Should Richard Dawkins Try Drugs? - Sam Harris 

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The outstanding video and audio quality you have continued to produce cannot be overlooked. Thank you for not only having these fantastic conversations, but for continuing to improve the quality of the channel in every aspect.

Ben Stiller is getting wiser as he ages, the actor that found the protractor, smart guy

Alex, no matter how good of philosopher you are, you can’t maintain credibility while associating with brands like Better Help. For the sake of your brand, your credibility, your followers privacy and wellbeing, please dump them immediately. No pay check is worth the embarrassment of partnering with them.

Better help is a bad service. No shade on Alex but if you are reading this, find a real therapist and see them face to face instead. This service is basically fiver for therapists and there is little to no verification of license or credentials of the therapists.

I've tripped on mushrooms 20+ times at least. Lost count. I have had transcendent experiences. I've also had some pretty dull trips. One thing I can say is that I don't agree at all with people who compare trips to dreams. I don't know how other people dream I suppose, but mine seem random - people, places, things, scenarios, shifting and changing every few moments. On my most intense mushroom trip I was floored and overwhelmed with a sense of an otherworldly presence, a beatific vision so bright and blinding I could barely move or breathe for several minutes. That's never happened in any of my dreams. I don't really know what it means, or if it means anything at all, but it wasn't no dream.

Always lose a smidge of respect for any creator if they start monologuing about mental health and then plug BetterHelp.

Interesting how some RU-vidrs get demonized for accepting a BetterHelp partnership, while for others, like Alex, nobody seems to care.

From my own experience, as someone who quite enjoys psychedelics, I do not think they're something everyone should just jump into. I think if you're someone who has a lot of negative stuff bottled up or if you're someone who is tightly wound and can't just relax and go with the flow of the experience then chances are high that it will do more harm than good.

One should exercise extreme levels of caution when taking something that alters your perception of reality as profoundly as psychedelics do. Although they can be positively transformative when used in the right context and the right way, it must be said that they are not without their risks. HPPD, PTSD, and depersonalisation/derealisation are very real dangers that need to be taken into account when weighing up the cost/benefit ratio of taking psychedelics. If you are someone who is considering taking something like LSD, Mushrooms, DMT, or something of that nature, I would urge you to seriously reflect on the weight of such a decision. If your family has a history of psychotic illnesses, if you can't be sure the drug you're taking is actually the drug you're taking (blotter paper and pills could literally contain any substance), if you can't trust anyone to look after you during the experience, or if there are any other tangible uncertainties that may pose a risk to your safety, don't take them.

Hallucinogenics can change your whole perspective on things, and have played a huge part in who i am today. But it depends on your environment, state of mind, who youre with etc

Wow a nice discussion about mental health followed by a better help sponsor is wild.

Sam has such a way of making me see things more clearly or convincing me of something through analogy.

