Hi there,

Did you happen to catch Shamil Chandaria's talk with Sam Harris?

It's an amazing synthesis of cognitive science and ancient contemplative wisdom. 

Shamil draws on cutting-edge neuroscience that explore how our minds construct experience. It's becoming increasingly clear that most of what we perceive is based on what we think we should perceive. Not knowingly, of course - it runs way deeper than that. Most of it is a deeply subconscious hierarchy of beliefs that shape how we experience the world. 

We might notice some of these beliefs in casual conversation, - "the world is safe" or "so-and-so can’t be trusted." 

Other assumptions might need deeper states of meditation to observe, like ‘I am separate from my environment’ or ‘time and space are fundamental’.   

This gets exciting for meditators, because this “hierarchy of perception” can provide a map. A way navigate these beliefs, see through them, and even start to modify them. 

Seeing through beliefs might reduce suffering. Gently adjusting them might even enhance human flourishing. What if this becomes a systematic way towards a more rich and engaged connection with other beings and with reality? 

It's a beautiful synthesis between ancient spiritual thought and modern scientific findings. A way for the 1st person and 3rd person perspectives to support, complement and enrich each other. 

There are few people alive today who can speak to this more clearly than Shamil, who has spent 38 years not only as a dedicated meditator, but also worked in collaboration with many of the worlds leading scientists in cognition, perception, artificial intelligence and psychedelics. He's a fellow at Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College, and sought after by many leading institutions such as Google's Deep Mind. 

So I'm beyond excited that we're hosting Shamil's first public talk on this topic, in London and online, and I hope you can join us!

I'm expecting this to sell out, so messaging you early so you can grab a ticket if you want to come. (Will be recorded and sent to you if you can't make it live.)

Hope to see you there!

Amir