The Philosophical Silk Road: Exploring the Intersections of Philosophy and Spirituality

In the vast expanse of human thought, how do philosophy and spirituality intertwine to shape our understanding of the sacred? In this conversation, first released on Andrew Sweeny's channel, The Parallax, John Vervaeke, Andrew Sweeny, and Christopher Mastropietro examine the delicate balance between philosophical rigor and spiritual experiences. They probe the challenges and rewards of navigating this complex terrain, emphasizing the transformative power of love, wisdom, and existential inquiry. By blurring the traditional boundaries between philosophical inquiry and religious practice, this conversation invites listeners to deepen their exploration of truth and meaning, ultimately fostering personal and communal growth.
Andrew Sweeny is an educator, writer, musician, and podcaster who currently teaches at Sciences Po University in Paris and serves as an editor at Parallax magazine.
Christopher Mastropietro is a philosophical writer who is fascinated by dialogue, symbols, and the concept of self. He actively contributes to the Vervaeke Foundation.
Support John's groundbreaking work and gain exclusive access to live Q&A sessions, early video releases, and more by joining our Patreon community! / johnvervaeke
Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode
Mere Christianity - C. S. Lewis
Nothingness Beyond God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nishida Kitaro, by Robert Edgar Carter
Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis, co-authored by Christopher Mastropietro
Heidegger, Neoplatonism, and the History of Being, by James Filler
Iain McGilchrist
Daniel Schmachtenberger
Bishop Maximus
Paul Vander Klay
T.S. Eliot
Jordan Peterson
Sallie McFague
Richard Dawkins
Carl Jung
Søren Kierkegaard
Jacob Howland
Douglas Hedley
Jordan Hall
“The more people I'm talking to-high caliber, high quality people in this whole arena-the advent of the sacred as a response to the meaning crisis is a growing theme. I have found myself more and more called into service to doing whatever I can to afford the advent of that.” - John Vervaeke [00:02:00]
"Nobody lives on the Silk Road; people move along it." - John Vervaeke [00:03:37]
"The idea of the Silk Road, to me, is that the wandering, and the traveling, and the encountering different influences, and the metabolizing of a lingua philosophica helps to create a space within oneself into which that inward process can pour itself, discover itself, and metabolize itself." - Christopher Mastropietro [00:10:57]
“The more I engage with this work, the more I realize that so much of the dawning consciousness of our encounter with the sacred is ultimately a process that happens to us. It occurs to us. We can bring consciousness to bear on it, and augment it, and make space for it, and inquire within it in such a way as to invite it.” - Christopher Mastropietro [00:11:23]
0:00 Embracing the Philosophical Silk Road: From Top-Down Religion to an Organic Spiritual Path
17:00 On the Philosophical Silk Road: An Interfaith Journey, Personal Transformation, and Confronting Idolatry
28:30 Beyond the Culture War: Embracing Authentic Dialogue and the Embodiment of Beliefs
35:40 The Unresolvable Dialogue: Embracing the Infinite Game Between Socrates and Jesus
44:10 Rediscovering the Essence of Faith: Beyond Doctrine to Personal Transformation
56:00 The Wildness of the Sacred: Recognizing and Integrating Spontaneous Spiritual Experiences
1:02:50 Philosophical and Sacred Synergies: Bridging the Divide through Love and Wisdom
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Thank you for watching!

[@brooksroscoe2699]

Kierkegaard would hit the "like" button on this concept of homelessness. He dedicated his life to put Christians out of their spiritual homes: "Everything today (trains etc.) is to make things easier. I want to make things harder." "Limitation is the best concept there can be." (paraphrased; seeking the individual relationship) "It is hard to be a Christian amidst Christendom."

