Podcast · 50 episodes
Dr. John Vervaeke
by Upfire Digital LLC · English
The Official John Vervaeke Podcast Feed
Latest episodes
Communal Living as Spiritual Practice: Friendship, Formation, and Renewing the SensesCommunal living as a spiritual practice—how friendship, shared rhythms, and intentional commitments form people toward “growing up” spiritually, resisting individualism, and renewing the senses.28 Aug 2026 · 1 h 32 min
How Nonbeing Haunts Being: Corey Anton on Death, Spirituality, and the Meaning of a Finite LifeThe episode explores Corey Anton’s book How Nonbeing Haunts Being—how “non-being” (absence, emptiness, lack, and the unknown after death) is not just a concept but a real condition for awareness,…7 Aug 2026 · 1 h 20 min
Notes on No-Thing: John Vervaeke on Nihilism, the Kyoto School, and the SacredJohn Vervaeke and Ethan Say discuss a course, “Notes on No-Thing,” using the Kyoto School (Nishida, Nishitani, Tanabe) to explain nihilism, how it oscillates with narcissism, and how “deep nihilism”…3 Aug 2026 · 1 h 9 min
All episodes
Communal Living as Spiritual Practice: Friendship, Formation, and Renewing the SensesCommunal living as a spiritual practice—how friendship, shared rhythms, and intentional commitments form people toward “growing up” spiritually, resisting individualism, and renewing the senses.28 Aug 2026 · 1 h 32 min · 28 chapters
How Nonbeing Haunts Being: Corey Anton on Death, Spirituality, and the Meaning of a Finite LifeThe episode explores Corey Anton’s book How Nonbeing Haunts Being—how “non-being” (absence, emptiness, lack, and the unknown after death) is not just a concept but a real condition for awareness,…7 Aug 2026 · 1 h 20 min · 31 chapters
Notes on No-Thing: John Vervaeke on Nihilism, the Kyoto School, and the SacredJohn Vervaeke and Ethan Say discuss a course, “Notes on No-Thing,” using the Kyoto School (Nishida, Nishitani, Tanabe) to explain nihilism, how it oscillates with narcissism, and how “deep nihilism”…3 Aug 2026 · 1 h 9 min · 21 chapters
Reconnect to the Real: Vervaeke, Sengstock, and Koch on Nature, Circling, and Socratic PracticeA discussion of a 5-day Whistler, BC retreat (Aug 31–5 days) focused on reconnecting to “the real” through nature dwelling, circling, and Socratic/diagogical practices—aimed at transforming…25 Jul 2026 · 55 min · 13 chapters
Parenting, Meaning, and Reconnecting with the RealA discussion about a five-day Whistler, BC retreat (Aug 31; 5 spots left) focused on parenting/meaning, reconnecting with “the real,” and integrating transformative experiences through nature,…16 Jul 2026 · 55 min · 21 chapters
John Vervaeke & Guy Sengstock: Why Modernity Can't See the Sacred AnymoreThe episode is a dialog about John Vervaeke and Guy Sengstock’s shared project “Seeing God Again,” arguing that modernity’s conceptual framework and meaning crisis distort how people can encounter…10 Jul 2026 · 1 h 44 min · 35 chapters
Live Q&A with Brendan Graham Dempsey | Questions, Dialogue, and the Pursuit of WisdomLive Q&A on “applied meta-theory,” meaning-making, and how to pursue wisdom without getting lost in misinformation rabbit holes.26 Jun 2026 · 1 h 26 min · 27 chapters
Why Wonder Is More Than Curiosity with William DesmondThe episode argues that “wonder” is more than curiosity. It distinguishes wonder as astonishment (an opening to the otherness of being), perplexity (being overwhelmed by “too muchness” that science…26 Jun 2026 · 1 h 32 min · 38 chapters
Why We No Longer Know What We Should Do with Jordan Hall, Guy Sengstock, and Christopher MastropietroThe episode argues that today’s crisis around “normativity” (shared guidance for what we should do) is driven by modernity’s separation of normativity from sacredness.19 Jun 2026 · 1 h 40 min · 34 chapters
Ish Peregrino: Pilgrimage Is More Than Travel. It Changes How You See RealityPilgrimage as a “meta practice” that changes how you see reality—shifting attention from tourism/exploration (pleasure, conquest, stimulus-driven distraction) toward wonder, deep listening,…5 Jun 2026 · 1 h 19 min · 32 chapters
