Demons & the Machine, John Vervaeke & Jonathan Pageau

Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently.  In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point.  He explains how this is manifesting as a 'war on reality', and a series of attacks on free speech. Iain's work can be found here: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ 

Are we going about self development in the wrong way? That's the question tackled by our new film and course with the long time coach Steve March. Steve's work, Aletheia Coaching, has been welcomed and embraced by the likes of John Vervaeke and others in what's been described as the Liminal Web, as it consciously addresses what's called the Meaning Crisis or Meta Crisis. This is released at the same time as a short course with Steve to learn the basics of the Unfolding method, which teaches a powerful new approach to development known as 'unfoldment'. You'll learn: - How to attune to yourself, others, and the world in a way that promotes deeper connection and purpose. - Practices to help you deeply participate in your present-moment experience - Techniques and practices to help you create unfolding partnerships with others To find out more, check here: https://rebelwisdom.co.uk/courses/unfolding

Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point. He explains how this is manifesting as a 'war on reality', and a series of attacks on free speech. Iain's work can be found here: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/  

Many people have observed that the conversation we have been curating on Rebel Wisdom has featured many more men than women. Of course we have regularly been asking ourselves why that is, and whether there is a more ‘feminine’ contribution to the dialogue that is not being heard? This was the topic I explored with two fascinating women recently, Schuyler Brown and Samantha Sweetwater. Check out Schuyler's work here, 'The Art of Emergence': https://www.artofemergence.com/  And Samantha here: https://www.samanthasweetwater.com/ 

There has been a lot of focus on the damage that social media is doing to all of us, its users. This growing awareness was partly fuelled by the work of Tristan Harris, through the breakout hit documentary The Social Dilemma. But there has been less attention on how this new landscape also affects creators, through factors like audience capture and feedback loops that distort truth seeking.  Tristan Harris is the director of the Centre for Humane Technology, trying to re-envision a healthier relationship with the technological tools we are using: https://www.humanetech.com/ 

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe? These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'. As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative capacities are increasing exponentially. Two of the most likely outcomes (attractors) are either some kind of chaotic breakdown, or the development of powerful control systems in response, oppressive authoritarian control. Given this, what does a third option, a 'third attractor' look like? Daniel will be speaking at the Rebel Wisdom festival, 'the Last Campfire' in London on November 5th. To check it out and buy tickets, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/r...  To find out more about the topics Daniel is discussing, check out his work on civilisation, at Civilization Emerging: https://civilizationemerging.com/ And for more on his work around the Sensemaking crisis, check out the Consilience Project: https://consilienceproject.org/   TIMECODES: UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM: 00:00:00 BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP DOESN'T WORK: 00:06:21 HYPER AGENTS: 00:15:06 GREAT GAME OF POWER: 00:26:55 EGREGORES: 00:34:38 TECHNOLOGY & ETHICS: 00:42:50 TECHNOLOGY CHANGES SOCIETY: 00:49:45 INFRASTRUCTURE, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, SUPERSTRUCTURE: 00:59:49 WISDOM OF GODS: 01:13:14 EDUCATION: 01:30:40 CLOSING THOUGHTS: 01:42:08

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe? These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'. As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative capacities are increasing exponentially. Two of the most likely outcomes (attractors) are either some kind of chaotic breakdown, or the development of powerful control systems in response, oppressive authoritarian control. Given this, what does a third option, a 'third attractor' look like? Daniel will be speaking at the Rebel Wisdom festival, 'the Last Campfire' in London on November 5th. To check it out and buy tickets, go to: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/rebelwisdom/718672  To find out more about the topics Daniel is discussing, check out his work on civilisation, at Civilization Emerging: https://civilizationemerging.com/  And for more on his work around the Sensemaking crisis, check out the Consilience Project: https://consilienceproject.org/  Timecodes: INTRODUCTION: 00:00:00 SENSEMAKING: 00:02:10 THE TWO ATTRACTORS: 00:06:09 EXISTENTIAL HOPE?: 00:09:01 INTERCONNECTEDNESS: 00:14:33 FAILURES OF ACTIVISM: 00:18:33 CATASTROPHIC RISK: 00:25:08 THE POST WW2 SYSTEM: 00:38:40 EXPONENTIAL DESTRUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY: 00:45:02 NEAR-TERM RISKS: 00:50:48 THE ENERGY TRAP: 00:58:10 PERVERSE INCENTIVES: 01:03:54 PRIVATE GAINS, EXTERNAL LOSSES: 01:09:38 BIOTECH RISKS: 01:14:13 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: 01:19:29 MULTIPOLAR TRAPS: 01:29:03 CORPORATIONS VERSUS INDIVIDUALS: 01:46:54 NEW GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS: 01:53:27 NETWORK DYNAMICS: 01:58:41 SOLVING MULTI-POLAR TRAPS?: 02:06:51 CENTRALISING POWER: 02:17:47 COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: 02:33:00

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of Memetic Desire in Everyday Life': https://lukeburgis.com/wanting/  He joined us to introduce this fascinating thinker and to answer RW members' questions about why this work is so significant now.

This is part 2 of an exclusive conversation between Jonathan Pageau and John Vervaeke recorded in Toronto recently.  In it John and Jonathan reflect on the recent ‘War on Reality’ piece with Paul Kingsnorth and Mary Harrington: https://youtu.be/x4kms2jkKbA  They ask whether we have replaced virtue with value. They also take a turn into the question of the occult, where Jonathan and John talk about whether concepts such as ‘demons’ can be explained as independently existing patterns of reality.

In the conversation Rebel Wisdom has been tracking, what's missing? Layman Pascal believes we're not paying enough attention to the irrational, the realms of the imaginal and the occult.  "Layman Pascal was incarnated on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest. He used to be a meditation teacher, yoga instructor & public speaker — but he's feeling much better now." He is one of the hosts of the podcast The Integral Stage: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaA4zkLRnR3lGm8Y7c5Tvdw