Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What would it mean to encounter the sacred again - not as an abstract idea, but as something disclosed in the very fabric of experience?
John Vervaeke is joined by Guy Sengstock for a special Lectern conversation on John’s three-part course trilogy, Seeing God Again for the First Time.
This is not a standard lecture or dialogue. John invited Guy to watch the full trilogy and reflect back what he saw: not only the arguments, but the living movement of the course as a philosophical, phenomenological, and spiritual exercise.
John and Guy explore:
• why Seeing God Again is designed as a trilogy and a pilgrimage
• teaching as encounter, not merely the transfer of propositions
• the influence of Socrates, Plotinus, Pierre Hadot, Paul Tillich, William Desmond, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein
• how rigorous argument, phenomenological exploration, and spiritual exercise can become one movement
• why modernity’s dichotomies distort our ability to encounter sacredness
• the collapse of the fact/value, is/ought, subjective/objective, and theory/data divides
• why postmodernity reveals the ruins but cannot by itself show us how to leave them
• sacredness as ultimately real, orienting, transformative, and resonant
• why naming is relational, not merely definitional
• the difference between curiosity, awe, and wonder
• aletheia, beauty, goodness, and truth as mutually disclosing
• AI, personhood, consciousness, and the danger of making ontological decisions without wisdom
• why recovering sacredness matters for the meaning crisis and the future of technology
Explore courses and offerings from The Lectern:
lectern.teachable.com
00:00 Welcome to The Lectern
01:00 Why Guy is reflecting on Seeing God Again
02:00 Guy introduces his background in Circling and philosophy
04:00 Circling, mystery, and the limits of psychological language
06:00 Heidegger, Being and Time, and philosophy as contemplation
09:00 John’s Socratic and Plotinian aspirations
10:30 Argument, phenomenology, and spiritual exercise
12:00 Seeing God Again, pilgrimage, and the Philosophical Silk Road
13:00 John the person, scientist, philosopher, and teacher
15:00 Teaching as existential confrontation
17:00 The manner of teaching as part of the teaching
18:00 Modernity, the meaning crisis, and sacredness
20:00 When teaching became encounter
21:00 Paul Tillich, cognitive science, and teaching virtue
23:00 William Desmond and philosophy as spiritual exercise
25:00 Teaching toward a philosophical-spiritual end
26:00 Involving the whole self without becoming self-involved
29:00 Revealing what students are already confronted with
31:00 Teaching, social phobia, and vulnerability
33:00 The sacred as deep teaching
35:00 Idealization, temptation, and participation
38:00 Naming God and the loss of relational naming
41:00 The four dichotomies of modernity
42:00 Out-rigoring the rigor
44:00 Deconstructing the grammar that blocks sacredness
45:00 Mystical traditions as phenomenological exemplars
47:00 Modernity’s vertical and horizontal dichotomies
49:00 Recovering sight beyond modernity’s glasses
50:00 Sacredness as ultimately real, orienting, transformative, and resonant
52:00 Why John uses atheist scholarship before apologetics
53:00 Counter-modern thought and the limits of postmodernism
55:00 Why these dichotomies matter beyond academia
57:00 Everything Everywhere All at Once, nihilism, and value
01:01:00 Philosophy outside the ivory tower
01:02:00 Postmodernity and living in the ruins
01:04:00 Recovery and asking “Where are we?”
01:05:00 Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and recovering meaning
01:07:00 Modernity as icon rather than representation
01:08:00 Truth, goodness, beauty, and intelligibility
01:12:00 Wonder vs. curiosity
01:15:00 Aletheia, beauty, liberation, and onto-normativity
01:18:00 Seeing God Again as pilgrimage
01:19:00 Theoria as theory, contemplation, and pilgrimage
01:21:00 AI, analytic philosophy, and consciousness
01:24:00 Meaning, relevance, and the limits of computation
01:26:00 AI personhood and disembodied embodiment
01:30:00 Why philosophy matters for technologies shaping us
01:32:00 AI agents, personhood, and the coming ontological crisis
01:35:00 The meaning crisis and the loss of sacred orientation
01:37:00 Personhood, ontology, and responsibility
01:39:00 The alignment problem and binding intelligence to the sacred
01:40:00 Why the course must be taken as a course
01:41:00 Teacher assistance, Socratic process, and future retreats
01:42:00 Socratic Salon and participatory practice
01:43:00 Closing reflections on retreat and relationship
Explore courses and teachings from The Lectern
lectern.johnvervaeke.com
Support the Lectern and join a growing community of wisdom seekers
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
John Vervaeke:
johnvervaeke.com
twitter.com/vervaeke_john
youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
What would it mean to encounter the sacred again - not as an abstract idea, but as something disclosed in the very fabric of experience?
