Iain McGilchrist and John Vervaeke: God and the Meaning Crisis

I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOE Iain McGilchrist and John Vervaeke explore the meaning crisis, the limits of technology‑driven rationality, and the deep questions of God, consciousness and being, contrasting non‑theistic and religious perspectives while debating how community and practice shape our understanding.

0:00 Introduction
5:44 Iain on the "meaning crisis"
9:29 John on the "meaning crisis"
15:10 Technology amplifies our lack of wisdom
18:26 Rationality and Belief (Iain vs. John)
28:35 Imaginary vs. Imaginal
37:03 Non-theism vs. Religion (against meditation as spiritual redress)
53:38 Not doing vs. Un-doing vs. Being passive vs. Un-Knowing
1:09 22 The way God sees us vs. The way we see God
1:22 06 Sam Harris, Closing yourself off to the Divine, and Terror
1:29 20 The importance of Sangha (community), and how can John's neoplatonism work?
1:40 43 Faith, Whitehead, and Reciprocal Opening
1:47 56 Against "being present"
1:54 58 Marrying a religion
2:04 24 Should we certainly give up on certainty?
2:06 06 On not speaking and the un‑making of TOE
2:08 14 John and Iain summate

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Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science.

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