[@13lmcp]

I cannot find words to express how this discussion fed my soul. Truthful spiritual insight. Thank you thank you thank you

[@jonnymovieboy]

Hi John, Jonathan Woodbridge here. Whilst listening to this it evoked within me why I feel in love with Endo's book Silence. When reading it, it feels like the story is building up to a critical moment of either Fr Rodrigues convictions are satisfied by a saving certainty or the rug is finally pulled into total meaninglessness and dispair that everything he had done was for nothing. And on the surface it seems like the story closes with dispair. But what I deeply love about the journey of Fr Rodrigues is that it is a deeply transformative one, where he is forced to confront his own idols of conviction, of the mission and acceptance of the church and in the letting go is call to act out the way of Christ. He was determined to follow/and be like Christ by being martyed like Christ but to his horror he didn't realise is that this would entail having to make his ultimate sacrifice of his belief to truly mirror the agapic act of Christ. At the end you think Endo would condemn Rodrigues for renouncing the faith but instead as his convictions fall a veil has been lifted into a greater way of truly enacting and internalising Christ in an imaginal way. Which for me is put in a beautifully powerful way when Rodrigues pronounces: "Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of him".

[@moodbox_no]

Feeling continualy saved by the depth of the philia-sofia and by the beauty and rich level of inteligibility. Awe- mazing! Gonna pick up Fillers book and one of Kirkegaard.

[@Seth_D_Myers]

56:13 4 ways of finding the sacred. Spiritual experiences. Yes. Through the work. Through the practices. Through the propositional. Spontaneous.

[@RobinTurner]

Yes - and I would add "through the body" for practices like hatha yoga and Daoist internal alchemy.

[@He.knows.nothing]

I've deconstructed much of my christian identity and over the years ive adopted many taoist and zen buddhist psycho social tools to reconstruct myself in its wake, but i am still wrestling with this very Tolkeinesque notion that "not all those who wander are lost." I feel as though i wander the silk road, but i have a deep envy towards those who can flourish in submission to these religious identities. These conversations fuel my hope and embolden my travels, and travel i must.

[@projectmalus]

Spontaneous spirit riding the perception bubble as lite-feathered psychopomp embracing the cusp of the oncoming wave. Why allowing is more powerful than asserting in riding the logos river while asserting rides nuance to touch power and that nuance possibility as perspectival. Gifts from the future and past carried to participate now and gathered into relevance thru the allowance of observation in non-object self, folded into the object which is danced out now. Thanks for the show!

[@theultimatedisciple7974]

Beautiful.

[@oxy5100]

I enjoy how these episodes and guests flow from one to another.

[@oliverjamito9902]

Hallelujah, Amen, and my Shalom comes with rejoicing in front!

[@F--B]

>That was so beautiful Chris, thankyou so much > No, thankyou John, I'm so appreciative of you > No, thankyou, I'm so so grateful for your presence and insight > Really, I'm the grateful one, I cherish your friendship and wisdom so so much > No, it's me that's blessed, thakyou so much > etc

[@Luminc]

Thank you for bringing our attention to the loving awareness of John and his guests, the mutual respect and openness they have for one another, fostering healthy dialogos from their disparate vantage points. Truly, one can not but be amazed that in these modern times that people can be agreeable and sympathetic to one another. In fact, one may be incredulous, even threatened, by such a display of brotherly dialectic on the interstices of the Silk Road. Yes, the meaning crisis' effect on our own lives might make us pessimistic hearing such hallmark card affectations. But look into your heart, do you not desire such a loving transjectivity?

[@F--B]

@@Luminc you have made the mistake of conflating 'loving transjectivity' with 'saccharine North American therapeutic modalities'

[@captiantoastytm6436]

It was my favorite part of the video when they kissed

[@garygoldberg9906]

Federico Faggin, in his book, Silicon, describes a 'Satori' experience that is quite remarkable and deeply transformative. It initiated a fundamental change in his basic beliefs. Jeffrey Kripal in 'The Flip' describes the transformative power of these scientifically inexplicable spiritual experiences that change the basic beliefs of a person and put them on a spiritual path.

