Dante, Blake, and the Power of the Imagination
Dr. John Vervaeke
In this episode, John welcomes Mark Vernon to discuss his two books, 'Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey' and 'Awake: William Blake and the Imagination'. They explore the profound psychological, philosophical, and spiritual insights offered by Dante and Blake, touching upon topics like pilgrimage, the imaginal, and the role of the imagination in renewing perception. Mark shares his experiences and how these works resonate with contemporary cognitive science and spirituality. The conversation delves deep into understanding the connections between ancient wisdom and modern...
info_outline
Cultivating Virtue in Educational Practice with Ethan Hsieh
Dr. John Vervaeke
To learn directly from Ethan Hsieh, John Vervaeke and Taylor Barratt, The Lectern is partnering with 5ToMidnight to offer a long form hybrid (online/in-person) practice program called TIAMAT-X. This program brings a full ecology of practices, endorsed by The Vervaeke Foundation to help you develop the capacity to… perceive what matters regulate in real time and act with clarity …through a cohesive method that weaves together mindful dialogue, embodiment, imaginal practice, and disciplined mindfulness. Learn more about the program here: In part three of the...
info_outline
Silk Road Seminar - Nicole Baden
Dr. John Vervaeke
Thank you for joining us LIVE for this special Lectern Launch Event with Nicole Baden and Dr. John Vervaeke. Nicole Baden is a contemplative teacher, somatic practitioner, and long-time collaborator within the ecology-of-practices community. Her work focuses on integrating embodiment, meditative discipline, trauma-informed techniques, and transformative dialogue into cohesive pathways for personal and interpersonal growth. Nicole’s teaching draws from a diverse lineage of contemplative traditions while remaining grounded in modern cognitive science, offering students practices that cultivate...
info_outline
LIVE TIAMAT X Q&A with Ethan Hsieh
Dr. John Vervaeke
Learn more about the program here: Led by Ethan Hsieh, John Vervaeke and Taylor Barratt, The Lectern is partnering with 5ToMidnight to offer a long form hybrid (online/in-person) practice program called TIAMAT-X. This program brings a full ecology of practices, endorsed by The Vervaeke Foundation to help you develop the capacity to... • perceive what matters • regulate in real time • and act with clarity …through a cohesive method that weaves together mindful dialogue, embodiment, imaginal practice, and disciplined mindfulness. Learn more about the program here:...
info_outline
Cultivating Virtuosity: Integrating Philosophy into Everyday Life
Dr. John Vervaeke
Led by Ethan Hsieh, John Vervaeke and Taylor Barratt, The Lectern is partnering with 5ToMidnight to offer a long form hybrid (online/in-person) practice program called TIAMAT-X. This program brings a full ecology of practices, endorsed by The Vervaeke Foundation to help you develop the capacity to… perceive what matters regulate in real time and act with clarity …through a cohesive method that weaves together mindful dialogue, embodiment, imaginal practice, and disciplined mindfulness. Learn more about the program here: https://lectern.johnvervaeke.com/courses/tiamat-x In part two of the...
info_outline
Lectern Live Launch Event — Reflections, Updates, and a Major Announcement
Dr. John Vervaeke
In this livestream, John relected on the past year, walk through important updates to the Lectern platform, preview upcoming courses, and share a major announcement: Led by Ethan Hsieh, John Vervaeke and Taylor Barratt, The Lectern is partnering with 5ToMidnight to offer a long form hybrid (online/in-person) practice program called TIAMAT-X. This program brings a full ecology of practices, endorsed by The Vervaeke Foundation to help you develop the capacity to… perceive what matters regulate in real time and act with clarity …through a cohesive method that weaves together mindful dialogue,...
info_outline
A Thorough Critique of Popular and Psychological Accounts of Meaning of Life
Dr. John Vervaeke
This is John’s second video essay, and it delivers a thorough critique of contemporary theories of meaning in life. With his student Arjun Arora assisting, John dismantles the standard psychological and folk categories — purpose, coherence, significance, and mattering — showing why they fall short of capturing the depth of what “meaning” actually is. Arjun Arora is a cognitive science and physics scholar whose work bridges science, philosophy, and the search for meaning. As a student collaborator of Dr. John Vervaeke at the University of Toronto, Arora explores questions at the...
