Philosophy and Life
Recent writing and occasional thoughts on assorted matters.
- William Blake: A Golden String. A short film with Mark Vernon Oct 11, 2026 - William Blake was born when England was at war. Conflict and the threat of conflict shaped politics for much of his life. And yet, simultaneously, Albion was booming, materially and with an influx of ideas from its empire. Blake saw Jesus walking amongst these spirited exchanges, quite as much as he discerned the powerful presence of dark Satanic Mills. His… … Continue reading William Blake: A Golden String. A short film with Mark Vernon
- The Mists of Tyranny. Cathar lessons and the Albigensian Crusade Oct 3, 2026 - The Nazis were keen on the Cathars. Heinrich Himmler deemed them preservers of Aryan purity in medieval Europe and funded research into the history. The detail brought me up short. I was vaguely aware that the Cathars were unlikely to have been a Languedocian para-church of harmless dualists: peace-loving, women-friendly, reincarnation-believing, pescatarian. But whilst the Nazis were shameless appropriators, their… … Continue reading The Mists of Tyranny. Cathar lessons and the Albigensian Crusade
- Unveiling Transcendence. William Blake and the Book of Daniel Sep 27, 2026 - What if apocalyptic biblical literature is not best interpreted through historical events, though they certainly have a bearing, nor through the symbolic, as if the imagery should be decoded? Instead, these texts are educations in imagination, reorientating readers to the vision of God. Such an understanding of the apocalyptic, which means “unveiling”, was certainly the view of William Blake and… … Continue reading Unveiling Transcendence. William Blake and the Book of Daniel
- Latest Thought For The Day from BBC Radio 4 Sep 26, 2026 - New essay at my Substack, A Golden String, on the linguistic spirits active in our lives. … Continue reading Latest Thought For The Day from BBC Radio 4
- The Norman Conquest in English Words. The Centenary of Barfield’s History in English Words Sep 12, 2026 - An extract from “History in English Words” by Owen Barfield, also marking its centenary, first published in 1926. And now there followed an event which has had more influence on the character of the English language than any other before or since. The conquest of England by the Norman invaders brought about an influx of French words which went on… … Continue reading The Norman Conquest in English Words. The Centenary of Barfield’s History in English Words
- The Logos in the Data Centre. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String Aug 30, 2026 - The extraordinary brilliance of LLMs is often a cause for alarm. But theology suggests a less melodramatic and more marvellous understanding. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String. … Continue reading The Logos in the Data Centre. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String
- The Souls of Plants. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake Aug 25, 2026 - https://youtu.be/CikfKeYGypo?is=YYl71QlNtzno3Orx An ancient intuition is that plants have souls and even participate in the life of God by virtue of being alive. But what sense can be made of that today? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon consider the Neoplatonic understanding that all living creatures, and perhaps all self-organising things, have a soul as… … Continue reading The Souls of Plants. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
- Bidding for the Soul of Christian Britain Aug 24, 2026 - Ethics and identity, as liberals and nationalists respectively stress, miss the vastness of the human soul. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String. #Christianity #Nationalism #Humanism … Continue reading Bidding for the Soul of Christian Britain
- August Angst. My BBC Thought For The Day Aug 1, 2026 - My Thought For The Day was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this morning. This is the script. August angst” has begun. The phrase describes the stress caused by psychotherapists taking their summer break over the month beginning today. Though, breaks are part of the therapeutic work - and that explains why August angst is felt by more people than just… … Continue reading August Angst. My BBC Thought For The Day
- Odyssey’s homecoming, the Cave of the Nymphs, Raine and Blake Jul 30, 2026 - ‘Tis a much challenged reading, but Kathleen Raine interpreted William Blake’s “The Sea of Space and Time” as depicting the seemingly marginal, but perhaps pivotal, detail in Homer’s “Odyssey” of the Cave of the Nymphs on the beach of Ithaca where Odysseus is left by the Phaeacians, which Porphyry interpreted as a Neoplatonic key to his spiritual homecoming, or nostos. … Continue reading Odyssey’s homecoming, the Cave of the Nymphs, Raine and Blake