# Quote — Sam Harris, Waking Up

> The self that does not survive scrutiny is the subject of experience in each present moment—the feeling of being a thinker of thoughts inside one's head, the sense of being an owner or inhabitant of a physical body, which this false self seems to appropriate as a kind of vehicle. Even if you don't believe such a homunculus exists—perhaps because you believe, on the basis of science, that you are identical to your body and brain rather than a ghostly resident therein—you almost certainly feel like an internal self in almost every waking moment. And yet, however one looks for it, this self is nowhere to be found. It cannot be seen amid the particulars of experience, and it cannot be seen when experience itself is viewed as a totality. However, its absence can be found—and when it is, the feeling of being a self disappears.

- Author: [Sam Harris](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris.md)
- Book: [Waking Up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/waking-up.md)
- Page: 92
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sam_Harris#Waking_Up_(2014)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/waking-up/the-self-that

## More from this book

> Happiness and suffering, however extreme, are mental events. The mind depends upon the body, and the body upon the world, but everything good or bad that happens in your life must appear in consciousness to matter. This fact offers ample opportunity to make the best of bad situations—changing your perception of the world is often as good as changing the world—but it also allows a person to be miserable even when all the material and social conditions for happiness have been met. During the normal course of events, your mind will determine the quality of your life.

p. 204 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/waking-up/happiness-and-suffering.md)

> Consciousness is the one thing in this universe that cannot be an illusion.

p. 54 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/waking-up/consciousness-is-the.md)

> The conventional sense of self is an illusion—and [] spirituality largely consists in realizing this, moment to moment. There are logical and scientific reasons to accept this claim, but recognizing it to be true is not a matter of understanding these reasons. Like many illusions, the sense of self disappears when closely examined, and this is done through the practice of meditation.

p. 82 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sam-harris/waking-up/the-conventional-sense.md)