In this conversation with John Vervaeke and Christopher Mastropietro we discuss their collaborative work on the 'Awakening from the Meaning Crisis' project, exploring the dynamics of their partnership, the impact of their ideas on contemporary discourse, and the challenges of making complex concepts accessible. Buy their book: Awakening From the Meaning Crisis: Part One: Origins: https://www.amazon.co.za/Awakening-Meaning-Crisis-Part-Origins/dp/1645011003 John Vervaeke's course on The Symbolic World: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/the-cognitive-science-of-ritual Daily Wire Plus: The Gospels seminar: https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-gospels ===================== NEW COURSE: The Symbolic World Goes to Middle-Earth Join us for an in-depth study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium, where we'll explore his masterful use of medieval literary genres, Christian storytelling traditions, and hidden philology. This course, presented by Richard Rohlin, will guide you through Tolkien's vision for a "Mythology for England," examining his work as a complex tapestry of Universal History. Through this journey, we’ll also examine Tolkien’s use of epic poems, chronicles, and literary devices to craft a truly legendary vision of the past, present, and future. Thereafter, we'll look at how his work has inspired later authors of fantasy, shaped the genre more generally, and continues to aid our recovery of deeper, cosmological storytelling. - Dates: Live classes are on Mondays at 1 PM Central starting March 3, 2025 - Course length: 5 weeks, 10 hours of lectures - Cost: $150 - 10% Discount for all patrons at the Involved tier or higher, apply your discount code at checkout - Participants will be given access to lesson recordings with downloadable audio - You’ll also have the opportunity to apply these ideas to contemporary authors and your own mythopoeic writing! - The course is hosted on the Symbolic World Circle Community platform. Sign up as a free member at https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/join-community before making your purchase. Register today: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/tolkien-and-universal-history ===================== Timestamps: 00:00 - Coming up 00:39 - Intro music 01:03 - Introduction 01:42 - Working together 06:23 - Coming to terms with John's vocabulary 11:26 - Getting feedback 14:27 - Telling a story 18:36 - A dialogical process 22:25 - Change in academia 26:48 - John Vervaeke and Jordan Peterson at UofT 29:21 - Cross-disciplinary 36:01 - Cognitive science 40:14 - Making woo acceptable 45:06 - John and John teaching 52:33 - What was the Gospels seminar like for Jonathan 00:15 - John's experience 03:23 - The strangeness of Christianity 08:19 - Hope for the book's reception 💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com 🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau 🗣 Join The Symbolic World Community for discussions about symbolism: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe 🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe 📱 SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSymbolicWorld Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pageaujonathan Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan.pageau Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/