Spirituality

Zen Neoplatonism: Healing the Meaning Crisis Between East and West

John Vervaeke
John Vervaeke•May 13, 2026

Why It Matters

If credible, the synthesis offers a cross-cultural toolkit for individuals and institutions grappling with declining meaning and rising spiritual demand, potentially reshaping how Western and Eastern traditions are taught and applied. It also signals a scholarly push to integrate comparative religion with cognitive science in addressing societal needs.

Summary

The hosts introduce an upcoming course, Zen Neoplatonism, which aims to synthesize East Asian Zen and Western Neoplatonic strands into a practical framework for confronting today’s “meaning crisis.” The presenter frames the project as a dialogical, historically grounded attempt—not to found a new religion but to translate spiritual and philosophical traditions into actionable practices for modern life. He cites historical precedents like Pyrrho’s encounter with Indian thought and argues for attention to comparative theology and religious studies alongside cognitive science. Early sessions will distinguish mysticism, spirituality, philosophy and religion while showing how Zen and Neoplatonism can mutually inform contemporary spiritual practice.

Original Description

What if religion, philosophy, mysticism, and spirituality are not separate boxes, but interwoven ways of responding to the meaning crisis?
In this excerpt, John Vervaeke and Ethan Hsieh introduce Zen Neoplatonism as a way of bringing the two ends of the Silk Road into dialogue. John explains that Zen represents one of East Asia’s great integrations, while Neoplatonism forms a spiritual backbone running through Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and pagan philosophy in the West.
The conversation moves through mysticism, philosophy as a way of life, spirituality, religion, syncretism, and the problem of treating religious traditions as pure or self-enclosed. Rather than founding a new religion, John frames Zen Neoplatonism as a framework for helping people better perceive, apprehend, and appreciate the advent of the sacred in response to the meaning crisis.
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