The Day I Met Sam Harris
Much of my thinking has changed and improved. And Sam Harris is now my screen saver.
1. THE MADNESS OF CROWDS - Douglas Murray writes about today’s dogmatic left and how feminism, race and sexuality - issues that were once about improving society and giving space to the minority; have today become corrupted and shoved down our throats!
2. THE MORAL LANDSCAPE - Sam Harris, ah! The worlds most prolific atheist introduces the concept of measuring moral values with the well being of conscious creatures. Simply, goodness must be anchored in the flourishing of all sentient beings. Moral relativism has led to the subjugating of woman, animals and wayward thinkers with the excuse of culture and religion. Once upon a time, babies were buried alive in the garden to appease Gods. Perhaps it is time for us to update our minds, for cruel notions of culture and religion have led to much suffering. If scientists rightly so ONLY have a say in science, then the Talibans then and many more should have no say in the area of women or well being.
3. THE COURAGE TO BE DISLIKED - Based on the psychologist Adler, here are 3 profound lessons. 1. Everyone has inferior feelings; but it’s good because it makes us self improve. Those who allow these feelings to consume them go on to develop an inferiority complex and eventually a superiority complex. 2. Many people don’t have the courage to have a better life. They rather stay stuck in their acceptable pain and have complaints. 3. A person who makes everything into a competition will find it hard to be happy because everyone is a rival and every situation requires a winner and loser. Can this person be truly happy when someone succeeds? Only be in competition with yourself. Compare with your ideal self, not someone else.
4. ONE CHILD - China’s biggest mistake was forcing the One Child Policy in 1980. By 2025, India will overtake China as the world’s most populous nation. By 2050, 1 in 4 Chinese will be aged 60 and above. By 2100, it’s population will shrink to 500 million. The One Child Policy will lead to a massive ageing population and a reduced competitive streak. It has already led to a population of single Chinese males and the narrowing of life choices for the single children ( 小皇帝 ) who are required to care for parents, grandparents and one’s own family. While a reversal has already been in place, the average Chinese today has continued to settle for one child.
5. ISLAM AND THE FUTURE OF TOLERANCE - We live in hopeful times when atheist Sam Harris and former jihadist sympathiser Majid Nawaz are buddies and have the world’s hardest conversation on making Islam hospitable to the world today. Majid has committed the Quran to memory and spent years with the most conservative Islam clerics discussing Islamic theology and it’s direction. Today he is attempting the impossible. Making the religion more hospitable. Frank discussions on the medieval nature of scriptures - cut off the hands of the thief, are openly questioned. Islamist and jihadist refusal to cohabit with non-Muslims have become worse today. Fact. The Islamic state in Iraq slaughters Yazidi men and enslave women wholesale because they do not fit a narrow definition of “people of the book.” Is something written 2000 years ago meant to dictate our lives for rest of the millenium to come? The conversation continues.
6. THE BLANK SLATE - Do stereotypes exist? Are women more agreeable than men? Are there cultures which are more violent? And are there societies which are more successful than others? YES to all. We are not born blank slates. We come as a mixed bag and have human tendencies that are easily ugly if unrefrained - greed, status, sex. In the 1990s, China enforced a law prohibiting parents with a history of mental illness to bear children. International outcry led to its abolishment. China remains petulant though. It encourages its Olympic athletes to procreate with one another.
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” - Frederick Douglass, African American social reformer.
