Heddle,

Sam Harris has a response to this on his web site,here is a small part.

"The fact that I have not spent any time on this should suggest how worthy of my time I think such a project would be"
JONBOY | 01.08.07 - 9:40 am | #

JONBOY,

The fact that he has not spent time on what?
heddle | Homepage | 01.08.07 - 10:11 am | #

This

My views on Eastern mysticism, Buddhism, etc.:
My views on “mystical” or “spiritual” experience are extensively described in The End of Faith and do not entail the acceptance of anything on faith. There is simply no question that people have transformative experiences as a result of engaging contemplative disciplines like meditation, and there is no question that these experiences shed some light on the nature of the human mind (any experience does, for that matter). What is highly questionable are the metaphysical claims that people tend to make on the basis of such experiences. I do not make any such claims. Nor do I support the metaphysical claims of others.

There are several neuroscience labs now studying the effects of meditation on the brain. While I am not personally engaged in this research, I know many of the scientists who are. This is now a fertile field of sober inquiry, purposed toward understanding the possibilities of human well-being better than we do at present.

While I consider Buddhism almost unique among the world’s religions as a repository of contemplative wisdom, I do not consider myself a Buddhist. My criticism of Buddhism as a faith has been published, to the consternation of many Buddhists. It is available here:
From Sam Harris site.

Harris is know for his fondness for
meditation and buddhism,his main push
seems to be against harmful religions,
not all supernatural beliefs.
JONBOY | 01.08.07 - 11:31 am | #

JONBOY,

I agree with Joy at Telic Thoughts. Harris's positions are so grossly inconsistent that he is worthy of all mocking and ridicule. With support for research into "rational sciences" such as ESP and reicarnation, he reveals himself as not a die hard rationalist, but a garden-variety, none-too-bright, anti-monotheism, bigot.
heddle | Homepage | 01.08.07 - 11:48 am | #

You're taking a big chance when you quote Joy on anything. This is the same woman who believes that current science believes the mind is imaginary, for instance.
Dave Mullenix | 01.10.07 - 7:20 am | #

I don't think that Joy has actually read Sam in any length, or else he is willfully misunderstanding him. Sam doesn't simply say that religion and rationality are "orthogonal" and then draw conclusions based on that. His view is much simpler than that. To illustrate, just take one example where Joy and Sam probably agree--the idea of Mormonism, the story of Jon Smith, Jews living in North America in the time of Jesus, etc... All Sam is saying is that *This stuff doesn't make any sense!!!* If you are a Mormon, and you expect a non-mormon to "respect" your beliefs, the burden is upon you to provide reasons why. It's that simple. Why doesn't Joy get this? Why can't any religious person confront this simple challenge head-on?
hasty toweling | 01.20.07 - 5:54 pm | #