Sam Harris answers "What makes life worth living?"

I came across a tweet by Sam Harris that was a (mildly) animated GIF with Harris' narrated words scrolling at the bottom. 

He asks a good question. Whether you think his answer is New Age bullshit, ancient spiritual wisdom, or something in-between is another good question.

What makes life worth living? This is an important question, probably the most important question, because if we don't know, then we can't prioritize what we actually value.

We tend to live as if we've answered this question for ourselves. But most of the time we're just doing one thing after the next, following our desires, reacting to what happens out in the world.

And only rarely do we step back and ask what it is that actually matters.

I don't think there's just one answer to this question. We might want to say that love is what makes life worth living, or doing meaningful and creative work, or appreciating the beauty of nature, or helping other people and making their lives better.

And I'd probably say all of these things. 

But all of these things have a common property. They all depend on real attention, real presence of mind, real connection with life in the present.

And that's what meditation is, whether most people know it or not. Meditation is the essence of everything else that makes life worth living.

I agree that attention, presence of mind, and connection with the present moment are key to a satisfying life. But obviously there's a chicken-and-egg issue here.

It's much easier to have those qualities when we're engaged in an activity that demands them. Yet almost every activity is more satisfying when we pay close attention to it in the present moment. 

I scrolled through some of the comments on Harris' tweet. I liked this one: "people need to live their lives like they're climbing a 50,000 foot tall ladder. gotta pay attention to whats right in front of you, or you'll fall."

That fits with a comment by Tucson, a frequent commenter on this blog some years back, who said something along the same line.

Namely, that we should be as attentive to our life as if we were walking through a forest in the middle of the night that was inhabited by a dangerous wild animal that could kill us.

A more positive image would be that we're walking in the middle of the day along a busy city sidewalk filled with people, one of whom reportedly is hugely attractive and has expressed a romantic interest in us, but told us only "Watch for my sign that I'm the person you're looking for." 

In each of these scenarios -- and we could think of many more, such as a combat patrol that has penetrated into enemy territory -- it behooves us to pay rapt attention in the present moment and not be distracted by thoughts of the past or future.

But then there's always someone with a more down-to-earth approach to what makes life worth living, like whoever left this comment on Harris's tweet: "Range day. Smoked meats. Blowjobs. Sci-fi novels. Boobs. Cats!"

Comments

[Change is the only constant]

Sounds like Sam Harris is saying “meditation is what makes life worth living”
Wow what a surprise

[Appreciative Reader]

Wise words.

True enough, we do sleepwalk through much of our lives, perhaps *all* of our lives, truly awakening only by happenstance and only briefly, when faced with some crisis. To be able to spend more of our lives, perhaps all of our lives, mindfully, that would be a great thing indeed.

True, meditation, any meditation done properly, facilitates that to an extent. And, true, arguably that kind of mindfulness *is* the actual essence of meditation.

---

"Range day. Smoked meats. Blowjobs. Sci-fi novels. Boobs. Cats!"

Ha ha ha, absolutely, that's a perfectly valid answer to "What makes life worth living?", equally as valid as the mindfulness answer. Provided, of course, one has the temperament to go through with that "eat drink make merry" attitude absolutely 100% and right through till the end; because lacking that kind of temperament, that's a story that won't have a happy ending. But absolutely, given the right temperament, that's an entirely valid answer.

[Brian Hines]

Change is the only constant, I didn't read Harris' words the same way you did. Harris says that attention, presence of mind, connection to the present moment -- those are keys to living a satisfying life. Meditation is one way of manifesting those qualities.

But the important thing is the qualities he listed. "Meditation" is what we call the formal practice of manifesting those qualities. I've been listening to Harris' guided meditations for several years most mornings.

He constantly stresses that being awake and aware in our everyday life is the real goal, not sitting in formal meditation. Meditation helps shows us what is possible when it comes to paying close attention to the present moment. Then we do our best to bring that into everyday life. If we can do it without meditation, there's no need for meditation.

