Sam Harris once said, about smoking weed, that everyone he knows who smokes weed would benefit from smoking less, and everyone he knows who doesn’t smoke weed would benefit from smoking more. I feel the same way about the pursuit of self-knowledge. If you’ve never looked within, you should probably start. But if you look within all the time, maybe... See more

Sam Harris once said, about smoking weed, that everyone he knows who smokes weed would benefit from smoking less, and everyone he knows who doesn’t smoke weed would benefit from smoking more.

Lest this essay be misunderstood, I’m not saying that all attempts at self-understanding are pointless or counterproductive. I’ve no doubt benefited greatly from my own quest for self-knowledge, as fruitless as much of it has been. But the idea that such self-knowledge is important is pretty baked into our current society, and I think we might all... See more