Reddit Reddit reviews Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

We found 41 Reddit comments about Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Books
Self-Help
Personal Transformation Self-Help
Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
Great product!
Check price on Amazon

41 Reddit comments about Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion:

u/Vimutti · 22 pointsr/Meditation

Sam Harris, in 'Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion:'

>...it is important to distinguish between accepting unpleasant sensations and emotions as a strategy— while covertly hoping that they will go away— and truly accepting them as transitory appearances in consciousness. Only the latter gesture opens the door to wisdom and lasting change. The paradox is that we can become wiser and more compassionate and live more fulfilling lives by refusing to be who we have tended to be in the past. But we must also relax, accepting things as they are in the present, as we strive to change ourselves.

u/Reprobates · 12 pointsr/Meditation

The book, Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, is well worth your time
http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016

u/Gray_party_of_2 · 8 pointsr/AdviceAnimals

Read Sam Harris' new book 'Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion'. You can have deep moving experiences without all the mumbo jumbo.

here

u/Agent1407 · 7 pointsr/TheRedPill

I wrote here previously that I swallowed the pill through spirituality. It was when I finally managed to find inner peace alone that TRP started to work for me.

You don't even need to be religious or believe in God to learn spirituality. Sam Harris is an atheist and recently wrote an excellent book regarding it named Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion.

u/fiveifrenzy6 · 6 pointsr/Drugs
u/ritmusic2k · 6 pointsr/atheism
u/EmptyMargins · 6 pointsr/INTP

It's hard to find mediation resources that aren't swamped in religious mumbo-jumbo given that it is so heavily rooted in eastern religious tradition, but there are a few sources that aren't too bad. To complicate matters, there are a hundred different forms of mediation to look at.

Some resources:

Mindfulness in Plain English

You can buy a copy of this book, but it's available online for free if you're willing to read it off a screen. It's a very comprehensive resource for a common type of meditation. It is the most highly recommended source that is freely available online. I found it informative but I supplemented it with some other stuff online.

/r/Meditation

A decent subreddit for mediation. I'd recommend it for resources only. A lot of what is said on there is kind of group-think weirdness. The people on there can be a little extreme. It reminds me a lot of pot-advocates who like to claim that weed is the panacea. The sidebar has a number of resources you can look at.

Also, Sam Harris just released a book Waking Up. It is sitting in my 'will read' pile right now, but I see and hear a lot of people saying it is pretty good. It's meant to be a guide to mediation and its benefits from a strictly scientific perspective.

Personally, I recommend just sitting down and doing it. Don't read too much about it at first. Just commit to 5 or 10 minutes a day for at least two months. Don't skip any sessions. Consistency is key. Don't set your expectations too high, and don't get frustrated if it feels like it is not working.

Set a timer. Sit down and focus on your breath. When your mind begins to wander, return it to your breath. Rinse. Repeat.

u/heethin · 5 pointsr/DebateReligion

Instead of talking in hypotheticals, can we start recognizing that a lot of scientists are showing significant limitations in how *free* our own free-will is?

Sam Harris's Waking Up is an excellent source of insight for a layman.

Want a *simple* illustration? Think of a color. Did you have control over which color comes to your mind first?

Have you ever been enraged and ended up saying things that you really didn't want to say?

u/mmcakes · 5 pointsr/seduction

Book here.


Two good introduction videos from Sam here and here. (watch in order)

Good luck!

u/thesunmustdie · 5 pointsr/atheism

Keep in mind that you can be spiritual and/or ascetic, while remaining atheistic. Buddhism is quite neat in this regard. Also, Sam Harris just wrote a book about this very subject: http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016 I haven't read it myself, but seems well-received.

Anyway... my advice would be this: do whatever you think will bring you comfort. Go to church with your cousin if you think it will make you feel better. I know this is controversial advice on this sub, but who cares... I think your psychological wellbeing is more important than appearing outwardly consistent. Please take care of yourself. You are still incredibly young and you'd be amazed at the surprises life can throw at you -- your life could be completely different in six months from now. Keep your head up. We're here if you need to talk more.

