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Ep 158  |  John Vervaeke

John Vervaeke: “The Meaning Crisis: Wisdom, Purpose, and the Search for Coherence”

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TGS158 John Vervaeke The Great Simplification

Show Summary

The crises that our world is facing seem to be constantly growing, leading to enormous and devastating systemic effects across the globe. Yet, the ripples of the human predicament are also reaching our personal lives in unexpected ways – through chronic loneliness, loss of coherence to reality, and a widespread feeling of insignificance. 

How do we begin to navigate the crisis of meaning that seems to accompany modernity, exacerbated by feeling out of control in the broader world we live in? 

In today’s conversation, Nate is joined by professor of psychology and cognitive scientist John Vervaeke to discuss the state of ‘the meaning crisis’, including the social and cultural contexts that have fostered such pervasive loss of connection and purpose. Vervaeke also unpacks the key practices that he and others have found most effective in regaining wisdom and direction while living in the modern era. 

What can cognitive science tell us about the role of spirituality and religion in living a life that is rich in relationships and clarity? How do flow states, rituals, and lifelong learning contribute to strengthening mental health and fostering adaptability? And perhaps most importantly, how might reconnecting with a sense of humility, wisdom, and shared humanity help guide us toward a more meaningful, collective existence?

About John Vervaeke

John Vervaeke, Ph.D. is an award-winning professor at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science, and Buddhist psychology. He currently teaches courses in the Psychology department on thinking and reasoning, cognitive development, and higher cognitive processes.

John is also the director of the Cognitive Science program where he teaches additional courses on Cognitive Science and consciousness, wherein he emphasizes 4E (embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended) models of cognition and consciousness.

Additionally, John is the director of the Consciousness and Wisdom Studies Laboratory. He is also the co-author of the book Zombies in Western Culture: A 21st Century Crisis, which integrates Psychology and Cognitive Science to address the meaning crisis in Western society. 

He is the author and presenter of the YouTube series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis.

In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President

That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher

We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF

This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

00:00 – John Vervaeke info + works, Youtube series: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, Awaken to Meaning

03:12 – *89% of 16-29 year olds in the UK say their life has no meaning

03:28 – Academic studies suggest life is meaningful, Samantha Heintzelman

03:41 – Christopher Mastropietro

03:49 – A symptomology of the meaning crisis

04:10 – Predictive processing and relevance realisation

06:20 – ‘Spiritual but not religious’ Americans

07:25 – Spiritual bypassing + conspirituality

08:12 – Increasing loneliness over time + loneliness declared a global public health concern

08:16 – Increase in anxiety and depression over time

08:34 – Increase in suicide rates over time

10:16 – Mindfulness revolution + rise in stoicism

14:17 – Pleistocene

15:47 – Winkelman on hunter-gatherer shamanism

16:01 – Flow state

17:44 – Perennialism and constructivism + The Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley

17:59 – Steven Katz’s philosophy of mysticism

18:14 – The Unity of Mystical Traditions book 

20:49 – Mystical experience 

22:24 – Andrew Newberg

23:47 – Fluency heuristic

24:30 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty

26:36 – Dopamine and set-shifting

29:57 – Flow as spontaneous thought

31:09 – Dialogical problem solving and Wason’s task

32:39 – Transfer-appropriate processing + encoding specificity

36:52 – Chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing

37:30 – Gregg Henriques

40:30 – Zombies in Western Culture

42:21 – Zombie walks

45:46 – Coherence, purpose and significance

47:43 – Peter Turchin + immiseration

49:38 – Hartmut Rosa + dynamic stabilization

50:38 – The Burnout Society

51:00 – Erich Fromm + To Have or To Be?

58:37 – Awaken to Meaning

59:51 – Scott Barry Kaufman + Transcend

1:00:07 – Maslow’s pyramid of needs

1:05:02 – Leisure time for hunter-gatherers + more info

1:05:47 – Jordan Hall

1:05:59 – Dunbar’s number

1:08:49 – After Socrates series

1:10:15 – Einstein and Spinoza’s God course

1:10:33 – The Philosophical Silk Road

1:14:14 – Ecology of practices

1:18:49 – Chess moves and atoms in the universe

1:21:14 – Salience network

1:24:05 – Relevance realization and wisdom

1:28:52 – The Psychology of Belonging

1:31:47 – The Axial Age

1:34:23 – Pierre Hadot + What Is Ancient Philosophy?

1:34:37  – Marcus Aurelius

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