“Rationality is not merely being ‘logical’. Rationality is realizing your capacity for self-deception and illusion, and, for self correction. The core motivation of rationality is to come into contact with reality as close as possible, by those means that are reliable as possible.”
John Vervaeke
“[Life] sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert.”
Albert Camus
Imagine being an elite tennis player. You’ve spent a lifetime obsessively training and are now ranked number 1 in the world. You’re invited to a tournament that promises to be the most challenging of your life. The day arrives and your nerves and confidence are on fire. You emerge from the locker room, breathe deeply, and step out into the arena. To your astonishment.. you see a football team cladded with pads and helmets, staring at you mercilessly, on a freshly painted football field. You look down at your racquet. This makes no sense. What now?
In this metaphor, tennis is your “worldview” – the sum of all your experiences, instincts, and beliefs, which might have gotten you this far, but is now incompatible with the current situation. It’s not the world that’s the problem, necessarily, but our inability to see and adapt within it. Which is not our fault. But we are in control of the solution.
Our worldview is extremely malleable. Our worldview can be deepened and expanded, and drastically alter our sense of the meaning and doorways we find within it. These sometimes subtle, sometimes radical shifts in awareness are what we know as “insight”.
Awakening From the ‘Meaning Crisis’
Dr. John Vervaeke – for *FREE* – uploaded a college-quality lecture series, distilling humanity’s long relationship with wisdom and meaning.
The core themes in John’s talks completely resonate with ideas here, namely:
Broadly, these themes bolster a life of wisdom and meaning.
How?
Not surprisingly, mind expansion has multiple dimensions. The short answer – integrate as many dimensions as possible into your life.
The long answer – walking the walk. As Vervaeke says, you can read about making love, or you can actually make love. In other words, reading about mind expansion and practicing mind expansion are very different things.
Vervaeke’s lecture series is incredibly powerful history lesson and set of questions to carry with you. Expanding and deepening our worldview fosters limitless potential, for finding meaning, and being the person we truly want to be.
A suggestion to maximally benefit from John’s lessons is to be an active participant. Not merely watch the lectures – but pause – reflect – take breaks, and compare everything you experience with other systems. Let these ideas splash in your mind like ripples in a pond. Explore them through actual lived experience.