Best wishes.

u/AintYoMomoNoMo · 3 pointsr/exmormon

Sam Harris.

Lying: http://amzn.com/B00G1SRB6Q (on sale on Audible for only 3.61)

Waking Up: http://amzn.com/1451636016

u/SargeantSpike · 3 pointsr/atheism

One of the New Atheists just wrote a popular book on spirituality. But in terms of religion in the conventional sense, yeah, we tend not to think it's healthy or helpful to believe in ancient myths. Go figure.

u/drumstikka · 3 pointsr/atheism

This dude has a great book, which I'm currently reading, called Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. Definitely recommended so far.

u/Ecliptic86 · 3 pointsr/exmormon

Sam Harris has a book about how "Spirituality" is not a term that needs to be associated with religion or any metaphysical or supernatural claims about the cosmos. It's called "Waking Up" and I would highly recommend you check it out.

And beyond that...Eastern philosophy and eastern religions (minus the supernatural stuff). There are experiences of human consciousness that are available to everyone without having to resort to drugs or irrational beliefs. Tao Te Ching is a great read.

u/matt2001 · 3 pointsr/exmormon

He has another that I'm reading: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

He practices meditation, neuroscientist.

http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016

u/jsudekum · 3 pointsr/tarot

Well, to that end, I highly recommend The Qabalistic Tarot by Robert Wang. It's dense and rigorous, but not at the expense of subtle insight. The author successfully cuts through New Age mumbo-jumbo and gets to the heart of what tarot is about.

The Hermetic Tarot deck appeals to me most. It's nearly overloaded with imagery, which allows me to get completely lost in the experience of a card. The ultimate goal is establishing unconscious intuition, of course, but a strong intellectual base can only help.

As for this comment:

>Unfortunately, I have yet to consciously connect to my higher self.

I think the whole concept of a "higher self" is a bit of a misnomer and potentially dangerous. The term keeps people searching for some threshold moment, a cut and dry experience of Enlightenment. Anyone who claims to have attained this state permanently is lying and probably selling you something. The truth is that you ARE your higher self just as you are.

I finished Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris a few weeks ago and I highly recommend it. If you're not familiar, he's a vocal member of the "New Atheist" community and is extremely critical of religion/mysticism. But despite this, he has profound insight into the nature of consciousness and how mindfulness practice changes the mind. And of course, what is tarot if not a form of mindfulness meditation?

If that seems a little too atheistic for your taste, Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell is a fantastic introduction to mythological thinking, which is crucial to understanding tarot.

All and all, every aspect of your spiritual and intellectual life will enrich your experience of tarot, so explore liberally!

u/SebiGoodTimes · 3 pointsr/TrueAtheism

My friend, you need this book.

u/wmguy · 3 pointsr/exmormon

I listened to Sam Harris' Waking Up the other day. In it he said:

Gurus fall at every point along the spectrum of moral wisdom. Charles Manson was a guru of sorts. Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, and every other patriarch and matriarch of the world's religions were as well. For our purpose, the only difference between a cult and a religion are the number of adherents and the degree to which they are marginalized by the rest of the society. Scientology remains a cult. Mormonism has (just barely) become a religion. Christianity has been a religion for more then a thousand years. But one searches in vain for differences in their respective doctrines that account for the difference in their status.

This was the nicer thing he said in his book. I'll also include the following quote for your amusement:

Joseph Smith...a libidinous con man and crackpot, was able to found a new religion on the claim that he had unearthed the final revelations of God in the hallowed precincts of Manchester, New York, written in "reformed Egyptian" on golden plates. He decoded this text with the aid of magical "seer stones," which whether by magic or not, allowed Smith to produce an English version of God's Word that was an embarrassing pastiche of plagiarisms from the Bible and silly lies about Jesus's life in America. And yet the resulting edifice of nonsense and taboo survives to this day.

u/TrollStalker · 2 pointsr/atheism

No problem. He actually has a new book out, just released today. Might be of interest to you.

u/BriMcC · 2 pointsr/bjj

>I KNOW that this is a marathon and not a sprint.
I KNOW it doesn't fucking matter how long I'm a blue belt.
I KNOW that being in BJJ means you will constantly see people surpass you and its just part of the experience, and its part of what builds character.
I KNOW all of that stuff, but my emotions don't give a shit.

