This Could Be Interesting Garrett Vandenberg

Iain McGilchrist is one of the most important intellectuals in the world right now (he's also my favorite thinker and philosopher and a personal hero). Part of the impact of his work is due to the thorough and rigorous research supporting his theories (more than 5,000 papers and essays and deep understanding of countless authors and artists and their work from both ancient contexts as well as the modern conversation about these things). The other, perhaps even more impactful reason for his importance is his engagement with what I think is one of the more dire crisis' in the developed world, which is that of "Meaning". Iain's work engages the scientific literature deeply which allows him to make some of the most inspiring and intellectually respectable claims about religious perspective and the "sense of the sacred" of any modern academic thinker. He has made strides and leaps towards the re-marriage of philosophy and science, a divorce that has played a huge part in the fracturing of western culture and the modern person's ability to grapple with a sense of "meaning" in life. Iain is both an intellectual maverick and an extremely personable and friendly person. Getting to talk with him for an hour was an absolute blessing and I'm so incredibly thankful to have had the chance to interact with him and have a conversation about some of the things I deeply feel are most worth talking about at this moment in time.
Admittedly getting to talk to Iain was a bit of a geek out moment for me, so I apologize if my excitement shows. Speaking with him felt a bit like getting a chance to meet Kant or Hume or Nietzsche or someone doing historically important philosophical work while they were still alive, and I honestly deeply wonder if these aren't unfair comparisons. At least from my perspective in this moment, Iain is an absolute legend, and he may genuinely become one as time passes.
 
Some other great talks with Iain: Rebel Wisdom with John Vervaeke and Iain McGilchrist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdB-B... Sam Harris and Iain - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJRx9... Iain McGilchrist: Matter and Consciousness - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7O1Q... Curt Jaimungal and Iain McGilchrist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SgO... Iain McGilchrist: Deep Longing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ysEV... Rebel Wisdom: The Matter with Things - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U99dQ...
 
Iain McGilchrist https://channelmcgilchrist.com/ https://www.amazon.ca/Master-His-Emis... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW0L... https://twitter.com/dr_mcgilchrist Garrett Vandenberg https://www.garrettvandenberg.com/​​ https://www.facebook.com/garrettvande... https://twitter.com/GarrettJVMusic​​/

John Vervaeke PhD is an associate professor in Psychology and Cognitive Science whose work focuses on meaning and the science of wisdom. He's an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto, with his classes ranging from psychology, cognitive science to Buddhist psychology. His popular youtube lecture series "Awakening From The Meaning Crisis" has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times and has struck a chord with many struggling in the modern day to engage with a sense of "meaning" in life.
Awakening from the Meaning Crisis Lecture Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54l8_ewcOlY&list=PLND1JCRq8Vuh3f0P5qjrSdb5eC1ZfZwWJ&index=1&t=1s
NOTE: Due to my lack of professional camera equipment, I generally don't manage to get the whole conversation on video when I record (the limits of video on a non-video DSLR). Beyond that, the hard drive the video files for conversation were stored on failed shortly before editing and the files needed to be reconstructed with some special software, which caused certain sections to be glitched out and unusable, which is why you'll see a few moments where the video fades away and comes back. If you'd like to help support me in getting a proper camera set up to continue with this project, feel free to reach out at thiscouldbeinterestingpodcast @ gmail.com
John Vervaeke
https://www.youtube.com/user/johnvervaeke/featured
http://johnvervaeke.com/
https://www.facebook.com/VervaekeJohn/
Garrett Vandenberg
https://www.garrettvandenberg.com/​​
https://www.facebook.com/garrettvandenbergmusic/
https://twitter.com/GarrettJVMusic​​/
 

Alex Williamns has hosted over 10 (different) podcasts, so he's a pro. He's also an ex-Mormon, which is something that came up when I had the opportunity to be a guest on one of those podcasts (an episode still to be released). As soon as it came up, the topic threatened to take over our conversation, but I knew it deserved its own conversation another time. I asked Alex after our chat if he'd be willing to come on this project and chat about his experiences in the Mormon church, and he graciously agreed. Ever since someone first explained to me as a kid who the Mormons were and what they (approximately) believed in, my curiosity about what it would be like to grow up living in a "real cult" festered. Friends talked about how Mormons would knock on their doors and want to talk with them and a part of me always thought "Man, I wish they'd knock on my door. I want to know what these guys are all about and have a good long conversation". Well, I finally got my chance, at least sort of. Alex is no longer a believer but was generous enough to tastefully share some stories about his experience growing up in the community of the Latter Day Saints, what they believed, and what ultimately lead him to step away from his faith as an adult. It was deeply meaningful to me to get a chance to compare and contrast our stories as well as spend some time thinking about more meaningful ways to engage with family members and friends in beautiful ways despite parting ways in a religious context.\\
 
Alex Williamns
https://mechoradio.com
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-wax-museum/id1397565082
 
Garrett Vandenberg Website https://www.garrettvandenberg.com/​​ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/garrettvandenbergmusic/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garrettvandenberg/ Twitter https://twitter.com/GarrettJVMusic​​/

Dave Griffin is an actor, writer, creative, father, husband, and delegate officer in his local Democratic party. Dave is also the voice of the beloved character "Jimmy Barclay" in the well-known audio drama "Adventures in Odyssey". He started on the show in its first official season around the age of 10 and continued to voice the popular character for many years until ultimately the character was written off the show.
Struggling with mental illness growing up, the show became an escape from the everyday lows of life. As that season came to a close Dave was confronted with many deep questions about faith, life, and politics. He'd been hesitant to come out and discuss much of this journey up until this point, but recently felt it was time to share some of this journey with those who are interested with the hope that honesty and vulnerability on the fronts of subjects like mental illness, dealing with the medical system, and experiencing religious and political ill-treatment might help advance our conversations on these fronts.
It was great to talk to Dave. In the past we've had a few chances to chat a little bit and have worked together on a few projects, but up until now we haven't had a chance to go quite this deep. I'm thankful Dave took the time to chat. I think you guys will appreciate his story and our conversation. There are some heavy bits, some light fun bits, and some crazy stories. I found it challenging on multiple fronts, but ultimately it gave me a lot of important stuff to think about.
 
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Dave Griffin
https://www.facebook.com/jave1
http://breadfilm.com/film/
http://bunker21.com/
https://www.aiowiki.com/wiki/David_Griffin
https://www.javegriffin.com/
Garrett Vandenberg
Website https://www.garrettvandenberg.com/​​
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/garrettvandenbergmusic/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garrettvandenberg/
Twitter https://twitter.com/GarrettJVMusic​​/
I also make music. You can check it out here:
Instrumental/Meditational Project https://open.spotify.com/track/7E1CfMCcl8NNfpIXriFApt?si=942e22dc144942d0
Covers EP https://open.spotify.com/album/0DZaK7WYBzERovmrNK7lgw?si=91nky4TITiawgYtD2mf8Yw&dl_branch=1