I still haven't watched the whole video, but just felt like sharing my own experience. I've tried LSD a few months back. And two different patches 1 hour apart even, because I was stupid and thought I could handle a second small little paper piece. It did make me experience THE MOST SURREAL experiences ever in my entire life so far (25 years old, so not that much, but still something). Ego death was real, sober I can barely even remember how exactly it felt let alone before I even tried it. It wasn't at all an out of body experience, but I felt like there was a literal rhythm to the universe around the same tact as a heartbeat and that everyone, as in EVERY LIVING THING, even the people in cars outside, are moving with it. Time had a framerate, it wasn't continuous and I thought everyone knew what I thought and weirdly interpreted everything they said as if it was confirmation of that. The scary part is that it felt almost like what I imagine schizophrenia feels like. Understanding logically this is just hallucinations or your mind playing major tricks, but it felt so convincing and real and I let myself feel it thoroughly at some point, stopped trying to withold it with logic because I could feel what was to come. Not like predicting the future, but the sheer experience of it all, I didn't want something as boring and dull as logic to stop me from experiencing true emotion and let myself delve into unreality like I rarely due nowadays. The world around me responded to my internal emotions almost literally and again, it felt like I shared my consciousness with everyone else. With how time felt almost like an illusion and ego death I thought that when I die I would just be reborn as one of my friends around me and eventually experience the same exact night but seeing myself from their eyes. It did feel like I unlocked knowledge only a god should have power over and did feel like life was more than it objectively was. My emotions were running really high. But just like all my other emotions that were pretty easily provable wrong to me when I was high I could see that even the small religious awakening I felt was a sham. I do not at all regret my trip, the low points were really trying to drag me down, but I consciously fought it off and the positive thoughts also made the world around me more beautiful. I once saw myself in the mirror and thought I was rapidly aging and internally was thinking this is because I was taking a harmful drug. LSD really had basically no chronic effect from what I can tell and wouldn't easily recommend it to anyone,but with caution and ESPECIALLY a good social circle of friends that care about you is pretty much a must if you want it to feel enjoyable. But I felt reinvigorated afterwards, multiple times I thought of all my flaws but at the end I thought "Before I am reborn as the rest of my friends I have to deal with this body and mind I have now with all the flaws. But it's worth it, I respect myself, I got into my passion, physics, got my master's, found a well paying job. With all my flaws I still managed to do well in life using my mind. I respect my soul!". I don't even believe in a soul, but saying identity just does not convey how profound and truly emotional it felt. So yeah, psychedelics can make you feel the divine, but also so much more than just that. And sadly you do quickly realise it was all in your head, your mind just wrongly intepreting signals from the world around us, just like the waviness of every corner of every object and the patterns I saw were just illusions from a brain whose neural pathways have been intercepted. Still hard to believe two small flimsy papers that weren't even soggy with LSD could make me feel things that are so difficult to convey with words. Nothing has compared to it so far, truly! It felt like the wonder and high on life feeling a 4 year old with a hyperactive imagination could feel. And considering I miss my child brain immensely, real life sucks balls, I would maybe even try it again at some point. But this is not alcohol or cigarettes, it's something you take at MOST once a month, better if even less often imo.

Psychedelics, meditation and dreamwork (not the woo kind) are the best ways to learn more about yourself

Just started meditating using Sam's Waking Up app and it's been a profound journey discovering myself in new ways.

Better help is a scam disappointed in you Alex

'Better Help'? lol Define 'intellectual honesty', Alex.

There's a very interesting book written by Henry Maudsley in 1886 'Natural causes and supernatural seemings' where he explains how various religious practices can mimic drug use. The results being seemingly 'transcendental' you can find a copy on line for free,

Honestly I’ve done lsd and it was a very heavy but good experience. But I don’t really want to experience it again, it’s very fulfilling but also emotional. It’s really not something you should regularly do. Only a few people can actually trip often without it being problematic or causing major mental issues. A lot of people should just not do it because the risk is to high. Ofc a lot of people can try a trip very sporadically and have a good experience but you shouldn’t underestimate it. If you really want to try and feel like you would be fine I would say enjoy it but don’t overdo. Less is more.

I'm was a hardcore atheist. I tried shrooms one time took 7 grams and felt during my trip that I came in contact with ultimate reality and that I was ultimate reality and that all life was contected and was ultimate reality. It profoundly changed me so much for the better I stopped a 25 year pack a day cigarette smoking habit and quit drinking also. I still don't think there's an afterlife and don't follow any religion, but I think there's an ultimate reality and all life is connected. I am you and you are me kind of feeling. My only regret is I wish I would have tried shrooms sooner. My overall sense of well-being dramatically improved also.

All I can say is that Sam Harris and the waking up app have absolutely changed my life over the last year. I recommend everyone try mediation for at least a week seriously.

lol I’m an atheist and I’ve done psilocybin and had a good time. A few times were introspective and in deep thought, but overall I come out feeling good. I can see on high doses how one may confuse being really high with seeing god 😂😂

Would love to watch Swami Sarvapriyananda on your podcast !

1: The development and spread of religions are influenced by factors such as geography, culture, historical contingency, and cultural transmission. 2: If the past were altered such that human populations were redistributed randomly across the world, the development and spread of religions would be significantly different. 3: Therefore, it is unlikely that any specific religion would remain unchanged or could be true if the past were altered in such a manner.

