Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Vivian Dittmar is an author, speaker, and wisdom teacher dedicated to enhancing holistic development for over two decades. Through her books and the Be the Change Foundation, she focuses on emotional intelligence, ecological sustainability, social justice, and spiritual fulfillment to address modern society's crises.
What does it mean to truly transcend the ego and embrace a transpersonal state of being?
In this episode of “Voices with Vervaeke,” John Vervaeke and Vivian Dittmar thoughtfully explore enlightenment, viewing it not as a final destination but as an ongoing journey of maturation and integration. They challenge conventional perspectives on enlightenment, proposing a more dynamic interplay between personal growth and spiritual awakening. By examining the delicate balance required to maintain higher states of consciousness while cultivating a healthy personal self, they illuminate the complexities of spiritual bypassing and the necessity of embracing imperfection. Their conversation explores the importance of aligning inner and outer worlds, the role of synchronicity, and the transformative power of confronting our own mortality. Join them as they unravel these intricate themes with intellectual rigor, poetic insight, and a commitment to deepening our understanding of what it means to lead a truly awakened life.
Embark on a journey with us to tackle the Meaning Crisis by joining our exclusive Patreon community. patreon.com/johnvervaeke
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00:00 Introduction: Exploring Transpersonal and Transegoic States
02:10 Navigating the Spectrum of Egoic and Transrational Consciousness
07:20 Beyond the Social Conscience: Discovering the Voice of the Soul
12:35 Exploring the Implicate Order and Transrational Ways of Knowing
19:00 Redefining Spiritual Awakening and the Mythology Surrounding It
23:25 Bridging the Gap between Inner and Outer Worlds through Wisdom and Virtue
32:20 Cultivating a Healthy Personal Self after Enlightenment
43:45 Beyond Spiritual Bypassing and the Pursuit of Perfection in the Journey Towards Wholeness
57:00 Facing Mortality: A Journey Towards Wholeness and Maturity
01:18:00 Conclusion: Reflections on Convergence, Gratitude, and the Quest for True Prosperity
—
The Vervaeke Foundation is committed to advancing the scientific pursuit of wisdom and creating a significant impact on the world. Become a part of our mission. vervaekefoundation.org
Join Awaken to Meaning to explore practices that enhance your virtues and foster deeper connections with reality and relationships. awakentomeaning.com
—
Ideas, People, and Works Mentioned in this Episode
The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy
David Bohm
Plato
Carl Jung
Leo Tolstoy
Spinoza
Fallible Man, by Paul Ricoeur
Relevant Episodes
Exploring the Transrational: A Journey into the Realms of Consciousness with Vivian Dittmar youtube.com/watch?v=KSObTcQ6_Bg
Exploring Emotions and Transrational Wisdom with Vivian Dittmar youtube.com/watch?v=IQWLfOFe0lo
Wisdom Through the Imaginal: IFS Insights with Seth Allison Part 3 youtube.com/watch?v=7ZVr7R3LOJk&t=198s
—
Follow John Vervaeke
johnvervaeke.com
twitter.com/vervaeke_john
youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
Follow VIvian Dittmar
viviandittmar.com
youtube.com/@viviandittmareng
Workshops/Courses:
Introduction to the Practice of Conscious Release signup.lebensweise.net/conscious-release-workshop
How Big Is Your Emotional Backpack? signup.lebensweise.net/free-backpack-workshop
The Emotional Backpack campus.lebensweise.net/o/the-emotional-backpack-online-course
Books:
The Emotional Backpack https://a.co/d/3aehB4B
Your Inner GPS viviandittmar.net/en/your-inner-gps-book
—
Thank you for watching!
Vivian Dittmar is an author, speaker, and wisdom teacher dedicated to enhancing holistic development for over two decades. Through her books and the Be the Change Foundation, she focuses on emotional intelligence, ecological sustainability, social justice, and spiritual fulfillment to address modern society's crises.
What does it mean to truly transcend the ego and embrace a transpersonal state of being?
