Close Encounters of Different Kinds

In August 2017 I wrote about why I watched the Jordan Peterson Bible series on Genesis, The Peterson Plunge.

“But why spend so much time listening to one person, and on the Bible no less. I suppose it is that I have come to many of the same conclusions and have the real experiences of life that he alludes to (the tragedy and suffering), to affirm the truth of what he describes. So I will continue to follow Dr. Peterson, he is focusing on the important things to those in the wilderness who need guidance.”

Two years later, in August 2019 I wrote Peterson’s Progeny…. For Me, about several YouTube personalities that I started to follow in the coattails of Peterson. Calhoun: A Statesman f... Wilson, Clyde N. Check Amazon for Pricing.

“An example of one person who really is following in the steps of Peterson is the Christian Reform Church (Calvinist) pastor Paul Vanderklay (PVK). He started a Youtube channel to investigate for himself why Peterson was having such a large influence, including sparking interest in Christianity in disillusioned young men. He brings his experience as a pastor and seminary training with an amateur’s passion for philosophy, cognitive science and psychology to his commentary on Peterson. His videos are the best way to understand the relationship between Peterson and Christianity. PVK has said “I would never have found all of this without Peterson.” I could say there are many things I have found from watching both Peterson and PVK. Here is a sample of what I have absorbed through followup reading: Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, Tolstoy’s Confession, many books by C. S. Lewis, The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt and his concept of the rider and the elephant. I have come to appreciate through many videos the Jungian concept of archetypes, but I have not taken the wacky step of actually reading any books by Jung.

“Besides his own videos, PVK records many conversations with academic and non-academic intellectuals. The two most prominent discussion partners have been Jonathan Pageau and John Vervaeke. Pageau is an Orthodox Christian icon carver. He is a friend of Peterson and has his own Youtube channel called The Symbolic World. His brother has also written a book, The Language of Creation, that gives a symbolic explanation to many Genesis stories. The Pageau brothers are both significant non-academic intellectuals. In contrast, Vervaeke is a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto with Jordan Peterson. He also has a Youtube channel (notice a pattern?) called Awakening from the Meaning Crisis (more below) that could be described as a survey course on philosophy with cognitive science and psychotechnology explanations. He is an academic who has assimilated will into this non-academic, internet based intellectual arena.”

Over the years since his first video on Peterson, I have watched PVK in certainly more than 1000 hours of his content. But it could be more than 2000, or even 3000; who knows? I wrote more about PVK recently, The Consummate Metagelical.

“Following the phenomena of the Jordan Peterson series of lectures on the Genesis book of the Bible a Calvinist pastor in a rundown section of Sacramento made a YouTube video to express his astonishment that so many would pay to hear a sermon. Paul Vanderklay (PVK) was one of the many online creators I began to follow that became known among themselves as this little corner (TLC) of the internet. PVK’s gift is his pastoral presence, his ability for honest, sincere, interest and conversation about meaningful subjects with all manner of random individuals (his randos). He organized his gift with a friend into a protocol for meaningful conversation, thus the Estuary movement was born. His conversation partners have come from all Christian denominations, other religious and spiritual traditions and atheists.”

National Geographic Ro... National Geographic Maps Check Amazon for Pricing. One of the randos has made a concise video to explain the TLC. What is the TLC? – The Realized, Embodied, Actualized, Lived (REAL) Guide

PVK uses the term “colonize my mind” to describe how a particular creator captures his attention. I watched not only his content but many other videos and read many books directly following PVK and the TLC. The evidence of my colonization is in the many articles I have written and video conversations I have participated in (see the appendix below).

I recently learned the terms “Parasocial: involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc.” I would not call PVK famous. Certainly the randos are not famous. But I know much about them while I am relatively invisible so parasocial is appropriate. I am writing now because last weekend in London I met PVK in the flesh. I attended the Breakwater Festival organized by yet another rando PVK had talked to. This effort in the Estuary space had the goal to germinate new Estuary discussion groups in Europe.

Breakwater Festival 2026: London, England – Clerkenwell & Mayfair

The conference consisted of a discussion Friday night in the basement of a pub. The noise from the crowd watching the World Cup match above made listening difficult. The participants were the Calvinist PVK, a young atheist philosopher YouTuber, an Orthodox academic, and an Anglican moderator.

Saturday’s meetings in a church included Estuary breakout sessions. Though I had watched several Estuary conversations online I had never participated in one before. The highlight of the day was a live rando conversation with PVK. The story of the young woman was remarkable, like being in the room for a conversation between characters in a Dostoyevski novel.

The last day was in a different church in the fancy Mayfair district of London. The live Estuary discussion between relatively successful YouTubers was interesting. To sum up, there are gifts and hazards to even this minor fame. National Geographic Ro... National Geographic Maps Check Amazon for Pricing.

Being in the physical presence makes the person more human (body and mind). Talking directly to them reduces the parasocial nature of the relationship. On occasion I have met famous people in my life. My memories are a bit idiosyncratic. For example, my most vivid memory of having lunch with erudite intellectual Jacques Barzun was that his constitution could not handle garlic, and that the suave and sophisticated William Buckley had dandruff. PVK is a large (Dutch heritage), slow moving (jet lag?) man, who is very quick to laugh. In personal exchanges he is exactly like his videos. Here is his recap of the conference, Jeff and Paul’s Breakwater Adventure.

I have described several kinds of “close encounters,” relational encounters of different kinds. As for the conference itself, I did enjoy it but I did not find it transforming. I have a lot of opinions (Christian, libertarian, anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-deep state from climate to covid and beyond) but I am used to not being heard. Thus, I am more prone to write than to discuss (Ira Katz | Substack, Ira Katz, Author at LewRockwell).

But in the estuary spirit I am open to listen and to respond respectfully. To me Estuary is like being a good pub, see Nostalgia. After changing cities the owner of my old pub wrote a reference letter to the owners of my new pub. In part he wrote,”“Ira is the absolute ideal customer. He always shows up, speaks when spoken to, always pays, expects and asks for nothing for free and never causes fights. Aside from being a fountain of information on an amazing number of topics, Ira appreciates the beauty of life, which includes having membership in a great local pub (I’d probably use the word joint)…. Please take care of my friend Dr. Katz, you’ll find him the most remarkable companion.” This letter is a prized possession that I had framed and put on the wall (my wife only allows me to decorate the toilet so it is there).”

So my favorite time at the conference was spent at a pub Saturday night when there was a good discussion among three or four of us with pints of beer.

Appendix

Articles

Rabbit Holes and Physicists – LewRockwell

Mises, Pirsig, and Peterson: A Conversation – LewRockwell

Panic Reading – LewRockwell

Humility – LewRockwell

T.S. Eliot: A Sigh in the Wasteland – LewRockwell

Iain McGilchrist and His Magnum Opus – LewRockwell

Believing Is Seeing – LewRockwell

The Consummate Metagelical – LewRockwell

Videos

Handling Mr. Hyde, Bipolar Disorder, Taking on Challenges