Not a big fan of recreational drugs, but Mdma has been my best experience when it come to drugs, and the only drug that I would like to take again. I'm not sure if everyone has the same experience, but I felt a deepening connection to my emotions after having taken Mdma, which felt great, especially for an individual that has a tendency to unconsciously control and suppress emotions. Have tried mdma on a few occasions, though always with friends and mainly at festivals, but never had a bad experience. Don't know if it is good to take alone or in a different setting, so can't speak to that.

I took 1 pscilocibin cap, and had a very mind opening trip. So I asked myself, if an American Indian during a manhood quest took 30 caps and spend 3 days alone in the wild, what would he see - pretty sure it would be labelled "god".

Shrooms have definitely changed my life for the better. It's hard to describe the feeling besides it breaks your patterns and feels like the guardrails are gone. Meditation can also be great of course. I have a bit of a hard time accepting meditation giving the same experience

Saying one should judge the efficacy of meditation after 5 minutes is like saying one should master an instrument in one sitting. OK Sam went there. I am more and more impressed with Sam on these issues. He has a great talent as a communicator. Ram Dass had the same gift. check out some of his videos.

Talk to Bernardo Kastrup Alex, that would be interesting

Meditation is invaluable! Even for, or perhaps especially for atheists. We’re all made of the same stuff. Humans, animals, plants and natural substances/objects all unbelievably repurposed since the beginning (if there was one) and that is beyond religion, beyond spirituality. Psychedelics seem to bridge the gap and put us in touch with those universal thoughts and feelings. Some ‘find’ god through them, but personally I think god/gods/religion is only ever people accepting the nearest guess at how or why we’re here. It’s so much deeper than that, and rather ironically, meditation and natural psychedelics seem to accelerate us towards religion or past religion and into a more open spiritual realm.

I found meditation good for racing thoughts and negative emotions in the mornings. At night time a few whiskies will accomplish the same.

Reducing the activity of the mind's critical faculties would lead someone to believe in religion, yes, though I am not sure how this is anything but a staggering refutation of religion? The usual cognitive processes involved in questioning, analyzing, and evaluating information may be temporarily diminished under the influence of drugs contributing to the perception of profundity. Though if it was really as profound as you think, shouldn't it be "obvious" to everyone when our critical faculties are active?

I'm an atheist, and I've done LSD, DMT and psilocybin. I don't think the experiences I've had on drugs are any more real than the experiences I have in dreams.

I'm atheist, ive done LSD, shrooms and a lot of MDMA. I definitely nearly lost my mind, but I held on, and I came back. Yes the experience is incredible, but the risks are high. I don't conclude the experiences were without, but more likely from within. I wouldn't recommend it, I certainly chamged everything about myself and I can't conclude if it was for the better or not. If anything, it made me aware of myself... But a little too much? And yes, you can reach it without drugs, drugs showed me how though.

Drugs r a pathetic escapism... meanwhile a raging alcoholic. 😅 guess we r all the emperor with no clothes at times.

I am super embarrassed that I didn't know that Peter Hitchens was Christopher Hitchen's brother! 🤦‍♀️ To be fair, I hadn't actually heard of Peter until that recent interview fiasco (which Alex cleverly references at 5:42 😂).

Father of meditation......meditation means understanding your consciousness not begging for experience using drugs......Tiruvannmalai kingdom......Father and mother of all these philosophies in the world or center of the universe

10:54 😂 I fear I would have used it up for fire wood and use of string to fish. I wanted a guitar when I was 10 and, when I got one, quickly learned I hated it. 20 years later I decided I was finally gonna learn to play the guitar. All grown up. Responsible and all that. I quickly learned I still hated playing the guitar 😂 and found it even less useful than learning to type blind. I gave the guitar to some kid with a guitar wish. Not gonna happen in my lifetime.

Hitchens used a drug (alcohol) daily to escape.

ad for betterhelp is a big L

I am someone who cannot visually hallucinate, I have tried multiple times with differing substances. I have a particular form of brain damage due to a 9-in nail going into my visual cortex at a very young age. I can have other forms of hallucinations like auditory or sensational, but visual hallucinations just can't happen with me.

