A Radical Question To Put Your Problems Into Perspective | Annaka Harris

10% Happier with Dan Harris

10% Media, LLC

Dan Harris, Health & Fitness, Mindfulness, Dharma, Mental Health, Meditation

4.6 • 12.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How to think about consciousness without breaking your brain.

Annaka Harris is the New York Times bestselling author of CONSCIOUS: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and writer and producer of the audio documentary series, LIGHTS ON. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Nautilus Magazine, the Journal of Consciousness Studies, and IAI Magazine, and she is also an editor and consultant for science writers, specializing in neuroscience and physics.

In this episode we talk about:

What consciousness is—and why we should care about it
The question of whether or not consciousness is a fundamental aspect of the universe (so literally—is consciousness embedded in the chair I’m sitting in?)
Why thinking about this mystery can create a sense of awe (a reliable antidote to suffering)
Meditation techniques for exploring consciousness
The illusion of the self
The importance of challenging our intuitions
And much more

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.
0:16.0	Okay, folks, today we have a conversation that will, I strongly suspect, put your problems into perspective.
0:26.6	For me, at least, when I'm engaged in my lifelong habit of ruminating on my stuff, that mental activity, that noise, blots out the sun, driving me further into my head and cutting me off from the world
0:37.8	in all of its mundane glory from the beauty and horror of this whole being alive thing.
0:45.2	Anyway, my guest today is one of my favorite people, Anika Harris.
0:48.4	We are not related, despite sharing the last name, but she is an old friend and somebody I really
0:53.0	respect and admire.
0:54.6	Anika is a writer with a long and abiding fascination with the subject of consciousness.
1:01.4	Do not worry if you don't understand right away what that word means.
1:04.2	Onica will explain it.
1:05.3	For now, just know that consciousness is one of the most enduring mysteries in all of science, and that it's a mystery that can have profound practical implications for you and your psychological well-being.
1:19.5	Just to sum up what I'm trying to say here. We're going to talk about the mystery of consciousness, a subject so head swimming and brain-breaking and fascinating that it is very likely to put your
1:29.5	problems in perspective.
1:31.1	Moreover, discussing this mystery is going to lead us to discussing some practical meditation
1:35.8	techniques that can genuinely change your experience of being alive.
1:40.7	Just to say a little bit more about Anika before we dive in here, she's the author of the best-selling book Conscious, a brief guide to the fundamental mystery of the mind, which came out a few years ago.
1:50.5	Now she's back as the writer and producer of a new audio documentary series called Lights On, which I listened to and blurbed. It's awesome.
1:59.8	In this conversation, we talk about what
2:01.4	consciousness is and why we should care about it. The question of whether or not consciousness
2:05.3	is a fundamental aspect of the universe? So literally, is consciousness embedded in the chair I'm
2:11.2	sitting in, for example? Why thinking about this mystery can create a sense of awe, which is a
2:16.1	reliable antidotes to suffering,
	...

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