Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm is an historian and philosopher, Professor of Religion and Chair of Science & Technology Studies at Williams College. He received his PhD from Stanford University and his MA from Harvard University. He joins Brendan to discuss his work of systematic metamodern philosophy, 'Metamodernism: The Future of Theory.' 0:00 Introduction 2:34 What "Metamodernism"? 7:55 A Metamodern Attractor 9:40 The Postmodern Paradigm 15:58 Deconstructing Deconstruction: The Anarchist's Cookbook to Destroy Concepts 26:33 Reconstructing from the Pieces 29:40 Going Meta 36:57 After Deconstruction: From Objects to Processes 45:21 Development as Identity? Contingency and the Genetic Fallacy 59:34 Meaning after the "Linguistic Turn": Hylosemiotics + a World

Jonathan Rowson of Perspectiva joins Brendan for a conversation about the nature of spirituality in the contemporary public square, the boundaries of the social imaginary, the thirst for spiritual conversation and community in a secular world, religion and epistemic justification, the religious impulse of submission vs. the modern ego, what taking the meta view on a multi-perspectival religious landscape might mean, the divine contribution of the individual/individuating will, and much else. 0:00 Introduction 2:04 Exploring (the Absence of) Spirituality in Public Space Today 9:47 Defining Spirituality 14:22 The Elephant in the Room 20:24 A More Justified Worldview? Modernity vs. Traditional Religion 31:26 Truth and Value in the Public Domain 36:02 Transrational Submission or Individuation? 44:50 Both Both/And and Either/Or: Religion, Committment, and Multi-Perspectival Awareness 53:32 Mystery, Reality, Plurality, and Transcendence 57:35 Pluralism, Committment, and the Creative Will of the Metamodern Self 1:08:43 Metamodernity as Spirituality 1:14:38 Closing Remarks

In their first-ever conversation on the topic together, Daniel Görtz and Nora Bateson join Brendan to talk about stage theory. Since Nora's social media post declaring developmental stage theories "BS" and "colonial as hell," the value and legitimacy of stage models has been a fervent topic of debate within the liminal web. In this conversation, Daniel and Nora are given space to more completely express their opinions on the topic before engaging with one another directly in discussion/debate in an attempt to gain a deeper appreciation and integration of one another's views.  0:00 Introduction 2:57 Daniel's Opening Remarks 17:42 Nora's Opening Remarks 35:27 Discussion 1:17:59 Parting Remarks

Bobby Azarian joins Brendan to discuss his new book The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity. In the first half of their conversation, Bobby presents the new cosmic narrative offered by the complexity sciences. Unlike the older, reductionist account, this is a story in which life is inevitable and part of a broader cosmic design towards greater and greater knowledge creation. Beginning with the laws of thermodynamics, Bobby recounts the emergence of order out of (and by means of) chaos; the emergence of life out of ordered structures; and the emergence of consciousness out of life. In the second part of the conversation, the two speculate on the broader significance and meaning of this new cosmic narrative. Have we only seen the beginning of the Universe's waking up? Why does the Universe appear fine-tuned for its own coming to consciousness? How do these ideas relate to religion and purpose? 0:00 Introduction PART I: The Narrative 5:40 Entropy, Energy, and Order out of Chaos 11:47 Order for Entropy, or Entropy for Order? 18:15 The Inevitability of Life 23:00 Reductionism or Creationism? A Third Option 40:40 Evolution, (Self-)Knowledge, and Consciousness   PART II: Implications & Speculations 1:00:11 The Emergence of a Cosmic Mind 1:08:36 Modernist Transhumanism or Metamodernist Spirituality? 1:18:18 What Set Up a Self-Organizing Universe? --- 1:21:07 A Multiverse Explanation? --- 1:24:34 Cosmological Natural Selection? --- 1:29:00 An Intelligent Programmer (AKA "God")? --- 1:44:48 Cosmic Mind Creating Cosmic Mind? --- 1:47:21 The Fall of Consciousness into Unconsciousness, and Its Return to Self-Knowledge 1:51:28 Final Thoughts More on Bobby's work: The book: https://www.theromanceofreality.com/ Application to society: https://roadtoomega.com/

James Cussen, creator of the @The Living Philosophy YouTube channel, talks to Brendan about metamodernism within the context of intellectual history, the relationship of philosophy to academia, the need for wisdom schools, and much else.

