Inner Life, Talks and Thoughts

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 power to see through surfaces to Eternity. Blake offers maps that chart the transformation from the narrow sight of Ulro to the full embrace of divine vision.In this talk I consider Blake's use of verse and imagery to awaken our consciousness; the critique he developed of the mechanical philosophy and the dynamics of the human psyche; erotic love and the androgenous mind; and the way he linked forgiveness, imagination and transformation - witnessed by the presence of Jesus.This event is part of a series looking at dualities running through February 2022. More info here - https://paricenter.com/event/dualities/2022-02-05/

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 of perception. They are asymmetric, both required in right relation for the fullest awareness of the world, which is so often lacking in our times. In this session we will weave in insights on relationally and suffering, limits and embodiment, panentheism and trinitarianism, as well as from Nicholas of Cusa and process theology too.This event is part of a series looking at dualities. See https://paricenter.com/event/dualities/2022-02-05/

Much is now known about Stonehenge. Wonderful artefacts have been recovered, a welter on display at the British Museum's gobsmacking 2022 show. But much mystery remains. How to interpret the past? Why do stone circles still draw us? What did our ancestors know? They participated in life differently. They weren't waiting to be us, though we yearn to hear from them, via the sciences of archeology and the brilliance of exhibitions. And the insights of the rites, rituals, trances and treasures that shine with the light of the sun and knowledge of the gods. As the great friend of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien put it, we long to participate once more with the inside of the whole world. It is no surprise that ancient riches draw us.For more about Owen Barfield and the evolution of consciousness - https://www.markvernon.com/consciousnessFor more about the exhibition - https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/world-stonehenge

A talk as part of the Dualities series with the Pari Centre, running through February 2022. For more information see - https://paricenter.com/event/dualities/2022-02-06/In this talk, I discuss dualities in Plato. The ancient Greek is often accused of dualism, though the word itself didn’t exist at the time, which points to a subtler and crucial reassessment of what the philosopher was driving at. He recognised that experience is often shaped by seeming dualities, through which we can become more open to life itself. This deeper realisation is gained by fostering the capacities of discernment and love. I consider four dualities in Plato’s way of life: i. Light and darkness, ii. Love and lack, iii. Knowing and not knowing, iv. Life and death – and also look at four dialogues: Republic, Symposium, Timaeus and Phaedo.If you listen in time, do consider joining us for future talks in February 2022 on dualities in Dante, William Blake and Iain McGilchrist. More information here - https://paricenter.com/event/dualities/2022-02-06/

What might Christianity have for us today? How might it stories still speak? Where to find what’s right in the tradition?I was delighted to speak with Paul Kingsnorth, whose substack and other writings since his conversion to Christianity, are helping to galvanise a new debate about religion in our society.We explore the need for more than cultural Christianity and its moral imperatives, to ask about its almost lost mystical side, and where and how that might be found.That matters not only for us as individuals but for our culture. It might transformation our sense of being individuals, fear of death and desire for more.Christianity might be good news once again, especially for a time of wandering in the wilderness.For more on Paul Kingsnorth - https://www.paulkingsnorth.netFor more on Mark Vernon – https://www.markvernon.com

he hard problem of consciousness. Imagination as an "overheated brain". A future in the Cloud or Metaverse. William Blake was a thinker as well as poet and artist. His prophetic punch comes from seeing through the mode of living he saw developing in his times, that so powerfully shape our own.In this talk, I use five of his great sayings, as well as the insights of contemporary philosopher, David Bentley Hart, to reflect on the mental fight increasingly required to stay in touch with our personhood and resist the spectre of virtuality.- “How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?” insists we are manifestations of the divine vision- If that is denied we live amongst "dark satanic mills".- So we must keep reflecting on what it means to be a person: “If it were not for the Poetic or Prophetic character. the Philosophic & Experimental would soon be at the ratio of all things. & stand still, unable to do other than repeat the same dull round over again Dull round.”- And not live in a closed up mentality, because “There is no natural religion”. All must be in the service of more.- When that more is the orientation of our lives, we discover that “He who binds to himself the joy, does the winged life destroy. He who kisses the joy as it flies, lives in Eternity’s sunrise”.The remarkable truth that Blake knew is that we don't only long for what’s good, beautiful and true. When you think about it, as he assists us in doing, it becomes clear that can only be the case because the good, beautiful and true longs to be known by us too.For more see my YouTube channel or www.markvernon.com.

