Predictive Processing, Prayer, and the Ethics of Practice | Q&A with John Vervaeke & Mark Miller

Can predictive processing guide spiritual practice? John Vervaeke and Mark Miller explore prayer, meditation, right view, and the ethics of transformation.

In this Lectern Q&A, John Vervaeke, Mark Miller, and Ethan Hsieh explore what predictive processing reveals about the ethics of practice. The conversation moves beyond abstract cognitive science into the lived questions of self-transcendence, belief hygiene, right view, and the conditions under which transformative practice actually helps a person become more real, more integrated, and better attuned to the world.

At the center is a serious philosophical tension: if human beings are anticipatory organisms shaped by relevance, framing, and self-organization, then what counts as good practice? John and Mark discuss truth and relevance, secure attachment, meta-optimal grip, contemplative ecologies, and why no single panacea practice can carry the whole burden of transformation. The discussion also turns to Christianity, meditation, prayer, contemplation, and whether predictive processing can deepen rather than flatten our sense of the sacred.

Mark Miller teaches Generations of Joy on The Lectern and works at the intersection of contemplative science, predictive processing, and transformative practice. Alongside John Vervaeke, he brings a rare combination of philosophical depth, cognitive rigor, and practical insight into how self-transformation actually works. Ethan Hsieh facilitates the dialogue and grounds the questions in the ongoing concerns of Lectern participants.

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