Post #1958777

2026-04-24 12:38 UTC

Reading Sam Harris&#39;s &quot;Waking Up&quot; gives the same vibes as when I read &quot;the Satanic Bible&quot; by Anton Levay. It has interesting ideas and actionable advice to improve my spiritual life through meditation and contemplation, but it also refuses to present that in an isolated way because both books are positioned against something. The Satanic bible isn&#39;t just self help its self help WHILE ALSO hating Christians. Waking Up isn&#39;t just a book on consciousness and meditation its that WHILE ALSO being mean about the traditions that spawned the ideas. Its the exact hateful tone that pushed me far outside of the Nu-Atheist movement a life time ago and its still gross. #atheism #meditation #religion #conciousness

Replies (2)

@Nagaram@hachyderm.io 2026-04-24 12:38

This would genuinely be a better book if Sam didn't feel the need to remind the reader every few pages that the notion of god is ridiculous or that reincarnation is a fantasy. It makes it feel unfocused and unprofessional. Less like a guide to spirituality for non believers and more like a rant against all sorts of religious beliefs with the occasional "Oh but you can do that too. So long as you don't believe its god" I do sympathize a bit in that I agree with what line hes wanting to toe between rational evidence discussion and experiential manual. He wants to write a book on the science of consciousness and also a guide on how and why we should meditate to experience a "higher self" without using any of the airy, woo-y language of traditional meditative schools. He's just too much of a dickhead to respect the ideas enough to properly secularize them.

Open ##2215320
@housepanther@social.goblackcat.com 2026-04-24 12:44

@Nagaram@hachyderm.io That's kind of an interesting take and I get the hate directed towards Christians because of all of the damage they have done throughout the years. But rather than hate, I'd like to be able to find a way to bring them over to #atheism

Open ##2215322