Waking Up - Sam Harris

paradox of spiritual seeking = the deepest goal of spirituality is freedom from the illusion of the self - and to seek such freedom, as though it were a future state to be attained through effort, is to reinforce the chains of one's apparent bondage in each moment.

the urge to attain self-transcendence or any other mystical experience is a symptom of the very disease we want to cure.

Consciousness is already free of anything that remotely resembles a self - and there is nothing that you can do, as an illusory ego, to realize this.

most effort arises from the very illusion of bondage that one is seeking to overcome.
[If bondage to the self is an illusion, then how can mindfulness of the illusion free one from the bondage, the bondage was never real]

If freedom is possible, there must be some mode of ordinary consciousness in which it can be expressed?

[If "I" am going to die, who or what is the "I" that is going to die?]

"The mind is a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts arise because there is a thinker. The thinker is the ego. The ego, if sought, will automatically vanish." Ramana Maharshi

[ mind = thoughts (caused by) thinker; therefore, if thinker is sought, thinker vanishes, and thoughts vanish. If thoughts are sought, thoughts vanish and thinker vanishes]

Direct method = Reality is simply the loss of the ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. Because ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself.

[the problem is reality is not simply the loss of the ego. In fact, the ego, the thinker, and the thoughts produced are an intricate part of the fabric of reality]

Consciousness is the prior condition of every experience; the self or ego is an illusory appearance within it; look closely for what you are calling "I," and the feeling of being a separate self will disappear; what remains, as a matter of experience, is a field of consciousness - free, undivided, and intrinsically uncontaminated by its ever-changing contents.

Today, a red-golden leafs falls aimlessly to the ground,
only yesterday, it seems, it was a green bud in spring
that clung tenaciously to its tree for life
deriving its essence and giving back sustenance;
Only, tragically, it seems, to finally release its grip.
Blown, raked, and swept into a pile,
it is, seemingly, no more clinging or falling.
Looking back, it seems, it was only an illusion.
a thing, seemingly, that once never was.
a thing, seemingly, forever no more.
pondering a leaf, it seems the illusion is only an illusion.

thinking about what is beyond thought is still thought... Being able to stand perfectly free of the feeling of self is the start of one's spiritual journey, not its end.
[a glimpse of selflessness is still self-ful. The only way to get a glimpse of selflessness is to be unaware of it.]

mindfulness must be synonymous with dispelling the illusion of the self....one "takes the goal as the path," freedom from self is the very thing one practices.

consciousness is intrinsically free of self... the truth of nonduality, once glimpsed, is obvious and always available. self transcendence is the experience that there is no self to transcend.

the implied center of cognition and emotion simply falls away, and it is obvious that consciousness is never truly confined by what it knows. That which is aware of sadness is not sad. That which is aware of fear is not fearful.

thoughts and emotions arise in consciousness the way that images appear on the surface of a mirror.

[consciousness is the mirror, you are consciousness, you are the mirror]

Meditation doesn't entail the suppression of thoughts, but it does require we notice them as they arise and that we recognize their transitory nature

consciousness is free. Meditation is the practice of of finding this freedom, by breaking one's identification with the thoughts and emotions that arise, and to experience them just as they are.

"I" am not even an ingredient, necessary or not, of my own mind, much less of the universe.

selflessness is not a deep feature of consciousness; it is on the surface.

If you are in pain, there is a simple way out. Accept the pain as it arises and do not fight it. It is a transitory experience.

“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self”.  Albert Einstein

“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. The striving to free oneself from this delusion is the one issue of true religion. Not to nourish it but to try to overcome it is the way to reach the attainable measure of peace of mind.”
Albert Einstein

boredom - is simply a lack of attention

many people renounce the world because they cannot find a place in it

there is only consciousness and its contents; there is no inner self who is conscious.

The truth is that, whatever happens after death, it is possible to justify a life of spiritual practice and self-transcendence without pretending to know things we do not know.

Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness... Every waking moment - and even in our dreams - we struggle to direct the flow of sensation, emotion, and cognition toward states of consciousness we value.

the brain does exclude an extraordinary amount of information from consciousness.

One thing is certain: The mind is vaster and more fluid that our ordinary, waking consciousness suggests.

Happiness and suffering, however extreme, are mental events. The mind depends on the body, and the body upon the world, but everything good or bad that happens in your life must appear in consciousness to matter.

consciousness has no form because anything that would give it form must arise withing consciousness. Consciousness is simply the light which the contours of mind and body are known... Consciousness can appear to take shape for a time, but over time it is possible to recognize it never does.... Consciousness is itself divisible, as in the split-brain patients, but even in intact brains consciousness is blind and unaware of most of what the mind is doing. Everything we believe ourselves to be.... depends upon distinct processes that we are unaware of and don't fully understand, and are spread our over the whole brain.... The sense therefore that we are unified subjects - the unchanging thinker of our thoughts is an illusion. The self we experience can only be experienced in the present moment for it is a transitory experience. Each of us is identical to same principles that bring value to the universe

We are always and everywhere in the presence of reality. Indeed, the human mind is the most complex and subtle expression of reality that we have thus far experienced.

[There is nothing we think or do in this life or in this world, that can be undone in another life or another world. If there is a reality that is larger and more vast than the one we experience, then we are already a part of it.]