PDF Summary:Waking Up, by

Book Summary: Learn the key points in minutes.

Below is a preview of the Shortform book summary of Waking Up by Sam Harris. Read the full comprehensive summary at Shortform.

1-Page PDF Summary of Waking Up

Do people who turn their backs on religion leave something crucial behind? Atheist philosopher and scientist Sam Harris thinks they do. He argues that those who reject the contemplative aspects of faith traditions are missing out on the contentment that comes from seeking transcendental states of mind, which has historically been the domain of religion.

Harris is known for encouraging skeptics to confront religion. In 2017’s Waking Up, he lays out a reason-based approach to spirituality that’s rooted in what science and meditation teach about the workings of the human mind.

In this guide, we’ll explore Harris’s definition of spirituality, what neuroscience says about the nature of consciousness, and Harris’s argument that while consciousness is real, your sense of self is an illusion. We’ll examine what spiritual enlightenment looks like from a secular worldview, its implications for self-improvement, and what science and theology have to say about consciousness, the soul, and the mind.

(continued)...

It’s through spirituality, which Harris defines as deep contemplation of your conscious mind, that you can truly learn about yourself. While psychology has demonstrated the underlying power of the unconscious mind, it’s in your conscious awareness that you subjectively experience life, the universe, and everything in it. Consciousness is where you feel pain and pleasure, as well as where you make moral judgments. For example, consider the widely held conviction that it’s wrong to inflict pain on another being. That conviction stems from a person’s subjective experience of pain and a conscious understanding that other people and creatures are capable of the same subjective experience.

(Shortform note: Not everyone agrees with Harris that so-called “moral behavior” is a product of the conscious mind. In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins proposes that behaviors that might be viewed as altruistic are in fact biological adaptations that promote the health and survival of a group so that their shared genetic makeup can propagate into the future. If this view is correct, then the moral judgments that Harris refers to might be no more than our conscious rationalization of behaviors whose true motives are unconscious drives.)

Too often, such moral judgments are seen as the purview of religion, yet even religious practices can shed light on the nature of consciousness. For instance, consider monastic traditions that seek inner peace through contemplation and self-isolation. Harris suggests that while these monks are attempting to commune with the divine, they’re also conducting a philosophical experiment to determine if psychological health can exist outside the struggle for self-gratification that defines the normal, everyday world. Over the centuries, these experiments have yielded many positive results, including transcendental states of mind, especially when meditative practitioners have learned to silence their own inner monologues.

(Shortform note: Though Harris presents an image of monks as silent, meditating hermits, the reality behind the stereotype is that monasteries are active communities in which every member must work and contribute. While life in a monastery or convent is certainly less driven by materialism than in the world at large, living in close quarters with many other people requires the same level of interpersonal finesse as working every day in a corporate office. Despite that, the monastic example demonstrates that contentment can be found by slowing down, being mindful of your feelings, and letting go of old patterns of behavior.)

Separating Consciousness From Selfhood

The crux of Harris’s argument in favor of a “secular spirituality” is that a meditative practice can help you find tranquility by experiencing moments of pure, unfiltered consciousness. This happens when you experience consciousness without thought, when you let your inner voice—as well as the constant churn of emotions that your thoughts inevitably trigger—slide away. Harris says that if you can experience awareness unburdened by your constant internal chatter, you’ll realize that your consciousness is independent of any feelings of personal identity and selfhood, and that your sense of identity is merely an illusion. This is a counterintuitive concept, so some definitions are in order.

When Harris says the “self” is an illusion, what exactly does he mean? The selfhood he’s referring to is the feeling that you’re an incorporeal being sitting inside your head, looking out through your eyes, and steering your body like a vehicle. Harris asserts that this particular feeling is a product of what he calls “psychological continuity,” the constant creation and narration of memories about your physical and cognitive experiences from one moment to the next. This moment-to-moment continuity creates the illusion that the “you” inside your head is the same “you” you were yesterday or will be tomorrow. But is that really the case? Are “you” the same person “you” were five years ago, or when “you” were a child?

The Continuity of Self

A possible answer to Harris’s question was the subject of a 2012 psychological study that evaluated personality shifts in more than 170 people over a 65-year period. The study found that a person’s ability to regulate their moods remains consistent throughout life, but other personality traits do not, though the changes are gradual. A different study suggests that out of all of a person’s characteristics, your moral beliefs and attitudes are most closely related to your sense of identity, with memory coming in second place.

