An audio version of this discussion is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. The Scientific and Medical Network organised a gathering on Friday 8th July to mark Rupert’s 80th birthday and reflect on his work. In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert and Mark Vernon discuss the day, recalling remarks… Continue reading Science with Soul. Reflecting on Rupert Sheldrake’s 80th Birthday Celebration
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Freedom, power & the spiritual commons. More thoughts on The Dawn of Everything by Graeber & Wengrow
I was delighted to meet David Wengrow at the Idler Festival. His coauthor, David Graeber, was a great friend of the Idler. David Wengrow and I spoke about their revolutionary, fascinating and inspiring book, The Dawn of Everything. It challenges the concensus history and prehistory of humanity, as found in writers such as Steven Pinker… Continue reading Freedom, power & the spiritual commons. More thoughts on The Dawn of Everything by Graeber & Wengrow
Dante, cosmology, and a conversation at Rupert Sheldrake’s 80th do
Bernard Carr is a leading cosmologist who worked with Stephen Hawking and now investigates time, multidimensionality and consciousness, amongst other things. Bernardo Kastrup cites him as at the vanguard of the great task to integrate matter and mind. So I was delighted to get the chance to ask Bernard about images from Dante. We talked… Continue reading Dante, cosmology, and a conversation at Rupert Sheldrake’s 80th do
“Death and life are asymmetrically joined. Therein lies hope.” – article in YoHo
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
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