[Appreciative Reader]

I don't think we disagree? Being "awake", as opposed to sleepwalking away, and in the sense of being mindful, being connected to the present moment, as you say, is indeed key to a satisfactory life, and arguably that is actually the entire essence of meditation. ("Arguably", because there's a Buddhistic slant there, that other traditions may or may not agree with. Speaking for myself, I do agree.)

Also, agreed, if we can do it without meditation, then we don't need meditation. (At least in as much as that "it" is the goal of meditation. I'm qualifying that because others may approach meditation with other goals. Speaking for myself I don't disagree.) ...Although, again arguably, that mindfulness itself might be seen as meditation. The Buddha's sutra delivered to the woman who complained that she had not a minute to spare to meditate comes to mind: when you're drawing water, just draw water, is the "meditation technique" he prescribed for her.

But those are just nuances we can have fun with teasing around, Harris's overall message we're probably seeing similarly, both of us, and agreeing with fully?

---

That last bit about the eat-drink-make-merry thing, although I meant that as a kind of joke (well, not my joke per se, but laughing with that commenter's joke, if joke it was); but I guess that's not necessarily wrong, you know. After all, what is "satisfactory" is probably an individual thing. I don't remember the details now, but Charvak I think it was who'd had this whole formal philosophy about "satisfaction" coming from full-on hedonism.

Of course, that would necessarily depend on the means for that hedonism being available in the first place; and/or for the would-be hedonist to keep aside enough time and effort to enable/facilitate/maintain the means to that kind of hedonism; doing which I realize represents a break in uninterrupted hedonism, and therefore, I suppose, in Charvak's argument. That's probably a fatal logical flaw to that kind of a philosophy, in as much as uninterrupted hedonism is extremely difficult in practice, and arguably impossible even in the abstract.

More fundamentally, though, it would take a certain temperament to carry that sort of thing to its complete conclusion. I know I myself couldn't begin to pull something like that off. Could anyone? I don't know! I'm not sure such a "purely hedonistic" temperament is even possible, but should one be equipped with such a temperament, then arguably that commenter's suggested method of unthinking hedonism might actually turn out satisfying as well I suppose, and in the end no less so than all of this mindfulness and centeredness et cetera?

[change is the only constant]

Brian i too have been listening to Harris for many years and Ii dont agree with you. In fact Harris has many times said that the only way to attain that state you are talking about (the paying attention to every moment) is through meditation. Perhaps you mean at some point one can get to that state where you are awake and aware ALL THE TIME (like you said) but he has clearly laid out meditation as the way to do this. He calls meditation ones superpower also called it the great equalizer. Never have I heard him say its not needed.

[La Madrugada]

What makes (my) life worth living:
To love my partner and be loved by him

[Dungeness]

@ change is the o. c.... [He calls meditation ones superpower also called it the great equalizer. Never have I heard him say its not needed. ]

I think there's an implicit equivalency on attaining a state of
meditating "all the time" and no longer needing to formally
sit in meditation. However, it's famously easy to assert "I
meditate all the time" without it being true which may be
why Harris and others don't mention it.

[Choden]

Harris tells us he spends a lot of time on Twitter, obsessed with what other people may be saying about him.

Somehow, it's hard for me to take anyone on Twitter seriously, particularly on the topic of the meaning of life, and quality of life. The reason why should be obvious.

[Brian Hines]

Choden, I don't see why using Twitter disqualifies someone from being able to speak about the meaning of life. I love Twitter. I look at it many times a day. I follow people knowledgeable about local news, politics, science, what's happening with the Ukraine war, and other topics. I have no idea why Twitter has such a bad reputation among some, which I gather includes you. It all depends on how Twitter is used. Meaning, the people you follow. I use a third party app and never even see any ads. Twitter is just a really positive experience for me.

[Appreciative Reader]

Given that Trump straddled Twitter like a grotesque slug till he was booted off of there, I can understand why Twitter might seem to be the home for the morally defunct and the brain dead.

But a moment"s reflection should show that it is an elementary fallacy to imagine that because Trump was and is a shameless worthless low life, and because Trump used Twitter, therefore anyone using Twitter is suspect.

[Missing Spence]

I miss Spence tepper