#308 — The Long Game

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Harris speaks with Robert Waldinger about the Harvard Study of Adult Development. They discuss the limitations of relying on self-report to assess a person’s well-being; Daniel Kahneman’s remembering and experiencing selves; why it can be hard to figure out what makes us happy; the effects of alcohol, smoking, and exercise; the connection between work and fulfillment; the primacy of relationships; the diminishing importance of wealth; status vs feeling valued; the connection between good relationships and physical health; having kids and marital satisfaction; introversion vs extroversion; mortality and loss; collecting experiences vs things; the benefits of walking; taking relationships for granted; quantity vs quality time; the self and self states; the guru-disciple relationship; and the possibility of enlightenment.

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Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast.
0:09.1	This is Sam Harris.
0:11.3	Just a note to say that if you're hearing this, you are not currently on our subscriber
0:14.8	feed and will only be hearing the first part of this conversation.
0:18.6	In order to access full episodes of the Making Sense Podcast, you'll need to subscribe
0:22.5	at samharis.org.
0:24.5	There you'll find our private RSS feed to add to your favorite pod catcher, along with
0:28.3	other subscriber-only content.
0:30.7	We don't run ads on the podcast, and therefore it's made possible entirely through the support
0:34.6	of our subscribers.
0:36.0	So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one.
0:47.2	Today I'm speaking with Robert Waldinger.
0:50.0	Robert is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and the director of the Harvard
0:55.5	Studies Study of Adult Development at Massachusetts General Hospital.
1:00.7	He also has a new book out based on this study called The Good Life.
1:05.8	Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, which he wrote along with
1:10.4	his co-author, Mark Schultz.
1:13.5	Robert is also the co-founder of the Life Span Research Foundation.
1:18.9	He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard, and also his medical degree from Harvard
1:24.0	Medical School, and he's been at Harvard ever since.
1:28.5	He's a practicing psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and he's also a Zen priest, and he teaches
1:34.3	meditation in New England and around the world.
	...

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