The Scheme of Religion |
Deepak Resents Credentials Question |
Stop Using Fuzzy Words |
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| The Story Is Changing |
Science Can Explain Life |
Sam Harris to Deepak Chopra: Don't Pretend |
Spirituality Is Not Going Away |
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| Scientist Take on Deepak's Science |
Deepak Chopra's Teachings Helped Heal Me |
How Do We Distinguish What Is True |
Closing Sentiments |
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