[@sgpetermann]

I agree with John's idea of the symphonies of the sages. I think a way to approach these sages and the testaments that emerged from their wisdom is to view them as people's struggles to both pose and answer the existential questions they were confronted with within their personal and cultural contexts. This means there can be revelatory content of the sacred within any resource. Paul Tillich said that anything can be transparent to the divine. If we try to understand the existential questions that were being addressed and emphasized, perhaps we can see where theirs are similar or different from ours and then decide if we agree or not with the "solutions" they were offering. I think this approach can avoid viewing any tradition as THE solution and rather recognize the wisdom and revelation of the sacred within the entire corpus of human explorations within religion, philosophy, art, science, etc.

[@alexiscabrie5432]

This fantastic podcast is the best Introduction to your next "Philosophical Silk Road" Project that I just can't wait to discover as everyone here. If I may ask Professor Vervaeke, have you already decided the planning (period, locations, etc) you will follow ? If so, I imagine that you will make some video (or article) presenting the details to us ? In case it is already done, please accept my apologies. Thank you both, Professor Vervaeke and Mr Mastropietro, for your important and inspiring work.

[@alykathryn]

Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gyana Yoga, Raja Yoga. (The way of meditation.) These are the four paths laid out by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. "Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy, by one, or more, or all of these-and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details." - Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga. "One, Two, Three . . . But where is the fourth, my dear Timaios?" - Plato, Timaeus. And random question, does Vervaeke happen to mean discernment, like Viveka does in sanskrit?

[@jamespercy8506]

the emphasis at the heart of Christianity on the centrality of embodiment and utmost meaning and concern is hard to turn away from, especially in the current context of the implications of embodied AI

[@bradbear]

The grasping to define the Good in Christianity reminds me of what I’ve been learning about more occult versions of the faith like the Rosecrucianism. I’d love to hear perspectives on these more esoteric versions of Christ. ❤️

[@janthonycologero9206]

The last 15 minutes or so had unlocked a few insights. The way you articulated the relationship between the imaginal, religious, ritual and philosophical was a sort of, "oh yeah, duh", sort of insight. I suppose they all are, if they're remembered rather than learned. You could do a whole series on that alone. Wow🧠👁️🤯

[@jasonmitchell5219]

Good conversation. Thanks for being so honest and transparent.

[@oliverjamito9902]

What is a Storm? Who controls? Remember my Angels Who persevere and heard the WORD!

[@RobotProctor]

The point about unjustifiable justification I think is mostly right, but I wanted to say a few thoughts. We cannot justify our endeavors without doing it based on a justification and at some point there is no foundation. But just because there is no justification doesn't mean we have to accept the idea of unjustifiability. I think always searching for a deeper answer is a worthwhile endeavor, even if you know you'll never get to the bottom/top/fully understand.

[@mikegarrigan5182]

If Everything and no-thingness are sacred, then nothing is above or below. Another problem with sacredness, our ability to reframe sacredness into the ordinary. And the ordinary into sacredness. The object is not sacred as we are just reframing it.

[@janthonycologero9206]

And yet, here we are.

[@mikegarrigan5182]

@@janthonycologero9206 even if we align ourselves with the fundamental patterns and principles of the universe sacredness is only a belief.

[@LaymansPursuit]

No thing, at least

[@theultimatedisciple7974]

You’re thinking uni-dimensionally. Can something be good on one level, and bad on another?

[@mikegarrigan5182]

@@theultimatedisciple7974 from a personal, dualistic perspective, good and bad exist. Even yin/yang which is sometimes represented as black and white can be perceived as gray.

[@yoganandavalle]

Thank you, John! I found very interesting what you mentioned about also providing a framework for people who have spontaneous satoris and unusual spiritual experiences. I was one of them; for years, as a militant atheist, I couldn't make sense of these experiences. Ramachandran, the famous neurologist, says that 35% of people with temporal lobe epilepsy (the most common type) have these kinds of experiences. I think this happens in the very common subclinical complex partial seizure episodes.

[@deepblack67]

Currently reading Hellenic Tantra: The Theurgic Platonism of Iamblichus by Gregory Shaw. I find it interesting that the Religion that was not a Religion, really was the obscure esoterecism paganism and Freemasonry that has long been the home of the 'nones' and the spriritual but not religious, is here with the Philosophical Silk Road the Theurgery, the Tarot, and the Cabal of Hermeticism. I would love to see John dig into the Alchemical Marriage as the height of western Tantra.

