logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2018
1h 38m

#342: Sam Harris, Ph.D. — How to Master ...

Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig
About this episode

Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D in neuroscience from UCLA. Sam is the host of the Waking Up podcast, and he is the author of multiple books including The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz).

This experimental episode came about because a few months back Sam asked me to be a beta tester for his Waking Up meditation app that he was creating at the time. It was recently released, and I highly recommend it. I anticipated it would be good because Sam's work is always good, and he's one of those rare humans who seems to think and speak in finished prose, and he has a voice that can very easily lull you into a semi-psychedelic state while you are completely sober. You'll hear what I mean soon.

Sam has a unique combination of experiences and areas of expertise, and his approach is that of a logical progression of layering on different types of training for learning the skill of meditation. In this episode, Sam will discuss his experiences with MDMA, his spiritual exploration, contact with so-called gurus, duality versus non-duality, and lots more. If you want to dive right into a beginner level guided meditation, skip to [52:32].

Make sure to check out the bonus episode that is released at the same time as this one if you enjoy what you find here and want to jump straight to the guided meditations. The bonus episode also features additional content from Sam not found in the longer episode. Enjoy! 

This episode is brought to you by LegalZoom. I've used this service for many of my businesses, as have quite a few of the icons on this podcast including Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg of WordPress fame.

LegalZoom is a reliable resource that more than a million people have already trusted for everything from setting up wills, proper trademark searches, forming LLCs, setting up non-profits, or finding simple cease-and-desist letter templates.

LegalZoom is not a law firm, but it does have a network of independent attorneys available in most states who can give you advice on the best way to get started, provide contract reviews, and otherwise help you run your business with complete transparency and up-front pricing. Check out LegalZoom.com and enter promo code TIM at checkout today for special savings and see how the fine folks there can make life easier for you and your business.

This podcast is also brought to you by Athletic GreensI get asked all the time, “If you could only use one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is, inevitably, Athletic GreensIt is my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body and did not get paid to do so. As a listener of The Tim Ferriss Show, you will receive a one-off supply of 20 free Athletic Greens Travel Packs, valued at $99.95. To order yours, visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim.

***

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!

For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.

Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.

For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.

Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please fill out the form at tim.blog/sponsor.

Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.

Follow Tim:

Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss 

Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss

Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss 

YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss

Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Sep 30
#829: James Nestor — Breathing Protocols to Reboot Your Health, Fix Your Sleep, and Boost Performance
James Nestor is a science journalist and the author of the international bestseller Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, with more than three million copies sold in 44 languages.This episode is brought to you by:Helix Sleep premium mattresses: https://HelixSleep.com/Tim (27% of ... Show More
1h 50m
Sep 24
#828: David Senra — How Extreme Winners Think and Win: Lessons from 400+ of History’s Greatest Founders and Investors (Including Buffett, Munger, Rockefeller, Jobs, Ovitz, Zell, and Names You Don’t Know But Should)
David Senra is the host of the Founders podcast. For the past nine years, David has intensely studied the life and work of hundreds of history’s greatest entrepreneurs. His new podcast, David Senra, showcases conversations with the best-of-the-best living founders and extreme win ... Show More
2h 55m
Sep 16
#827: Pablos Holman — One of The Scariest Hackers I’ve Ever Met
Pablos Holman is a hacker and inventor and the author of Deep Future: Creating Technology that Matters, the indispensable guide to deep tech. Previously, Pablos worked on spaceships at Blue Origin and helped build The Intellectual Ventures Lab to invent a wide variety of breakthr ... Show More
2h 31m
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
Sam Harris ON: How To Break Your Social Media Habits & Ways to Master Your Anxious Thoughts
Today, I sit down with Sam Harris to talk about dealing with extreme emotions and pursuing your purpose. We discuss our freedom to pursue beliefs we want to support, how to approach meditation with maturity and incorporate it into our daily life, the crippling effects of spending ... Show More
1h 29m
Apr 2024
Tim Ferriss Opens Up: What I Do In A Day, Unfair Advantages & The "Barbell Strategy"
Episode 576: Shaan Puri ( https://twitter.com/ShaanVP ) sits down with Tim Ferriss ( https://twitter.com/tferriss ) to talk about his latest lifestyle experiments and how to spend a perfect 24-hours. Want to see Sam and Shaan’s smiling faces? Head to the MFM YouTube Channel and s ... Show More
1h 13m
Feb 2024
TIP609: Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb
On today’s episode, Clay reviews Nassim Taleb’s book – Fooled by Randomness.Nassim Taleb is a Lebanon-born American mathematician and statistician whose work concerns problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty. He’s very well known for his popular books, including The B ... Show More
1 h
Feb 2024
TIP610: Mastermind Q1, 2024 w/ Tobias Carlisle and Hari Ramachandra
In today's episode, Stig Brodersen speaks to Tobias Carlisle and Hari Ramachandra. Stig only owns five individual stocks, and in this episode, he outlines why he is still bullish on Spotify. Hari’s pick, Disney, has recently been extremely volatile, and Tobias pitches Mueller Ind ... Show More
1h 26m
Dec 2023
Why You Need a Will and Maybe a Trust with Patrick Hicks
Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter.  In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco speaks with Patrick Hicks of Trust and Will about the ins and outs of estate planning. Patrick explains why it’s crucial for everyone—not just the wealthy—to unde ... Show More
44m 55s
Aug 2018
Dr. Daniel Siegel | Wheel of Awareness
Professor of psychiatry and NYT bestselling author Dr. Daniel Siegel talks with me about the mind and his new book Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence.  Show love by rating the show on iTunes! It makes the source of being happy and helps bring more guests you’d like to he ... Show More
1 h
Feb 2024
The Science of Generosity: Why It Makes You Happier and How To Do It Effectively (It Doesn’t Need To Involve Money) | Chris Anderson
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers. --- How to cultivate a generosity mindset— and make a good thing less boring. Chris Anderson is the curator of TED. He is the author of New York Times bestseller ... Show More
1h 13m
Jul 2021
Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch || Dear Therapists
Today it’s great to chat with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch on the podcast. Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, which has sold over a million copies and is currently being adapted as a television series. In a ... Show More
57m 2s
Nov 2017
501: PERSONAL - Tim Sanders, love your way to the top
Tim Sanders brings love into the workplace. No, we are not talking anything elicit, we are talking about possibly the number one way and fastest to accelerate your career, business, income and life. Tim knows what he is talking about, as he  spent most of his early career on the ... Show More
1h 20m