51 pages • 1 hour read
Dan HarrisA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Harris updates his findings in the epilogue, written in the fall of 2013. Here, he notes that studies on long-term meditators (215) show that enlightenment may be possible. Jud Brewer, a scientist from Yale, has found that “[i]f you give your brain enough of a taste of mindfulness, it will eventual create a self-reinforcing spiral—a retreat from greed and hatred that could […] potentially lead all the way to the definitive uprooting of negative emotion (in other words enlightenment)” (216).
Harris has realized his penchant, present throughout the book, of “clos[ing] [his] mind prematurely” (218) to both people and opportunities. Fighting against this while remaining wisely ambitious secures Harris’s promotion to co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline. It also suggests that he will keep seeking new experiences, new principles, and greater knowledge. Harris closes this last part of the 2014 edition with a recounting of pursuing an interview with a drug kingpin in Rio de Janeiro. As he sends the terrifying and armed man a mental dose of metta, he feels triumphant doing his job to the best of his ability. He also shows his knowledge and acceptance of self.