Author: Mark Vernon

I hugely enjoyed this conversation on Radio 3’s, Free Thinking, particularly picking up the parallels between religious and secular icons with my fellow interlocutors. Much can be explained by remembering how religious icons exceed themselves – they’re material objects speaking of immaterial reality; in time conveying the eternal; seen but somehow seeing – and so… Continue reading Icons, religious and secular

Failing already at your New Year resolutions? I’ve a piece published here on why that could be a blessing. In short: willpower is a trap. It perpetuates the fight between the parts of you at odds with one another. But compassion and self-acceptance offer a more radical move, opening a path to transformation and liberty.… Continue reading Smile at New Year resolution slips

Imagine Christmas with Jesus born not in a stable but a cave. There are no angels and shepherds, kings and gifts, but instead the sheep in the fields, the birds in the air, and the clouds in the sky stand still, astonished. In fact, the whole earth is seen to pause for a moment. A… Continue reading Of caves, consciousness, Christmas and light

Angels Angelic beings seem to appear in liminal times and places, when individuals are in crisis or at the turn of the year and Christmas. In this talk, I explore how we might be more aware than we usually think of what our forebears routinely called angels. Think of Socrates, who was well known to… Continue reading Angels and subtle bodies

I have a series of talks on inner life and seeing with the eye of the soul called How To See Spiritually. Previous talks have looked at why spirituality is important, soul, wonder, interiority, scepticism, parables, ego, psi and virtues. Now I turn to imagination. Since the modern enlightenment, imagination has been downgraded to “mere… Continue reading Imagination and truth

A conversation about Philip Pullman’s brilliant His Dark Materials story in the light of Owen Barfield’s genius account of the evolution of consciousness. I talk with Wesley Schantz, who hosts the Bookwarm Games podcast, about the significance of daemons, dust and witches, about the links to developmental psychology and human experience, and about the divine… Continue reading On Philip Pullman and Owen Barfield

A talk given this morning on Weekend, BBC World Service. Do have a listen, or read. The Christian image of God as a male heavenly father runs deep. It dominates the way the church relates to God, which is why it’s not very convincing when bishops and archbishops tell us that they don’t really believe… Continue reading The church and God as father

I’ve begun a new series of talks on inner life and seeing with the eye of the soul called How To See Spiritually. Previous talks have looked at why spirituality is important, soul, wonder, interiority, scepticism, parables, ego and psi. Now I turn to virtues. Spiritual perception can be defined as the ability to resonate… Continue reading The value of virtues

Some preachers threaten hellfire, whilst others quench the flames with divine love. In our latest Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogue, following a suggestion of a regular listener, Rupert Sheldrake and I ask what sense can, today, be made of hell. Is it primarily a psychological state, in which people are locked up by distress? Is it a region… Continue reading What is hell?