Category: Blog

Good & Bad Therapy. A conversation with Robert Rowland Smith

An audio version of this conversation is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Therapies of various kinds are routinely in the news. And there is much to be said for the ease with which people talk about mental ill-health. But psychotherapy, in particular, can also received critique. What works on the… Continue reading Good & Bad Therapy. A conversation with Robert Rowland Smith

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Dante and the Meaning of Easter

An audio version of this talk is on my podcast, Dante’s Divine Comedy, available via podcast feeds. What is the meaning of Easter? How might Holy Week be more than an occasion for its retelling? Can death and resurrection live today, as they once did, 2000 years ago? Dante’s journey, in the Divine Comedy, begins… Continue reading Dante and the Meaning of Easter

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Synchronicity and Carl Jung’s metaphysics

An audio version of this talk is online at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. A review and discussion of Decoding Jung’s Metaphysics by Bernardo Kastrup, considering what’s conscious and unconscious, personal and collective, caused and evoked, and also asking about the tradition of German Idealism, within which Bernardo persuasively situates Jung.

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Dante and Eternal Damnation

And audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Dante’s Divine Comedy, available via podcast feeds. Dante would seem to be a key candidate for infernalism, the doctrine of endless punishment in hell for sinners who failed to turn to Christ. He’s said to be medieval and isn’t that what they believed then? And… Continue reading Dante and Eternal Damnation

Carlo Rovelli is interestingly, importantly wrong about Anaximander

An audio version of this review is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. There is a myth that science and religion are locked in conflicted. And it’s a battle that science must win. The physicist, Carlo Rovelli, is an eloquent purveyor of the myth and uses the Ancient Greek philosopher, Anaximander,… Continue reading Carlo Rovelli is interestingly, importantly wrong about Anaximander

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Freeing Perception. 10 Ways of Living Iain McGilchrist’s Work

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. So you’ve bought into the great insights of Iain McGilchrist, as explored in The Master and His Emissary, and also, The Matter with Things. You understand that the key ability is “presencing the world” – comprehending, not merely… Continue reading Freeing Perception. 10 Ways of Living Iain McGilchrist’s Work

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What is objectivity? A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake & Mark Vernon

An audio version of this dialogue is available at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, found on podcast feeds. Objectivity has come to be regarded as a prime ingredient of reliable knowledge. But what is objectivity, how has it arisen, and is the notion in need of reform? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert… Continue reading What is objectivity? A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake & Mark Vernon

Harry & Psychotherapy. British & American traditions. Reflecting on differences, conflicts, tensions

An audio version of this talk can be found at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Prince Harry is caught in a media storm. But within the mix of sympathy and loathing lie transatlantic differences in psychological and psychotherapeutic traditions. What is sometimes called Self Psychology plays a bigger role in the… Continue reading Harry & Psychotherapy. British & American traditions. Reflecting on differences, conflicts, tensions