A counter-argument to Harris’s statement that psychological continuity is the root of feelings of selfhood is the experiences of people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder). People with DID exhibit several distinct identities, each with its own separate sense of self, but without continuity over time—memories available to one identity may not be accessible to others, and vice versa. In practice, this manifests as each identity having partial amnesia, missing chunks of their past.

However, when meditation interrupts your mental chatter, you experience awareness unclouded by the internal narrative that normally defines your sense of identity. You realize that from a subjective point of view, all that can really be said to exist is your present awareness and the thoughts it contains. Harris isn’t arguing that you don’t exist or that you haven’t experienced the things you remember. What he’s saying is that your sense of selfhood is a construct of your memories and thoughts, and that it covers up a deeper reality—that all you really have is your conscious awareness, which isn’t defined by the thoughts, feelings, and memories that routinely impinge upon it.

(Shortform note: If feelings of selfhood are based on memories, as Harris suggests, then that opens up another argument that selfhood is an illusion—because memories are unreliable. In The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli writes that your brain constantly rewrites your memories, altering details as your beliefs change over time. In this sense, your memories and your sense of identity are in part a fabrication of your brain. Like Harris, Dobelli isn’t saying that everything you remember is wrong, but that your memory is subject to cognitive biases such as fixating on recent events and forgetting information as soon as you don’t need it.)

Practical Enlightenment

All of this contemplation about the mind begs a practical question: In what way does understanding the nature of consciousness benefit you in your day-to-day life? The answer is in the leverage it gives you to control your mind. The central tenet of any meditative practice is that your ability to direct and frame your thoughts and feelings dictates the quality of your experience of life and the world around you. Harris explains the documented benefits of practicing meditation, as well as pitfalls to look out for. He then goes on to explore what “enlightenment” means in a nonreligious context and the underlying paradox of seeking self-improvement if the self is an illusion.

Harris cites psychological studies in which people report that their thoughts wander at least 50% of the time. This mental wandering goes hand-in-hand with increased unhappiness and heightened brain activity, regardless of whether their ruminations are pleasant or unpleasant. On the other hand, studies on focused attention show reduction in stress, improved cognitive functioning, and better emotional regulation.

(Shortform note: More recent studies than the ones referenced by Harris reveal a middle ground between mental wandering and focused meditation. This third path is daydreaming—which can also be described as “thinking for fun”—and new research shows that like meditation, it’s a skill that can be learned. Engaging in daydreaming can stave off mental boredom and boost physical wellness. Proponents of daydreaming tout it as a positive mental workout that allows you to regulate thoughts and emotions in much the same way as meditation.)

The trouble is that for beginners, it’s hard to tell the difference between active meditation and letting your mind wander. The key is in learning to be aware of the present before your thoughts interfere with your perceptions. Without mindfulness, the thoughts that fill your head become an endless inner monologue narrating your life to yourself.

(Shortform note: Harris writes as if having a running inner monologue is a universal human experience, and while it may be largely true, there are people whose inner thoughts take the form of abstractions instead of spoken language. There are also variations in the degree of mental chatter people experience. In The Introvert Advantage, Marti Olsen Laney cites research that introverts use longer neural pathways to access information than extroverts, leading to more active and vocal inner monologues.)

The Path of Mindfulness

To quote Hamlet, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Taking control of the chatter in your mind requires accepting that your response to any situation—whether it’s suffering, elation, or indifference—is entirely the product of your thoughts. Mindfulness lets you choose your responses consciously instead of giving in to habitual reactions, such as anger or resentment. Harris cautions that he’s not recommending you detach from reality; he’s just stating that you don’t have to let the outside world dictate your emotional responses.

(Shortform note: This is another point on which Harris’s writing overlaps with the Stoics. As described by Derren Brown in Happy, the tenet behind the Stoic way of life is that of taking responsibility for your thoughts and feelings. For Stoics, this is practical advice for achieving contentment rather than a path to transcendentalism. Nevertheless, just like Harris, the Stoics don’t advocate detachment from the world, merely detachment from thoughtless reactions. In The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman affirm the Stoics’ engagement with worldly issues—they simply practice detachment from the outcome of their efforts.)

Harris also warns that a fully contemplative approach to life requires a certain intellectual maturity, though mindfulness practices have benefits for people of all ages, such as teaching emotional self-awareness. There are certain psychological and physical conditions that meditation practices could actually make worse. If you suffer from one of those, Harris recommends consulting a physician before launching yourself on a meditative journey.

