Meaningness Podcast

Creating conduits between the visionary realm and the actual world

Transcript Introduction [00:00] ​Most of this podcast is a recording from a retreat Charlie Awbery and I led a month ago. I’m adding a short introduction here now, to p

Meaning: lost, or muddled by metaphysics?

John Vervaeke’s Meaning Crisis and my Meaningness address similar issues in similar frameworks. Yet there seem significant differences! Andrew Conner pinpointed some in

You can just bless things

Transcript ​You can bless things. It’s easy! You can do this! You just go around blessing things. You don’t need a clerical collar, you don’t need a fancy hat (althoug

You can’t sell enlightenment

Transcript (ish) Dzogchen is the branch of Buddhism that I’m most influenced by; that I love most. It’s extraordinarily compelling and exciting and beautiful. It’s in

The unaltered state

Many people in the West pursue meditation in order to experience altered states. Meditation is sometimes considered a safer alternative to taking psychoactive drugs, wi

Personal experiences of sacredness & community

A facilitated discussion of how the participants find sacredness in the actual world—and in community. This Vajrayana Q&A session is an Evolving Ground online discussion

Dzogchen Street Preacher #0: Kadag

“Dzogchen Street Preacher” is the overall title for a series of performance pieces I planned in 2009. This extremely brief one, “Kadag,” was meant to introduce the whole

Maps of Meaningness

Before controversy and fame, Jordan Peterson was a psychologist theorizing myth and meaning. Jake Orthwein points out striking similarities in Peterson’s work and David’

What's the connection between gender and meta-rationality?

Rationality is stereotypically masculine. What about meta-rationality? Transcript: Charlie: What’s the connection between gender and meta-rationality? David: I had nev

Priests and Kings

The common civilizational pattern of a separate priesthood and aristocracy casts light on current political dysfunction. This video follows “Nobility and virtue are dist

Nobility and virtue are distinct sorts of goodness

Nobility is the wise and just use of power. Nobility is not moral virtue. They are not in conflict; they may correlate, but they don't always coincide. Nobility is the

What is stage five (like)?

A visual, kinesthetic, embodied experience 𐡸 A fish-eye lens and a magnifying glass 𐡸 The little clicker wheel 𐡸 Nurturing a plot of woodland 𐡸 Becoming the space, unstuc

Stage five is nothing special

A nine-minute radio sermonette. I think I may be doing a bunch of these. Subscribe to get all of them! Possibly I’ll create one every day or two! And maybe you don’t wa

Fivefold confidence

Emptiness, form, and the Big Bang 𐡸 How understanding creates students 𐡸 Buddhism outside institutions This short video explains two stanzas from the Evolving Ground inv

This is it!

A seven-minute radio sermonette. Transcript This is it! We’re actually here. I’m here in this room you can see behind me maybe, if you’re watching, not listening. You

Rigpa and ethical nihilism

Rigpa is Dzogchen’s word roughly equivalent to “enlightenment.” But what is rigpa, actually? And what does it imply for ethics? A conversation with Varun Godbole. Th

The incomparable value of being wrong

What is learning math good for? — Robert Kegan and “meaning-making” — Existentialism’s error — Narcissism and tyranny — How can we avoid radical relativism? — My experien

When the proof comes as white light and angels

The felt experience of mathematics — witchcraft and black magic — “Shut up, kid!” — what is a real number? — shocked and embarrassed — clouds all the way down — a choir o

Myth, adult developmental stages, and entrepreneurship

How thoughts work — goddesses at the origin of philosophy — inspiration in adult development — how myths transform society and culture — Spock and Jimi Hendrix — entrepre

Vajrayana, Ultraspeaking, and adult stage transitions

Following our earlier conversation about Ultraspeaking and Vajrayana, we add adult developmental stage theory to the mix: three transformational frameworks in synergy. W