EPISODE #52 JOHN VERVAEKE
The Meaning Crisis
Life changing!
There are only a handful of people I can count on my hand where I can say that they have had a life changing effect on how I see the world, others and myself. John Vervaeke is a cognitive psychologist, scientist and assistant professor within the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto, Canada. He has been coined by 10’s of thousands of students and 100’s of thousands of people globaly as a ‘life changing-lecturer’.
I discovered John through Jordan Peterson, who many of you will know. John grabs your head and heart with deep insight and inspiring wisdom that has you only wanting more. Which is how you’ll be left feeling post his 50 part series on the meaning crisis.
This is a necessary and very much needed and insightful conversation with John on creating meaning and connection in life. His deepest desire is to have everyone he interacts with to aspire towards who they can become. To develop and deepen who they are and the connections they can have to other people and the world.
Enjoy team, get after it and please remember to share the incredible and wonderful insights you get from this conversation.
Got your back
Bishop.
We must awaken from it
Deeper than social media problems, political problems, even economic problems. They’re deeply historical, cultural problems. Getting out of this problem is tremendously hard and requires transformation in our cognition, culture, and communities.
How can we find a solution?
We have to reach even more deeply into the past to salvage the resources we can for such an amazing challenge. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Jesus of Nazareth, Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha. Also modern figures like Jung, Nietzsche, Heidegger. Current work being done by psychologists, cognitive scientists, philosophers, neuroscientists.
My video series covers a lot. Shamanism and altered states of consciousness including mystical experiences and psychedelic experiences. Existentialism. Nihilism. Artificial Intelligence. What does our evolutionary past tell us about how to wrestle with this?
There are no easy answers. We have to be clear about the problem and clear about what potential solution might look like.
So we can—together—awaken from the meaning crisis.
This episode was crazy.. much was covered lol…
- What is the meaning crisis? (21.21)
- The Wisdom Famine – We have lost our wisdom institutions and where we should go for wisdom. (25.46)
- Technology and Science – The scientific world view effects connection – loss of connection to our own home world view (28.20)
- Study on meaninglessness and loneliness – We don’t know how to use technology and media to authentically connect with each other and the world. (37.16 )
- People are choosing virtual world over the real world – why? (38.53 )
- Idea of bullshitting (1.01.42)
- Authentic conversation military style (1.21.11)
- The importance of self reflection (1.22.50)
- Willingness to be vulnerable (1.32.32)
- The hero’s journey myth revealed (1.34.00)
- Why are words so important (1.43.21)
- Deep alliance and co creating relationship you can have with the universe (1.47.30)
- Difference between having sex and making love (1.49.17)
KEY INSIGHTS & LEARNINGS
Circumstance does not make us, it reveals us. If you want more of anything, be it freedom, direction, confidence, clarity or just calm. To becoming more and excel, there are only 3 areas you can train to achieve this:
MEANING MAKING
SELF DECEPTION
DEEP CONNECTION
QUOTES FROM THE PODCAST
“It’s really important in life that you matter to people and things that have a meaning value independent of your own egocentric desires”
“Technology isn’t just out there as a tool, it seeps into our identity, in ways that are very implicit, yet very profound and powerful”
“When you are serving other people, you are actually serving your meaning in life, because you are mattering to other people – mattering to them beyond your own egocentric behaviours”
“When you enter into that co creating relationship with world, you will remember how to fall in love with reality again.
“When you spend too much time playing it safe you lose the opportunity to aspire, develop and deepen who you are and your connection to other people”
“We are wired to matter”