John Vervaeke+

Don't Come Just for Yourself. Come for Your Kids.

Reconnecting to the Real; to sign up and for more information, click here: https://circlinginstitute.com/reconnecting-real-retreat/ Explore courses and teachings from The Lectern https://lectern.johnvervaeke.com/ Support the Lectern and join a growing community of wisdom seekers https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke John Vervaeke: https://johnvervaeke.com/ https://twitter.com/vervaeke_john https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke

This Is NOT a Vacation. It's a Pilgrimage.

Reconnecting to the Real; to sign up and for more information, click here: https://circlinginstitute.com/reconnecting-real-retreat/ Explore courses and teachings from The Lectern https://lectern.johnvervaeke.com/ Support the Lectern and join a growing community of wisdom seekers https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke John Vervaeke: https://johnvervaeke.com/ https://twitter.com/vervaeke_john https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke

How Tracking Made Us Human

Reconnecting to the Real; to sign up and for more information, click here: https://circlinginstitute.com/reconnecting-real-retreat/ Explore courses and teachings from The Lectern https://lectern.johnvervaeke.com/ Support the Lectern and join a growing community of wisdom seekers https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke John Vervaeke: https://johnvervaeke.com/ https://twitter.com/vervaeke_john https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke

Nihilism Is Not the End | John Vervaeke & Ethan Hsieh (Part 2/3)

What if nihilism is not just something to reject, but something you have to grieve deeply enough to see through? In Part 2 of this Lectern conversation, John Vervaeke joins Ethan Hsieh to continue exploring *Notes on No-Thing*, a course on the Kyoto School of Philosophy and its response to nihilism, nothingness, and the recovery of the sacred. John and Ethan return to the role-play from Part 1 and reflect on what happened inside the encounter with everyday nihilism. John explains the Socratic process of meeting someone where they are, opening a little space, and helping them see that their i

The Philosophical Trap You Don’t Know You’re In | John Vervaeke & Ethan Hsieh (Part 1/3)

What if the worldview that feels freeing is actually the thing keeping you trapped? In Part 1 of this Lectern conversation, John Vervaeke joins Ethan Hsieh to introduce Notes on No-Thing, a course on the Kyoto School of Philosophy and its response to nihilism, nothingness, and the advent of the sacred. John and Ethan explore Ethan’s own struggle with nihilism and how encountering Keiji Nishitani’s Religion and Nothingness helped him move beyond a perceived divide between Eastern mystical traditions and Western philosophy. They discuss how the Kyoto School offers an alternative to familiar Wes

Silk Road Seminar | Andrew M. Davis and Matt Segall

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Welcome to our live show!

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How Nonbeing Haunts Being: Corey Anton on Death, Spirituality, and the Meaning of a Finite Life

What if the very thing we fear most—nonbeing—is actually what gives life its deepest meaning? John welcomes philosopher Corey Anton to discuss Anton’s book How Nonbeing Haunts Being, praising its clarity and its blending of ontological argument with phenomenological observation, and noting it renewed his respect for Sartre and interest in Terence Deacon’s work on constraints and possibilities. Anton situates the book as the third in a trilogy and describes a naturalist, spiritually “mystical” orientation that rejects life after death while affirming reverence for the mystery of existence and

Notes on No-Thing: John Vervaeke on Nihilism, the Kyoto School, and the Sacred

What if nihilism is not the end of meaning, but an opening into a deeper way of seeing? In this Lectern conversation, John Vervaeke joins Ethan Hsieh to introduce Notes on No-Thing, a course on the Kyoto School of Philosophy and its response to nihilism, nothingness, and the advent of the sacred. John and Ethan explore why modern people so often oscillate between nihilism and narcissism, why meaning has to be shareable, and how the Kyoto School offers a radically different way of moving through the crisis of meaning. Rather than treating nothingness as a wound to be filled with distractions,

Live Q&A with Brendan Graham Dempsey

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Welcome to our live show!

Thanks for joining our exclusive live broadcast. Feel free to share your questions and interact with other participants in the chat.

Welcome to our live show!

Thanks for joining our exclusive live broadcast. Feel free to share your questions and interact with other participants in the chat.

Silk Road Seminar | Bryan Brown and Douglas Hedley

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Reconnect to the Real: Vervaeke, Sengstock, and Koch on Nature, Circling, and Socratic Practice

Why are we losing our taste for what is real, and what kinds of practices can help us recover it? In this Lectern conversation, John Vervaeke is joined by Guy Sengstock and Kyle Koch to discuss their upcoming Reconnecting to the Real retreat in Whistler, British Columbia. Together they explore why connection is not just a feeling, but something constitutive of who we are: our relationship to nature, to one another, to story, to personhood, and to the sacred. Kyle describes how nature connection, tracking, bird language, and embodied practice can shift the way people perceive and participate

Parenting, Meaning, and Reconnecting with the Real

Is civilization making us smarter while disconnecting us from what matters most? In this episode, John Vervaeke speaks with Kyle, a deep nature connection practitioner and new father living in an intentional community in northern British Columbia, about applying Vervaeke’s work to raise children with belonging and connectedness. They explore cognition as a dynamical developmental process, how culture “raises” children increasingly through screens, and how capitalism functions as a dominant religion shaping salience and meaning. Drawing on McGilchrist and 4E cognitive science, they discuss le

John Vervaeke & Guy Sengstock: Why Modernity Can't See the Sacred Anymore

What would it mean to encounter the sacred again - not as an abstract idea, but as something disclosed in the very fabric of experience? John Vervaeke is joined by Guy Sengstock for a special Lectern conversation on John’s three-part course trilogy, Seeing God Again for the First Time. This is not a standard lecture or dialogue. John invited Guy to watch the full trilogy and reflect back what he saw: not only the arguments, but the living movement of the course as a philosophical, phenomenological, and spiritual exercise. John and Guy explore: • why Seeing God Again is designed as a trilogy

Silk Road Seminar | Zevi Slavin and John Vervaeke

Join us LIVE for this month's Silk Road Seminar featuring Zevi Slavin in conversation with John Vervaeke. Zevi Slavin is a writer, educator, and founder of Seekers of Unity. His work explores Jewish mysticism, Neoplatonism, and the philosophical and spiritual traditions that seek to integrate wisdom across religious boundaries. Through his teaching and dialogue, Zevi engages questions of meaning, participation, metaphysics, and the relationship between unity and difference. Silk Road Seminars are live, unscripted dialogues where John engages leading thinkers across philosophy, theology, cogn

Live Q&A with Brendan Graham Dempsey | Questions, Dialogue, and the Pursuit of Wisdom

Join Brendan Graham Dempsey and Ethan Hsieh for a live, audience-driven Q&A exploring the questions that matter most to our community. As with all Lectern dialogues, the conversation unfolds in real time, guided by participant questions and a shared spirit of inquiry. The discussion may move across philosophy, meaning, wisdom, culture, spirituality, human development, and the challenges of living well in an increasingly complex world. Rather than following a predetermined agenda, this session creates space for genuine dialogue—where unexpected insights can emerge and questions themselves bec