John Vervaeke is joined by Guy Sengstock for a special Lectern conversation on John’s three-part course trilogy, Seeing God Again for the First Time.
This is not a standard lecture or dialogue. John invited Guy to watch the full trilogy and reflect back what he saw: not only the arguments, but the living movement of the course as a philosophical, phenomenological, and spiritual exercise.
John and Guy explore:
• why Seeing God Again is designed as a trilogy and a pilgrimage
• teaching as encounter, not merely the transfer of propositions
• the influence of Socrates, Plotinus, Pierre Hadot, Paul Tillich, William Desmond, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein
• how rigorous argument, phenomenological exploration, and spiritual exercise can become one movement
• why modernity’s dichotomies distort our ability to encounter sacredness
• the collapse of the fact/value, is/ought, subjective/objective, and theory/data divides
• why postmodernity reveals the ruins but cannot by itself show us how to leave them
• sacredness as ultimately real, orienting, transformative, and resonant
• why naming is relational, not merely definitional
• the difference between curiosity, awe, and wonder
• aletheia, beauty, goodness, and truth as mutually disclosing
• AI, personhood, consciousness, and the danger of making ontological decisions without wisdom
• why recovering sacredness matters for the meaning crisis and the future of technology
Explore courses and offerings from The Lectern:
lectern.teachable.com
00:00 Welcome to The Lectern
01:00 Why Guy is reflecting on Seeing God Again
02:00 Guy introduces his background in Circling and philosophy
04:00 Circling, mystery, and the limits of psychological language
06:00 Heidegger, Being and Time, and philosophy as contemplation
09:00 John’s Socratic and Plotinian aspirations
10:30 Argument, phenomenology, and spiritual exercise
12:00 Seeing God Again, pilgrimage, and the Philosophical Silk Road
13:00 John the person, scientist, philosopher, and teacher
15:00 Teaching as existential confrontation
17:00 The manner of teaching as part of the teaching
18:00 Modernity, the meaning crisis, and sacredness
20:00 When teaching became encounter
21:00 Paul Tillich, cognitive science, and teaching virtue
23:00 William Desmond and philosophy as spiritual exercise
25:00 Teaching toward a philosophical-spiritual end
26:00 Involving the whole self without becoming self-involved
29:00 Revealing what students are already confronted with
31:00 Teaching, social phobia, and vulnerability
33:00 The sacred as deep teaching
35:00 Idealization, temptation, and participation
38:00 Naming God and the loss of relational naming
41:00 The four dichotomies of modernity
42:00 Out-rigoring the rigor
44:00 Deconstructing the grammar that blocks sacredness
45:00 Mystical traditions as phenomenological exemplars
47:00 Modernity’s vertical and horizontal dichotomies
49:00 Recovering sight beyond modernity’s glasses
50:00 Sacredness as ultimately real, orienting, transformative, and resonant
52:00 Why John uses atheist scholarship before apologetics
53:00 Counter-modern thought and the limits of postmodernism
55:00 Why these dichotomies matter beyond academia
57:00 Everything Everywhere All at Once, nihilism, and value
01:01:00 Philosophy outside the ivory tower
01:02:00 Postmodernity and living in the ruins
01:04:00 Recovery and asking “Where are we?”
01:05:00 Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and recovering meaning
01:07:00 Modernity as icon rather than representation
01:08:00 Truth, goodness, beauty, and intelligibility
01:12:00 Wonder vs. curiosity
01:15:00 Aletheia, beauty, liberation, and onto-normativity
01:18:00 Seeing God Again as pilgrimage
01:19:00 Theoria as theory, contemplation, and pilgrimage
01:21:00 AI, analytic philosophy, and consciousness
01:24:00 Meaning, relevance, and the limits of computation
01:26:00 AI personhood and disembodied embodiment
01:30:00 Why philosophy matters for technologies shaping us
01:32:00 AI agents, personhood, and the coming ontological crisis
01:35:00 The meaning crisis and the loss of sacred orientation
01:37:00 Personhood, ontology, and responsibility
01:39:00 The alignment problem and binding intelligence to the sacred
01:40:00 Why the course must be taken as a course
01:41:00 Teacher assistance, Socratic process, and future retreats
01:42:00 Socratic Salon and participatory practice
01:43:00 Closing reflections on retreat and relationship
Explore courses and teachings from The Lectern
lectern.johnvervaeke.com
Support the Lectern and join a growing community of wisdom seekers
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
John Vervaeke:
johnvervaeke.com
twitter.com/vervaeke_john
youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
