Philosophy, Spirituality, Esotericism & the Crisis of Meaning w/ @johnvervaeke & @SeekersofUnity

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Incredible lineup. Never expected to see this panel. So glad these conversations are being held for the world to see.

This was such a nice surprise for me to see these three in diologos. I am a very solitary person, kicking around these discussion points in my own head all my life. Having not found anyone in my life that is half as concerned about these talking points as myself, I have felt alone in my belief of the meaning crisis and its causes… until I found this corner of YouTube. Thank you Justin, Levi & John. I hope one day my work becomes relevant enough to be in diologos with you all in the future.

3:05 Mr Vervaeke is happy of this dialogue...but it covers sadness, that permeates my own life, the lack of interlocutors in everyday life about an abundance of topics, like this one. My father, who has been a friend and intellectual companion all my life ( I am now 53yo), where having this conversation about his age (86yo) and it came to my mind how lonely my life will be when he departs.....one of the reasons that make follow Dr Sledge, and Zvi and Dra Puca, so there, I said it. May the Divine bless you all.

I accidentally read Dr. Sledge's shirt as "Goy Division" before I realized what I was looking at... Anyway, this discussion was an unknown pleasure and I will be heavily anticipating parts 2 and 3 as we get closer

Three sages.

Dr. Sledge is an awfully Good Person. What a courageous interlocutor. We need more Sledge! Srrsly.

I’m an assistant professor of psychology myself, and this was so refreshing to watch, it feels nice to know that the ideas I want to pursue in psych are being talked about. I often feel like a little island in my department!

Thanks for all your hard work and public-facing scholarship, Dr Sledge 👏⚒️

This is the kind of discussion I thought would be the norm between the departments of psychology, philosophy, and religion when I went to a little college with a reputation for both academic rigor and counterculture. As it turned out, the three departments had almost nothing to do with each other.

I've never had a word or lable for this feeling or perception. I used to say that the world has been demystified. But the meaning crisis is such a good way to explain it.

great themes and great discussion like an informal conference (and better for it!)

I feel like 1)cognitive science is still so low resolution and 2) our actual level of cognitive ability is busy poking pinholes in the ceiling of our cognitive ability to understand reality.

I don't know many people who would say "Kripke, of blessed memory" but every one who would is someone I like

My attempt at describing "The meaning crisis" in simple terms. The meaning crisis has emerged as society has gone down the path of scientific materialism. Since the enlightenment we've uncovered an enormous amount of information about the universe, but we as individuals are no longer a part of the picture. Where narratives of the past build a worldview from the human outwards, where as this scientific classification looks at humanity, not as the reason for which we can understand it all, rather as a tiny spec in a list of information. Humanity is a word in a dictionary. Where I would argue that we (humans) better understand things when we understand it in relationship to ourselves. And noting that our experiences first begin with sensation as the Buddha taught, pleasant and unpleasant. We classify different types of pleasant and unpleasant sensations into physical, emotional, and thoughts (one layer of abstraction). And we build narratives about how these sensations arise as we interact with that world (another layer of abstraction). For most of history, we took those stories of our relationship with sensations that arise as we interact with the world (I felt afraid when the tiger growled in the bushes near me), and we abstract it once further into a story where others can put themselves. But the abstraction has gone so far for most individuals, where they no longer understand the stories that reaffirms that knowledge into their lives, information use to be relevant because it was necessary for survival or societal fit, but with so much of it, and such highly abstract classifications the information has become a jumble of disconnected noise. Where stories and analogies create the patterns that allow us to see information within the noise (to see shapes in amongst millions of stars), and experience utilizing that information helps us relate those patterns back within us. To internalize the knowledge, and subsequently cultivate wisdom. The meaning crisis is that information due to hyper-specialisation has become so abundant and abstract that it no longer has relevance to us, yet to solve the crisis we need to find new ways to help people navigate the patterns of information so it becomes relatable to them, and they can build their own stories based on their pathway through the stars, through the millions of nodes of information. And we can both become teachers and students again as we engage in dialogue, not debate, about the patterns we see.

I’ve never felt gratitude before for my entire lack of a feeling of belonging or meaning. So thanks for that. I’ve always had to grapple with how to know things and why there isn’t such a thing as meaning and why I don’t belong anywhere or feel connected to anything, but now I feel sorry for y’all having not had to make your own way in this sense since childhood. What I settle on is being useful and feeling joy fiercely and imminently. Great discussion as always, thanks!

Thanks again for discussing my question Doc, and for this conversation in general, I can't wait for the next round!

Awesome combo of thinkers big shoutout to whoever made this happen

I love how deep this conversation went, to the very foundations of reality. I actually thought that, while somewhat mind-bending, that was really valuable. Excited to hear about the cognitive functions of ritual!

Ok! This is powerful, needed and what a panel !! More please. Fantastic ! Crisis of meaning ! Yes!