(July 3, 2012 at 7:24 am)Tempus Wrote: I haven't heard Harris say anything unjustified on Buddhism, spirituality, meditation, etc. Did you ever consider that he might actually have something useful to say on the topics? If you've got a criticism of what he says I'd be interested in hearing it.
Buddhism is merely a social club like all social clubs invented by humans. Newton had religious beliefs too, but his correct science didn't make any social club he belonged to the center of science.
Again, don't take my word for it. Victor Stinger objects to his references as well, and Stinger is a scientist too. Just because you are a scientist does not mean you are correct about everything.
Read Stinger's book "The New Atheism". It is not just my objection.
"Spirituality" is a vacuous word. And how Harris uses it is nothing more than a Jeffersonian "god is nature". If all there is is nature, then what is really going on when he talks about "spirituality" is an intense sense of awe. You don't need a label or the word "spirituality" to go "wow, I feel intense when I observe this".
And "meditation" is natural too, no one invented the concept of deliberately calming oneself. Buddhism may have popularized it, but evolution has never depended on Buddhism to occur. Evolution was around long before Buddhism and would still occur if the social club had never been invented.
I still love Harris, I just think he needs to skip the vacuous labels, and study human life.
