Question: Do you have any existential worries?
Sam Harris: Well I do have existential worries. And I, I think like everybody else, am concerned about death. You know it’s . . . Death is, in some ways, unacceptable. It’s just an astonishing fact of our being here that we die; but I think worse than that is if we live long enough, we lose everyone we love in this world. I mean people die and disappear, and we’re left with this stark mystery: just the sheer not knowing of what happened to them. And into this void, religion comes rushing with a very consoling story saying, “Nothing happened to them. They’re in a better place, and you’re gonna meet up with them after you die. You’re gonna get everything you want after you die. Death is an illusion.” There’s no question that that . . . if you could believe it, that would pay emotional dividends. I mean there’s no other story you can tell somebody who has lost her daughter to cancer, say, to make her feel good. You know, it is consoling to believe that the daughter was just taken up with Jesus, and everyone’s gonna be reunited in a few short years. There’s no replacement for that. There doesn’t need to be a replacement for that. I think we have to be . . . We have to just witness the cost of that. There are many obvious costs of that way of thinking. One is we just don’t teach people how to grieve. You know, religion is the epitome, the antithesis of teaching your children how to grieve. You tell your child that, “Grandma is in heaven”, and there’s nothing to be sad about. That’s religion. It would be better to equip your child for the reality of this life, which is, you know, we . . . death is a fact. And we don’t know what happens after death. And I’m not pretending to know that you get a dial tone after death. I don’t know what happens after the physical brain dies. I don’t know what the relationship between consciousness and the physical world is. I don’t think anyone does know. Now I think there are many reasons to be doubtful of naïve conceptions about the soul, and about this idea that you could just migrate to a better place after death. But I simply don’t know about what . . . I don’t know what I believe about death. And I don’t think it’s necessary to know in order to live as sanely and ethically and happily as possible. I don’t think you get . . . You don’t get anything worth getting by pretending to know things you don’t know.
Recorded on: July 4 2007
Discuss
Jordon Roy Gowans on January 30, 2008, 12:14 PM
Progress requires death. You and your computer will eventually become obsolete when your capacities to adapt to trends decline. Accident causes death. Dinosaurs died off due to uncontrollable events. Perhaps progress will be the end of the human species; perhaps accident will be the end of the human species. In any case, death is not to be feared.
Jordon Roy Gowans on January 30, 2008, 5:14 PM
Progress requires death. You and your computer will eventually become obsolete when your capacities to adapt to trends decline. Accident causes death. Dinosaurs died off due to uncontrollable events. Perhaps progress will be the end of the human species; perhaps accident will be the end of the human species. In any case, death is not to be feared.
Jordon Roy Gowans on February 15, 2008, 8:51 AM
There is absolutely no possibility whatsoever that there is a dial tone after death. The idea of an afterlife is based on refuted belief systems invented by people with no understanding of how the brain is the seat of all consciousness.
Jordon Roy Gowans on February 15, 2008, 1:51 PM
There is absolutely no possibility whatsoever that there is a dial tone after death. The idea of an afterlife is based on refuted belief systems invented by people with no understanding of how the brain is the seat of all consciousness.
rick long on March 22, 2008, 7:43 PM
I generally agree except I'm a bit surprised to hear Sam, who is an aspiring neuroscientist, so doubtful as to the finality of death. Assuming consciousness is a result of the processes going on in the physical brain, when the brain stops, so does consciousness. Pretty open and shut I would think. Afterlife? Definitely not. — rick
rick long on March 22, 2008, 11:43 PM
I generally agree except I’m a bit surprised to hear Sam, who is an aspiring neuroscientist, so doubtful as to the finality of death. Assuming consciousness is a result of the processes going on in the physical brain, when the brain stops, so does consciousness. Pretty open and shut I would think. Afterlife? Definitely not. — rick
Jeff Delano on March 23, 2008, 5:09 PM
Death is just the easiest way for us humans to pierce the veil from space/time to time/space. Of course since it's a veil we wont remember our past life at this point in our existence. But I have learned from more spiritual beings that in death you just go in to a void, assess the situation and prepare for your next incarnation.
I know I'm posting this on an aetheist's topic here but your nihilistic and existentialist belief about death needs to be confronted, I'm not saying it's wrong, it is just a distortion of the truth.
Jeff Delano on March 23, 2008, 9:09 PM
Death is just the easiest way for us humans to pierce the veil from space/time to time/space. Of course since it’s a veil we wont remember our past life at this point in our existence. But I have learned from more spiritual beings that in death you just go in to a void, assess the situation and prepare for your next incarnation.
I know I’m posting this on an aetheist’s topic here but your nihilistic and existentialist belief about death needs to be confronted, I’m not saying it’s wrong, it is just a distortion of the truth.
Jordon Roy Gowans on May 7, 2008, 11:51 AM
T Jackson, your argument seems to be that because you believe in an afterlife, you are a good person whereas atheists are "destructive." How do you explain frequent religious violence stemming from plausible readings of rival religious texts? I fail to see a corresponding level of atheist violence stemming from plausible readings of rival atheist texts. Yet even if atheists ARE vastly more evil than theists, you have to believe in Plato's "noble lies" to think that even a false belief in Heaven is better than knowing the truth.
Jordon Roy Gowans on May 7, 2008, 3:51 PM
T Jackson, your argument seems to be that because you believe in an afterlife, you are a good person whereas atheists are “destructive.” How do you explain frequent religious violence stemming from plausible readings of rival religious texts? I fail to see a corresponding level of atheist violence stemming from plausible readings of rival atheist texts. Yet even if atheists ARE vastly more evil than theists, you have to believe in Plato’s “noble lies” to think that even a false belief in Heaven is better than knowing the truth.
Ben Chinn on April 6, 2009, 7:45 PM
In Judaism there is a grieving process that is focused on the needs of the living and how they can move on with their lives after a serious loss. This process brings the community together to support those in mourning and gives mourners rituals to respond – however imperfectly – to the mystery of death. Harris’ categorical claim that religion does not teach us how to grieve is patently false. Whether it teaches us the best way – that may be open to debate.
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