Seekers of Unity The Science of Mysticism | John Vervaeke on a Participatory & Intelligible Ontology | Round 1
@John Vervaeke is using the latest findings from cognitive science and psychology to integrate science and spirituality to alleviate the ongoing Meaning Crisis. Dr. Vervaeke is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science and Buddhist psychology, and the creator of Awakening from the Meaning Crisis series, in which he distils years of research and thinking from the cutting edge of cognitive science, psychology, history, philosophy and religion, all geared towards understanding and showing the way out from our current Meaning Crisis, through the cultivation of meaning, wisdom and self-transcendence, which John proposes are intimately tied-up with one another. John searches for a solution to this crisis by reaching deeply into the past to salvage the wisdom of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Plotinus, Jesus, and the Buddha, just to name a few, and modern figures like Jung, Nietzsche, Heidegger. Combining the best of the past with the best work being done currently by contemporary psychologists, cognitive scientists, philosophers, neuroscientists. In the series John goes deep into topics like shamanism, altered states of consciousness, mystical and psychedelic experiences. Existentialism. Nihilism. Artificial Intelligence. Neuroenlightenment. Just to give you a little taste. The series ultimately projects the audacious, promethean goal of “systematically creating psycho-technologies that transform consciousness, cognition, character and culture in a way that religions have [in the past],” which we’ll need “if we're going to address the current meaning crisis.” Oh, and as a by-product he proposes what may just amount to a comprehensive psychological theory of enlightenment. But John provides no easy answers, instead he helps us get clear about the problem and clear about what a potential solution might look like. So we together, can awaken from the meaning crisis.