How should we in higher education address the growing crises in our culture of a pervading loss of meaning, and sense of purpose and value in life? What role can revisiting wisdom traditions and current research on their practices play in helping us all live more authentic and less self-deceptive lives? These questions are all the more pertinent during the pandemic where isolation is all the more potent.
On this episode we explore this crises of meaning with John Vervaeke, an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science, and Buddhist psychology. Vervaeke explores the meaning crises and the value of wisdom traditions and practices through public facing work, including an active Youtube channel, magazine and online articles, and through other venues. His work and teaching is at the intersections of psychology, philosophy as a way of life, and dynamic public facing pedagogy.
*If you are interested in learning more you can check out his YouTube channel, his Facebook , or follow his Twitter handle (@vervaeke_john).
**James noted (around 39:30) that in his book, To Have or To Be?, Erich Fromm is rather “critical of the way the ‘being mode’ has come to predominate,” but he meant to say that Fromm wrote critically about the predominance of the ‘having mode’ in our society.