(Shortform note: Harris doesn’t elaborate on the specific reasons why someone shouldn’t meditate, but like any other mind-altering practice, it comes with a certain degree of risk. For instance, people suffering from severe depression may find that meditation exacerbates their symptoms, and some trauma survivors have reported having flashbacks while attempting to focus during meditation practice. If inward-looking meditation might be distressing or dangerous, an alternative is to find mindfulness practices that focus your attention outward, such as hiking, gardening, or artistic creation.)

If you decide to pursue meditation, Harris says it’s important to find a good teacher, someone who can model the calm and sense of presence you’re trying to achieve on your path to enlightenment. However, be wary. The teacher-student relationship is ripe for exploitation, and the role of spiritual guru is especially attractive to frauds. Even teachers who offer good meditative guidance will sometimes make spurious claims about science or medicine as it relates to their field. As in all things, it’s good to maintain a certain level of skepticism, especially if you feel you’re being conned or abused by someone who claims to be a spiritual master.

(Shortform note: Telling the difference between an authentic spiritual teacher and a fraud can be tricky. In The Confidence Game, psychologist Maria Konnikova explains that frauds don’t just lie about themselves, but they also exploit your confidence in your personal narrative. A skilled con artist identifies your unspoken desires, mirrors your values and personal experience to gain your trust, then uses that leverage as a means to convince you to do what the con artist wants. According to Konnikova, those who’ve fallen victim to religious frauds or cults often have strong feelings of denial that they’ve been conned at all.)

Choosing a Meditation Practice

Finding the most effective meditation routine for your personal journey can be daunting, given the vast amount of writing on the subject. Shortform’s Master Guide to Choosing a Meditation Practice can help with a general overview of the field, covering the four major variations:

  • Buddhist meditation focuses mainly on mindfulness, managing strong emotions, and practicing compassion. Its aim is finding happiness through self-improvement rather than seeking a connection with the divine.

  • Hindu meditation, also known as yoga, is directed at achieving a union with the divine, though with its focus on posture, breath, and concentration, it’s been known to offer benefits to physical health.

  • Christian meditation, equated with prayer, is envisioned as a way to communicate with God, and it can result in a greater sense of well-being and purpose in life.

  • Western meditation, while harder to define than older traditions, generally focuses on self-improvement through achieving goals and manifesting the life that you want.

The Nature of Enlightenment

If you’re still unclear about the end goal of meditation beyond learning to be more present in the moment, you’re not alone. The “enlightenment” that meditative masters speak of is notoriously tricky to define. Harris describes enlightenment as losing your sense of individual selfhood and becoming aware of the world around you without the barrier created by your thoughts. He discusses what a state of enlightenment might feel like, the steps you go through on the way to achieving it, and what enlightenment teaches about the workings of the mind.

Achieving enlightenment does not mean that you suddenly gain mystical powers or that your mind becomes one with the universe. Instead, enlightenment means achieving a state of mental equilibrium in which you’re not shaken by the highs and lows of life—or if you are, you can regain your balance quickly. It doesn’t mean giving up the things you love or turning a blind eye to suffering and injustice. An enlightened mindset simply recognizes that all things are transitory and lets you navigate the good times and the bad with calm and openness.

(Shortform note: In a broad sense, to be enlightened simply means “to gain an understanding,” whether that’s of science, a personal truth, or the fact that tacos are delicious. Though Harris frames spiritual enlightenment as one specific realization, others pose it differently. In The Fifth Agreement, don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz equate enlightenment with the realization that all of your experiences are subjective. In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle states that enlightenment comes from living fully in the present moment. According to the Taoist text Tao Te Ching, an enlightened person sees through their subjective illusions to face the objective world as it actually exists.)

To be clear, the goal of enlightenment isn’t to stop thinking and feeling. The goal is to stop identifying with your thoughts and emotions because that self-identification lies at the root of all your suffering. Harris says that meditation can break you from the cycle of pain by training you to recognize your thoughts and feelings as objects that exist apart from your consciousness. You can spot them when they appear, examine them as an impartial observer, and let them slip away without dominating your attention.

(Shortform note: This goal speaks against the advice of self-help gurus who suggest using your thoughts for positive gain. In As a Man Thinketh, James Allen writes that by mastering your thoughts, you find purpose in life, while in The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Joseph Murphy says that conscious thought can retrain your subconscious and improve your state of mind. The ultimate example of self-identification with your thoughts and feelings may be the practice of “manifesting” espoused by authors Rhonda Byrne and Napoleon Hill, who suggest that directing your thoughts and emotions can bring material wealth and success, which mindfulness proponents such as Harris argue will keep you trapped in a cycle of misery.)

