Exploring the Meaning Crisis

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