"The self that does not survive scrutiny is the subject of experience in each present moment—the feeling of being a thinker of thoughts inside one's head, the sense of being an owner or inhabitant of a physical body, which this false self seems to appropriate as a kind of vehicle. Even if you don't believe such a homunculus exists—perhaps because you believe, on the basis of science, that you are identical to your body and brain rather than a ghostly resident therein—you almost certainly feel like an internal self in almost every waking moment. And yet, however one looks for it, this self is nowhere to be found. It cannot be seen amid the particulars of experience, and it cannot be seen when experience itself is viewed as a totality. However, its absence can be found—and when it is, the feeling of being a self disappears."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesAtheism activistsAtheists from the United StatesEssayists from the United StatesBloggers from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 92
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Sam Harris
127 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Sam Harris →
Related Quotes
"I just think it may be, in fact, the case that nature is just a horror show. It is bad almost any place you could be …"
"The God that our neighbors believe in is essentially an invisible person. He’s a creator deity, who created the unive…"
"Atheism is not a philosophy - it is not even a view of the world. It is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, …"
"20 percent of all recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage. There is an obvious truth here that cries out for acknow…"
"Some researchers have speculated that religion itself may have played an important role in getting large groups of pr…"
"You are happily being misunderstood in your use of the word "God"."
"Perhaps you think that the crucial difference between a fly and a human blastocyst is to be found in the latter's pot…"
"If God exists, either He can do nothing to stop the most egregious calamities, or He does not care to. God, therefore…"
"The moral truth here is obvious: anyone who feels that the interests of a blastocyst just might supersede the interes…"
"One of the enduring pathologies of human culture is the tendency to raise children to fear and demonize other human b…"