[@johnargyros5359]

A focus on the propositional is what sent me down a path of nihilism in my 20s. I was raised Christian (Eastern Orthodox) At church, I was expected to blindly accept the propositions presented in the Bible for which there was no empirical evidence. At the same time, I was attending American public school which in the absence of any spirituality, expected me to adopt a whole other set of propositions that were substantiated by empirical evidence. It’s no wonder I graduated high school ready to embark down a road of cold dead nihilism and materialism. Thanks to you John as well as many other influential minds in “this little corner” I have found a way to access my spiritual side while circumventing any need for empirical evidence. The beauty of religion lies in the ritual, practice and narratives more so than the propositional dogma.

[@johnargyros5359]

As a follow up, if anyone would like to answer my question… Is belief in propositions at all necessary when to attending to one’s own spirituality? Can we leave belief out of the equation all together and still reach the enlightenment we are after? A belief in the empirical world is necessary for our survival… if we don’t eat we will starve, so we are highly driven to apply that same belief to the spiritual but im slowly realizing maybe belief has no place in spirituality, at least for those who may have lost their faith and are trying to find it again.

[@johnargyros5359]

Thoughts?

[@colorfulbookmark]

@@johnargyros5359 I think if we have rational spirituality we can have rational decision on starvation too. In wars, soliders share cigarrete and drinks with mates, and when fallen soliders, ritual is also held in warplace too. The survival and killing fields sometimes motivate people to be human being, I think this way we can do samething with christian rituals. If one is not having education opportunity, he would be wilder than expected, so spiritual education is what we need to to motivate us to be spiritual. The case when one quits not believing christian religion, he could still keep the faith in his mind, because rational decision. The premise that are supreme is rationality and spirituality in their personality, not having religion or so ^^ The deprivation of educational right is also condition to ponder up this topic? The right thing to have in mind is very often significant in their life and spiritual practice. I think Dr.Mcgilchrist does example to people, when he reads poetry for people while he is neurologist ^^

[@oliverjamito9902]

Angels who persevere come remind! LORD, seeing upon thy FOOTSTOOL not according! Thy Angels ye know? Ye have not said a WORD UNTO US! Ye came to remind! Better yet, ye came to COMFORT!

[@brooksroscoe2699]

Sorry to over-comment here, but suggesting that folks "Please read Kierkegaard" is, in my opinion, a quick way to confuse and repulse the casual/ curious reader. I've been there. So here is an order of reading I think folks should attempt: "The Present Age" - by Kierkegaard, the short book that is a parallel to the modern age. It's like the internet age, played out in a Copenhagen square. "Kierkegaard for the Perplexed" - Clare Carlisle. Must read. Self explanatory objective and approach. "Living Christianity" - Sylvia Walsh. From a Christian perspective. (Very nice person I met at a conference; great insights) There are lots of things to know about the literary/ political/philosophical situation in Europe circa 1848 before attempting to make sense of K's major writing pieces. But it's worth the effort for religious and "nones" to make the effort. He is a "Silk Road" dude!

[@brandis3309]

Ah, 'nones'.. I like that. Thanks for the advice!

[@daisykuchinad3624]

Really meaningful discussion….. however I think we are still stuck in the mental and logical realm. Only the experiential can encounter the transcendental…, so how about beyond “ let go” (ego ) and “ live” …. “Love unconditionally” and experience God🙏

[@matthewparlato5626]

51:57 me too. You brought me via your Silk Road home to Christianity. Thank you

[@colorfulbookmark]

I was presbyterian, attending Catholic school by regional reason, I had visited homeless people with schoolmates. They are economically poor and severe winter, they are frozen, trembled their fingers because of drug addiction. They advised students about life and it is still remaining my memory. It was good experiences to think about life and trust, love and respect for people other than us. Dr.Vervaeke's advice on spirituality is similarly reception to me and other people too, philosophically rescue purpose I am building is supporting it. I have opinions about instrumentalizing religion, it is omitted. Religion itself is good for life, corruption is not good, and corruption is not only by leaders. All of us need to be careful when we see spirituality.

