Thank you for this. I don't know why it's been so hard for me to find anything this clear about what meditation even is. But today in my junior efforts at mindfulness mediation, I realized that I've been confused and annoyed about Sam Harris's insistence that somehow consciousness is it's own thing. I didn't totally discredit it, after all he's a life long practitioner, but it makes no sense to me. It occurred to me while sitting this morning that maybe this mysterious consciousness is just metacognition, which word had not even occurred to me before, and which thought led to an internet search and your article. Mr. Harris seems like a reasonable guy, so maybe I'll get to understanding what the hell he's talking about, but I've just read two of his books, and this article was by far more helpful. Maybe he is assuming I already knew the things you are outlining here. I'll listen and read more of him to see if this all checks out. Anyway, in appreciation

Thank you for this. I don't know why it's been so hard for me to find anything this clear about what meditation even is. But today in my junior efforts at mindfulness mediation, I realized that I've been confused and annoyed about Sam Harris's insistence that somehow consciousness is it's own thing. I didn't totally discredit it, after all he's a life long practitioner, but it makes no sense to me. It occurred to me while sitting this morning that maybe this mysterious consciousness is just metacognition, which word had not even occurred to me before, and which thought led to an internet search and your article. Mr. Harris seems like a reasonable guy, so maybe I'll get to understanding what the hell he's talking about, but I've just read two of his books, and this article was by far more helpful. Maybe he is assuming I already knew the things you are outlining here. I'll listen and read more of him to see if this all checks out. Anyway, in appreciation.