You know it, but you haven't internalized it emotionally. All the knowledge in the world won't help you here. All you can do is sit with the feelings, observe them, and allow them to pass. Thinking about it only serves to magnify it.

Our thoughts are very useful in so many areas of our lives, except when they are not. Imagine you've been shot, but before you'll let the surgeon remove the bullet, you first want to know everything about the type of bullet that is logged in you, you hope that by thinking and acquiring more knowledge about your predicament you will be saved, when really you need to get the fuck out of the way and let go.

We often fundamentally misunderstand how to deal with matters of the ego, because we fundamentally misunderstand ourselves. The feeling that there is a man inside your head, a self observing from behind your eyes is an illusion, and the less time we spend thinking about it and indulging in that illusion, the better off our mental health will be.

Read this book its fucking awesome
http://smile.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016?sa-no-redirect=1

u/Sherlockian_Holmes · 2 pointsr/Nootropics

I think headspace.com is a pretty good introduction. Otherwise, I'd actually recommend doing it within a spiritual system; but some people do not like that idea. It certainly depends on once's goals. I would suggest http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016 to perhaps comprehend spirituality without religion to avoid the knee-jerk reaction.

u/totes_magoats · 2 pointsr/Buddhism

Waking Up by Sam Harris might be a good option

u/ricochet_rico · 2 pointsr/Christianity

Here's a great book by Sam Harris if you haven't read it yet. It sounds like just what you need:

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

u/motleybook · 2 pointsr/atheism

I agree that in many cases it's a "false reward", but a spiritual experience does not have to be a reward for believing in lies. The word "spiritual" isn't clearly defined and certain meanings don't involve tricking yourself.

Sam Harris, who is heavily against lying, has a book on that topic: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

And a talk: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wakingup

u/TeddyPeep · 2 pointsr/stopdrinking

One of atheism's biggest figureheads Sam Harris has recently published a book about spirituality without religion. From what you're describing, you sound like you have a harder time with religion versus spirituality. I too used to HATE any kind of reference to God or praying, but I didn't want to die and became desperate enough to try the suggestions that were given to me. Today, I still don't believe in a supernatural being and I've found a way to make AA work for me that doesn't offend my scientific sensibilities.

Here's that Sam Harris book I was talking about http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016

u/anduin2000 · 2 pointsr/DebateReligion

This is a great read on the topic.

u/uncletravellingmatt · 2 pointsr/atheism

Plenty of atheists feel spiritual. Watch this TED talk by atheist author Jonathan Haidt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MYsx6WArKY (key point: the feelings are a part of human nature, and there are many ways to pursue and explore them, not all of them religious.)

I loved Haidt's book "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" too -- as a caveat, I'm not completely sold on the 'group selection' theory of evolution that he sounded somewhat sympathetic to in the book, but he's not a die-hard about it like E.O.Wilson either, and in a few places he seemed to mis-characterize some points by Richard Dawkins, but overall Haidt is an original thinker who has a different perspective on several issues than some more prominent atheist writers, and certainly a sensitivity to the key imporance of spirituality in humans.

