How the Light Gets In: “Solving the Meaning Crisis”

In this episode, John Vervaeke takes us on a journey through the complexities of the modern meaning crisis. From the loneliness epidemic and the rise of secular living to the cultural fascination with zombies and the misuse of mindfulness, Vervaeke unpacks the myriad ways in which our search for meaning has become convoluted and elusive. Through a critical examination of societal trends and psychological phenomena, he sheds light on the deep-seated issues that drive our collective existential unease and offers insights into navigating the path toward a more meaningful existence. For a deeper dive into how we can navigate our way through the meaning crisis, leveraging the wisdom and philosophical traditions that underpin our quest for purpose, explore John Vervaeke's insights further at: iai.tv/video/solving-the-mean...
Watch the full lecture here: iai.tv/video/solving-the-mean...
Glossary of Terms
Meaning Crisis: A societal condition characterized by a widespread perception of life as meaningless, driven by factors like loneliness, secularization, and disconnection from communal and sacred aspects of life.
Secularization: The process by which religious institutions, practices, and beliefs lose their social significance.
Nihilism: The rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.
Mindfulness: A mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.
John Vervaeke:
Website: johnvervaeke.com/
KZbin: / @johnvervaeke
Patreon: / johnvervaeke
X: / vervaeke_john
Facebook: / vervaekejohn
Join our new Patreon
/ johnvervaeke
The Vervaeke Foundation - vervaekefoundation.org/
Awaken to Meaning - awakentomeaning.com/
Solving the Meaning Crisis - iai.tv/video/solving-the-mean...
Books, Articles, Publications, and Videos
Beyond the Trip: How Psychedelics Are Shaping Our Worldview, with Alexander Beiner • Beyond the Trip: How P...
How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization - Mary Eberstadt www.amazon.com/How-West-Reall...
Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis - John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, and Filip Miscevic www.amazon.com/Zombies-Wester...
On Bullshit - Harry G. Frankfurt www.amazon.com/Bullshit-Harry...
The Bigger Picture: How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World - Alexander Beiner www.amazon.com/Bigger-Picture...
Meaning in Life and Why It Matters - Susan Wolf www.amazon.com/Meaning-Matter...
[Addictive behaviour]. World Health Organization (2019, May 28). www.who.int/health-topics/add...
Quotes
“The thing about anxiety is it doesn't have a focused object because it generally points to a fundamental sense of disconnection. The coupling between the agent and the arena of the world is not properly in place for you.” - John Vervaeke [00:03:57]
“Two things that people are commenting a lot on… epidemic narcissism and nihilism, and they're actually just two sides of the same coin. Nihilism emphasizes the objective sense of a lack of meaning, and narcissism is the subjective.” - John Vervaeke [00:05:08]
"Zombies are a mythological expression of the meaning crisis. They're not supernatural; they are us, decayed. They're in groups, but they're not communal. They drift... They have an insatiable desire to consume... They often want to consume the organ of meaning-making, brains... The zombies are us. We are them. And they're the meaning crisis." - John Vervaeke [00:06:10]
Chapters
[00:00:00] - Introduction to the Meaning Crisis
[00:01:00] - The Loneliness Epidemic and Social Isolation
[00:02:00] - Secularization and the Loss of the Sacred
[00:03:20] - Anxiety, Depression, and Mental Health
[00:05:00] - Narcissism, Nihilism, and Cultural Phenomena
[00:06:00] - The Zombie Myth as a Metaphor
[00:12:20] - Mindfulness and Stoicism Today
[00:15:00] - Psychedelic Experiences
[00:16:20] - The Metaphor of Meaning.

[@johnvervaeke]

Watch the full video here: iai.tv/video/solving-the-meaning-crisis-john-vervaeke?_auid=2020

[@dalibofurnell]

Thank you ❤

[@RobbRheinlander]

Great video as always John. My question is on self deception vs lying to ourself. You mentioned we cannot lie to our self but we can bullshit ourself. How is self deception and lying to ourself different?

[@johnvervaeke]

@@RobbRheinlander Lyjng is the inferential manipulation of belief to change action. Bullshitting is the attentional alteration of salience to alter action.

[@RobbRheinlander]

@@johnvervaeke That explanation is most helpful. Thank you for taking the time to expand those ideas for me. Really appreciate all the new language you are sharing with your work. Helping me understand myself better and in turn communicate better with others.