[@colorfulbookmark]

Instrumentalizing religion is more than imagination. There are many variations by it. Jeanne D'arc and Dr. Albert Schweitzer are great people who have religious faith. It is metaphor that with this meaning is at issue, people who are persecuted as lived life of sacrificed like Jesus Christ, and they are not sages, it is laughable by christians too. They say "Siloam there, believe it!" Siloam is metaphor indicating blindly trust made by religion, its wording does not indicate it. It makes problem. The amazing thing is that the targetted man is still respecting religion, instrumentalizing religion to him is still applied, and excaceration is really needed to him. The inversion in moral and ethical effect, I can say without religion we can be love and spirituality--this is often impossible by lived experiences.

[@RobinTurner]

Great dialogue - in particular Christopher is on fire here! I am now looking for opportunities to drop "agapic solicitude" and "existential decluttering" into a conversation 😉

[@knoweagle888]

The road less traveled is a lonely road most are baffled why one would go The road unravels down rabbit holes where poets battle poetic prose With highs and lows and throes enclosed friends to foes impose The Show The road’s been roamed since days of old from most extolled to mole plateaus The chosen chose to behold whole Molds erode exposes soul The Stone was thrown away to roam The road became the way back home

[@knoweagle888]

The Tao that is told cannot be known The way that is shown is not your own As above, as soul below Yin and Yang and Ouroboros Forty days and forty nights The darkest days forewarns enlight The Unus Mundus, the Axis Mundi Your inner compass will guide you through thee Dante’s and Virgil’s inferno journey The Duat retaught the justice and mercy A sacred plane of many names Arcane domain no frame profanes The Few have seen where Jacob dreamed Therein between each conscious stream…

[@brooksroscoe2699]

I wrote my Kierkegaard comment just before you mentioned him. Ha!

[@Matthca1235]

Hi John, thanks for this video. I was off put by some of your videos I came across after meaning crisis series, largely around what it sounds like is being described here as “the religion that was not a religion.” However, I felt directed to watch this video, despite not wanting to, and after acquiescing was heartened to hear the process you’ve been through and your present orientation. It seems to have a kinship with what little I know of ‘The Sacred’ in Christ, and I pray both that you will come to know him and that he will teach me something through you. This attitude is part of an unavoidable incommensurability between our ‘views’ I think, but I hope (in faith and love) that we have a common object (?) of worship, which I pray that I can know truly, and speak of only as worship in faith hope and love.

[@He.knows.nothing]

I identify as non-theist and almost all of the friends I have that can converse with me about such things are Christians. I think the best we can do to empower each other through this silk road is to understand that opinions like yours and mine and johns are all inevitable and emergent experiences nested in our relationships to our environments, ourselves, and each other. Many atheists who still nest their own identities in relation to the Christianity they deconverted from would wince and squeal at the idea that you would pray for them to return to something that they perceive as individually and socially harmful, put off in the same sense you found yourself put off, but we must work to respect such ideas out of our love for each other and our love for the pursuits of humility, truth, and wisdom. When you communicate your urge to pray, I see a unique expression of love that represents the one thing we all have but cannot agree upon, our humanity, and it is the diversity in these expressions that we must learn to honor.

[@Matthca1235]

It’s hard to know how to talk through this.

[@He.knows.nothing]

@@Matthca1235 speak your truth, as we all must, but do so as Jesus would, in humility. I think your original post was an excellent example of this.

[@oliverjamito9902]

Gratitude and Honor for thy perseverance! Now ye know Why?

[@missh1774]

Beautiful ❤️

[@oliverjamito9902]

Digital come here remind! Without thy Hands. None! Go remind and comes with comfort

[@ALavin-en1kr]

We are entering a higher age, so there will be more and more awakenings. People will be leaving their cognitive views and programming by having full body experience of reality so they will need help with that. It is important to meditate and concentrate because that is what helps with dealing with an expansion of consciousness, what helps to assimilate; to integrate it.