You might also consider Sam Harris's book "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion" which is mostly a how-to manual about how you might achieve the meditation techniques that he likes. His understanding of the word "spirituality" seems to be more Buddhist (nurturing and exploring the self, alleviating suffering) rather than groupish collective-feeling as Haidt uses the term, but it too was an interesting perspective.

u/eddyeK · 2 pointsr/Meditation

For more great insights, I'd recommend his latest book Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion.

u/StAlfonso · 2 pointsr/atheism

What is r/atheism opinions on Sam Harris's spiritual belief and does anyone on this subreddit plan to read his new book Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion?

http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016

u/Frigzy · 1 pointr/asktrp

Waking up by Sam Harris is a very interesting read on this subject. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451636016/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451636016&linkCode=as2&tag=wireli08-20&linkId=CSLQO2UCBZ5KBF6U

For meditation, I recommend starting by reading this book and to take it from there. Meditation in essence is a technique to help you break through conditioning so don't expect miracles from the start. Master the technique and see from there. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0861719069/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0861719069&linkCode=as2&tag=wireli08-20&linkId=PCE4EPUARK5PAQPB

Other than the two resources mentioned above, I would recommend to practice love and compassion towards yourself whenever you're in need of guidance by thinking of the person you love the most. Use visualization to picture that person in your very situation and from there, think of how you would advise that person to act in their best interest. The next step would be to visualize yourself in their position and ask how you would advise yourself (being the person you love the most) to act in your own best interest.

The exercise might seem a bit awkward at first, but it's a way of channeling your deepest sensation of love and using it for your own benefit. Often it makes the right decisions because it keeps your strengths, weaknesses and preferences in mind like no other.

By using meditation to break through conditioning, and combining that with the practice of self love, you're well on your way to reach your true self without actually giving up on real life and join a monastry.

I'm definitely not there yet myself, but at the very least I can say I'm heading in the general direction, which on itself already feels deeply fulfilling. Never hesitate to look deeper!

u/mnfprdt · 1 pointr/NoFap

Stopping PMO isn't a magical panacea, but it is one vital component of a broader project of mental well-being.

If you haven't done so already, start a daily meditation regimen and see how that works for you. It's not magic either, but it has helped me, and many others report positive results.

If you're interested and unfamiliar with this territory, Sam Harris has some nice guided meditation audio here: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/mindfulness-meditation

I also recommend Sam Harris' new book Waking Up.

u/xnonnymous · 1 pointr/Christianity

There's something else I'd like to mention. Evangelicals aren't just actively avoiding the evidence of basic observations of the universe, they're actively avoiding proper religious experiences as well. Very few of them have ever had one. It's worth knowing that you can. You don't have to be an epileptic to have a Damascus Road experience, and you don't have to spend a month delirious and fasting dehydrated in the wilderness in order to go through a genuine metaphysical event.

The two reasonably safe ways that I know of to induce a religious experience are drugs and meditation (I'm not saying all drugs are safe, but the most relevant ones, psilocybin for instance, are very safe at the relevant doses).

You don't have to be Jesus Christ to experience overwhelming genuine selfless love for all people. You just have to ingest a bit of MDMA.

Here's a Sam Harris article/podcast on drugs: http://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/drugs-and-the-meaning-of-life
For further drug research, https://www.erowid.org is a good place to start.

And here's a link to Harris's book on meditation (no supernatural beliefs required):
http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016/

Your experience of the world is directly mediated by your brain chemistry. By altering that (either immediately and temporarily through drugs, or slowly but in a lasting way through meditation) you can experience first hand exactly what all those prophets were on about. If I'd lived thousands of years ago without the benefit of contemporary knowledge and I'd have had this sort of experience, I'd have thought it was Divine too. Ultimately, it's just a trick of the mind. But it's worth doing once. So that you've seen it for yourself, so that you can know they weren't silly for believing in the gods, just lacking the benefit of contemporary science.

"Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. We will one day understand what causes it, and then cease to call it divine. And so it is with everything in the universe."
-Hippocrates

u/Jen33 · 1 pointr/AskWomen

Somewhat, and I recommend this book for anyone interested in spirituality cleft from religion.

u/chrisoffner3d_ · 1 pointr/de

Genau deswegen glaube ich auch, dass wir dringend eine Spiritualität ohne Religion (Kapitel 1 zum Probehören/-lesen) brauchen. Rational, ethisch, wissenschaftlich vertretbar und psychologisch/emotional hilfreich.

