The society we live in today is the safest and most prosperous society that has ever existed on the planet. The likelihood of dying due to illness, murder, or starvation have dramatically plummeted in the last 100 years. More people are being lifted out of abject poverty now than ever before, while the everyday technologies we hold in our hands grant us the full extent of human knowledge and entertainment with just the tap of a finger.
Yet, there’s a problem.
Anxiety, depression, PTSD, adolescent suicide, and many other mental health ailments have skyrocketed in the last decade. In this age of prosperity, humans are feeling more disconnected from themselves and their communities, more detached from the natural world, and are having incredible difficulty finding a sense of meaning in their lives.
This week on the Evolve Move Play Podcast we are very excited to have with us John Vervaeke, a cognitive psychologist/scientist at the University of Toronto who has made it his mission to understand and remedy the meaning crisis; and it just so happens that the way we look at our movement practice may play a key role in developing our ability to transcend the bullshit and find the meaning we are striving for in life.
So grab a pad and pen, sit back, and get ready to take a trip into the realm of our cognitive psychology to see how the very mechanisms that make us susceptible to bullshit also provide us the ability to transcend ourselves, tap into flow states, and maybe even find enlightenment while we're at it.
TOPICS COVERED:
00:00 - Intro
02:12 - Interview Start
03:19 - The Meaning Crisis
08:44 - The Many Ways We Learn
14:36 - Relevance Realization
25:30 - JV's Core Points
30:18 - Bullshit
36:13 - Connection & Coherence
41:06 - The Death of God and Self Trancendance
45:40 - Updating our Systems
52:33 - The Role of Movement Practice
01:07:43 - "Don't tell me what you believe, tell me what you practice"
01:11:28 - Reclaiming Sacredness
01:18:38 - Flow, Nutrition v. Stimulation
01:25:38 - Modal Confusion
01:32:13 - Hope
01:35:16 - Resources and Book List
JOHN'S BOOK LIST:
“Zombies in Western Culture: A 21st Century Crisis” - Chris Mastropietro, Filip Miscevic, John Vervaeke
"What is Ancient Philosophy?" - Pierre Hadot
"Platonic Mysticism" & "Perennial Philosophy" - Arthur Versluis
"The Kyoto School: An Introduction" - Robert Carter
"Religion and Nothingness" - Keiji Nishitani
"Flow" - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
"Trying Not to Try: The Ancient Art of Effortlessness and the Surprising Power of Spontaneity" - Edward G. Slingerland
LEARN MORE @
youtube.com/johnvervaeke
www.johnvervaeke.com
SUPPORT US @
www.patreon.com/rafekelley
www.evolvemoveplay.com
Also don't forget to like, subscribe, and leave a review for us on iTunes.
Thanks a lot everyone! Happy moving!
-The EMP Team