How can we find a way through conflicts in and around science? What about experts and simplifications, uncertainties and advice, control and its consequences? Tensions are only going to get worse as the fallout and impact of Covid becomes clearer.In this talk, I consider two notions of power, as explored in the New Testament: dunamis, which might be thought of grace and space power or the power of love; and exousia, which is the power exercised by authorities and might be thought of as command and control power.This sense of the dynamics of love and power can illuminate the communication of science, across five areas:- reductive science and the bigger picture- scientists as provocateurs and experts- issues of cause and correlation- science, impact and hidden agendas- the status of science and conspiracy theoriesFor an academic article on some of the issues raised, have a look at my piece in Rethinking Biology (Eds Michael Reiss, Fraser Watts & Harris Wiseman), "The Public Understanding of Biology: a journalist’s perspective", online here - https://www.markvernon.com/rethinking-biology

William Blake died in the apartment he shared with Catherine Blake on Sunday 12 August 1827.A contemporary letter reports: "He died ... in a most glorious manner. He said He was going to that Country he had all His life wished to see & expressed Himself Happy, hoping for Salvation through Jesus Christ – Just before he died His Countenance became fair. His eyes Brighten'd and he burst out Singing of the things he saw in Heaven."3 Fountain Court is now part of the Savoy complex, which I visited to contemplate how Blake can help us see death through the eyes of Ulro, Generation, Beulah and Eternity.For more about the work of Mark Vernon see www.markvernon.com

Rupert Spira and I met for a second conversation, beginning with one of William Blake's great exclamations of nondual awareness:“Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows, wake! expand!I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divineI am not a God afar off, I am a brother and friend;Within your bosoms I reside, and you reside in me:Lo! we are One”We discussed the meanings of suffering and death that feel so needed and neglected in our times; different possibilities for the experience of time and the value of disagreement, similarly overlooked; the role of the erotic, play and the imagination on this path; and the reality of angels and the guidance of myths.1:39 The presence of nondualism today3:30 The meaning of suffering16:59 The true nature of death23:39 A different experience of time: Chronos, Kairos, Eternity36:06 The drivers of consumption and desiring heaven on earth42:29 The value of disagreement45:59 The erotic, play and standing in love53:43 The expansive value of the imagination1:02:54 Messages, angels and hierarchies1:14:36 Myths and crafts as guidesFor more about Rupert Spira see - https://rupertspira.comFor more about Mark Vernon see - https://www.markvernon.comOur first conversation is online here - https://youtu.be/x0SfOFPCPgk

William Blake used his infernal methods subtly to critique Christmas via his illustrations to Milton's ode, On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity. He sought to reveal how its message of eternity is distorted by worldly vision.Blake objected to the gentle Jesus, meek and mild, of the stable. He pushed against the humble child, pointing out that Jesus disobeyed and dismayed his parents, not in rebellion, but because his vision was divine.Blake writes in The Everlasting Gospel:"If Moral Virtue was Christianity Christs Pretensions were all Vanity The Moral Christian is the Cause Of the Unbeliever & his Laws  For what is Antichrist but those Who against Sinners Heaven close."This meditation ponders what Blake objected to, how it applies now, and the nature of his inspired sense of Jesus the divine imagination.In Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, he implores:"“Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows, wake! expand!I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divineI am not a God afar off, I am a brother and friend;Within your bosoms I reside, and you reside in me:Lo! we are One."1:16 Why is Blake wary of Christmas3:35 Nativity traps: Jesus is born and instantly forgotten10:05 Shepherds see: the place for divine vision12:32 How the infinite is enclosed15:10 How the passions are lost17:02 How the overthrow of darkness is missed19:28 The illusory peace of repressed Christianity21:41 Blake’s Christmas: Was Jesus gentle?23:35 Blake’s Christianity: overcoming sin or opening paradise?25:30 Blake’s imperative: rejecting the distant God, separated by sin26:05 Blake’s Antichrist: Christianity and the wastes of moral law27:00 “I am not a God afar off. Within your bosoms I reside”28:50 Knowing Eden/Eternity, transcending Beulah32:45 Knowing fourfold vision: “realities of intellect, passions emanate, eternal glory”