Sam Harris On Direct Experience Vs Science

[art]

 

He is critical of direct experience as "proof", saying we should make a clear distinction between direct experience and making claims about the way cosmos is. He also comment on Deepek Chopra, calling him a charlatan, defender of pseudospirituality and pseudoscience, and even Deepek is explaining legimitate claims about the character of the experience of meditation, it is not how "it works".

@Leo Gura What are your thoughts on this? Direct experience vs Science

 

[Prabhaker]

1 hour ago, art said:

He is critical of direct experience as "proof"

When he experienced beauty, love ; was he critical of his direct experience ?

[WaveInTheOcean]

Sam Harris is pretty spot on to be honest.

[Dodo]

Sam Harris was the one that got me interested in spirituality and meditation to be honest. Because I was very into the illusion of free will and really like his down to earth point of view. First meditation I did was a guided meditation by him.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Dodoster

[abrakamowse]

Sam Harris is awesome, I like a lot of his stuff. He helped me to understand free will (that we don't have really free will). But...

Lol... after the but comes the axe. 

He thinks that there's something objetive out there, that you can see objectively and there's not such a thing. We can't see objectively, that why direct experience is Key.  You can't find the truth if you think that everything out there is true. We can't perceive truth, we have to experience.

But, is my subjective opinion. Lol

[Dodo]

5 minutes ago, abrakamowse said:

Sam Harris is awesome, I like a lot of his stuff. He helped me to understand free will (that we don't have really free will). But...

Lol... after the but comes the axe. 

He thinks that there's something objetive out there, that you can see objectively and there's not such a thing. We can't see objectively, that why direct experience is Key.  You can't find the truth if you think that everything out there is true. We can't perceive truth, we have to experience.

But, is my subjective opinion. Lol

Isn't it the case that it could both be true and not true. If the whole of objective reality is subjective reality to a being AKA God almighty (The infinite infinity Leo talked about) , it is real, no? You assume that since you are not the subject for it, it is not an object to some-infinite-thing-subject.

Maybe I don't knw what im talking about, but does anyone?

Edited January 2, 2017 by Dodoster

[abrakamowse]

1 minute ago, Dodoster said:

Isn't it the case that it could both be true and not true. If the whole of objective reality is subjective reality to a being AKA God almighty (The infinite infinity Leo talked about) , it is real, no? You assume that since you are not the subject for it, it is not a subject to some-infinite-thing.

Maybe I don't knw what im talking about, but does anyone?

When that happens I always remember "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao"

[Guest SC GM]

The video does not show up for me:-( Is the problem just on my end?

[abrakamowse]

@SC GM  it seems it have been banned, maybe due to copyright infringement or the user deleted it.

[Joel3102]

I see Sam Harris as someone who's kind of got one foot in both camps. If you read his stuff on free will and the no self, he clearly sees the importance of direct experience. Like I remember an interview where he explains no free will and he argued it from a direct experience point of view rather than pure neuroscience. And he has studied and meditated with practitioners of Advaita Vedanta and so on. 

However he still defends the standard scientific, materialist, rationalist paradigm.  He's made such a reputation in that camp that I doubt he'd allow himself to be ostracised by his academic mates for admitting non-dual truths even if he recognised them.

Edited January 3, 2017 by Joel3102

[WelcometoReality]

@art Enlightenment is a subjective truth. It cannot be shown in science and that is why direct experience is key. Science does have it's uses but it is simply a tool, a tool one uses in ones direct experience. Everything one has experienced is within ones direct experience.

So there is no science vs direct experience. Without direct experience there would be no science.