u/BitterJD · 1 pointr/TwoXChromosomes

I totally understand where you are coming from; I just think you are interpreting "religion has no place in today's society" differently than -- say -- the typical atheist millennial. I grew up very much a Christian, but I distinctly remember abhorring portions of Christian doctrine I found hateful, sexist, etc. However, the reason I remained religious -- meaning a subscriber to Christianity and those aforementioned things that I frowned upon -- was because of Pascal's Wager. Oddly enough, as a sheltered college student, my first exposure to atheism as a reasonable concept was in the Major League Gaming Thought Provoking Discussion forums circa 2007. Anyhow, I suppose where we are currently disagreeing is purely a semantical issue; namely, the definition of religion.

I don't see how one could subscribe to, say, Catholicism and support abortion. A lot of these progressive "Catholics" like the late Ted Kennedy who supported abortion aren't really Catholics in my book -- as they are somehow picking and choosing favorable and disfavorable tenets from an existing religion. As a result, they are simply spiritual as opposed to religious.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of atheist douche bags online, but I would be hesitant to conclude that an atheist stating "religion has no place in today's society" is one of those atheist douche bags -- as atheists tend to embrace that aforementioned tenuous religious v. spiritual dichotomy. The latest Sam Harris book, despite his flair for controversy, does a great job at advocating spirituality/believing in God without any semblance of religiosity --> http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016/ref=la_B001H6UFQ0_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412915656&sr=1-1

u/Axulus · 1 pointr/atheism

"What about all of those "convictions" and powerful emotions I felt during services when I was younger? If there's no god what were those feelings?"

You may be interested in picking up Sam Harris' book coming out in two weeks: "Waking up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion" where he is going to go in depth to those type of feelings.

http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Spirituality-Without-Religion/dp/1451636016

Also check out the first chapter for free:

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/chapter-one

u/pickup_sticks · 1 pointr/intj

Atheist, but I'm also spiritual. Check out Sam Harris' Waking Up if you're wondering how that's possible.

u/[deleted] · -3 pointsr/atheism

> I don't see what you see at all.

Okay, you really want me to break it down because I can?

So, we have atheism. Atheism started as people who were religious who wanted to stop being religious and to free other people from being religious.

Good plan. The problem is they are religious. What does that mean? Religion started with people and it ended with people....but it never ended, it just became a new thing. People can be religious about a lot of things, movies, tv, art, comics, politics, etc. It exists everywhere.

The same is happening with atheism.

Lets break down what a religion is:

Religion

> A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.

Okay. So we have a starting point.

You're saying that atheism doesn't have any similarities to religious organizations? Lets start.

The Catholic League

This is an organization set up to defend the civil rights of Catholics and is a semi-political organization representing Catholics.

The American Atheists

This is an organization set up to defend the civil rights of atheists and is a semi-political organization representing atheists.

Atheists routinely call Christians "Bible thumpers" because they wave around and glorify books which they deem of social and moral importance. They also quote those books constantly when debating people on the subject of god and religion......

You...Can't...Be...Serious...

This one gets me the most because you fuckers literally just have to post pictures of having this book and you upvote it to high hell. That's like a Christian liking Jesus memes on facebook.

You have leaders who push your messages and agendas and give you social, personal, and "spiritual" outlooks and guidelines for life.

Neil Tyson, Bill Nye, Christopher Hitchens (RIP), Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris.

I can literally type in the names of any of those men and you have memes of them out the asshole.

How is this?

Different from this?

Sam Harris is especially guilty on this part because he is actually trying to reclaim the word "Spiritual" and attach an atheist mindset where you can have a spiritual outlook on life without have any sort of religious attachments.

The book cover is a picture of an invisible man in the sky.

Lets also not forget.

The atheists are pushing for "atheist chaplains".

A chaplain:

> a member of the clergy attached to a private chapel, institution, ship, branch of the armed forces, etc.

You can't see that as a problem?

Dude, it's becoming a religion. I get that you take offense to that but you can't look at the mirrored points and say it isn't moving toward that.