#356 - Brain Scientist: God, Religion, Consciousness & What Happens When We Die | John Vervaeke

Danny Jones Podcast

Danny Jones

Comedy, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.4 • 777 Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2025

⏱️ 164 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Watch every episode ad-free & uncensored on Patreon: https://patreon.com/dannyjones John Vervaeke, PhD is a philosopher and cognitive scientist. He is an associate professor and award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto, teaching in the Department of Psychology. His work and research is far-ranging, including topics such as human intelligence, rationality, wisdom, and AI. SPONSORS https://hexclad.com/danny - Get up to 50% off during Hexclad's Holiday sale! https://mizzenandmain.com - Use code DANNY20 for 20% off. https://shopify.com/dannyjones - Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial & start selling today. https://whiterabbitenergy.com/?ref=DJP - Use code DJP for 20% off. EPISODE LINKS John's YouTube channel: @johnvervaeke Awakening From the Meaning Crisis: https://a.co/d/hDXSVBs https://johnvervaeke.com FOLLOW DANNY JONES https://www.instagram.com/dannyjones https://twitter.com/jonesdanny OUTLINE 00:00 - The meaning crisis 05:37 - Jordan Peterson 13:19 - The cognitive continuum theory 20:20 - Flow state & higher consciousness 32:22 - The universal cognitive dimension 36:40 - Biological function of flow state 46:19 - The art of human memory 50:12 - AI & the biometric economy 1:02:44 - Social media nudging & stealing elections 1:09:30 - AI griefbots 1:17:31 - Why AI can't replace love 1:23:55 - Fear of death drives the human psyche 1:32:37 - What happens when we die? 1:38:17 - "Third man" experiences & sensed presences 1:46:20 - What dreams are trying to tell you 1:58:35 - Precognition 2:07:39 - Consciousness: The Holy Grail of cognitive science 2:22:28 - Why humans have higher consciousness than other beings 2:27:29 - What we've replaced religion with 2:33:38 - Intellectual reason vs. religion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for doing this. I'm excited to talk to you.
0:09.0	Oh, me too.
0:10.0	So how did you get into or how did you get interested in these deep philosophical ideas
0:15.0	of meaning and religion and all this stuff?
0:19.0	Was this something that happened in early childhood?
0:22.6	Like were you brought up religious?
0:24.6	Yeah, so exactly.
0:26.6	I was brought up in a very fundamentalist Christian family,
0:30.6	not just the nuclear family, extended family, on my mom's side.
0:34.6	And it was really, really, I didn't know it at the time, but looking back, it was quite
0:42.7	traumatizing.
0:44.7	Danny, the most afraid I've ever been in my life.
0:48.3	I came home, I was about 10 or so.
0:50.9	And it was very rare because we lived in a rural situation.
0:53.5	There was nobody in the home.
0:55.6	And I was convinced that the rapture had occurred and I had been left behind and the Antichrist
1:00.8	and his minions were coming to get me. Man, you want to know fear? That's the most. I've been
1:06.6	laying, I've been in a hospital bed. I got a really bad chest infection. And the doctors
1:10.6	are looking at me and I went, oh, crap, they think I'm going hospital bed. I got a really bad chest infection and the doctors are looking
1:11.0	at me and I went, oh crap, they think I'm going to die. I was scared then. The most scared I've
1:16.1	been in my life when I was 10 and that happened to me because that was like, you know, metaphysical
1:21.8	horror just. And so I, you know, I what happened is, you know, I'm a teenager, I'm 15, I'm at high school, and I start to read, I start to read science fiction, and I start reading around, I start reading, and I read a book called Lord of Light by Rogers Lazini, introduces me to Buddhism and Hinduism and alternative mythologies. I start reading Hermanessa. And it just goes like this.
	...

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