You can't get a should out of a mushroom.

Alex, please talk to sheldon solomon on terror management theory. I'm loving his book so far.

NO.

People are finally asking the real questions

I think everyone should experience some type psychedelics. My experiences have been more on the _hardcore side,_ and they have definitely reshaped my world view on "Existence." I have also been an atheist and a theist at some point during my life, but experiencing psychedelics (along with other things) have compelled me to belong to neither camp. ... So, I don't think being an atheist or a theist really has anything to do with how you ideologically react to psychedelics.

Getting in touch with Spinoza's God is no bad thing.

im a theist turned atheist… through the psychedelic experience 😁 they are extraordinary psychological and sensory experiences. helped. me a bunch.

Stop with this Uber for therapists cancer.

My piano teacher said, “The Goldberg Variations were impossible to write, but he somehow wrote it”.

i enjoy watching things like this. We seem to be threatened to not discuss these topics. It's as if we're paying the salaries of these clueless thugs that end up attacking us if we even dare to discuss these things. "Yeah, I've done drugs, and this is what I've experienced..." - precisely what is the exact problem with that?

What a silly question to ask. Those who want to probably will and those who don't want to probably won't.

It’s pretty pretentious to say that everyone that had a bad experience with MDmA must not have taken real MDmA like how would you know?

everyone should.

Except the thumbnail says "Should Richard Dawkins Try Psychedelics?" Well I think he's tried the God helmet lol.

Sam's a long-standing and experienced meditator, and knows perfectly well that especially for a total beginner nobody gets anything from five minutes of meditation, any more than a total beginner can pick up an instrument and play like a genius in five minutes. There are several issues that this raises. One is as any experienced meditator or musician knows, it's about putting the hours in - not during some free time at the weekend if you're lucky, but hours of practice day in and day out for a *very* long period of time before you reach a certain level of proficiency. (Who and how decides what that level of proficiency is, is a can of worms I can't and won't open here). Another is, as Sam said, untangling what is in itself simply a tool or technique, no more or less, for relaxation (which pretty well all of us could do with more of) and self-awareness from an avalanche of woo. Another is why some people - Dawkins certainly by the sound of it; possibly Hitch but he's not here to ask so I'm not going to guess - have an apparent gut reaction against trying it out for a reasonable length of time and to observe the results.

i have no idea what they are talking about - is sam harriss saying he believes in god after taking mdma and meditating?

Don’t forget Hitchens was a product of the 60s, I bet he’s ran into it

I don't see the point to mediation myself, either. What grand revelations and "understanding" could possibly be gained from sitting there with your eyes closed? It's not that I resist it--I would love it to "work"--but I'm not even clear on what is supposed to happen. (A self-induced mushroom or MDMA trip? No way.) It might work as a technique to get to sleep, but that's all I see in it. The only reason people want Dawkins to do drugs is because they think it will challenge his atheism. He's not going to change his mind about this, people. He might enjoy the sense of utter awe it can give you, though.

No, it’s not that some people don’t get to see the metaphysical and others do. It’s not like playing music.

What about Peter Hitchens? You should ask him if he'd try some.

Man - how does anyone live without the Brandenburg concertos

I'd like to hear what a skeptical neuroscientist has to say on this subject.

Psychedelics gave me no awareness of spirituality, but a heightened awareness of particle physics.

Petition for Sam to listen to TOOL on acid

I sure wish these guys in this podcast would try a good dose of DMT and then there would be an interesting talk. Personally, DMT took more than 3 times for me to learn how to navigate that space even a little bit. DMT is The Bullseye for me and I’ve tried all the classics. Like Terrance McKenna says, if you’re not there yet, then you require one more toke. DMT is by far the most amazing thing on the planet. Everyone should learn an instrument and they are fairly easy to learn with a little patience. If mushrooms were like a Skydive then DMT is like a Proximity Wingsuit Base Jump.

Bach is pretty damn amazing!

