An MP3 of this conversation can be found at my Talks and Thoughts podcast available via your podcast feed. A conversation on wrestling with Christianity – or perhaps more accurately, the Christianities that swirl around the figure of Jesus – at the Medicine Path podcast, #87, with Brian James. For more on Brian – http://medicinepathpodcast.com,… Continue reading Wrestling with Christianity. A Medicine Path podcast conversation with Brian James & Mark Vernon
Tag: Owen Barfield
Stone Circles & Sun Disks – Alternative thoughts on Stonehenge at the British Museum
An MP3 version of this talk is on your podcast feed at my Talks and Thoughts. Much is now known about Stonehenge. Wonderful artefacts have been recovered, a welter on display at the British Museum’s gobsmacking 2022 show. But much mystery remains. How to interpret the past? Why do stone circles still draw us? What… Continue reading Stone Circles & Sun Disks – Alternative thoughts on Stonehenge at the British Museum
NEW COURSE – We Must Be Mystics: Owen Barfield & Christianity
A six week online course with Dr Mark Vernon 6th March 2022 to 10th April 2022 Sunday evenings (6pm-7.30pm, UK-time) £10 per session/£60 total CS Lewis called Owen Barfield his “second friend”: Barfield was the one who challenged him and seeded his own best ideas, an experience of encountering Barfield with which JRR Tolkien agreed.… Continue reading NEW COURSE – We Must Be Mystics: Owen Barfield & Christianity
Plato, Eros & Beautiful Bodies. A critique of God: An Anatomy
An MP3 version of this talk, and others, is available at my podcast channel, Talks and Thoughts, available on podcast feeds. I much enjoyed the conversation with Hetta Howes, Matthew Sweet and Francesca Stavrakopoulou on God: An Anatomy. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00114py). We had a good conversation over profound… Continue reading Plato, Eros & Beautiful Bodies. A critique of God: An Anatomy
Homo Sapiens? Mark Vernon & Charles Foster in conversation
An MP3 version of the talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available on podcast feeds. Few have explored the nature of being human more directly than Charles Foster. He writes about his experiences in the wild in his books, Being A Beast and, most recently, Being A Human, raising profound questions about our… Continue reading Homo Sapiens? Mark Vernon & Charles Foster in conversation
On Physics, Evolution, Mind at Large & Projections – Bernardo Kastrup & Mark Vernon
An extended conversation that begins with thoughts on Owen Barfield, participation and the meaning crisis, Schopenhauer and Jung, moving through the state of modern physics, to the nature of evolution, the nature of mind at large, the role of dissociation and projections, and freedom. For more on Bernardo’s work see – https://www.bernardokastrup.com For more on… Continue reading On Physics, Evolution, Mind at Large & Projections – Bernardo Kastrup & Mark Vernon
The Death of Princes and the Evolution of Consciousness
Death always brings subterranean assumptions and stresses to the surface, and the pass of Prince Philip is no exception. The moment carries the weight of millennia, which is why it’s hard to navigate, though it can be better understood as part of the evolution of human consciousness, as Owen Barfield and others understood it. The… Continue reading The Death of Princes and the Evolution of Consciousness
How to be Christian – Jordan Peterson & Jonathan Pageau
Some reflections on the fascinating conversation between Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Pageau: – Maybe it’s not how to be a Christian but to realise how you already are – Why symbology, developmental maps and archetypes become as many rabbit holes – That the beginning and ground matters as much as the end and theosis –… Continue reading How to be Christian – Jordan Peterson & Jonathan Pageau
The Meaning of Christmas by Owen Barfield
Owen Barfield agreed with the other Inklings, like JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, that the life of Jesus marked a pivot point in history. But he had a particularly powerful way of capturing the truth… Reading from History in English Words by Owen Barfield. For more on his understanding of Christianity, and genius worldview, try… Continue reading The Meaning of Christmas by Owen Barfield
The genius of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
I hugely enjoyed the new novel by Susanna Clarke, prompted to read it in part because I knew of her interest in Owen Barfield. It did not disappoint and I wanted to share why by talking about it in relation to four levels of meaning: the literal, moral, tropological and anagogic. I’d go so far… Continue reading The genius of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke