Author: Mark Vernon

Rupert Sheldrake and I have published the latest in our Science Set Free podcasts, discussing the new generation of celebrity gurus and popular intellectuals. The clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson, the historian Yuval Noah Harari and the comedian Russell Brand are three prominent examples. They command podcast downloads that run into six figures, their books are… Continue reading The Jordan Peterson effect

A piece written for The Idler, featuring the ideas of Carl Jung, who is the central figure in part 6 of An Introduction to Psychotherapy, released this week. A flurry of public intellectuals are currently promoting their version of our Big Story. They’ve been appearing on screens and in bookstores. Steven Pinker crossed the Atlantic… Continue reading Civilisations and the undiscovered self

This piece was published in the Church Times a month ago, and so can now peak from behind the paywall. It is also the last piece of mine edited by Rachel Boulding. She much improved many of my efforts. Jesus can be understood in numerous ways. His first followers, still Jews, reinterpreted the Messiah traditions… Continue reading Barfield, incarnation and the evolution of consciousness

The last of my posts on Jung has just gone up at the Guardian’s Cif. A taster: Theologians, for instance, will often feel more comfortable speaking of religious matters in the worldly language of the social sciences. Christians will tell you that when Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God he was really conveying a… Continue reading Carl Jung, part 8: Religion and the search for meaning

The seventh of my posts on Jung has just gone up at the Guardian’s Cif. A taster: Jung believed that we are psychosomatic creatures who must attend to matters of the spirit as well as the body. Further, our psyche is not just our own. It is connected to others, both those with whom we… Continue reading Carl Jung, part 7: The power of acceptance

The sixth of my posts on Jung has just gone up at the Guardian’s Cif. A taster: The literary agent and author Diane Athill describes the genesis of one of her short stories. It occurred about nine one morning, when she was walking her dog. Crossing the road, a car approached and slowed down. She… Continue reading Carl Jung, part 6: Synchronicity

The fifth of my posts on Jung has just gone up at the Guardian’s Cif. A taster: Jung himself was also keen to stress that he was not referring to types of people, but types of consciousness. And the same person can be conscious in different ways in different situations, in extremis like a Jekyll… Continue reading Carl Jung, part 5: Psychological types

The fourth of my posts on Jung has just gone up at the Guardian’s Cif. A taster: Archetypes can be thought of simply as structuring principles. For example, falling in love is archetypal for human beings. Everyone does it, at least once, and although the pattern is common, each time it feels new and inimitable.… Continue reading Carl Jung, part 4: Do archetypes exist?

The third of my posts on Jung has just gone up at the Guardian’s Cif. A taster: By way of illustration, Jung considers the example of a man whose public image is one of honour and service but who, in the privacy of his home, is prone to moods – so much so that he… Continue reading Carl Jung, part 3: Encountering the unconscious