Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're

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Today I'm speaking once again to my friend Joseph Goldstein. Joseph is a meditation teacher. He

started the Insight Meditation Society in Barry, Massachusetts, where I did, I think most of my

retreats back in the day. And he's been on two earlier podcasts, podcast number four and fifteen.

And if you haven't heard those, those are worth listening to because you find out who Joseph is

and how he cuts so deeply into practice. It is no exaggeration to say that Joseph is as responsible

as anyone for bringing the practice of Vipassana, otherwise known as mindfulness, to the West

from India. Joseph is certainly one of the finest meditation teachers I know. And today we take

your questions in an AMA, and we deal with some basic questions like why meditate in the first place,

and how long do negative emotions actually last when you pay attention to them. But then we get

into esoterica like selflessness and the Buddhist concept of enlightenment and topics that will only

be of interest, perhaps to a subset of you. And again, as always, if you find conversations like

this valuable, you are free and encouraged to support the podcast at samherris.org-support.

And now I bring you Joseph Goldstein.

I am back here for a third podcast with my friend Joseph Goldstein. Joseph, thank you for doing

this once again. I'm a pleasure. So we have taken questions from the internet this time around.

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