In this episode of “Voices with Vervaeke,” John Vervaeke and Vivian Dittmar thoughtfully explore enlightenment, viewing it not as a final destination but as an ongoing journey of maturation and integration. They challenge conventional perspectives on enlightenment, proposing a more dynamic interplay between personal growth and spiritual awakening. By examining the delicate balance required to maintain higher states of consciousness while cultivating a healthy personal self, they illuminate the complexities of spiritual bypassing and the necessity of embracing imperfection. Their conversation explores the importance of aligning inner and outer worlds, the role of synchronicity, and the transformative power of confronting our own mortality. Join them as they unravel these intricate themes with intellectual rigor, poetic insight, and a commitment to deepening our understanding of what it means to lead a truly awakened life.
Embark on a journey with us to tackle the Meaning Crisis by joining our exclusive Patreon community. patreon.com/johnvervaeke
—
00:00 Introduction: Exploring Transpersonal and Transegoic States
02:10 Navigating the Spectrum of Egoic and Transrational Consciousness
07:20 Beyond the Social Conscience: Discovering the Voice of the Soul
12:35 Exploring the Implicate Order and Transrational Ways of Knowing
19:00 Redefining Spiritual Awakening and the Mythology Surrounding It
23:25 Bridging the Gap between Inner and Outer Worlds through Wisdom and Virtue
32:20 Cultivating a Healthy Personal Self after Enlightenment
43:45 Beyond Spiritual Bypassing and the Pursuit of Perfection in the Journey Towards Wholeness
57:00 Facing Mortality: A Journey Towards Wholeness and Maturity
01:18:00 Conclusion: Reflections on Convergence, Gratitude, and the Quest for True Prosperity
—
The Vervaeke Foundation is committed to advancing the scientific pursuit of wisdom and creating a significant impact on the world. Become a part of our mission. vervaekefoundation.org
Join Awaken to Meaning to explore practices that enhance your virtues and foster deeper connections with reality and relationships. awakentomeaning.com
—
Ideas, People, and Works Mentioned in this Episode
The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy
David Bohm
Plato
Carl Jung
Leo Tolstoy
Spinoza
Fallible Man, by Paul Ricoeur
Relevant Episodes
Exploring the Transrational: A Journey into the Realms of Consciousness with Vivian Dittmar youtube.com/watch?v=KSObTcQ6_Bg
Exploring Emotions and Transrational Wisdom with Vivian Dittmar youtube.com/watch?v=IQWLfOFe0lo
Wisdom Through the Imaginal: IFS Insights with Seth Allison Part 3 youtube.com/watch?v=7ZVr7R3LOJk&t=198s
—
Follow John Vervaeke
johnvervaeke.com
twitter.com/vervaeke_john
youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
patreon.com/johnvervaeke
Follow VIvian Dittmar
viviandittmar.com
youtube.com/@viviandittmareng
Workshops/Courses:
Introduction to the Practice of Conscious Release signup.lebensweise.net/conscious-release-workshop
How Big Is Your Emotional Backpack? signup.lebensweise.net/free-backpack-workshop
The Emotional Backpack campus.lebensweise.net/o/the-emotional-backpack-online-course
Books:
The Emotional Backpack https://a.co/d/3aehB4B
Your Inner GPS viviandittmar.net/en/your-inner-gps-book
—
Thank you for watching!

![Heideggers Being and Time with Johaness Niederhauser
Dr. John Vervaeke and Johannes Niederhauser delve deep into the complex and intricate philosophy of Martin Heidegger. They cover a range of topics that unveil the nuances of being and time, pulling from Heideggers seminal work, Being and Time, to shed light on contemporary questions of existence, meaning, and wisdom. With Niederhausers specialized background in Heideggerian philosophy and Vervaekes multi-disciplinary approach, the duo explores the limitations of traditional metaphysics, the crisis in philosophy, and the nature of time, all within the larger quest for cultivating wisdom. They bring a fresh lens to examine how phenomenology, metaphysics, and ontological questions interlace with modern-day issues. From a conversation on the dual nature of truth and untruth to discussing Heideggers influence on cognitive science, this episode is a treasure trove for anyone yearning for a profound intellectual engagement.
