Dr. John Vervaeke Poetry as Spiritual Practice: Bridging the Chasm Between Academia and the Public | John Vervaeke & Adam Walker
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Apr 2, 2026 
Adam Walker, a recent Harvard English PhD who founded Versed to teach poetry as spiritual practice to the public, discusses reclaiming poetry from academic insularity. Short conversations cover why universities drift from teaching, imagination as an epistemic faculty, digital attention erosion, and how close reading and dialogic classrooms might spark a cultural renewal.
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How Research Priorities Broke The Public University
- The academy shifted from a teaching vocation to a publish-or-perish research model since the 1980s.
- Adam Walker ties this to rising administrative pressure and monetization that deprioritized pedagogy and public-facing hermeneutics of beauty.
Imaginary Versus Imaginal As An Epistemic Faculty
- Imagination split into the imaginary (entertainment) and the imaginal (epistemic access to reality).
- John Vervaeke (citing Corbin) frames the imaginal as a cognitive space necessary for metaphors, metacognition, and spiritual insight.
Digital Media Cuts Off The Imaginal Portal
- Digital short-form media erodes the mundus imaginalis by giving passive dopamine flashes instead of thresholded attention.
- Walker argues art requires surrender and time; screens shortcut the imaginal portal that yields vision through a work of art.
