35. Updating Neoplatonic Spirituality (w/ John Vervaeke)

After the re-election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States last night, I check in with Layman Pascal to get his take on the political landscape. What can we learn from what's going on? How can we be more open across differences instead of closed and blaming? In fact, how much internal energy should we expend on such matters at all? And what should we expect about the future of the public sphere that might help us better orient to what matters most?0:00 Introduction3:27 Surface vs. Structure10:08 What Can We Learn from the Trump Moment?14:11 Placing Blame20:44 Valuing Nonrational Collective Intelligence26:46 Failures of the Democratic Left 33:26 It Matters, and It Doesn't39:53 What Does a Progressive Revolution Look Like?48:47 Towards a Metamodern Politics of Spectacle1:00:41 A Future of Astonishments1:13:33 The Coming Carnival of the Public Sphere1:17:52 Approaches to Media Consumption1:22:26 Finding Equanimity anf Value in Disruption1:25:35 Conclusion Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

I'm joined by Doug Scott, LCSW, to discuss his SH!PS approach to interpersonal transformation and development. Doug is a clinical social worker with a background in ministry and has worked as a mental health counselor since 2001. Here we discuss the common pattern Doug has abstracted from his counseling and pastoral experience for achieving growth and connection, uniting spiritual and mental health perspectives. 0:00 Introduction1:26 Doug's Story6:47 A Praxis for Development and TransformationThe SH!PS Approach12:18 (I)nterview: Perspective-Taking21:32 (S)olidarity: We're All in this Together27:27 (H)ope: Cultivating Aspirational Purpose56:55 (P)rocess: Honoring the Way Things Become1:03:22 (S)ervice: How to Human Better1:11:24 Conclusion Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Gregg Henriques and I talk about the release of his new book UTOK: The Unified Theory of Knowledge through Sky Meadow Press. We discuss how this book is different from other works Gregg has written, its aesthetic nod to the classic alchemical tradition, and the arc of his journey from hard-nosed materialism to metamodern metatheoretical mythopoeia. We talk about UTOK through the lens of personal mythology and religio and the grand takeaway about the nature of meaning and the sacred from such a system.The book is available at https://www.skymeadowinstitute.org/press0:00 Introduction0:28 UTOK: The Unified Theory of Knowledge Published by Sky Meadow Press2:56 An Accessible, Aesthetic Primer for UTOK6:32 Big Picture Thinking and Metamodern Alchemy16:27 From Modern Materialist Reductionism to Metamodern Emergent Mythos22:20 Life and Calling: Personal Myth and "Building the Cathedral"27:08 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Imaginal/Archetypal Projects34:10 Relating to Meaning and the Sacred38:32 Mythos and Logos: Waking up to a New Worldview44:21 Ritual and Praxis in a Time Between Worlds48:07 UTOK as Framework for Religio50:44 Mythopoeia admidst the Desire for Tradition56:46 UTOK...? So What? The Miracle of Self Knowing the World1:07:09 Conclusion Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Process thinker Matt Segall joins me again to continue our ongoing metaphysical exploration of a panmatheistic universe coming to self-knowledge. Here we discuss modern science's "blind spot" with regard to direct experience vs. scientific abstraction and the problem of "misplaced concreteness" before considering the proper understanding of the role of the human in the cosmos. 0:00 Introduction2:02 "The Blind Spot": Mistaking Scientific Models for Reality12:59 The Limits of Abstraction: From Idea to Feeling34:18 Learning as Movement from Concrete to Abstract46:00 Quantum Mechanics, Misplaced Concreteness, and Conceptual Prehension58:16 The Will of the Universe to Wake Up: Towards Anthropos + Christ1:11:03 Towards a 360° Platonism1:20:50 Art, Incarnation, and the Face of God1:33:09 Next Questions Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Rafe Kelley and I discuss his recent transformational experiences with Christianity, then consider the best sense-making frames for such life-altering religious experiences. What are the role of Christianity's traditional propositional claims relative to direct experiential encounters with the Christ archetype? Can the activation of transformational memetic archetypes actually require acting "as if" some false claims are true? 0:00 Introduction2:06 Character: Who Do You Want to Be?7:08 Rafe's Background30:35 The Christian Lure in the West49:56 Mythos and Logos1:03:25 Rafe's Conversion1:16:45 Experience vs. Theology1:26:17 Faith and the Transhistorical1:39:22 Toggling into the Christ Archetype1:47:17 Metamemes, Consciousness, and Believing "As If"1:57:18 Building the Cathedral2:03:58 Conclusion Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Neil Theise joins me to talk about his book Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being. As