[@synaxarium]

I've never seen John so animated and so authoritative before. This might be a strange thing to say, but it's almost like John was in some sort of exile and just returned from it with newfound wisdom. Great talk, hope to see more like it.

[@zorga0001]

He got in the flow state 😊

[@Ideophagous]

That reminds me of the first chapter of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" ... Lo! I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that hath gathered too much honey; I need hands outstretched to take it...

[@acerrubrum5749]

Anthem - Song by Leonard Cohen Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That's how the light gets in

[@conjordan4459]

Hi John I’m a musician from Ireland - been watching your videos since 2019 - your work has and continues to inspire my meditation practice and my philosophical meditations which inform the songs I create. Thank you for doing this - you’re having a great impact on the younger generation (I’m 27)

[@mmarrotte101]

Always love to hear the encapsulation of work in these shorter videos. Thank you as always!

[@Silent-Speaker]

Fantastic! Condensed, to the point, and on the spot! Thank you John for all that you do ❤

[@dudedyin5444]

I wish I could like this twice.

[@scarymuffin6978]

Thanks John Your lecture definitely helped my view point of the world & myself. Hope you come to the UK more often 😊

[@RebeccaEWebber]

Excellent!

[@sandybassie1220]

Excellent talk

[@harleyseelbinder]

Your talks always inspire awe ✨️

[@ScientificGenius]

Thanks for the extended share of this talk John! Great thoughts as always - the zombie myth is bang on!

[@colorfulbookmark]

Dr.Vervaeke and Dr.Peterson are very great people. They provide lectures for well-being of people who learn from it, and this video lecture is what is to have revere. The lecture is intellectual ability of human being and they do good influence to people, meaningful and mindful are same root I think. I am not perfect so cannot follow all, attitude is what both proponents would like to cultivate.

[@TheKingLZ]

Philosophy of mind was the most interesting class I ever had, another great lecture!

[@jamiewolf4601]

Outstanding presentation!

[@zorga0001]

Love your work - thank you for interpreting and weaving the narrative of our times, braided in with relevant history. Absolutely necessary and brilliant! ❤️

[@antoniobarbalau1107]

This is an amazing summary. And I love the way you delivered it so much ❤️❤️ thank you very much for this

[@222bookwriter]

My life has got tons better 🎉😊Loved this ❤

[@peterrosqvist2480]

Excellent talk!!

[@fallenknight3236]

John, I just want to thank you for all the work that you're doing. I've first learnt about you in summer 2023, and I'm currently on my third try of getting through Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, now doing notes and trying to watch at least 15-20 minutes a day. After all this, you now feel like a close friend for me, and kind of an archetypal wise old guy giving advice. I would really like to see you live, even though, given the political situation, it's hardly possible in the nearest future. As people in the comments have already noticed, your work has tremendous impact, and all that meaning-crisis-grammar is now embedded in my mind for good.

[@lukemackinnon5894]

Jolly good show sir!

[@Zelig_G]

Holy moly. You clean up pretty. Thanks John.

[@jaysphilosophy1951]

I am often the only one at the gym who is not looking at a screen. What scares me about these days is just how conformist we've all become. We look at our screens and wish and wonder. And what are they seeking on that screen, when the answer may well be right in front of them if only they could look up. If only they could, but they can't and they won't. That is terrifying.

[@TheHangedMan]

Very good summation of your thesis here, thanks John! ❤

[@Robb3348]

how would you characterize or summarize his thesis? what are his basic stances or positions? I find him cryptic.

[@leedufour]

Thanks John!

[@johnvervaeke]

Thanks Lee!

[@SigmundPimpulopis]

Thank you

[@TimCCambridge]

👍👍Hi. Great! Thanks for this. The " death " of the focus of the interminable narrative of the inner child or immature ego is where we meet our higher and under-self at the transitional gate. Something like that.

[@thomasf.webber4933]

Thank you for commiting yourself to working on this problem. I feel like exploring the meta-crisis has become somewhat of a lightning rod for me and my wife, as it grounds many of the interests and philosophical curiosities into a nice umbrella. I hope to contribute to the great thinking you're doing! Loved your description of what wisdom is/was. Let us know if you see a good example in action please.

[@SuperRobinjames]

Thanks

[@n8works]

I love seeing JV getting the praise he deserves! You see the dude taking a fan pic in the audience? Go get 'em JV!