The Meditation Journey

Of course, meditation is a skill that must be practiced. When you first learn to meditate, you may feel an initial thrill of success. However, as you practice, you may feel more and more distracted during meditation. Harris writes that this is a natural step along the way, and though it feels like you may be getting worse at meditating, it actually means you’re getting better. If you start to feel distracted while meditating, it means you’re getting better at noticing your thoughts—in other words, you’re on the right track. True enlightenment may still be very far away, but you’ll find that the process of getting there makes your mind incrementally healthier.

(Shortform note: If you approach meditation with unrealistic expectations of how much or how quickly it will change your awareness, you may walk away disappointed. In Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana lays some ground rules—that meditation requires patience and being honest with yourself, and that the meditation process and its results are neither automatic nor predictable. Like Harris, Gunaratana points out that you’ll run into pitfalls in your meditation practice, such as boredom, disappointment, and even physical pain. These sensations are themselves thoughts and feelings that should be examined within the context of being mindful and not looked down upon as signs that you’re not meditating right.)

Eventually, during meditation, you may notice your consciousness as it exists between one thought and the next. When this happens, you can finally understand that you are not your thoughts. Instead, you are the conscious awareness that your transitory thoughts pass through. It’s as if your awareness is a movie screen, and your thoughts are the images projected on it. No matter what those images are, they can’t harm the screen itself.

This is spiritual enlightenment at its core—that consciousness without thought is your true, underlying experience. Harris doubts that anyone can live in this state of awareness all the time, but he does believe that through practice you can glimpse it. Doing so can free you from the suffering triggered by the thoughts projected on the blank screen of your mind. How can you suffer when the “self” that is suffering is just an illusion, a “movie special effect” of the brain?

(Shortform note: In The Happiness Trap, Russ Harris presents another way of looking at the same idea that Harris is trying to convey. Instead of declaring that the self is an illusion created by a stream of passing thoughts, he says that you have a “thinking self” and an “observing self,” each of which serves a different function in your mind. In this view, the purpose of mindfulness is to disentangle these two parts of your awareness so that you can observe and recognize which thoughts are helpful and which thoughts aren’t. Rather than seeing your “thinking self” as an illusion, you can simply learn to distance yourself from its more destructive tendencies.)

The Paradox of Enlightenment

Realizing that your sense of selfhood is just a figment of your imagination brings up the following conundrum: Why should you work to improve yourself if your “self” doesn’t really exist? Harris explains how different schools of thought address this riddle, then explores the teachings of Dzogchen Buddhism and how it points toward a healthy approach to accepting life’s pitfalls while striving to be better. Harris says that meditation doesn’t “make your mind better”—it reveals a state of tranquility that was there for you to access all along.

(Shortform note: That the brain has a built-in capacity for transcendental awareness has been documented by neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor, not through meditation or experimentation, but by suffering a stroke on the left side of her brain. In My Stroke of Insight, Taylor recounts that when her stoke shut down her inner monologue and her capacity for linear thought, she ceased to perceive herself as a separate entity from the world around her, but rather as part of a continuum of existence that brought feelings of peace she’d never noticed before. Taylor’s experience revealed to her that a deep sense of peace and connection with the world is hardwired into the human brain and that anyone can learn to engage it.)

However, since the practice of meditation is a skill that must be mastered and improved, there are two different schools of thought regarding the attainment of enlightenment through seemingly meaningless “self” improvement. Here, Harris turns to Buddhism for guidance, for while he disregards Buddhism’s mystical claims, he embraces its “try this and see” approach toward spiritual understanding.

(Shortform note: Harris isn’t the first to comment on the practical, grounded aspects of Buddhism. In The Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama himself lays out a pragmatic approach to contentment based on education, self-motivation, and doing the mental work of mindfulness, none of which call for a belief in the supernatural. While he recommends making spirituality a part of your daily life, the Dalai Lama explicitly states that it doesn’t matter if your spirituality is religious or secular—what’s important are the positive actions that result from your spiritual life.)