info_outline
Silk Road Seminar - Jonathan Pageau
Dr. John Vervaeke
Thank you for joining us for our monthly Silk Road Seminar! Today’s guest is Jonathan Pageau is a Canadian artist, writer, and public thinker exploring the patterns that unite art, symbolism, and meaning. As an icon carver and lecturer on symbolic thinking, Jonathan has become a prominent voice in the growing movement to recover traditional ways of seeing the world. His work brings together theology, myth, and modern culture to help audiences rediscover the sacred patterns underlying reality. He is the host of The Symbolic World, a popular podcast and YouTube channel where he examines...
info_outline
Virtuosity as a Way of Life | Ethan Hsieh and the Tiamat Process
Dr. John Vervaeke
Something is coming: https://lectern.johnvervaeke.com/p/whatnext What if mastery isn’t about perfection—but about transformation? In this episode of The Lectern, John Vervaeke is joined by Ethan Hsieh to explore how the cultivation of virtuosity—typically associated with the arts—can become central to philosophical and existential growth. Ethan introduces his Tiamat process, a three-tier developmental framework integrating performance training, cognitive science, and dialogical practice. Together, they explore what it means to live a deliberately developmental life, moving...
info_outline
Silk Road Seminar - Elizabeth Oldfield
Dr. John Vervaeke
Thank you for joining us for our monthly Silk Road Seminar! Today’s guest is Elizabeth Oldfield. Elizabeth Oldfield is an experienced leader, writer, consultant and podcast host with a passion for intelligent public engagement on issues of reconciliation, identity, and healing our common life. She is currently working with a range of organisations and individuals as a coach and consultant focused on building clarity, courage and connection. Elizabeth appears regularly in the media, including BBC One, Sky News, the World Service, and writing in Prospect Magazine, UnHerd and The...
info_outlineCan artificial intelligence truly become wise?
In this landmark lecture, John Vervaeke explores the future of AI through a lens few dare to examine: the limits of intelligence itself. He unpacks the critical differences between intelligence, rationality, reasonableness, and wisdom—terms often used interchangeably in discussions around AGI. Drawing from decades of research in cognitive science and philosophy, John argues that while large language models like ChatGPT demonstrate forms of generalized intelligence, they fundamentally lack core elements of human cognition: embodiment, caring, and participatory knowing.
By distinguishing between propositional, procedural, perspectival, and participatory knowing, he reveals why the current paradigm of AI is not equipped to generate consciousness, agency, or true understanding. This lecture also serves as a moral call to action: if we want wise machines, we must first become wiser ourselves.
Connect with a community dedicated to self-discovery and purpose, and gain deeper insights by joining our Patreon.
—
00:00 Introduction: AI, AGI, and the Nature of Intelligence
02:00 What is General Intelligence?
04:30 LLMs and the Illusion of Generalization
07:00 The Meta-Problems of Intelligence: Anticipation & Relevance Realization
09:00 Relevance Realization: The Hidden Engine of Intelligence
11:30 How We Filter Reality Through Relevance
14:00 The Limits of LLMs: Predicting Text vs. Anticipating Reality
17:00 Four Kinds of Knowing: Propositional, Procedural, Perspectival, Participatory
23:00 Embodiment, Consciousness, and Narrative Identity
27:00 The Role of Attention, Care, and Autopoiesis
31:00 Culture as Niche Construction
34:00 Why AI Can’t Participate in Meaning
37:00 The Missing Dimensions in LLMs
40:00 Rationality vs. Reasonableness
43:00 Self-Deception, Bias, and the Need for Self-Correction
46:00 Caring About How You Care: The Core of Rationality
48:00 Wisdom: Aligning Multiple Selves and Temporal Scales
53:00 The Social Obligation to Cultivate Wisdom
55:00 Alter: Cultivating Wisdom in an AI Future
—
The Vervaeke Foundation is committed to advancing the scientific pursuit of wisdom and creating a significant impact on the world. Become a part of our mission: https://vervaekefoundation.org/
Join Awaken to Meaning to explore practices that enhance your virtues and foster deeper connections with reality and relationships: https://awakentomeaning.com/
—
Ideas, People, and Works Mentioned in this Episode:
-
Jeff Hinton
-
Jordan Peterson
-
Keith Stanovich
-
Michael Levin
-
Stroop Effect
-
Bertrand Russell
-
Plato (Republic, Symposium)
-
Predictive Processing
-
Relevance Realization
-
Spearman (1926)
-
DeepMind (DeepSeek)
—
Follow John Vervaeke:
https://johnvervaeke.com/
https://twitter.com/vervaeke_john
https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke
—
Thank you for watching!