[@j3kfd9j]

Pairing nihilism and narcissism is an interesting move. I have found, coincidentally, that a greater concern for my own wellbeing (rather than the neglectful disregard I've so often exhibited) has been a big part of my shift away from despair and nihilism into a more meaningful life. Right now it feels over-focused on myself, and yet it's also a corrective from an abusive and neglectful upbringing. And I do feel more keenly than ever my littleness, and the need of humility, before everyone and everything else. It's a work in progress, of course. Thanks for the video.

[@gusmeyer8729]

There's nothing narcissistic about taking care for your own wellbeing :) it is an act of compassion which will inevitably have positive effects on others. IMO the best way we can help others is actually to spend time directing our focus towards ourselves. Not in a greedy materialistic way, but in a way that gets us in touch with our deeper selves. Below the surface-level desires that come from a sense of lacking, what we really want is freedom, connection, meaning, growth, beauty, truth, etc. The more we get in touch with those deeper parts of ourselves and the sense of lacking subsides, the more that natural compassion and outward expression of love will shine through - completely naturally, there's no need to force that. So it all starts with you. Narcissism would be more like thinking you've already got all the right answers with a sense of superiority over others, and trying to enforce your viewpoint onto others. It's more like a projection of your own sense of lack onto others in an attempt to control people into how you think they should be. Which is clearly not what is going on with you. So keep at it, and I will too :)

[@David-bo7zj]

Looks like meaning in life is up next on my reading list. Thanks for your book recommendations John, especially transformative experience, the sovereignty of good, and the courage to be. All have helped me rationally justify taking a more active and ‘participatory’ approach to life instead of being a passive bystander.

[@Darkloid21]

Too bad he's mistaken on both of those accounts. There is no sovereignty of good and there is no courage to be. Rather the only real courage is to die, after all almost everything in us biases us towards living.

[@David-bo7zj]

@@Darkloid21 Sounds like you’re dealing with some good ol’ existential depression my friend. This was me last year. I understand where you’re coming from. Keep learning. Keep digging deeper. You’ll find your answers. It’s a lonely and painful path but you’re on the right path if you’re watching Vervaeke videos.

[@Darkloid21]

@@David-bo7zj Uhhh no. This video was shown to me by someone and it was just an example of how to say nothing in 17 minutes. If you don’t have an actual remark to make then why reply, because you’ve also said nothing. “You’re on the right path”? What does that mean? Keep asking? It means nothing. Make a claim or say nothing. No one is helped by vague nonsense.

[@annemariesegeat9397]

💓🙏Thank you!

[@CristinaCanchola-xx7kp]

It would be nice to see him examine Teal Swan videos and the completion process

[@robmccammon7999]

Think about this… in the 80’s it was man vs machine. That has progressed to the zombie apocalypse. I think these concepts are a progression. Machine won, and now humans are ‘empty husks’ of what they were.

[@tabithan2978]

The Amish are winning.

[@dalibofurnell]

❤

[@23Hiya]

I'd be curious to dig a little deeper into the desire for more money. There are plenty of sources of what I think John would consider genuine meaning that are costly. Women still look for stable high status providers as partners, caring for kids costs money, my car has components with microchips in them that have to be calibrated by a proprietary bit of software so I can't do certain things without a mechanic. The list could go on. My point is that money in and of itself is not a good source of meaning, but there do seem to be good sources of meaning that increasingly feel like they're behind a pay wall.

[@ulee2010]

I found it to be a weak point John made there. He cites polling data re low meaningfulness/high anxiety, acknowledges that when asked the cause people say finances/money, then tries to dismiss their own reasons via studies that suggest it takes a lot more money for small changes in meaning/anxiety. But this misses the potential role of financial *security*. Instead of a big windfall or pay raise consider instead the potential benefits of a Universal Basic Income which can provide more longterm security for less short-term monetary gain. Studies suggest this can provide a significant increase in happiness/reduction in anxiety. He didn’t address this type of support and was too quick to somewhat obliquely dismiss the reasons people actually offer by dodging understanding the issue in terms of financial security because the answer didn’t fit nicely with his thesis.