The approach embodied by Theravada Buddhism ignores the paradox of self-improvement entirely by setting enlightenment as a distant future goal that may never be achieved but should always be worked toward. Harris argues that the problem with this approach is that it intellectualizes the concept of the illusion of the self. After all, if you’re thinking about how your sense of selfhood is an illusion, you’re still thinking instead of experiencing pure awareness. Another approach, Advaita Vedānta, asserts that meditation isn’t a path to enlightenment and that a full understanding of the illusion of selfhood can only come as a flash of insight, one that once seen cannot be unseen, almost like an optical illusion.

(Shortform note: Though the other systems of thought that Harris writes about are Buddhist, Advaita Vedānta is a Hindu philosophy dating back to the 9th century CE. A central tenet of Advaita Vedānta is that there’s no distinction between the individual self and Brahman—the underlying reality of the universe. In Advaita Vedānta, the spiritual goal is to realize that the whole world is an illusion, one that you can learn to transcend as you perceive higher truths.)

Harris adopts a personal approach adhering to the teachings of Dzogchen Buddhism, whose ideas lay somewhere in the middle ground. The point of Dzogchen is to break through the illusion of selfhood and experience pure consciousness at any given moment. This breakthrough isn’t a product of drawn-out meditation, but rather takes the form of an instant awareness of the illusion. However, Dzogchen teachers acknowledge that you’re unlikely to have the “flash of insight” you’re trying to achieve without the observational skills developed by practicing meditation. Therefore, in Dzogchen, you meditate to strengthen your awareness so that when your moment of insight comes, you’ll be able to recognize it for what it is.

A Brief History of Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, was born in what is present-day Nepal in the 6th century BCE, and though he lived in luxury, he’s believed to have achieved enlightenment after witnessing and meditating on the suffering of others. Theravada Buddhism, as practiced in southeast Asia, is believed to be the oldest existing form of the religion. More than other Buddhist sects, Theravada recognizes the historical humanity of the Buddha rather than viewing him as a divine figure.

The other major branch of the faith is Mahayana Buddhism, practiced in China, Japan, and Tibet. It dates back to Buddhist monks of the 1st century BCE who viewed the Buddha as a transcendental being and believed that it’s possible for anyone to attain enlightenment. Dzogchen, the path that Harris recommends, is not a separate school of Buddhism but is instead an advanced set of practices within the Tibetan Mahayana tradition.

Harris says that by following the teachings of Dzogchen Buddhism, he’s able to see through his own illusion of selfhood. He can’t do it all the time, but with practice, he can access an unclouded awareness of the present moment on a regular basis. He finds that this kind of spiritual awareness doesn’t lead to detachment or a lack of motivation to improve himself. Rather, he argues that such an awareness can help you find a place of calm and clarity from which you can accept your life and the world while striving to make things better.

(Shortform note: Much like the paradox posed at the start of this section, Harris’s assertion that you can accept how things are and still work to improve them may seem like a contradiction. This concept is resolved more fully by Buddhist psychologist Tara Brach in Radical Acceptance. Brach argues that growth through acceptance is a two-part process. The first is to accept your feelings and emotions without judgment so you can let go of the harmful narratives you might have constructed around them. This frees you to take the second step: treating yourself and others with compassion. For Brach, compassion isn’t just a feeling; it’s a positive response that can change your life, just as Harris suggests you can do once you see past your own illusions.)

Want to learn the rest of Waking Up in 21 minutes?

Unlock the full book summary of Waking Up by signing up for Shortform.

Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:

  • Being 100% comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
  • Cutting out the fluff: you don't spend your time wondering what the author's point is.
  • Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.

Here's a preview of the rest of Shortform's Waking Up PDF summary:

What Our Readers Say

This is the best summary of Waking Up I've ever read. I learned all the main points in just 20 minutes.

Learn more about our summaries →

Why are Shortform Summaries the Best?

We're the most efficient way to learn the most useful ideas from a book.

Cuts Out the Fluff

Ever feel a book rambles on, giving anecdotes that aren't useful? Often get frustrated by an author who doesn't get to the point?

We cut out the fluff, keeping only the most useful examples and ideas. We also re-organize books for clarity, putting the most important principles first, so you can learn faster.

Always Comprehensive

Other summaries give you just a highlight of some of the ideas in a book. We find these too vague to be satisfying.

At Shortform, we want to cover every point worth knowing in the book. Learn nuances, key examples, and critical details on how to apply the ideas.

3 Different Levels of Detail

You want different levels of detail at different times. That's why every book is summarized in three lengths:

1) Paragraph to get the gist
2) 1-page summary, to get the main takeaways
3) Full comprehensive summary and analysis, containing every useful point and example