This is a response to an article by Richard Beck in the new YoHo Journal. Richard Beck introduces us to “hope sickness”. And I agree: the world suffers from desperate delusions as to the nature of our story. However, I would advocate a slightly different antidote to this materialist poison. What the dominant worldview can’t… Continue reading “Death and life are asymmetrically joined. Therein lies hope.” – article in YoHo
Category: Blog
The Flux of the Matter – new Idler column
My column in the new Idler magazine, out now. One of the best known comments in western philosophy has to do with rivers. The flowing thought was uttered by the ancient Ephesian hermit, Heraclitus. Born into a patrician family, during the sixth century BC, he despaired of the way human beings conduct themselves and so… Continue reading The Flux of the Matter – new Idler column
“I have conversed with the Spiritual Sun. I saw him on Primose Hill”. William Blake w/ Mark Vernon
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
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… Continue reading JERUSALEM. Lament, tragedy, invocation, cry? William Blake and the play that forgets his name
Clearing the Fog of Assumptions. A conversation with Oliver Burkeman
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.… Continue reading Clearing the Fog of Assumptions. A conversation with Oliver Burkeman
Dante’s Paradiso. Awakening to the Light. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
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… Continue reading Dante’s Paradiso. Awakening to the Light. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
You Are Gods by David Bentley Hart. Reflections on Vedantic Christianity
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… Continue reading You Are Gods by David Bentley Hart. Reflections on Vedantic Christianity
The Mossy Face of Christ. Martin Shaw talks w Mark Vernon about an unexpected return to Christianity
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… Continue reading The Mossy Face of Christ. Martin Shaw talks w Mark Vernon about an unexpected return to Christianity
Dante’s transfiguration of time & love, seeking & suffering, telepathy & transhumanising
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… Continue reading Dante’s transfiguration of time & love, seeking & suffering, telepathy & transhumanising
Varieties of love in Plato, Jesus, Ibn ‘Arabi and other mystics. Jane Clark & Mark Vernon
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… Continue reading Varieties of love in Plato, Jesus, Ibn ‘Arabi and other mystics. Jane Clark & Mark Vernon