For the millions of Americans who want spirituality without religion, Sam Harris's new book is a guide to meditation as a rational spiritual practice informed by neuroscience and psychology. Waking Up is for the 30 percent of Americans who follow no religion, but who suspect that Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the other saints and sages of history could not have all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds. Throughout the book, Harris argues that there are important truths to be found in the experiences of such contemplatives -- and, therefore, that there is more to understanding reality than science and secular culture generally allow. Waking Up is part seeker's memoir and part exploration of the scientific underpinnings of spirituality.

Spirituality. The search for happiness ; Religion, East and West ; Mindfulness ; The truth of suffering ; Enlightenment -- The mystery of consciousness. The mind divided ; Structure and function ; Are our minds already split? ; Conscious and unconscious processing in the brain ; Consciousness is what matters -- The riddle of the self. What are we calling "I"? ; Consciousness without self ; Lost in thought ; The challenge of studying the self ; Penetrating the illusion -- Meditation. Gradual versus sudden realization ; Dzogchen: taking the goal as the path ; Having no head ; The paradox of acceptance -- Gurus, death, drugs, and other puzzles. Mind on the brink of death ; The spiritual uses of pharmacology.