Interesting posts, Jonah. Whether or not it applies to Sam Harris, the phenomenon you identify (I wonder how widespread it really is, however) is testimony of the way that so many people appear hot-wired to believe in something at the spiritual level (Derb has recently written about this). It’s why religion will endure. It’s worth noting as well that you can see something similar in the way that some atheists (the ‘proper’ sort, I mean, not the voodoo crowd) have transformed their disbelief into a creed of its very own, complete with that traditionally ‘religious’ disdain (and worse) for those who disagree with them. Richard Dawkins comes to mind. It’s all pointless of course. Such matters are unprovable one way or the other and, so far as I’m concerned, are not worth spending too much time upon. As for those meditating monks and mystics, they need to eat more and get out a bit. That will solve their vision problem.