Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently.  In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point.  He explains how this is...

Are we going about self development in the wrong way? That's the question tackled by our new film and course with the long time coach Steve March. Steve's work, Aletheia Coaching, has been welcomed and embraced by the likes of John Vervaeke and others in what's been described as the Liminal Web, as it consciously addresses what's called the Meaning Crisis or Meta Crisis. This is released at the same time as a short course with Steve to learn the basics of the Unfolding method, which teaches...

Iain McGilchrist has been outlining for many years that a fundamental problem in the way we are perceiving the world is likely to lead us into trouble. Now in 2022 he believes the situation is reaching a crucial turning point and we need to wake up urgently. In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller he talks about how our current culture's domination by a 'left brain', reductionistic, materialist and literalist perspective had reached crisis point. He explains how this is...

Many people have observed that the conversation we have been curating on Rebel Wisdom has featured many more men than women. Of course we have regularly been asking ourselves why that is, and whether there is a more ‘feminine’ contribution to the dialogue that is not being heard? This was the topic I explored with two fascinating women recently, Schuyler Brown and Samantha Sweetwater. Check out Schuyler's work here, 'The Art of Emergence': https://www.artofemergence.com/  And Samantha...

There has been a lot of focus on the damage that social media is doing to all of us, its users. This growing awareness was partly fuelled by the work of Tristan Harris, through the breakout hit documentary The Social Dilemma. But there has been less attention on how this new landscape also affects creators, through factors like audience capture and feedback loops that distort truth seeking.  Tristan Harris is the director of the Centre for Humane Technology, trying to re-envision a...

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe? These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'. As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative...

Where are we headed as a species? What is the landscape of risks and challenges that we need to confront over the next decades, and are there a small number of key factors that we need to solve to avoid catastrophe? These are the questions Daniel Schmachtenberger is laying out in a new two part series on Rebel Wisdom, called 'In Search of the Third Attractor'. As he describes it, the power of ever increasing technological capacity (exponential tech) means that both destructive and creative...

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of...

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of...

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of...

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of...

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of...

One of the most frequently referenced names among many of the thinkers we've been following on Rebel Wisdom has been that of Rene Girard. He was a French polymath, historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science, who introduced the idea of memetic desire, and an explanation of the function of the 'scapegoat' in organising societies. He was described as the "new Darwin of the human species".  Luke Burgis has just written a book about Girard's work called 'Wanting, the Power of...

This is part 2 of an exclusive conversation between Jonathan Pageau and John Vervaeke recorded in Toronto recently.  In it John and Jonathan reflect on the recent ‘War on Reality’ piece with Paul Kingsnorth and Mary Harrington: https://youtu.be/x4kms2jkKbA  They ask whether we have replaced virtue with value. They also take a turn into the question of the occult, where Jonathan and John talk about whether concepts such as ‘demons’ can be explained as independently existing patterns of reality.

In the conversation Rebel Wisdom has been tracking, what's missing? Layman Pascal believes we're not paying enough attention to the irrational, the realms of the imaginal and the occult.  "Layman Pascal was incarnated on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest. He used to be a meditation teacher, yoga instructor & public speaker — but he's feeling much better now." He is one of the hosts of the podcast The Integral Stage: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaA4zkLRnR3lGm8Y7c5Tvdw 

In this conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller, Ken Wilber reflects on the turbulent dynamics of the last few years, and particularly the trajectory of the figures in what was called the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) including Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin. This is released shortly after a recent Substack piece by David Fuller called 'What Happened to Jordan Peterson?': https://rebelwisdom.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-jordan-peterson  Ken Wilber is the creator of Integral theory,...

A wide-ranging conversation on the experience of sensemaking during the pandemic, with Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD). Zubin first came to my attention with a viral video at the start of 2020 where he channelled some righteous anger at the medical establishment's response to the pandemic, and said he hoped that the crisis would be the trigger to “burn this broken system to the ground”. For years he's been arguing for a significant change to the medical system, away from treating people as...

This was a special in person dialogue between the cognitive scientist John Vervaeke and the symbolism expert Jonathan Pageau. They reflect on what each finds valuable about each other's work, the nature of the conversation that they have been part of, good and bad criticism, the nature of symbolism and much more.  It was recorded in Toronto during the making of the forthcoming Rebel Wisdom documentary about John Vervaeke's thought. Some behind the scenes pictures, and a second part of this...

For years the journalist Oliver Burkeman became obsessed with productivity and personal growth, documenting his explorations in a weekly column. Finally it struck him that this attempt was a deeply religious quest, tied into ideas of perfectibility and salvation. When he realised this, he was finally able to find more peace. "For me, the obsession with productivity was totally tied up with this weird self-worth question. [There's] this whole notion that it's all focussed on some moment when...

Learning how to come to our senses and connect to our bodies is essential in an information landscape that highjacks our attention and pulls it away from what matters to us.  Our new course 'Embodiment and Flow' helps you reconnect through breathwork, mindfulness, cultural embodiment, movement, rhythm and flow training. In this launch film we play clips from the course faculty - John Vervaeke, Schuyler Brown, Nicola Price, Roger Jackson, Dr. Shama Rahman and Tom Morley - as they explain...

John Lloyd is a legendary comedy producer, who produced some of the biggest comedy hits of the 80s and 90s, including Not the Nine O Clock News, Spitting Image, and all four series of Blackadder. After a mid life crisis he realised that his success wasn't making him happy, and this led to a lengthy search for meaning and wisdom.  This conversation with Rebel Wisdom's David Fuller covered everything from comedy, to the nature of creativity, and the meaning of life.  They also discuss his...

This is a wide ranging conversation about conspiracy theories, the occult, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and more with the writer Daniel Pinchbeck.  Over the years Daniel has spent a lot of time investigating alternative narratives including conspiracy, and has been critical of Rebel Wisdom in the past for not taking these seriously enough.  Alongside this conversation we are publishing a long written piece about the subject of conspiracy theories, with special focus on the...

In one of the most important developments in the dynamic between big tech, free speech and media in many years, Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44bn. Much of the commentary online has devolved into the predictable political shouting matches, and there has been very little engagement with the key questions that this brings up about the nature of moderation, of how to create healthy dialogue and what problems Elon will have to wrestle with in taking Twitter forward. Jim Rutt is the former...

"This is like The Matrix written from the point of view in which Agent Smith is the good guy, isn't it?" — Paul Kingsnorth Mary Harrington and Paul Kingsnorth are two of the most intriguing thinkers we’ve featured on Rebel Wisdom. Despite substantial overlap between Paul's concept of "the machine" and Mary's idea of "luxury Gnosticism", they have never been in dialogue with each other.  This was a fascinating and wide ranging conversation where Paul and Mary pushed back against the...