John Vervake is a Professor in Toronto, part of the same faculty that Jordan Peterson originates from. His profile though is less well known, but I would say, as he is a Buddhist, he has a much more developed, considered and self reflective approach to the meaning crisis. You never see him in a flashy jacket, and looks your archetypal bedraggled college Proff. On You Tube you will find huge amounts of stuff he's done. A whole series of hour lectures on the origins of the meaning crisis, 50 and counting, plus loads of discussions and online debates. Here is a short extract from a much longer talk, where he outlines his approach to the meaning crisis, what it is, what gives us a sense for meaning in our lives.
In this short video extract called Why Are Zombies So Big Right Now? he looks at the nature of zombies and uses that cultural phenomena as a metaphor for our contemporary zeitgeist of a lack of meaning. Its entertaining, whilst also being profound.
Many of his posts are in conversation with a couple of people. He frequently debates with Jonathan Pageau. Who is another quite interesting guy if you are into the symbolism within popular cultural phenomena. The third guy in this video is David Fuller the presenter from Rebel Wisdom with whom Vervaeke and Pageau often debate. This wide ranging talk circles around Curiosity & Wonder. If I have one criticism of Vervaeke is his expository discussion style means his sentences can get a bit 'jargon' heavy, but he's worth sticking with. There is often a killer punchline.
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