Nish Dubashia joins Brendan to discuss the topic of evolutionary spirituality, using the Spiral Dynamics framework to consider how religious conceptions evolve through the different value memes. Beginning with a synopsis of the basic structure of the religious narrative, Nish then shows how this story takes different forms as it finds expression through the different developmental stages. The progression charted, some important ideas are then considered: What is the relationship of self and spirit along this evolution? Does the spiral of development lead to some kind of non-dual awareness? If so, how do we understand this? What role might evolutionary spirituality play in our broader culture?   0:00 Introduction 0:54 The Structure of the Story of Religion   The Story at Different Levels:  8:11 The Story at PURPLE (Animist) 9:43 The Story at RED (Faustian) 12:04 The Story at BLUE (Post-Faustian) 15:10 The Story at ORANGE (Modern) 17:44 The Story at GREEN (Postmodern) 22:50 The Story at YELLOW (Metamodern) 26:21 The Story at TURQOISE (forthcoming?)   28:47 Religion and Development: A Universal Experience 31:20 The Evolution of Religious Narrative AS a Religious Narrative? 35:10 The Coevolution of Self and Spirit 38:02 Spirit as a Subject? Reification, Projection, and Myth 44:00 The End of the Story: Non-Duality? 50:08 Emptiness/Form: On the Evolution of Consciousness towards Ultimate Consciousness 1:03:00 Development and the Study of Religion 1:06:08 Evolutionary Spirituality and the Meaning Crisis 1:14:15 'Dancing with Angels': Nish's Book on Developing beyond Unhealthy Blue 1:21:39 More on Nish's Work/Upcoming Events   Nish's Presentation: The Evolution of Religion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3X20WGbMAw  Nish's Website https://integraldream.com/

Andrés Gómez Emilsson from Qualia Research Institute discusses the struggle between consciousness and pure replicators, aiming to maximize positive valence possibilities. The podcast explores the relationship between consciousness and replication, the evolution of consciousness, and the quest to engineer paradise while critiquing potential pitfalls. A nuanced narrative emphasizing the importance of conscious states over mere replication processes.

Matt Segall joins Brendan to talk about the relationship of process philosophy and the thinking of A. N. Whitehead to the formulation of an emerging metanarrative in metamodernity. In the context of our 13.7 billion years of emergent complexification, how does the story of consciousness evolution relate to issues such as dualism and the hard problem of consciousness, panpsychism, divine creativity, and mystical union?  Matt Segall's faculty bio:  Matthew D. Segall, PhD, received his doctoral degree in 2016 from the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. His dissertation was titled Cosmotheanthropic Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. It grapples with the limits to knowledge of reality imposed by Kant's transcendental form of philosophy and argues that Schelling and Whitehead's process-oriented approach (described in his dissertation as a "descendental" form of philosophy) shows the way across the Kantian threshold to renewed experiential contact with reality. He teaches courses on German Idealism and process philosophy for the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. He blogs regularly at footnotes2plato.com.

The podcast delves into Nietzsche's philosophy and its relation to integral and metamodern frameworks. It explores the nuances and contradictions in Nietzsche's work, power dynamics, revaluation of values, and the path to spiritual development through revelry and virtue.

Brendan Graham Dempsey talks to Julyan Davey about his immensely prescient and rich essay, "Towards a Metamodern Spirituality," a must-read for anyone interested in the topic of religion and spirituality in metamodernity: https://medium.com/the-phoenix-project/towards-a-metamodern-spirituality-6d71f958a2e0.