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Draft:John Vervaeke

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John Vervaeke is Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, and is the director of their Cognitive Science Program.[1] He is also a YouTuber recognized for his series Awakening from the Meaning Crisis.[2] It has been said that his work is similar to that of Jordan Peterson, Daniel Schmachtenberger, and Peter Limberg.[3] He is an author of the book Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis.[4] He is a practitioner of martial arts and meditation.[5]

Early Life

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John Vervaeke
Personal details
ResidenceToronto
EducationPhD, University of Toronto BSc, University of Toronto MA, University of Toronto HBA, McMaster University
OccupationProfessor
Websitehttps://johnvervaeke.com/

John Vervaeke grew up in a highly fundamental Christain household.[5] "I was traumatized by that religion," he said in an interview with Elizabeth Oldfield.[2] But then goes on to say, "That religion, for all of its toxic effects, and also because my mom, to give her credit, encouraged me to think and to learn and grow, it left me with a hunger for the transcendent."[2]

After leaving his household, he took a kind of violent atheism, with god as his antagonist.[2] Eventually all this changed and he was left longing.[2] He went to university to try and find an answer to his own meaning crisis.[6] He says that he "started to pursue Asian philosophies – Daoism, Buddhism, a bit of Vedanta."[2] He was the first person to take this search for mindfulness to the University of Toronto. He says that he got very encouraging feedback from his students and has never looked back.[2]

Occupation

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At the University of Toronto John Vervaeke began teaching a class on Buddhism after being recommended by a fellow and good friend of his Evan Thompson.[2]

When he was teaching a course on Higher Cognitive Processes a student of his, a professional videographer, came to him and suggested that they do a video series.[2] That became Awakening From The Meaning Crisis.[2]

John is a founder and board member of the Vervaeke Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the goal of continuing to address the Meaning Crisis.[6][7][2]

Awakening from the Meaning Crisis

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Vervaeke states that we are in the midst of may mental crisis, and all of these flow from the Meaning Crisis[8] Vervaeke said that his goal is, “to empower people to…awaken.”[5] He describes awakening as a process of deep individual transformation. [5]As a cognitive scientist, he says that his work is to understand his field and bridge between fields.[5] He describes his search as a search for a higher meta meaning system that bridges and encompasses multidisciplinary fields such as neuroscience, and cognitive psychology.[5]

After Socrates

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Vervaeke also made a twenty four part series called After Socrates.[9] He says that the series is about "how to create the theory, the practice, and the ecology of practices such that we can live and grow and develop through a Socratic way of life."[10] In discovering Socrates he says that he found his life's purpose, the pursuit of wisdom, and wisdom as an antidote to the Meaning Crisis.[6]

  1. ^ "John Vervaeke". Department of Psychology. 2019-04-20. Retrieved 2024-08-08.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oldfield, Elizabeth (8 November 2023). "John Vervaeke on Fundamentalism Trauma, and Embodying Wisdom". Theos.
  3. ^ "John Vervaeke - LessWrong". www.lesswrong.com. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  4. ^ "| University College U of T". www.uc.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Radio evolve (2021-05-07). Radio Evolve #497 - Religion without Religion (with John Vervaeke). Retrieved 2024-08-19 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ a b c "Get more from John Vervaeke on Patreon". Patreon. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  7. ^ "About Us". Vervaeke Foundation. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  8. ^ "What is Awakening from the Meaning Crisis". Retrieved 2024-08-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "After Socrates". YouTube. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  10. ^ "After Socrates". John Vervaeke. Retrieved 2024-08-23.