2min chapter

#657: Professor John Vervaeke — How to Build a Life of Wisdom, Flow, and Contemplation

The Tim Ferriss Show

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CHAPTER

The Intimacy of the Logos

I'm wondering what are some of the most unusual modes of cognition or relating or perceiving that you have noticed in those types of exercises? Yeah, and circling and philosophical fellowship and dialogue into the logos, all of these. People start to get a sense of intimacy to the we space or Chris and I call it the logos or a German word, the geist. And then there's a third intimacy that people sometimes get to, which is they start to get an intimacy through the interpersonal and through the intimacy with the we space.

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John Vervaeke (@vervaeke_john) is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. He currently teaches courses on thinking and reasoning with an emphasis on cognitive development, intelligence, rationality, mindfulness, and the psychology of wisdom.

Vervaeke is the director of UToronto’s Consciousness and Wisdom Studies Laboratory and its Cognitive Science program, where he teaches Introduction to Cognitive Science and The Cognitive Science of Consciousness, emphasizing the 4E model, which contends that cognition and consciousness are embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended beyond the brain.

Vervaeke has taught courses on Buddhism and Cognitive Science in the Buddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health program for 15 years. He is the author and presenter of the YouTube series “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” and his brand new series, ‘After Socrates.’

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[05:31] The four ways of knowing (4P).

[10:15] Affordances.

[13:04] Semantic memory.

[13:37] Flow.

[27:03] Did John find Tai Chi, or did Tai Chi find him?

[29:46] Leaving Christianity.

[34:42] Wisdom vs. knowledge.

[36:54] Self-deception.

[41:53] When is logic the illogical choice for solving a problem?

[46:05] The powers and perils of intuition.

[55:05] Spotting patterns that need breaking.

[59:18] Meditation vs. contemplation.