A podcast dedicated to exploring the human condition. Approaching the topic holistically by incorporating philosophy, psychology, religion, and any field that may be useful to understand ourselves and the world better.
Selfhood and Psychedelic Phenomenology with Jason K. Day
Can consciousness remain when the sense of self dissolves? Philosopher Jason K. Day examines ego dissolution through the phenomenology of psychedelic experience. Drawing on trip reports and his work with Dan Zahavi, he argues that experiences described as selfless can retain a radically minimal form of self-awareness. We discuss why careful description should precede explanation, the limits of psychedelic questionnaires, and what changes in attention reveal about the structure of experience.
The conversation also explores DMT entity encounters and the difficulty of separating description from interpretation. Day questions claims that psychedelics expand consciousness or provide privileged access to knowledge, discusses the relationship between Husserl and Buddhist philosophy, and explains the value of learning to grip experience without clinging to certainty. We close with drug policy, communal support, and a discussion of whether recreational play and public life can be sacred.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00:00 - Start
0:03:16 - Why Phenomenology Matters
0:07:19 - The Psychedelic Style of Experience
0:15:15 - Description Before Theory and Measurement
0:20:42 - Studying Psychedelic Trip Reports
0:32:16 - Rethinking Attention and Salience
0:44:56 - Gurwitsch's Field of Consciousness
0:50:37 - Restructuring Experience, Meaning and Possibility
1:02:34 - Bad Trips, Agency and Skill
1:09:17 - Knowledge, Ego Dissolution and Selfhood
1:20:24 - DMT Entities and Interpretive Limits
1:33:39 - Phenomenological Interviewing and Dialogue
1:37:58 - Husserl, Buddhism and Non-Clinging
1:48:47 - Drug Policy and Communal Support
1:52:57 - Sacredness, Play and Public Life
KEY INSIGHTS & TRANSCRIPT:
https://tiagovf.com/posts/podcast-selfhood-and-psychedelic-phenomenology-with-jason-k-day
FOLLOW
https://substack.com/@tiagovf
https://www.instagram.com/tiagobooks/
MUSIC CREDIT
Intro song by Lief Sjostrom, titled "Peril," from the album Impossible Parade.
Website: https://liefsjostrom.com/
Album: https://liefsjostrom.bandcamp.com/album/impossible-parade
7 Sept 2026
Apophatic Mysticism and the Limits of Metaphysics with Jussi Jylkkä
Finnish philosopher and psychologist Jussi Jylkkä describes a mystical experience he had years before entering psychedelic research and explains the metaphysical agnosticism he developed from it. All metaphysical isms, he argues, are language games. Worldviews are like eyeglasses that become visible only when we learn to see them as models. Classical mystics overreach when they convert their experiences into claims about the ultimate nature of reality.
After we finished recording, Jussi contacted me because he felt that he had not been completely honest. Rather than replace the original conversation, we recorded a second part. Jussi discusses his Christian faith, his decision to join the Lutheran Church, and an experience in which he saw physical reality as the body of Christ. We then consider whether his philosophical agnosticism can coexist with personal faith, and whether Christianity offers an account of morality and spiritual direction that his earlier position lacked.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Meet Jussi Jylkkä
01:39 A Mystical Experience Without Drugs
07:06 Psychedelics Revealed Nothing New
12:49 Why Metaphysics Becomes Wordplay
20:44 Beyond Physicalism and Idealism
33:19 When Models Become Idols
45:11 Are Animals Already Enlightened?
48:24 The Zen Path
58:15 Knowing Reality Through Being
1:09:11 Compassion Without Morality
1:16:59 When Mystics Claim Too Much
1:39:21 AI as a Cognitive Mirror
1:45:11 Why Jussi Returned
1:49:33 Hiding His Christian Faith
1:51:14 Reality as Christ's Body
2:03:09 Why Christianity Resonated
2:16:04 Pantheism and the Fall
2:23:36 Convincing His Younger Self
READ & LISTEN
Read the key insights and full transcript:
https://tiagovf.com/posts/podcast-apophatic-mysticism-idolatry-and-the-limits-of-metaphysics-with-jussi-jylkka
FOLLOW
https://substack.com/@tiagovf
https://www.instagram.com/tiagobooks/
MUSIC CREDIT
Intro song by Lief Sjostrom, titled "Peril," from the album Impossible Parade.
Website: https://liefsjostrom.com/
Album: https://liefsjostrom.bandcamp.com/album/impossible-parade
11 Aug 2026
Zen Neoplatonism and the Nature of Reality with John Vervaeke
John Vervaeke returns to the podcast 5 years later to argue that the modern war between science and religion was always a mistake. A cognitive scientist at the University of Toronto, he makes the case that his own field needs religious studies: the first generation of the cognitive science of religion tried to explain religion away, smuggling in an unexamined naturalism and treating believers as defective. Vervaeke reframes religion not as a set of beliefs about a supernatural object but as a comprehensive orientation to meaning that the sciences themselves quietly presuppose.
The conversation ranges across relevance realization, the mystery of meaning as a Heisenberg-like complementarity of truth and relevance, his identity as a "Zen Neoplatonist," and the "semiotic symbiosis" by which traditions merge and correct one another. He closes on how someone in his position guards against becoming a guru, and on what, exactly, he means by God.
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://substack.com/@tiagovf
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Introduction
1:28 Cognitive science as intellectual pilgrimage
14:38 Why cognitive science needs religious studies
27:30 Science, truth and relevance
36:50 Neoplatonism and the return to the sacred
51:18 Where Zen meets Neoplatonism
1:02:00 How religions and gods emerge
1:08:47 Criticism, reading and living between worlds
1:20:09 Religion beyond belief
1:35:12 The dangers of becoming a guru
1:47:28 Poetry and life mistakes
1:50:17 Underrated thinkers, self-deception and God
READ
Key insights and the full transcript here: https://tiagovf.com/posts/podcast-zen-neoplatonism-and-the-nature-of-reality-with-john-vervaeke
FOLLOW
https://www.instagram.com/tiagobooks/
MUSIC CREDIT
Intro song by Lief Sjostrom, titled Peril, from the album 'Impossible Parade'
Website: https://liefsjostrom.com/
Album: https://liefsjostrom.bandcamp.com/album/impossible-parade
Who has been a guest on Anagoge Podcast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Alexander Jech
Jean-Philippe Marceau
John Cottingham
Joseph LeDoux
Dr Gregory Sadler
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
20,982
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
59
Social presence
0
YouTube
76
Engagement
32
Contact Anagoge Podcast
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Anagoge Podcast
Who hosts Anagoge Podcast?
host host the show. Published by Tiago Vasconcelos.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes monthly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Anagoge Podcast take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
Host of Anagoge Podcast?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
