Is God Evolving? | The Meaning Crisis & Emergentism | Brendan Graham Dempsey

Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer, thinker, and host of the Metamodern Spirituality podcast, where he interviews leading voices in the metamodern, integral, synthesist, and Game B spaces about meaning-making and spirituality in today's world. He earned his bachelor's in religious studies from the University of Vermont and his master's in religion and the arts from Yale University. He is the author of several books, including his most recent "Emergentism: A Religion of Complexity for the Metamodern World" — a bold attempt to articulate a spirituality adequate to the complexity of our time.In this conversation, we explore what the meaning crisis actually is and how we got here, the tension between modern scientific reductionism and traditional religious fundamentalism, and the problem with being "spiritual but not religious" — and why that position may not be as liberating as it seems.We get into what Emergentism is and how it offers a new framework for spirituality, the four levels of complexity, and what might emerge beyond culture, whether Emergentism is antithetical to idealism, and what it might mean to genuinely evolve our concept of God.We also explore transcending nihilistic spirituality, Emergentism's ecology of spiritual practices, the ethics of vegetarianism, and the eye symbol in spirituality.A wide-ranging and intellectually rich conversation for anyone navigating the intersection of meaning, religion, spirituality, and metamodern thought.🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES 🔗Brendan's personal site Emergentism — in-depth book summary Metamodern Spirituality Podcast🕰️ TIMESTAMPS 🕰️0:00 - Introduction1:04 - Brendan's journey with religion5:20 - What is the meaning crisis?10:37 - Modern scientific reductionism vs traditional fundamentalism20:52 - The problem with spiritual but not religious24:53 - What is Emergentism?31:49 - Four levels of complexity41:20 - What level of complexity will emerge after culture?47:28 - Is Emergentism antithetical to idealism?53:27 - Evolving our concept of God1:03:52 - Transcending nihilistic spirituality1:16:52 - Emergentism's ecology of spiritual practices1:30:30 - Pushing back on vegetarianism1:35:05 - The eye symbol in spirituality *Subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch the video versions of the Elevating Consciousness Podcast *Subscribe to the Insighter Substack to get in-depth articles on the theory and practice of human transformation through a post-conventional