“10% Happier” or “How a Jewish Atheist Appropriated Buddhist Practices and You Can Too!”

Dan Harris is an ABC News correspondent who also co-anchors Nightline and the weekend edition of Good Morning America. Before that, he covered religion for ABC News, which is something ironic for a Jewish atheist to be doing. But that’s what Peter Jennings (who was kind of a big deal) wanted him to do.

Covering these various religious stories (including the whole Ted Haggard scandal) is where the story of 10% Happier begins. Shortly after covering the Ted Haggard story, Harris embarked on a journey of spiritual exploration. This led him to such Oprah favorites as Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra, as well as Mark Epstein and his fusion of Judaism and Buddhism (Jew-Bu, if you’re curious).

The turning point was a 10 day retreat Harris took with Joseph Goldstein called July Insight Meditation Retreat in order to retrain his mindfulness. After some work, he was able to channel his new discipline of mindfulness and meditation. As a result, he stopped using drugs and was better able to cope with the competitiveness required to be a successful TV-news journalist.

In the context of psychological well-being, there is little argument that meditation is valuable. Just how one should go about it is a different story. Here, Harris offers his take, and an alternate subtitle for this book could be “How a Jewish Atheist Appropriated Buddhist Practices and You Can Too!” Harris, as an atheist (and good friend of Sam Harris), is writing for a skeptical audience. Because of that, the book makes a compelling case for the importance of meditation and mindfulness to people not interested in the whole religious package. In doing so, it hits on a spiritual practice that could be a good starting point of conversation with those of other faiths.

In the FAQ at the end of the book, Harris responds to the question “Can I meditate if I’m a believing Christian (or Jew or Muslim, etc.)? Will it erode my faith?” He cites as Albert Mohler as an opponent of both yoga and meditation since they are both bound up in Eastern spirituality (236). In reality (and Mohler would agree), meditation is an important practice for Christians. It differs from the quasi-Buddhist version Harris has appropriated which is more about emptying the mind refocusing the self. For the Christian, the goal is to fill the mind, but the motivation is still to mental renewal. On that last point, Harris can agree and his book provides an atheistic case for the importance meditation in daily life.

Dan Harris, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story. New York: It Books, 2014. 256 pp. Hardcover, $25.99.