a liver pathologist gazing daily through his microscope, Neil lives in an ongoing liminal state between scales: the micro cellular and the macro organismic. How is it, he asks, that any given "thing" seems to disappear when you zoom in or out? Neil brings a complexity science lens to this issue of lensing, which he synthesizes with his longterm practice of Zen meditation to interesting conclusions. Is this processual "no-thing-ness" what the Buddhists speak of as "emptiness"? What is the "I" if it can be similarly deconstructed? What insights can meditation add to the metaphysical picture once we appreciate the limits of other ways of knowing?0:00 Introduction0:57 Spark-'Notes on Complexity'4:30 Neil's Interdisciplinary Background14:33 Body or Cells? Scale, Process, and (Relative) No-Thing-ness40:29 "Self" and Complimentarity50:03 Self and the Limits of Science: Consciousness and Quantum Physics56:24 Self and the Limits of Mathematics: Incompleteness and Intuition1:08:45 Can Meditative Practice Reveal Metaphysical Realities?1:26:51 No Separation Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Philosopher and author Tim Freke joins me to talk about his conceptions of an "emergent spirituality." We discuss his 2017 book Soul Story, in which he lays out a vision for a developing cosmos leading to deeper self-realization. From there we discuss his thinking about the continuation of imaginal phenomena after the biological death of the individual. 0:00 Introduction1:22 Soul Story and Emergent Spirituality8:56 Is Consciousness Fundamental? Tim's Recent Move to Emergentism 9:25 card to Tim's video on emergentism of consciousness19:59 The Profound Meaning within Emergentism26:02 Psyche after Death?36:11 Imaginal Information in an Inforverse48:52 God as Real Dream: Temporal Holonic Emergence56:57 Soul and the Redemption of Suffering1:01:34 A New Understanding1:05:57 Praxis: "Why Your Life Really Matters"1:11:30 Conclusion Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Layman Pascal joins me to discuss his new book, Gurdjieff for a Time Between Worlds. Who was G. I. Gurdjieff and why is he keenly relevant to our present metamodern moment? In what ways can we see in his work anticipations of contemporary spiritual modalities, such as sincere irony, integration of pluralities, immanent transcendence, and the mythopoeic construction of new imaginal narratives gesturing beyond modernity? With classic flare and verbal acuity, Layman unpacks his "hyperpersonal essays for the grandfather of metamodern spirituality."0:00 Introduction1:38 Who was G. I. Gurdjieff?5:21 Gurdjieff and Metamodernity9:29 "The Sly Man": Serious Play, Sincere Irony, Crazy Wisdom20:04 Integrating Pluralities31:04 Gurdjieff the Shamanoid36:51 Real vs. Imaginal Mythos51:35 Eso-, Meso-, Exo-teric 56:31 Pascal's Imaginal Gurdjieff?1:05:25 Transcendent ImmanenceGet the book here: https://www.skymeadowinstitute.org/press Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Catechism has meant "religious education," especially as a coming-of-age initiation into the fullness of spiritual community and engagement with its mysteries. It has to do with what sort of support and instruction young people and converts receive about their faith as they move into deeper spiritual relationship with God and church. Here I ask, What would a supportive catechism look like for Christians on the path towards a metamodern form of faith? How might religious learning unfold in healthy and sustainable ways such as would foster a kind of Christianity that is truly metamodern in outlook? What are the right developmental moments for literalism, doubt, even atheism, and conviction?0:00 An Education for Faith1:55 Grades or Phases of Spiritual Learning 4:32 Age 0-7*: Childhood Enchantment9:20 Age 7-10: Mythic Literalism15:12 Age 10-13: Symbolic Belief21:03 Age 13-15: Reflective Religion26:24 Age 15-18: Rational Meaning-Making29:28 Age 18-23: Deconstructive Questioning41:33 Age 23-27: Integrative Wisdom50:13 What's Missing?54:13 Invitation to Keep Learning*All ages are just rough approximations Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe

Who is the Christ of faith? What if he is the telos of existence itself? the direction to which all of thought and action tend? What if Christ Consciousness is the goal of a more comprehensive, open, de-centered, contextualized, and other-sensitive perspective? What if we (you and me) actually participate in the unfolding of God in the world?...0:00 "After Deconstruction Must Come Reconstruction"6:34 Metamodernism and Relating to the Christ of Faith9:18 Moving Beyond Postmodern Relativistic Perspectivalism19:43 Metamodernism: Seeing the Pattern of Perspectives34:28 Christ as the Aim of Sacred History48:13 "Christ" as Expanding Consciousness54:10 Idols vs. Icons: The Death and Resurrection of "God"1:00:19 Metamodern Informed Naivete1:03:07 Forking the Lightning of God Get full access to Brendan Graham Dempsey at brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/subscribe