[@RickDelmonico]

The logos is a map. The sojourner is free to choose. The map is not the territory. The sojourner is not the redeemer.

[@matthewparlato5626]

40:15 its sitting in the Question as supreme vs focusing on the Answer as supreme that's John's curiosity vs wonder distinction

[@mcnallyaar]

I'm interested in making connections with others who, like myself, have found connections between these sorts of ideas and the sort of work that is done in 12-Step programs, specifically AA.

[@ALavin-en1kr]

Another point, we are not in unity we are in a dual system. Religion, philosophy, and psychology all recommend the Middle Way. This is negotiating a path between opposites. It is the case that choosing one of them constellates its opposite. Where there is good there is evil in its environment. That is the dual system we are in, we cannot ignore the opposite of good in ourselves but should be alert and conscious of it and not be sleepwalking. The same applies to our environment the good we try to manifest there will have evil as its shadow.

[@ALavin-en1kr]

The definition of religion is that to which we are bound, so whatever we believe or do not believe it is to that to which we are bound.

[@matthewparlato5626]

46:31 decent articulation of my entry back home as a Zen Christian. . . baby steps

[@vagabondcaleb8915]

Antidote to the Antichrist: "Faith without works is dead." "Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit." "But the fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness(fifth place! don't forget!), Gentleness, Faithfulness, Self-control. Against such things there is no law."

[@daisykuchinad3624]

Bring “ enchantment “ ba back to life

[@XC0r3]

I had places to go. But i chose homelessness by choice. For 3 years i was out there sleeping everywhere and in the darkest of the night, there i was contemplating with god and conspiring with him. For Eve had caused Adam to be kicked out of his home, and how should he be redeemed? God had to guide him

[@guywalsh3283]

John what podcast can I listen to where you discuss your vision of the psychopomp Hermes, please?

[@kevinluke5766]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6jGn6qDibuKa6csi=d_18Top4rJoptbs4

[@chrisparker2118]

He shares it in his latest video with Jordan Peterson.

[@ALavin-en1kr]

Today there is ‘the hard problem of consciousness’. In relation to this what is Christ Consciousness? Its meaning is being one with the Intelligence of God in Creation. We aspire to be Christians as none of us are one with intelligence other than in our brains, consciousness and minds. We are all aspiring Christians hopefully moving towards Christ Consciousness. This is opposite to the version of religion that expects to be ‘saved’. Nothing has to be done, through faith it all will be done. This is a misunderstanding of both faith and Christianity. Christ said ‘By their works shall ye know them’ not by their faith shall ye know them. Faith includes works or living the life, not just talking or preaching about it.

[@howiewhitehouse1202]

the falkier, yogi, monk, and Gurdjieff's The Fouth Way --a combo of all three

[@polymathpark]

What about the problem of putting one's confidence in the verses of ancient scripture written by men? We seem to forget that every verse in the Bible was written by people who had ideas, and ideologies, many of which simply don't adhere to today's world, yet because we need logical consistency, we just glaze over that fact.

[@pantherstealth1645]

🙏

[@garygoldberg9906]

I am thinking that the phenomenological ethics and the need to 'de-formalize' that comes out of the philosophical writings of Emmanuel Lévinas may be helpful, which also comes up in the context of Iain McGilchrist's hemispheric hypothesis. We fall into the need to totalize and formalize that which is beyond the reach of totalization, which is the relation to the Other who, effectively, in their Infinity--the birthright of being made in the image of the Deity--that goes beyond the reach of totalization, commands me to meet their needs. The need to totalize and formalize is a left hemispheric drive for certainty and a 'completeness' that is not ultimately available to the finite being. Which demands the acceptance of the responsibility for Alterity, the acceptance of the truth of relationality as the ground of ontology, all of which relates to the function of the right hemisphere, which is the relational, semiotic, outward-connected hemisphere.

[@user-pn7jk9sj8b]

❤

[@deepblack67]

Preparation for a journey, Vajrayana Ngondro

[@oliverjamito9902]

To recognize is not a digital hand.

