Spirituality

Silk Road Seminar with D.C. Schindler and James Matthew Wilson II

John Vervaeke
John Vervaeke•Apr 29, 2026

Why It Matters

Reviving a richer, myth‑infused rationality can counter the current meaning crisis and reshape how institutions engage with truth, beauty, and reality.

Key Takeaways

  • •Modernity reduces logos to mere logic, impoverishing reason.
  • •James Wilson calls this reduction ‘defecated reason,’ echoing Russell Kirk.
  • •Spiritual senses—vision, hearing, touch—offer richer world receptivity.
  • •Mythos and logos must interpenetrate to address the meaning crisis.
  • •Recovering a fuller rationality requires pairing epistemic and ontological reforms.

Summary

The seminar brings together David Schindler and James Matthew Wilson II to critique the modern collapse of logos into narrow logical reasoning. Wilson, drawing on Russell Kirk’s phrase “defecated reason,” argues that contemporary thought has stripped rationality of its transcendental depth, reducing it to a tool for self‑deception detection and inferential precision.

Key points include the distinction between discursive reasoning and a “knowetic vision” that engages spiritual senses—sight, hearing, touch, even taste—to receive reality more fully. Schindler references William Desmond’s concept of the “Pacio Ascende,” suggesting that being offers itself before we act, and that beauty reveals deeper truths rather than masking them. The dialogue also highlights the historical lineage from Aquinas through poets like Ivor Winters, who sought a richer account of reason beyond scientific reduction.

Both speakers stress that the impoverishment of reason is not merely an intellectual error but a willful, metaphysical choice aimed at mastering nature. They propose a paired reduction: epistemic (cognitive) simplification coupled with ontological narrowing, which creates blind spots and performative contradictions. Restoring a “Catholicity of reason” involves re‑integrating mythos and logos, allowing reason to function as both intellect and will.

The implication for scholars, educators, and cultural leaders is clear: addressing today’s meaning crisis requires reviving a fuller rationality that embraces spiritual perception and mythic narrative. Without such a recovery, modern discourse risks remaining fragmented, overly technical, and disconnected from the deeper dimensions of human experience.

Original Description

Thank you for joining us LIVE for our monthly Silk Road Seminar.
In this second conversation, John Vervaeke is joined by James Matthew Wilson and D.C. Schindler for a live, unscripted dialogue exploring philosophy, theology, poetry, metaphysics, beauty, freedom, and the recovery of wisdom in contemporary life.
James Matthew Wilson is a poet, literary critic, and philosopher whose work explores the intersections of classical philosophy, theology, and aesthetics. He is the Cullen Foundation Chair in English Literature and the founding director of the MFA in Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas. His writing engages questions of form, beauty, and the recovery of classical realism in contemporary thought.
D.C. Schindler is a philosopher and theologian known for his work on metaphysics, freedom, and the nature of reality. He is a professor at the John Paul II Institute and the author of numerous works exploring the relationship between truth, being, and the good. His thought draws deeply from Plato, Aristotle, and the Christian philosophical tradition.
Silk Road Seminars are live, exploratory dialogues where John engages leading thinkers across philosophy, theology, cognitive science, and contemplative traditions. These conversations unfold in real time through dia-logos, inviting us into deeper participation with the questions that shape human meaning, wisdom, and transformation.
This seminar, including the Q&A, is being streamed entirely on YouTube.
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University students, including doctoral students, receive free access.
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