William Desmond and John Vervaeke: Strong Transcendence, Plato, and the BetweenJohn Vervaeke and William Desmond discuss “strong transcendence” in reviving Platonism as a living tradition, using Plato’s metaxu (the between) to critique modern “buffered” selfhood,…28 May 2026 · 1 h 37 min · 30 chapters
Brendan Graham Dempsey: Matters Over TimeThe course “Matters Over Time” explores how “the sacred” and what feels significant evolve across individual lives and human culture, using meaning-making as a developmental, systems-based process.18 May 2026 · 1 h 21 min · 32 chapters
From Flow to Mystical ExperienceThe episode is an extended video-essay on a “cognitive continuum” of self-transcendent states, from fluency to insight, to flow, and finally to mystical experiences and transformation.15 May 2026 · 1 h 27 min · 34 chapters
Who is Ethan Hsieh? | Teaching, Play & What TIAMAT is ForEthan Hsieh discusses the relationship between theory and practice in Tiamat’s “theory into practice, practice into theory” series, focusing on how “teaching” differs from “facilitation,” how theory…8 May 2026 · 1 h 13 min · 37 chapters
Silk Road Seminar: John Vervaeke with Edward SlingerlandEdward Slingerland and John Vervaeke discuss “wu wei” (effortless action) as a modern analogue to flow/resonance, and how it differs from “crummy flow” (e.g., doomscrolling, addictive gaming).8 May 2026 · 1 h 29 min · 34 chapters
Who is Taylor Barratt? | Practice, Theory & the Ethics of FacilitationTaylor Barratt discusses the ethics of facilitation and how practice and theory correct each other in designing and running Authentic Relating/ATM-style containers.1 May 2026 · 1 h 11 min · 29 chapters
Silk Road Seminar: John Vervaeke with James Matthew Wilson and D.C. SchindlerThe episode debates how modernity “defecates” reason by reducing logos to logic, impoverishing reason and metaphysics, and severing mythos (imagination/story) from logos (rationality).28 Apr 2026 · 1 h 57 min · 44 chapters
Bridging the Gap: Theory, Practice, and TrustTheory-to-practice and practice-to-theory as a cyclical process for embodied understanding, communal meaning, and trust within dialogue-based practices (Awaken to Meaning).23 Apr 2026 · 1 h 9 min · 22 chapters
Poetry Wakes You to Reality | John Vervaeke & Adam WalkerAdam Walker and John Vervaeke discuss “poetry as spiritual practice” in a “meaning crisis” context.17 Apr 2026 · 1 h 20 min · 30 chapters
Reconnect to the Real: John Vervaeke, Guy Sengstock, and Kyle Koch Announce the Whistler RetreatThe hosts announce their second Whistler retreat, “Reconnect to the Real,” focused on practices that restore “agency, selfhood, personhood, and connection” in a world increasingly mediated by screens…10 Apr 2026 · 1 h 5 min · 23 chapters
Poetry as Spiritual Practice: Bridging the Chasm Between Academia and the Public | John Vervaeke & Adam WalkerWhy the “meaning crisis” and widening public-academy chasm are tied to how universities teach literature—shifting from teaching to research, from beauty to suspicion, and from…2 Apr 2026 · 1 h 14 min · 32 chapters
Lectern Live Q&A with Mark Miller (03.29.26)A Lectern Live Q&A on how predictive-processing/cognitive-computational neuroscience reframes spiritual and religious practice—especially virtues like intellectual humility, the role of meditation,…29 Mar 2026 · 1 h 22 min · 29 chapters
Can Zen and Neoplatonism Solve the Meaning Crisis? Vervaeke and HsiehWhether “Zen Neoplatonism” can address the modern meaning crisis by integrating Zen’s immediacy/intimacy with Neoplatonism’s transcendence/intelligibility, framed as a “dialogos” (mutually…27 Mar 2026 · 1 h 32 min · 39 chapters
Is Reality Incomplete? Desmond and Vervaeke on Meaning and BeingThe episode debates whether reality is “incomplete” and argues that full intelligibility requires a “between” (metaxu) perspective rather than a purely scientific, univocal, fact/value framework.20 Mar 2026 · 1 h 31 min · 35 chapters