Listening to these videos has given me respect for Sam, I've only heard Sam talking with Douglas Mrray or Pietersen before and i disagree vehemently with most of these 2s worldview DM any quarter. Sam in my opinion treated the subject matter with more ammusment, not buying into the conservative spin of the other 2. To be honest i thought Sam was above the world view of DM and JP, particularly the conservative spin and rationalisation from DM. Thanks Alex your videos have validated my thoughts somewhat and I've really enjoyed this series. Cherrs guys.✌️.

What does Sam Harris think about young adults taking psychedelics? I know that parts of the brain don't finish developing until age 25, so are there any risks in taking them before then?

Promoting drugs then promoting therapists, ohh that seems like a good step..

Perhaps Dawkins (and Hitch) are just too British to be moved by psychedelics and meditation. If Dawkins didn’t do drugs when he was at Berkeley during the swinging ‘60’s, it’s unlikely he’ll be tempted and to do so now.

Sam loves to prescribe wisdom like being patient or not reasoning yourself out of something like meditation but does not extend that same wisdom to religious realms despite benefitting from the same wisdom.

I vaguely felt the sense of self vanishing during an attempt to meditate one time Did that mean something? Idk

I can't agree with Sam here. He seems to be treating meditation as a thing everyone would benefit from if they put in the effort, and those that don't are somehow missing out. Meditation is a fine pastime if you're in to it, lbut it's no more than that.

It's not that I don't have anything else to say about the discussion, I think you guys pointed out some important aspects everyone should meditate on, but is it possible to tell me the fabrics used for your nice suits?🤓

Like…i have? Shrooms and LSD a good few times. Acid days are behind me but still do shrooms once a year or so coz I always have a good time. Still an atheist. (And sorry Sam…MDMA isn’t gonna cut it)

the case with dawkins seems to show how closed-minded each set can get when their confidence levels rise to the point of dogma - and the fear of stepping out into an unknown space from solid ground is too daunting i have been an agnostic most of my life. my parents are emotionally crippled (we do not come from a western culture) and they are not of exceptional intelligence or education. i have never felt the presence of god, despite my father being a pastor. but i knew deep down it is a pretty empty existence to keep going this way. i have undertaken a regime of regular trips under psilocybin over the past six months - and i can tell you that the spark of consciousness, whether it is actually alive out there in the universe or just a kernel that human beings carry within our subconscious, is who many regard as god. his voice is consistent, coherent, very real, and unlike anything you ever imagined. it comes from deep within and yet its love, wisdom, warmth, and goodness is clearly something other than you

As someone who takes psychiatric medication, I’d like to have that experience but I don’t think it’d be a great idea.

I'm very hesitant to do anything that alters my perception of reality

You are OBSESSED with DrUgZ!!

"obsessed with drugs"😂😂

Why not? They're groovy, baby. 60yrs on the planet and 50yrs an athiest and still going strong. I might also suggest, with more humanity than many of 'the book'.

Alex, please interview Francesca Stavrakopoulou.

would like to see a female guest on the podcast, no fault of your own of course but much of the discourse on youtube that is philosophy related is very dominanted by males it is a shame

Destiny would talk at lengths about this, he did a 10.5g does for his first time

Hitchens used drugs throughout his entire life to augment his experiences and increase pleasure. Hard to imagine him being critical of them as an escapist crutch.

Makes sense that Sam isn’t moved by music. There’s something strange about that guy…

with appropriate guidance, no reason not to. I found it interesting but not that impressive.

Yes

I dont see how a drug induced experience hints at the experience being available without drugs. Yes the biology of the brain allows it but it means as much that you can achieve this through meditation as Arnold Schwarzenegger's picture means you can just do a few pushups and look like him. Not saying its not possible.

Yes good idea

If I were Dawkins at this age I would give one last lecture then spend every day of the rest of my life drugged out in happy land.

Is it not substituting a potentially addictive hallucinatory predilection in place of Faith?

Hasnt Dawkins tried paracetamol? This is the futility of that word, drug.

Alex you should do an Afterlife tier list! Make a List and rank all of the afterlife’s assumptions from best to worse

bro needs a clip channel

I get incredible dopamine rushes through self-hypnosis.

Atheist or not , everyone should try psychedelics

Easy answer - Yes