Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
What if nihilism is not the end of meaning, but an opening into a deeper way of seeing?
In this Lectern conversation, John Vervaeke joins Ethan Hsieh to introduce Notes on No-Thing, a course on the Kyoto School of Philosophy and its response to nihilism, nothingness, and the advent of the sacred.
John and Ethan explore why modern people so often oscillate between nihilism and narcissism, why meaning has to be shareable, and how the Kyoto School offers a radically different way of moving through the crisis of meaning. Rather than treating nothingness as a wound to be filled with distractions, John presents it as a possible aperture: a way of seeing through nihilism into a renewed encounter with reality, religion, sacredness, and transformation.
The conversation touches on Nishida, Nishitani, Tanabe, Zen, Neoplatonism, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Heidegger, Sartre, grief, shame, the death of God, post-Christian nihilism, and the need for a post-nihilistic understanding of the sacred.
Notes on No-Thing is an introduction to the Kyoto School of Philosophy. The course runs Sept 14th to Nov 9th (No Class on Oct 26th)
Learn more and register:
lectern.johnvervaeke.com/courses/notes-on-no-thing
Explore more from The Lectern:
lectern.johnvervaeke.com
John Vervaeke:
johnvervaeke.com
youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
Chapters:
00:00 Cold open: nothingness as an opening
00:40 Welcome to The Lectern
01:20 Ethan on nihilism and why this course matters
02:30 Notes on No-Thing and Between East & West
03:10 John on the Kyoto School and nihilism
04:20 Why the Kyoto School goes beyond the usual Western responses
05:20 Zen Neoplatonism, Taoism, Chan, and Neoplatonism
07:10 Beyond Nihilism, the advent of the sacred, and Iris Murdoch
09:00 Eastern philosophy, accessibility, and a new entry point
11:10 Role-play: the everyday voice of nihilism
12:30 Philosophical nihilism versus clinical depression
13:50 Where are you standing when you judge your life?
15:00 Hidden needs and inherited frameworks
17:20 The clenched fist analogy
19:30 Reflecting on the Socratic process
20:50 Nihilism as exhausted intellectual laziness
22:00 Affective, conceptual, and deconstructive nihilism
24:20 Drawing someone into realization
25:00 Kyoto School as outside the familiar Western religious frame
26:00 From hole to aperture
27:00 Grief, loss, and access to reality
29:10 Narcissism as a response to nihilism
31:10 Authenticity, Heidegger, Sartre, and the true self
32:40 Meaning has to be shareable
33:20 Dostoevsky's Underground Man
35:10 Nishitani and the self-overcoming of nihilism
36:00 Literature as witness to the meaning crisis
37:20 The oscillation between nihilism and narcissism
38:30 The Kyoto School as a dialogical partner
39:50 Japan, modernity, Zen, and historical crisis
45:20 Nietzsche, Christianity, and the two-world mythology
46:50 The subject-object dichotomy and modernity
47:20 Why Kyoto School nihilism is similar but different
49:10 Guilt, shame, and cultural frameworks
52:30 Collective grief over the death of God
55:40 Narcissists, zombies, and cultural exhaustion
57:20 Seinfeld, vibe shift, and bottoming out
58:00 The Kyoto School and the advent of the sacred
60:20 What students can expect from the course
61:20 Transforming yourself in relation to no-thingness
62:10 Nishida, Nishitani, and Tanabe
63:10 Heroism as widening human experience
64:40 Meaning, eudaimonia, and resilience
65:30 Stillness that opens into vitality
66:40 Mourning, grief, and love persevering
67:20 Death of God, domicide, and New Atheism
68:40 Course registration and closing invitation
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 if nihilism is not the end of meaning, but an opening into a deeper way of seeing?
In this Lectern conversation, John Vervaeke joins Ethan Hsieh to introduce Notes on No-Thing, a course on the Kyoto School of Philosophy and its response to nihilism, nothingness, and the advent of the sacred.
John and Ethan explore why modern people so often oscillate between nihilism and narcissism, why meaning has to be shareable, and how the Kyoto School offers a radically different way of moving through the crisis of meaning. Rather than treating nothingness as a wound to be filled with distractions, John presents it as a possible aperture: a way of seeing through nihilism into a renewed encounter with reality, religion, sacredness, and transformation.
The conversation touches on Nishida, Nishitani, Tanabe, Zen, Neoplatonism, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Heidegger, Sartre, grief, shame, the death of God, post-Christian nihilism, and the need for a post-nihilistic understanding of the sacred.
Notes on No-Thing is an introduction to the Kyoto School of Philosophy. The course runs Sept 14th to Nov 9th (No Class on Oct 26th)
Learn more and register:
lectern.johnvervaeke.com/courses/notes-on-no-thing
Explore more from The Lectern:
lectern.johnvervaeke.com
John Vervaeke:
johnvervaeke.com
youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
Chapters:
00:00 Cold open: nothingness as an opening
00:40 Welcome to The Lectern
01:20 Ethan on nihilism and why this course matters
02:30 Notes on No-Thing and Between East & West
03:10 John on the Kyoto School and nihilism
04:20 Why the Kyoto School goes beyond the usual Western responses
05:20 Zen Neoplatonism, Taoism, Chan, and Neoplatonism
07:10 Beyond Nihilism, the advent of the sacred, and Iris Murdoch
09:00 Eastern philosophy, accessibility, and a new entry point
11:10 Role-play: the everyday voice of nihilism
12:30 Philosophical nihilism versus clinical depression
13:50 Where are you standing when you judge your life?
15:00 Hidden needs and inherited frameworks
17:20 The clenched fist analogy
19:30 Reflecting on the Socratic process
20:50 Nihilism as exhausted intellectual laziness
22:00 Affective, conceptual, and deconstructive nihilism
24:20 Drawing someone into realization
25:00 Kyoto School as outside the familiar Western religious frame
26:00 From hole to aperture
27:00 Grief, loss, and access to reality
29:10 Narcissism as a response to nihilism
31:10 Authenticity, Heidegger, Sartre, and the true self
32:40 Meaning has to be shareable
33:20 Dostoevsky's Underground Man
35:10 Nishitani and the self-overcoming of nihilism
36:00 Literature as witness to the meaning crisis
37:20 The oscillation between nihilism and narcissism
38:30 The Kyoto School as a dialogical partner
39:50 Japan, modernity, Zen, and historical crisis
45:20 Nietzsche, Christianity, and the two-world mythology
46:50 The subject-object dichotomy and modernity
47:20 Why Kyoto School nihilism is similar but different
49:10 Guilt, shame, and cultural frameworks
52:30 Collective grief over the death of God
55:40 Narcissists, zombies, and cultural exhaustion
57:20 Seinfeld, vibe shift, and bottoming out
58:00 The Kyoto School and the advent of the sacred
60:20 What students can expect from the course
61:20 Transforming yourself in relation to no-thingness
62:10 Nishida, Nishitani, and Tanabe
63:10 Heroism as widening human experience
64:40 Meaning, eudaimonia, and resilience
65:30 Stillness that opens into vitality
66:40 Mourning, grief, and love persevering
67:20 Death of God, domicide, and New Atheism
68:40 Course registration and closing invitation
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