Resources
Johannes Niederhauser: Patreon | Courses | X | YouTube
John Vervaeke
Website: https://johnvervaeke.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VervaekeJohn/
X: https://twitter.com/vervaeke_john
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
The Vervaeke Foundation: https://vervaekefoundation.org/
Books
Heidegger on Death and Being: An Answer to the Seinsfrage - Johannes Achill Niederhauser
Being and Time - Martin Heidegger
Miscellaneous
Lou Andreas-Salomé - Wikipedia
Timecodes
00:00:00 — Dr. John Vervaeke introduces Johannes Niederhauser and sets the stage for discussing philosophia.
00:01:06 — Vervaeke uncloaks the episodes central theme: a deep dive into the challenging but pivotal tenets of philosopher Martin Heideggers oeuvre.
00:01:22 — Johaness Niederhauser sets the stage with a succinct autobiography, touching on his specialized PhD in Martin Heidegger and his venture into digital education through his online academy.
00:03:02 — Vervaeke offers an academic endorsement of Niederhausers course on Heideggers seminal work Being and Time, thereby contextualizing the ensuing dialogue.
00:04:28 — Delicately navigating the complexity of Heideggers Being and Time, Vervaeke emphasizes the hermeneutical phenomenological approach as crucial for a nuanced understanding.
00:05:50 — Niederhauser responds in agreement, postulating that philosophy is an ever-preparatory discipline engaged in a perpetual quest for meaning and understanding.
00:08:35 — Both Niederhauser and Vervaeke grapple with traditional interpretations of being, pointing out their limitations and gaps.
00:09:37 — Vervaeke disrupts conventional wisdom by arguing that conceptualizing being as a set of individual entities is a fundamental error in understanding.
00:10:25 — Niederhauser critiques the notion of the perfect entity, calling it a flawed conceptualization of being.
00:11:32 — Niederhauser ponders the vagueness and lack of depth in traditional discourse surrounding the concept of being, urging for a reevaluation.
00:12:20 — Vervaeke raises the unanswered question of what remains after one dismisses traditional interpretations of being.
00:13:55 — Niederhauser invokes the term Delon from Heideggers Being and Time and delves into its layers of meaning, particularly its representation of the obvious.
00:15:15 — Niederhauser stresses the need for each generation to revisit and reinterpret the existential question of being.
00:16:30 — Niederhauser explores the overlooked relationship between time and being, underscoring the intricacies that have escaped scholarly attention.
00:17:02 — Vervaeke counters by invoking the paradox of understanding time, referenced from Augustine, and linking it to Greek and Heideggerian perspectives.
00:25:12 — Vervaeke maneuvers through the nexus of metaphysics, Hegelian dialectics, and phenomenology to lay out the different philosophical grounds Heidegger navigated.
00:43:00 — Niederhauser explicates Heideggers notion of being in the world as an alternate form of intelligibility that transcends mere propositional knowledge.
00:55:35 — Niederhauser introduces the Heideggerian concept of Das Man, cautioning against its risk of institutionalizing philosophy, thereby obscuring its purpose and function.
01:01:40] — Vervaeke reimagines love as a profound engagement with the three dimensions of time, integrating it into the ongoing discussion on being and Heidegger.
01:26:12 — Johannes Niederhauser articulates the moral imperative of returning to Platos cave, emphasizing the roles of compassion and renewed understanding in this philosophical journey.
01:28:20 — Vervaeke unpacks the fascinating notion of continual transcendence, likening it to the multi-layered experience of love and the enigmatic nature of time.
01:30:39 — Niederhauser addresses the often daunting barriers to accessing and understanding philosophical tradition, laying bare the challenges and potential solutions. Heideggers Being and Time with Johaness Niederhauser](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wo9QlT8BjR8/mqdefault.jpg)



![Engaging the Imaginal: Kasra Mirzaie on IFS and the Meaning Crisis
In this episode of ”Voices with Vervaeke,” John Vervaeke continues his ongoing exploration of Internal Family Systems (IFS) theory with psychotherapist, clinician, and researcher Kasra Mirzaie. Kasra shares his insights into the cognitive, existential, and spiritual aspects of IFS, highlighting its potential to help individuals make sense of their inner conflicts, regulate emotions, and resolve developmental psychopathology. With a focus on dialectic, mythos, and serious play, Kasra explains how IFS can help individuals forge and come into contact with different aspects of their being and identity, promoting healing and transformation. Throughout the conversation, John and Kasra explore the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of IFS and how it can be integrated with other therapeutic approaches to promote participatory knowing, self-transcendence, and a deeper understanding of the self. Delving into poignant examples and transformative insights, the conversation illuminates the profound impact of embracing our multiplicity through IFS, offering listeners a pathway to understanding and healing that transcends traditional therapeutic boundaries.
