An MP3 version of this discussion is at my podcast feed, Talks and Thoughts. A discussion of two new books on human evolution by leading evolutionary biologists, Robin Dunbar and Simon Conway Morris. Dunbar offers a revisionary account of the emergence of religion in Homo sapiens. Conway Morris considers widespread myths in Darwinian evolution, of… Continue reading From Trance to Extraterrestrials: Developments in Human Evolution, Robin Dunbar, Simon Conway Morris
Author: Mark Vernon
William Blake, Albion and War in Europe
An MP3 version of this talk is at my Talks and Thoughts via your podcast feed. I turned to William Blake seeking hope and found a remarkably accurate account of our times and his, lived during the Napoleonic Wars. Albion despairs, but Blake does not. He sees a pathway, denying nothing, towards renewed inspiration.
Spiritual freedom and the light in Ukraine
A spoken version of this talk is online here and at my podcast feed, Talks and Thoughts. Witnessing so many Ukrainians responding courageously to the Russian invasion is moving and impressive. A man fleeing with his children, knowing Russian military tactics are based on razing conurbations. A woman leaving her children at the border to… Continue reading Spiritual freedom and the light in Ukraine
Dante’s Purgatorio, How to be transformed: a conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
An MP3 version of this conversation is on my podcast Dante’s Divine Comedy, available via your podcast feed. This episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues continues Rupert and Mark’s exploration of Dante’s Divine Comedy, taking a lead from Mark’s book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. Dante and Virgil have found the way… Continue reading Dante’s Purgatorio, How to be transformed: a conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
Dance to the music of time – new Idler column
My column in the Idler, Mar-Apr 2022, just out! The future is changing. A better tomorrow is no longer an automatic assumption. The myth of progress, which shapes a scientific age, looks readily challengeable, if not straightforwardly deluded. Threats loom, from environmental degradation to fresh pandemics. Economic stagnation is frustrating Generation Z. Others fear increasingly… Continue reading Dance to the music of time – new Idler column
The Master and the Emissary – dualities in the philosophy of Iain McGilchrist
An MP3 of this talk is available at my Talks and Thoughts podcast, which can be found via your podcast feed. The recent work of the psychiatrist and philosopher, Iain McGilchrist, allows us to bring the role of dualities in spiritual perception right up to date. He has shown how brain lateralisation facilitates two types… Continue reading The Master and the Emissary – dualities in the philosophy of Iain McGilchrist
Contraries and Human Existence – William Blake and Cleansing the Doors of Perception
An MP3 of this talk, though without images, can be found on my Talks and Thoughts podcast via your podcast feed. Perception is cleansed in the struggles of life, William Blake realised, as his own life was lived between heaven and hell, innocence and experience, vision and labour. Opposites are the energy that bring the… Continue reading Contraries and Human Existence – William Blake and Cleansing the Doors of Perception
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
The Way Up and the Way Down. Dante and the One Path from Hell to Paradise
An MP3 version of this talk is on my podcast feed, Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dante’s Divine Comedy famously opens with the poet wakening in a dark wood. His life has seemingly taken a wrong turn. But why must he embark first on a journey through hell, before ascending Mount Purgatory, only then entering paradise? What… Continue reading The Way Up and the Way Down. Dante and the One Path from Hell to Paradise
The Way of Love – Plato and participation in the good, beautiful and true
An MP3 version of the talk is on my Talks and Thoughts channel, found on podcast feeds. A talk as part of the Dualities series with the Pari Centre, running through February 2022. For more information see – https://paricenter.com/event/dualities/2022-02-06/ In this talk, I discuss dualities in Plato. The ancient Greek is often accused of dualism,… Continue reading The Way of Love – Plato and participation in the good, beautiful and true