Sensemaking = understanding as a process of what’s going on in the world
Cognitive flexibility + emotional reality
Most peoples’ reality is narrowing until they can’t get out of it
Need to zoom out and zoom in appropriately
We’re in a post truth world with a huge amount of complexity
The Jordan Peterson (JP) phenomenon – why did it happen?
Produced “Glitch in the matrix” documentary
Redemptive power of truth
It burns off deadwood
How much of yourself is based on deception and lies?
Spirituality = removal of that which is false
Lot of shadows in progressive space
eg, yoga teachers becoming Qanon supporters
Shadow = aspects that are unexpressed, hidden, unconscious
Brexit + Trump = tribalism that wouldn’t acknowledge its tribalism
JP exposed this truth, the need for traditional values
“broke a conversational seal”
last gasp of the heroic individual
its necessary but not sufficient
Intersectional woke view can be weaponized – cancel culture
Consensus -> Antithesis -> Synthesis
Don’t get stuck in antithesis, the sense of certainty and lack of evolution
Tension between individual and collective
How to simultaneously be both
There’s a lot of Ayn Rand-ian fear of collectivism
Intellectual dark web was an organic alternative sensemaking mechanism
Media is still captured by narrow kind of progressivism
Becoming less and less relevant
Intellectuals are building independent brands eg Bari Weiss + Substack
Eric Weinstein – Consensus is usually achieved through combo of incentives + disincentives
JP: it’s a theological problem, we have to change who we are
Sam Harris – mainstream practices around presence, inner growth, meditation
Problem isn’t capitalism itself – good capitalism and free market are wonderful – it’s a type of exploitative behavior enabled by our modern economy
philosopher Ken Wilber – integral spirituality
the integral movement failed because people mistook the map for reality
tolerating complexity is a core skill today
hold multiple perspectives without obsessing over just one of them
meditation, reflection, these practices all help
John Vervaeke (JV) – colleague of JP’s
Meaning Crisis lecture series – crisis of meaning, there’s a void, we don’t know why we’re here, see it in identity politics, political tribes, replacing religion with politics
An emphasis on practice – Buddhism, tai chi, mindfulness
JV says “JP was a doorway but not a way”
JV says JP’s popularity comes from talking about same meaning crisis, role of myth + ritual + psychedelics
Differences: JP is Jungian, JV framework is cogsci
Be aware of cognitive traps and biases
4 types of knowledge – propositional, procedural (how to do something), participatory (immersion with world), perspectival (knowing what its like to be drunk)
If we want people to make sense of world well, can’t do it quickly, over simplified, in a distracted manner
Religious fervor around free speech especially online
Ivermectin is clearly a cult
In the future, everything will be a religion for 15 minutes
Durkheim – society always has sacred and profane and it runs through everything
eg, Constitution is sacred and OnlyFans is profane
Happening especially online
So much of what we’re seeing can’t be explained solely rationally
Recognize we’re not just rational actors
We make decisions emotionally and then post-rationalize them
Storming the capital – Qanon shaman in the capital building – heralding return of the irrational
This sort of thing will keep happening
Fascism, communism, all these bad answers with proven failures are now coming back
Qanon is perfect American religion – lots of paranoia among Americans – death of JFK, RFK, MLK – hamstrung by conspiracy theories – in a world of religion, of angels and demons – incredibly powerful story, you’re manipulated and led towards specific answers
Reintroduction of psychedelics into mainstream, shift of mainstream acceptance
Potential to transform cognition, sense of meaning and connection
Anything that meets the market (capitalism, modern economy) gets twisted and often leads further from truth
Conversation today is too focused on censorship versus free speech binary
Should focus instead on what are our responsibilities