An MP3 version of this talk is on my podcast, Dante’s Divine Comedy, which can be found on your podcast feed. The liberal world and western churches increasingly seem to suffer from the lack of a sophisticated understanding of erotic love – an approach not merely governed by morals but arising from insight into who… Continue reading Sexual Mores & Divine Eros: Why we need Dante to teach us about love
Posts
Mysticism in Christianity – a conversation
An MP3 version of this conversation is at my Talks and Thoughts podcast, on your podcast feed. This conversation is part of the Living Mirrors podcast, hosted by neuroscientist James Cooke, exploring topics like consciousness, science, spirituality, meditation and the renaissance in psychedelic research.
Why Hell? Part 1 of 3 talks on Dante’s Divine Comedy
An MP3 version of the talk is on my podcast channel, Dante’s Divine Comedy, available on podcast feeds. The notion of hell is delighted in by some and causes offence in others. So why did Dante write about this infernal domain on his journey through reality? What is its meaning? What might be learnt from… Continue reading Why Hell? Part 1 of 3 talks on Dante’s Divine Comedy
From Trance to Extraterrestrials: Developments in Human Evolution, Robin Dunbar, Simon Conway Morris
An MP3 version of this discussion is at my podcast feed, Talks and Thoughts. A discussion of two new books on human evolution by leading evolutionary biologists, Robin Dunbar and Simon Conway Morris. Dunbar offers a revisionary account of the emergence of religion in Homo sapiens. Conway Morris considers widespread myths in Darwinian evolution, of… Continue reading From Trance to Extraterrestrials: Developments in Human Evolution, Robin Dunbar, Simon Conway Morris
William Blake, Albion and War in Europe
An MP3 version of this talk is at my Talks and Thoughts via your podcast feed. I turned to William Blake seeking hope and found a remarkably accurate account of our times and his, lived during the Napoleonic Wars. Albion despairs, but Blake does not. He sees a pathway, denying nothing, towards renewed inspiration.
Spiritual freedom and the light in Ukraine
A spoken version of this talk is online here and at my podcast feed, Talks and Thoughts. Witnessing so many Ukrainians responding courageously to the Russian invasion is moving and impressive. A man fleeing with his children, knowing Russian military tactics are based on razing conurbations. A woman leaving her children at the border to… Continue reading Spiritual freedom and the light in Ukraine
Dante’s Purgatorio, How to be transformed: a conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
An MP3 version of this conversation is on my podcast Dante’s Divine Comedy, available via your podcast feed. 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 and Virgil have found the way… Continue reading Dante’s Purgatorio, How to be transformed: a conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
Dance to the music of time – new Idler column
My column in the Idler, Mar-Apr 2022, just out! The future is changing. A better tomorrow is no longer an automatic assumption. The myth of progress, which shapes a scientific age, looks readily challengeable, if not straightforwardly deluded. Threats loom, from environmental degradation to fresh pandemics. Economic stagnation is frustrating Generation Z. Others fear increasingly… Continue reading Dance to the music of time – new Idler column
The Master and the Emissary – dualities in the philosophy of Iain McGilchrist
An MP3 of this talk is available at my Talks and Thoughts podcast, which can be found via your podcast feed. The recent work of the psychiatrist and philosopher, Iain McGilchrist, allows us to bring the role of dualities in spiritual perception right up to date. He has shown how brain lateralisation facilitates two types… Continue reading The Master and the Emissary – dualities in the philosophy of Iain McGilchrist
Contraries and Human Existence – William Blake and Cleansing the Doors of Perception
An MP3 of this talk, though without images, can be found on my Talks and Thoughts podcast via your podcast feed. Perception is cleansed in the struggles of life, William Blake realised, as his own life was lived between heaven and hell, innocence and experience, vision and labour. Opposites are the energy that bring the… Continue reading Contraries and Human Existence – William Blake and Cleansing the Doors of Perception