Guest Bio and Links:
Kasra Mirzaie is a psychotherapist, researcher, and educator with a focus on emotion regulation and developmental psychopathology. Kasra brings a unique perspective to the discussion, combining clinical experience with a deep interest in philosophical psychology and meaning-making processes.
Join our new Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke
The Vervaeke Foundation
https://vervaekefoundation.org/
Awaken to Meaning
https://awakentomeaning.com/
Voices with Vervaeke:
Wisdom Through the Imaginal: IFS Insights with Seth Allison Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZVr7R3LOJk&t=198s
Chronic Pain, Trust, and Ethics: A Conversation with Terri Dentry and Nate Kinch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzug-jtx1PA
Many Minds, One Self: Evidence for a Radical Shift in Paradigm - Richard C. Schwartz https://www.amazon.com/Many-Minds-One-Self-Evidence/dp/0692957340
Phenomenological Bioethics: Medical Technologies, Human Suffering, and the Meaning of Being Alive - Fredrik Svenaeus https://www.amazon.com/Phenomenological-Bioethics-Medical-Technologies-Suffering/dp/1138629960
Thomas Fuchs:
In Defence of the Human Being: Foundational Questions of an Embodied Anthropology https://www.amazon.com/Defence-Human-Being-Foundational-Anthropology/dp/0192898191/
Ecology of the Brain: The phenomenology and biology of the embodied mind (International Perspectives in Philosophy and Psychiatry) https://www.amazon.com/Ecology-Brain-phenomenology-International-Perspectives/dp/0199646880/
Somatic Internal Family Systems Therapy: Awareness, Breath, Resonance, Movement, and Touch in Practice Endorsed by top experts in therapeutic healing modalities - Susan McConnell https://www.amazon.com/Practitioners-Guide-Somatic-IFS-Therapy/dp/1623174880
Simurgh: A Journey in Search of the Truth - Azar Aryanpour https://www.amazon.com/Simurgh-Journey-Search-Azar-Aryanpour/dp/1414023650
Quotes:
“My take on IFS is that its actually a model of the living, in self-organizing psyche that is composed of living things. Those interact with each other in a certain qualitative space and relationship that we would call the self.” - Kasra Mirzaie [00:05:09]
“The body is really fundamental to keeping us anchored to the world... if we train the mind to properly listen, it can act as a significant counterbalance to spiritual bypassing and hubristic self-deception. - John Vervaeke, paraphrasing Merleau-Ponty [01:13:45]
Glossary of Terms:
Internal Family Systems (IFS): A therapeutic approach that recognizes and addresses multiple sub-personalities or parts within each individual.
The Imaginal: A concept referring to a creative and transformative space that goes beyond mere imagination, facilitating deep healing and self-discovery.
Chapters:
[00:00:00] - Introduction to Kasra Mirzaie: Insights into Psychotherapy, Research, and IFS
[00:08:18] - Enhancing Self-Awareness: Salience, Perspective-Taking, and the Journey Within
[00:17:38] - Bridging Kant and Vervaeke: Participatory Knowing and the Self in IFS
[00:30:29] - Mythos and Identity: Cultural Echoes and the Role of the Imaginal in Healing
[00:42:43] - IFS and Modern Psychotherapy: Addressing Mental Health and Meaning
[00:53:29] - Socratic Integration in IFS: Bridging Reflection and Healing Within a Pedagogical Framework
[01:07:13] - Addressing Self-Deception in IFS: Integrating Embodiment and Community Feedback
[01:14:42] - Conclusion: Reflecting on IFS, Philosophy, and the Journey Ahead
Connect with John:
Website: https://johnvervaeke.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@johnvervaeke
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnvervaeke
X: https://twitter.com/vervaeke_john
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VervaekeJohn/ Engaging the Imaginal: Kasra Mirzaie on IFS and the Meaning Crisis](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xOTWGLmYtjE/mqdefault.jpg)