[@23Hiya]

@@ulee2010 Potentially, yeah. I don't know John V's work too well, so that may or may not be a blindspot. I was trying to connect finances to some of the stuff he talked about with the digital exodus. Narratives about the power of hard work ring pretty hollow in large parts of the economy. My observation about the chips in my car was prompted by the the idea of fit between skills and world. There is in that car example a good business decision that makes it such that I can't take care of my own vehicle in important ways. I was talking with my dad about my grandfather and how he could rebuild an engine and make his own bullets for hunting groundhogs and put an addition on the house. My dad worked hard and got into the professional world so that he didn't have to do all that stuff. But I didn't. So I'm 37 still trying to hamfistedly learn how to be my grandfather. 🙃 So as I ramble I guess it's clear that I'm more trying to point to the ways that the creep of digital technology and a shift towards a high tech economy and the financialization of more and more stuff feels like it has the potential to really eat away at exactly the stuff John is highlighting in that 3 part digital exodus bit. AND I think you're quite right to identify some baseline of financial security as a really important dimension of many people's search for a meaningful life in a modern economy.

[@MarcelReschke]

While hearing this talk, I imagined a thirty years older Patrick Bateman adding a meditation app to his morning routine 😏

[@hamedmoradi5291]

PEOPLE suffer personality breakdowns because they do not have meaning in their lives. The struggle is not "worth the candle," they often frankly say, so why shouldn't one give up? That is the significance of a personality crisis-it is the symptom that the meaning of a particular style of life has broken down, and the individual finds he must retreat and start over again in a new direction. "A psychoneurosis [personality breakdown] must be understood," says Dr. Jung in one of his penetrating insights, "as the suffering of an individual who has not discovered what life means for him." Rollo May. (1940). The Springs of Creative Living: A Study of Human Nature and God.

[@hamedmoradi5291]

May was heavily influenced by Tillich, his mentor and friend.

[@shahskyalamdar9105]

Has anyone ever met a Stoic ? Im afraid I’ve only met McStoics so far

[@pantherstealth1645]

🥳👏🥳👏🥳

[@ElijahLogozar]

You seem to know your purpose

[@williansuarez9522]

Comment.

[@juanjvvictorjohnson]

The dead make original statements the living parenthetical comments.

[@keithwins]

8:20 the bullshit artist tries to get you unconcerned with the truth, so you're caught up in the mere salience of the thing. Like advertising

[@Darkloid21]

This was more like how to say nothing at all in 17 minutes. None of this really explains meaning or the crisis behind it. The claim about video games sounds more like it's made up by him than what is true about reality. It doesn't matter if there is structure, rules, and a clear path to progression, this stuff only matters if we make it matter and so far NO ONE is able to explain how we make things matter. Plenty of people like games for none of the things he describes so what then? I think the challenge nihilism brings is that there is no objective meaning to life and making it up doesn't really work for other people because it sort of feels like lying to ourselves. So the real question is WHY live and WHY bother to make meaning? Why not just die? If you're dead then there is no meaning crisis, but this isn't viewed as acceptable...why not? Stoic philosophy is filled with too many contradictions to be coherent yet it's adherents don't realize this. Psychedelics are just drugs that create meaningless experiences because of how they affect the brain, but as human animals we are wired to make meaning of such things even though we know what they really are. So like...what exactly is the point he's driving at here? What, if you just cover a bunch of different topics at once it seems like you're getting at something? But it's not.

[@David-bo7zj]

The problem of meaning is too complex to explain in a 17 minute video. He did a very good job here summarizing key points, but it takes far more time to cover them in enough detail to where they become coherent, significant, and purposeful/actionable, to use Vervaeke’s language. It took him 25 hours of content just to frame the meaning crisis in his KZbin series, and another 25 hours to posit a solution. “Why live and why bother to make meaning? Why not just die?” Because it ‘feels’ good to be alive. It feels good to be laying on this bed right now writing these words. It feels good to eat a home-cooked meal. It feels good to drink water when I am thirsty and sleep when I am tired. It even feels good to suffer, because pain gives meaning to my brief moments of joy. It is precisely because I am a finite being that my life and everything in it is meaningful. Death is what gives life meaning; and choosing to live in spite of death is why we bother to make meaning in the first place. There is no single point he’s driving at here, it’s an extremely complex problem to answer. But at its core, we need to participate in life in order to feel like our lives are meaningful. We need to become a ‘main character’ and not a ‘NPC.’ This is the demand that is placed on the modern human since we no longer live with a pervasive fear of death like our ancestors did. It is the demand to be seen - to stand out; to be out-standing; or even simply to be under-stood; of course, by way of under-standing, that either creates nihilism if we fail to meet this demand, or creates meaning if we succeed. John is trying to get us to go out into the world instead of hiding in our cocoon, even if the world is an intimidating and seemingly hopeless place. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” - Dr. Seuss

