Ep. 1 - Awakening from the Meaning Crisis - Introduction

When you strike gold in the Mines of YouTube.. It's rare and an ecstatic experience.

Coming to this from Lex Fridman, thank you to everyone who listens to this kind of thing, these times are so difficult on so many levels but it is discussions and peoples interest in things like this that gives me hope.

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge, foolishness is a lack of wisdom - that hit me

The deeper I get into these videos, the more convinced I become that they represent one of the greatest resources and public goods available to people, and remain relevant for any age. For anybody who has struggled with the Meaning Crisis, the lethargy, aimlessness, or frustration of depression, a pointless job, or chronically experienced pathology of any intensity - you can appreciate the sheer amount of lost ‘productive’ people hours, and the future ones that are at stake. Without reducing it to pure utilitarianism, think simply of the consequences of the compounding effects of knowing this when you’re 30 vs when you’re 40; a life sidetracked even temporarily by aimlessness and despair has a cost that we are often at a loss to accurately quantify, but if it is already enormous in an individual life, it is pure tragedy when added up among the many it affects, not to mention the complimentary effects that are lost by having many people committed to their own self-actualization available to network and cooperate together. This compilation should be considered Nobel-level stuff, IMHO. Thank you, Mr. Vervaeke. (Though, on the other hand, if everybody suddenly became bullshit-proof, the entire economy might collapse, but that’s another story…)

Book List: 1:21 - The Mindfulness Revolution by Boyce 2:15 - The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom by Ferrari & Weststrate 2:32 - How To Be a Stoic by Pigliucci 4:26 - Meaning in Life by Wolf 4:58 - Transformative Experience by Paul 6:43 - Zombies in Western Culture by Vervaeke, Mastropietro & Miscevic 7:07 - On Bullshit by Frankfurt 31:06 - Supernatural Selection by Rossano 36:38 - Mindsight by Siegel 39:55 - After Phrenology by Anderson 42:53 - Shamanism (2nd edition) by Winkelman 44:27 - The Mind In The Cave by Lewis-Williams 45:30 - Natural-Born Cyborgs by Clark 51:00 - Waking From Sleep by Taylor This is a great lecture, and his high energy/enthusiasm makes it easy to follow along. He knows where to punctuate his points, and where to offer analogies to strengthen understanding. This man is one of the great professors.

"I can't be unbiased that's not a thing." LOL the honesty is refreshing

First pass: I'm doing things around the house, listening on headphones. Second pass: Still listening on headphones, sitting still, taking notes.

It's unbelievable that we have access to these "wells" of wisdom at the click of a button. For free!!!!! What!!!!!!?????

Man I needed this so badly. I’m 23 and this existential crisis is hitting me so hard that it’s ruining my life in every small fabric. I hope this helps me in any way

And I’m ecstatic that Jordan Peterson made me aware of you! Deeply grateful.

I cannot thank you enough! Nothing has excited me as much as this for many years. It's like having Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts and a dash of Carl Sagan all together.

Dear Prof. Vervaeke I've listened to whole series 6 months ago and it completely undermined my "bubble of ignorance". I am 20 years old and I felt as if my fundamental beliefs and ways of perception has been changed, but it was too much information overload for me to vitaly absorb everything and make a organized whole of it and I rather felt into kind of chaos conflicting worldviews. But I am going through all the lectures again bit by bit with notebook, writing down core concepts, reflecting and integrating. Thank you SO MUCH for your work, you have my unspeakable admiration. This has been the most "awe inspiring" series I've ever listened too. Greetings from Czech Republic With gratitude Jakub

WOW when Mr. Vervacke described how the shaman became the deer I got goose bumps. I am retired, but in my job in tool & die they would often bring me in to diagnose a machine that was malfunctioning. I know it sounds crazy but if I could feel/become the machine. I could see in my mind why the machine could behave in the manner it was. Never heard anyone describe the feeling so well.

Wow… it never ceases to amaze me how all this knowledge is free. Thank you sir!!

You had me at Gymnopédies. Really looking forward to this series. Thank you, Mr. Vervaeke.

Just came here from your JBP conversation. cracks open a drink and takes out a notebook If you see this message John, your introducing Peterson to the difference of propositional and participatory helped me so much to make a huge breakthrough in my perspectives. I have been stuck where Jordan seemed stuck and, in my case, coping with my own feelings towards God\reality. I was so happy to now have a new way to view what I was wrestling with that aligned so many things that seemed to be at odds. For that alone, thank you thank you thank you thank you! I feel more confident than ever about teaching my son about the world and to continue my journey of understanding. Time to start your series from the beginning.

As a U of T alumni and former student of Prof. Vervaeke, I cannot express how glad I am that Prof. Vervaeke has moved and continues to move into this space.

Coming back to episode 1 after listening my way through the whole series! It’s so good! This might need to be an annual ritual for me.

I have no idea what Jordan's motivation was having you on his podcast, but the fact that he did not let you speak inspired me to listen to your work. Your patience and levelheadedness despite being cutoff and dismissed was inspiring.