Philosophy and Life
Recent writing and occasional thoughts on assorted matters.
- “I have conversed with the Spiritual Sun. I saw him on Primose Hill”. William Blake w/ Mark Vernon Jul 4, 2022- Some thoughts on William Blake and cleansing the doors of perception from the vantage of Primose Hill, London. For more of Mark on Blake and others see his talks or his YouTube channel. …
- JERUSALEM. Lament, tragedy, invocation, cry? William Blake and the play that forgets his name Jun 28, 2022- An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, starring Mark Rylance, is brilliant. But what can be made of its violence and passion, humour and hedonism, tragedy and emptiness? Returning to the source of the famous words after which the play is named provides a clue. William… …
- Clearing the Fog of Assumptions. A conversation with Oliver Burkeman Jun 28, 2022- Oliver Burkeman and Jonathan Rowson talk at the Realisation Festival 2022. Assumptions and thoughts challenged, but also a sense of feeling enlarged. Oliver Burkeman revealed his state of mind as he spoke with Jonathan Rowson on the last day of the Realisation Festival. The report was immediately followed by a typically Burkemanian touch of modesty. He confessed to an awareness… …
- Dante’s Paradiso. Awakening to the Light. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake Jun 24, 2022- An audio version of this conversation is at my podcast, Dante's Divine Comedy, available via podcast feeds. 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 is now guided by Beatrice through the heavenly spheres and into the… …
- You Are Gods by David Bentley Hart. Reflections on Vedantic Christianity Jun 19, 2022- An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. A set of reflections liberally drawing on You Are Gods by David Bentley Hart (Notre Dame Press, 2022). Bentley Hart says that the book could equally have been subtitled, Studies in Vedantic Christianity, which I take as a lead. What might traditional Christian… …
- The Mossy Face of Christ. Martin Shaw talks w Mark Vernon about an unexpected return to Christianity Jun 14, 2022- An audio version of this talk at on my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. 0:00 Imagination and the Imaginal in the modern world 7:20 Different kinds of power: agency, allure, contraries 10:40 The revival of myth-telling but in the first person singular 15:30 Martin’s rediscovery of Christianity 21:40 The mossy face of Christ and what happened 34:04… …
- Dante’s transfiguration of time & love, seeking & suffering, telepathy & transhumanising Jun 7, 2022- An audio version of this talk is on my podcast, Dante's Divine Comedy, available via podcast feeds. Various human experiences are deepened and resolved as Dante travels through hell, purgatory and paradise. The Divine Comedy can be read as an examination of this transfiguring of perception. From the alienation of hell, through the transforming time of purgatory, to the ever-expanding… …
- Varieties of love in Plato, Jesus, Ibn ‘Arabi and other mystics. Jane Clark & Mark Vernon Jun 2, 2022- An audio version of the talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. It is often noted that the ancient Greeks had an advantage in possessing several words for love. Eros, philia, agape and others allowed them to be nuanced about love and navigate its differences. So is there benefit in considering how love has been… …
- Monarchy and the emergence of consciousness Jun 1, 2022- A quick thought on the deep, inner, even esoteric history and significance of the Platinum Jubilee in the UK. The full story of monarchs and the birth of individual consciousness is part of the story told in A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness. …
- Love in a Time of Crisis because Crises are How Love Shows Up May 25, 2022- An MP3 version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. There is a minimal kind of love which brings consolation in crises. But there is also a maximal kind of love which appears in times of crisis. Indeed, can only be known through crises. This is worth considering because love is often use… …