Posts

I very much enjoyed speaking with Kenny Primrose, of examinedlife.com. Our conversation focused on the question, How do I learn to see spiritually? It’s online here and ranges over psychotherapy and music, poetry and Plato. A taster: “We don’t appreciate the inner life of things anymore, we appreciate very much their exterior life – which… Continue reading How do I learn to see spiritually?

This article was originally published in the Church Times. I often give talks to people sociologists refer to as “nones” or “spiritual but not religious”. We meet at summer festivals or evening groups. And the reaction to a mention of “Christianity” or “Jesus” is striking. It’s as if I’d released a toxin. People spontaneously react… Continue reading Why spiritual people avoid church

I’ve begun a new series of talks on inner life and seeing with the eye of the soul called How To See Spiritually. Previous talks have looked at why spirituality is important, soul, wonder and interiority. Now I turn to scepticism. Modern scepticism often aims at debunking and limiting awareness. But ancient scepticism was very… Continue reading Reclaiming scepticism

In The Shadow of the Machine by Jeremy Naydler is a fascinating read. It tells the long story of how human consciousness evolved so that, at the turn of the modern period, the machine might become the dominant metaphor and feature of our age. In our new, latest dialogue, Rupert Sheldrake and I discuss this… Continue reading Consciousness in the age of machines

I’ve long been frustrated by how ancient Greek philosophy, and the teaching of Plato in particular, is routinely misunderstood in the modern world. I’ve written before about the errors of assuming he opposed spirit and body, invented secular rationalism, and provided the key argument for why goodness doesn’t need godliness, as well as on the… Continue reading Philosophy as Awakening

I’ve just begun a new series of talks on inner life and seeing with the eye of the soul. The first 4 are below. More to follow in coming weeks. 1. Why spirituality? We live with a worldview that is powerfully materialistic in its orientation and has brought many benefits. But it has also lost… Continue reading How to See Spiritually

It’s become commonplace to point out that liberals are struggling to understand contemporary politics. Individuals such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin escape rational analysis. These presidents don’t obey the rules when it comes to, say, protectionist economics or international spying. The latest book from Gary Lachman, historian of esotericism and former bassist with rock… Continue reading Trump, chaos politics, and training the imagination

Rupert Sheldrake and I have published the latest in our discussions, on the nature of magic. We’ve also renamed the conversations from Science Set Free to the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues. What is magic? How does it relate to psi and animism? Is prayer a kind of magic? We explore how people have engaged with the spirited… Continue reading What is magic?

This piece was written for The Idler. Avengers: Infinity War is one of the biggest movies of all time. That’s official, after a record busting release weekend across the planet. The film is generating cash as extravagantly as its superheroes perform feats. Marvel is making billions. But why? Critics have argued that the franchise is… Continue reading Avengers: Infinity War as a dream

Rupert Sheldrake and I have published the latest in our discussions, on the nature of virtue and morality. Our discussions are also available streamed and on iTunes. The subject of the virtues can be met with an inner groan, only sparking interest in relation to their shadowy opposites, the vices. It’s partly the product of… Continue reading The virtues of perception