[@jiojiojoj]

Is John enlightened? What does enlightenment mean?

[@vagabondcaleb8915]

Your description of the Silk Road as a "hallway" brings to mind C.S. Lewis's world of portals in The Magician's Nephew that bridges all the different worlds. Not sure why. Also the concept of "liminal spaces" generally. Are you familiar with internet-generated "Backrooms" universe?

[@oliverjamito9902]

What is Hallelujah? What is Amen, nor my Shalom comes with rejoicing? Come Forefathers in front of thy SON OF MAN.

[@scottmcloughlin4371]

What we call Foundations of Western Culture are Indo-Hellenic. We are not guessing. That is (this is) not especially "Western" in the Maritime Empire sense of "Western." We have to erase the last 500 years of Maritime Empires to grasp our firm foundations.

[@scottmcloughlin4371]

Religion = Religious PRACTICE. Religion = Religious ORDER. Just look up fancier words in Etymology Dictionaries. Theory is the Theory of Practice. Practice is the Practice of Theory. Never separate the two.

[@michaelBodhiBhakti]

Definitions don't actually mean anything either tho. True meaning is not expressable through print or words. Yes those things are true but only for those who believe that. There is truly only one religion in spiritual life. Ego then divides

[@RickDelmonico]

Sacred: Proper relationship. Profane: Corrupted association.

[@deepblack67]

I think John needs to embrace Iamblichus.

[@oliverjamito9902]

Recorrect un to ....in. wow! Un recorrect itself to "in" .

[@oliverjamito9902]

Angels who persevere and heard the WORD will say, why marvel?

[@RickDelmonico]

The lives lived out in the Bible are for our learning. Interpretation is like opinion

[@sean2662]

Does anyone mind sharing any etiquette tips when sharing insight or revelation? I am afraid of saying things that ought not be said and not sure if I have a good ethic for navigating this.

[@projectmalus]

Define what ought not to be said. See it as a gate which you can pay respect to (and love, later) while entering and observing two priceless bits of info: why are you triggered, and what's your response? Brought right to your door, and true, what could be finer. Try to engage ffs (here in this comment wasteland) and just spray out comments like that guy who drove the honey wagon up into the hills to empty it for free. KZbin will eventually create yet another doppelganger for yourself from this, may as well co-create deliberately. Hope this helps. Cheers.

[@sean2662]

@@projectmalus Thank you for your response. I might be overly cautious but I think that maybe you don't do that because things get sticky. And perhaps that attracts bears. There are plenty of things that ought not be said. Working on any koans? Have a life's work or core belief you want to run by Edward Witten real quick? In the Red Book, speaking of things perhaps ought not published, Jung discusses the idea the the blind shall be lamed and the lame shall be blinded so that the able body blind folk dont hurt themselves and those whose sight outreaches their ability to manage it should be taken from them. I wonder what a monk who has taken a vow of silence would say about it.

[@oliverjamito9902]

Remember all thy shared Feet in front!

[@wehsee912]

🌚☄️❤️💫

[@oliverjamito9902]

My Abba, Allah, Father God of life of the Living!

[@oliverjamito9902]

Beloved what is thy shared left hand and right hand? Will ye punch thy own Face?

[@oliverjamito9902]

Imagine thy own hands ye can't control! Punching ye day and night!

[@juanjvvictorjohnson]

An Accuser and a Liar sitting in a tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G. First comes love then comes marriage then comes the baby in the abandoned carriage.

[@rsandy4077]

I don’t understand why someone like Vervaeke who cares about truth say that he follows Jesus while rejects his incarnation and resurrection among other core beliefs. Chris being there presenting the incarnation and yet the other speakers forcing Buddhism into it as if is the same thing. If we are going to be fair, christian theology and history does jot accept an eastern Jesus. The Bible doesn’t teach it and in fact if one denies the incarnation, it is the spirit of antichrist and if someone preaches another gospel whether by an angel or what not, it is anathema. One cannot keep Christ on high while rejecting Him on his humanity. No one can reach the Logos without its incarnation, if it were possible why suffering from birth to death? Fake Christianity does not mean that eastern thinking should replace it but there is original Christianity that is not eastern.

