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It\u2019s been ten years since the publication of Sam Harris\u2019s book\xa0The End of Faith\xa0kicked off the cultural phenomenon of \u201cnew atheism,\u201d bringing frank criticism of religion into mainstream conversation. In the decade since, Harris has emerged as something of a maverick among nonbelievers and progressives, frequently at the center of controversy with his opinions on Islam and extremism, science\u2019s role in morality, and his embrace of a kind of \u201cspiritualism\u201d grounded in science.\n\xa0\nIt is this last item that is the subject of his latest book,\xa0Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, in which he seeks a rational approach to transcendence; one that puts the supernatural aside in favor of an honest, scientific exploration of the mind, altered states of consciousness, and other (as he puts it) \u201cspooky phenomena.\u201d\xa0\n\xa0\nOn this special episode of\xa0Point of Inquiry, Harris talks to host Josh Zepps about his foray into the mystical. In this fascinating interview, Harris asserts that experiences such as bliss and transcendence must be removed from the realm of sectarianism, but that \u201cone of the great holes in secularism\u201d is that \u201cwe don\u2019t have a ready answer for someone who wakes up\xa0tomorrow\xa0morning with an extraordinary change in their conscious life which they deem positive.\u201d\xa0\n\xa0\nHarris talks about the search for this answer, as well as the illusion of the self, expanding our moral circle to include other creatures, and an evaluation of the progress secularism has made since the time \u201cnew atheism\u201d was still new.