An audio version of this talk can be found at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, via podcast feeds. The text is below. With the death of Queen Elizabeth, the character of King Charles is being pondered and pressed. Many feel they know his views on ecology and architecture, medicine and agriculture. Some are worried that… Continue reading Awakening in a Caroline Age. King Charles, William Blake & Kathleen Raine
Author: Mark Vernon
Nice and Easy does it. Thoughts on Zeno’s paradoxes
My new column in the Idler magazine. Have you heard why the fastest never catch up with the slowest, why the amblers always outpace the sprinters? The reason for this counterintuitive conclusion is one of the oldest proofs in philosophy, drawn up Zeno. The argument as to why going slow is best can be put… Continue reading Nice and Easy does it. Thoughts on Zeno’s paradoxes
How can we transhumanise? And why we need to
An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Dante coined the word “transhumanise” in the Divine Comedy, 700 years ago. “Trasumanar” is the transformation he will undergo in order to share in the life of paradise. Today, the word has associations that are strikingly related to… Continue reading How can we transhumanise? And why we need to
Where is heaven? A response to Sam Harris & Jonathan Pageau
An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Sam Harris raised the question of the location of heaven, not least in the space age, when “up there” is not straightforwardly a good answer. Jonathan Pageau responded eloquently, noting that up is, of course, an analogy that… Continue reading Where is heaven? A response to Sam Harris & Jonathan Pageau
Nope. What’s the movie about? With thanks to Carl Jung
An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. I enjoyed Jordan Peele’s movie, Nope. But what is it saying? NOTE: This comment is full of spoilers!
Nature, politics, humanity. Three hard sayings of William Blake
An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. William Blake saw himself as a prophet, which means that his writings challenge, even repulse, on occasion. However, Blake’s harding sayings are the moments when his greatest vision stands before us. They are worth wrestling with, if he… Continue reading Nature, politics, humanity. Three hard sayings of William Blake
Of Selfhood and Awakening. William Blake and the Book of Job
An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. The Book of Job has been used to retell the Christian story, as with Carl Jung’s Answer to Job. It can also be sought for what it says about suffering. The Hebrew tale inspired William Blake in a… Continue reading Of Selfhood and Awakening. William Blake and the Book of Job
Spinoza’s Nondualism. Clare Carlisle talks with Mark Vernon about her book, Spinoza’s Religion
An audio version of this conversation is on my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Baruch Spinoza is widely regarded as either a God-forsaking atheist or a God-intoxicated pantheist, but Clare Carlisle says that he was neither. In her latest book, Spinoza’s Religion, she reads his masterpiece, the Ethics, to show that being-in-God… Continue reading Spinoza’s Nondualism. Clare Carlisle talks with Mark Vernon about her book, Spinoza’s Religion
Carl Jung. An introduction to his insights, including dreams & archetypes, the Self & synchronicity
An audio version of the talk is at my Talks and Thoughts podcast, available via podcast feeds. This is a talk I gave at the Weekend University. For more on my book about Jung – https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/19267016-carl-jung 0:00 His distinctiveness 10:02 Dreams 16:34 Archetypes 29:41 The Self and Collective Unconscious 39:40 Synchronicities
William Blake in 42 Images. A new course at The Idler.
Full details here. William Blake was a genius poet and an astonishing visionary. But he was also a brilliant thinker with a developed analysis of what was going wrong in society. Blake’s analysis is profoundly relevant to our own times coupled as it is to a sharp vision of what we lack, and what we… Continue reading William Blake in 42 Images. A new course at The Idler.