We will learn a lot about Dante’s language, love, politics and humanism in 2021, the 700th anniversary of his death. But perhaps not so much about the spiritual insights he felt charged by heaven to communicate in his Divine Comedy. My top 10 spiritual insights are: 10. Comedy transcends, not excludes tragedy 9. Morality gets… Continue reading Dante 2021 – Top 10 Spiritual Insights
Author: Mark Vernon
Could 2021 offer more than healing?
Reverting to normal is a missed spiritual opportunity As 2020 ends and 2021 begins, people are talking of healing. There is a strong desire to recover from the suffering of the year and return, as speedily as possible, to normal life. The yearning is right, and the remarkably speedily development of vaccines promises to make… Continue reading Could 2021 offer more than healing?
The Meaning of Soul
Pixar’s film wittily subverts the wisdom of our age Pixar’s great film, Inside Out, was a touching tale about inner conflicts. Coco took as its theme the destructive presence of the unresolved past. Now, Soul combines a near death experience with the ennui of modern life to tell a story that brilliantly subverts many self-help… Continue reading The Meaning of Soul
How To Read The Greatest Secret by Rhonda Byrne
The new book sits uneasily alongside the bestseller that made her name The Greatest Secret by Rhonda Byrne is released, and immediately looks like as much of a publishing success as its predecessor, The Secret. The 2006 book has sold 20 million copies. So what do they have that is so immensely compelling? Is it… Continue reading How To Read The Greatest Secret by Rhonda Byrne
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
Artificial Intelligence – conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
Artificial intelligence is rarely out of the news. But what is it? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon take a lead from the breakthrough by Google in the prediction of protein folding, which Rupert has studied for decades. Whether this success reveals any deeper understanding of nature leads to… Continue reading Artificial Intelligence – conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
Beyond Flatland – the talks and a report
Beyond Flatland, A Day on Transformative Ways of Knowing, was on Saturday 28th November 2020. Full details of the idea for the day, the programme and recordings of the talks are online. This is a report of the day written by Nicholas Colloff. Edwin Abbott’s satirical novella, which gave this day its title, imagines the… Continue reading Beyond Flatland – the talks and a report
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
A conversation on the New Abnormal Podcast
Why hope rests on perceptions, community on being yourself, and resilience on questioning. Good talking with @SeanPdeC at The New Abnormal podcast.
The tricky parable of the talents
The story of the master giving 5, 2 and 1 talent to slaves trips up those who see the parables as moral or justice tales. But there is another way of understanding them, asking us whether we have the eyes to see, the ears to hear of an entirely different economy and kingdom. Reading from… Continue reading The tricky parable of the talents