[@radphilospher]

I'm a bit unsure about the extreme backlash against cultural Christianity. I suppose if a person is skeptical about a direct relationship with the divine, and they are skeptical about a literal resurrection, but still want to be affiliated/participate with a church, or a Christian culture, it seems like righteous purity-culture mentality to say, "you're not the REAL Christian, you are making a IDOL out of Christianity" etc. It seems like the same line-in-the-sand reformation mentality you are against in the Meaning Crisis. Of course, if they are worshiping either nationalism or the equivalent of that in Western civilization, I agree. But, arguably Jordan Peterson is arguing in favor of a kind of cultural Christianity, as well looking at the cultural wisdom that Western Civ has produced. He is opening up the silk road. Being anti cultural Christianity seems like a move toward shutting down a portion of the silk road in the name some purity standard. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the comment. It just seems strange. If Dawkins is in favor of cultural Christianity, that complexifies a rather stale back and forth discourse where either you are a "believer' or an "unbeliever", and I'll take the complexity and all the dialogue that opens as a result over lines in the sand boundaries and condemnation at this point.

[@XC0r3]

Sorry John. Youre under the will. You have no choice for any deed will be turned to good ONLY

[@RickDelmonico]

You cannot equate Christianity with the flaws of Christians. If redemption requires law to be fulfilled, look for internal consistency not favored interpretation.

[@yeahTHATLarry]

First

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

Good Girl! 👌 Incidentally, are you VEGAN? 🌱

[@dospook]

Really glad that you speak so openly about these topics. -but this trialogue seems like an "extension of a bore." Perhaps it's because the topic is waxed and belabored and old hat. At least for me. For all of the oding and group congratulations you all have I think that the lack of accented or punctuation of topic or emotions, just left me sensing a slow drain into a flat swamp of still words. Almost as if the art among you three was to lightly piss into the same barrel without splashing. Even the back towing of "I didn't want to there I wanted to make this (boring) distinction clear. So anyway John, I guess you may be so netted or en-netted within your dialogues and ways of over- sophiticating and then re- waxing the points and territory. And then preferring a 30$ word over a merely pretentious 10$ word. Which you like to use, that I think you use to test the lexicon of your interlocutors. As if to test whether they have been well steeped. Even Chris is trying to structure his approach to the topic seems like a forced artifice. He's ironic because he wants to find "domains" that his self- comporting keeps himself from landing on. As if you guys need Rodney Dangerfield to give all of you an enema. And ALL of this ass kiss of Jordan B.P. is just a pity. I mean Jordan is a bit of a hack. And ironically offloads his theft of post- moderns like Derrida while stealing other philosophers critiques of who he stole from, such as to Not Read Derrida in depth himself. And because Jordan has scaled up as a capitalist subject of success, and holds a trending position within social media, you John just bite your tongue. NOT ACTUALLY giving a shit about your own topics to the peripheral extent of actually war or wrestling with Jordan about Jordan, before you began you dialectical tongue biting and ass- kiss, such that YOU SCALE UP. Not for Christ nor John (gospel) reason (as John's gospel IS about giving back to Caesar what his Caesars) which is the background of your desires. To become famous and wealthy and have much of Caesar's money, no?) THIS dialogue is a reiterated placid piss pot. I'm glad that you attempt to accept some energy into this discourse towards the end. As I attempt to antagonize you. But John V., Besides your "transjective" neologism addition or desired addition to the canon of philosophy, I wonder "if you have any thoughts of your own?" Seems like you are ALL ABOUT the OTHER authors. Falling into the needed plagiarism of working through the authors that keep you unique but, you seem as if you end at Play. Yet you and your guests don't seem to actually Create. Not regularly. So this dialogue is as flat and placid as watching three men almost solve a jigsaw puzzle. Intellectual "limp dickisms." If I may

[@TheGloves13]

‘I stand against cultural Christianity’. I absolutely agree.