[@Darkloid21]

@@David-bo7zj Saying "it feels good to" isn't answer. You are avoiding the "Why" behind it. Why do things that "feel good" rather than just die so you don't have to do them anymore? To say pain gives meaning to your moments of joy is naive and shortsighted. How does death give life meaning? So what if we are limited on this planet why do we have to keep living? You aren't answering the question of "WHY" you're just dancing around it with empty platitudes. You haven't given this any thought at all. You're also kidding yourself if you think he posted a solution to the problem of meaning, he most certainly did not. Why do we have to participate in life? Why do we have to make it meaningful? You say this is the demand placed on modern human but this is imaginary. There is nothing demanding we live or make meaning, or really do anything. There is just the void and your responses aren't a defiance of that but rather deluding yourself otherwise. There is no demand to meet or live up to, we just feel like there is because...why? If you look and question deep enough you find there is no reason for doing what we are doing, nothing sensical. It's ultimately empty. John is utterly clueless about the big questions of life and "WHY" and so are you. You simply repeat the same tired and fearful lines that haven't held up to philosophical inquiry for decades. Just this clip alone shows how ignorant he is to reality and the human condition and reeks of privilege. That line by Dr.Seuss is just confirmation bias in a nutshell. You have failed to answer the "why" behind any of these questions and also assume too much which just shows you haven't given this much thought if you think there is some demand we as humans have to meet. The problem is complex and you've both failed to answer it.

[@David-bo7zj]

@@Darkloid21 You need to answer the question of why for yourself my man (or woman). You’re at a stage in life where you will continue to doubt every solution thrown your way because you think you know better, and you’re right, you do know better, at least insofar as you know what’s best for you. There is no universal truth but there is your truth and you must find it, nobody can tell you what it is. It’s a difficult process and I understand why you’re angry that nobody else has the answers. I get it, it’s frustrating. But you should be excited because you’re entering a new chapter in life where you get to create your own answers for why you will continue living, and those answers will be meaningful because they are yours and nobody else’s. As you continue to journal I’d suggest reframing your why questions from plural to singular, i.e. “Why do ‘we’ have to participate in life” to “Why do ‘I’ have to participate in life?” Try to keep your focus on your own life and your individual goals instead of trying to solve the big universal why questions, it will simplify the process. I’d also suggest asking more “what” questions, as they are more actionable. Asking why is always the best place to start and is good for gaining knowledge, but asking what, when, where, who, and how will get you taking action towards building the kind of life you want for yourself, that is, if you want one at all. Up to you to decide.

[@David-bo7zj]

@@Darkloid21 I wrote a longer comment but it got deleted. You need to answer the question of why for yourself. Nobody can answer it for you. Try asking questions in singular rather than plural. Ask “Why do ‘I’ have to participate in life” instead of ‘we’ and you’ll make more progress. It’s good to start with asking why, but if you want to make real progress, start asking what, who, when, where, and how, as these are more actionable than why. What do you want out of life? Who do you want to be? Where do you want to live? How will you make it happen?

[@Darkloid21]

@@David-bo7zj Nope, the answer has to apply to the plural not the singular. You're making the argument you have to convince other people why, not me. I'm asking the why and you're avoiding it. You didn't even answer the first why just stated things without question. In case you haven't noticed the "who, what, where, when all depend on WHY". Without why the rest doesn't matter. All your other questions are meaningless without answering the WHY. Why should we live? Why do we have to be anything? Why do we have to make it happen? WHY CHOOSE LIFE? Again your arguments about it feeling good only work if we HAVE to live and we don't. We could just die and not have to concern ourselves over feeling good. Again you avoid the hard questions, because you haven't really thought this through and it shows. Neither has John.

[@Tectenitarius]

Moloch cannot be solved, Moloch always wins the flesh in the end and consumes all flesh.

[@ClassPunkOnRumbleAndSubstack]

The Galactic Federation will kick Moloch's ass.

[@royaebrahim2449]

❤