Philosophy and Life
Recent writing and occasional thoughts on assorted matters.
- Take No Bag For The Road. Nature, the Climate Crisis & Christianity. A talk with Peter Owen Jones Nov 30, 2022- An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available on podcast feeds. Peter Owen Jones is a writer, broadcaster and priest. His new book is Conversations With Nature. We discuss falling in love with the natural world once again, what difference this might make to the climate crisis, how Christianity has failed to respond in… …
- William Blake on the Last Judgement, Apocalypse & Final Things. #secondcoming #advent Nov 27, 2022- An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. The Last Judgement, William Blake argued, is not a terrifying forthcoming rapture but an awakening present moment, “Whenever any Individual Rejects Error & Embraces Truth". …
- Against Moral Tales! Jesus’s Parables. A thought from Owen Barfield. A poem from John-Paul Flintoff Nov 21, 2022- An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. For more on John-Paul Flintoff - https://flintoff.org. And his latest book - https://spckpublishing.co.uk/london-psalms. For more on Mark Vernon & Owen Barfield - https://www.markvernon.com/consciousness. …
- Introducing my new book, Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps Nov 6, 2022- An audio version of this talks is at by podcast channel, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. The text of the talk is below. My new book is Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps. And I would like to introduce it to you. Spiritual intelligence is a type of perception, although unlike types of empirical perception that see, hear, touch,… …
- The Veiling of Things. Rishi Sunak, William Blake and the Bhagavad Gita. Oct 29, 2022- The appointment of the UK’s latest Prime Minister has prompted much comment, not least because Rishi Sunak is Britain’s first Hindu leader. He was sworn in as an MP with his hand placed upon the Bhagavad Gita, not the Bible. His success is a conspicuous manifestation of the deep links that exist between Indian and English culture, which have been… …
- Circling Jesus: What’s afoot with the new interest in Christianity? Elizabeth Oldfield & Mark Vernon Oct 25, 2022- An audio version of this conversion is at my podcast Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. A number of public figures, in literature and ideas, have recently been talking about discovering Christianity, or perhaps it'd be better to say, being discovered by Christianity. So what's going on with this renewed interest? Why now? How can this be talked about?… …
- The Weirdness of Christianity. C.S. Lewis & Owen Barfield, with Jason Baxter & Mark Vernon Oct 21, 2022- An audio version of this conversion is on my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. C.S Lewis is not the apologist and writer you might assume, if Jason Baxter is right. Plato, Boethius and Dante mattered immensely to a man who felt more at home in the medieval world, and longed to inspire the modern world with a… …
- The New Christians, Rewilding Christianity. A dialogue with Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon Oct 7, 2022- An audio version of this discussion is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available on podcast feeds. A renewed interest in Christianity? Old traditions of myth and place revived? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon consider the significance of recent conversions, as confessed by figures such as Paul Kingsnorth and Martin Shaw, as well… …
- Can the present shape the past? And other questions in physics. A conversation with Bernard Carr Sep 27, 2022- An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Bernard Carr is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London. He has worked on black holes with Stephen Hawking, alongside other aspects of cosmology, and has also been president of the Society for Psychical Research. I begin this… …
- Dante’s Divine Comedy and Spiritual Intelligence. Two new online courses this autumn! Sep 16, 2022- Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps online course - full details here: https://www.markvernon.com/events/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps Dante's Divine Comedy online course - full details here: https://www.markvernon.com/events/dantes-divine-comedy-an-introduction-to-the-spiritual-journey For more about Mark Vernon - www.markvernon.com …