Inner Life, Talks and Thoughts

Death always brings subterranean assumptions and stresses to the surface, and the pass of Prince Philip is no exception.The moment carries the weight of millennia, which is why it’s hard to navigate, though it can be better understood as part of the evolution of human consciousness, as Owen Barfield and others understood it.The key test is the vision held about the future humanity.I talk in particular about the two images in the episode artwork.

Could bliss be transmitted by a Happy Helmet? Are the fantasies of the super-wealthy secretly shaping our lives? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon discuss a new novel, Double Blind, by Edward St Aubyn. It is a story of ideas, including issues previously explored in these dialogues, from the nature of consciousness and the revelations of psychedelics, to the missing heritability problem and the replication crisis. St Aubyn has richly addressed our moment with its environmental and existential concerns. His characters explore matters of paramount important as they effect real lives. His book invites us to ask ourselves about the worldviews we hold and the ways in which our imaginations reach out for tomorrow.For more dialogues between Rupert and Mark see:https://www.sheldrake.org/audios/sheldrake-vernon-dialogueshttps://www.markvernon.com/talks

Some reflections on the fascinating conversation between Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Pageau:- Maybe it's not how to be a Christian but to realise how you already are- Why symbology, developmental maps and archetypes become as many rabbit holes- That the beginning and ground matters as much as the end and theosis- CS Lewis and what he never quite got from his friend, Owen Barfield- The way hierarchies collapse into the unity of all things- How Dante and Meister Eckhart in the western Christian tradition help- And more!The original conversation is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rAqVmZwqZMMore on A Secret History of Christianity here - https://www.markvernon.com/consciousnessFor more on Dante see here - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy

Iain McGilchrist and Rowan Williams were in dialogue on Friday 19th February 2021, a beautiful exchange that was sadly not recorded. Here I offer some thoughts on it, particularly in the light of reflections offered by Matt Segall. It concerns transcendence and immanence, being and becoming, eternity and processes in space and time - or to put it another way, the similarities and differences between the ontologies of Plato and AN Whitehead. Matt's reflections are online here - https://youtu.be/znoNfagDeUo​

The discussion of alternative worldviews, from various forms of materialism to types of idealism, has exploded in recent years, and the notion of panpsychism is in the middle of the debate. In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon explore the different types of panpsychism being proposed, from more conservative forms that are linked to materialism, to older types that have been advocated by figures from AN Whitehead to Aristotle. They ask about the place of time and space in different views of reality, and tease out the connections to consciousness and eternity. Models including emergence and information theory rise, as well as the role of the brain, as they wonder about the direction in which this rich conversation is heading.For more dialogues between Rupert and Mark see:https://www.sheldrake.org/audios/sheldrake-vernon-dialogueshttps://www.markvernon.com/talks​​

A friendly chat about the movie Soul, with me Pippa Evans and Jonathan Rowson.Does Pixar's latest movie have a message we should 'get', or is the most important thing to get about the movie that there is really nothing to get? In what way might it place our plans for our lives in perspective? Does it make it any clearer what 'the soul' is? We are colleagues at Perspectiva, a group seeking perspectives on systems, souls and society. https://systems-souls-society.com/​For more on Pippa http://www.pippaevans.com/ For more on Jonathan https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Rowson. 

We naturally talk about seeking the light at the end of the tunnel, or hoping to be enlightened. But are such phrases that reference light more than metaphors? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon explore how light is both physical and spiritual, and note the remarkable harmony between scientific and mythical ways of exploring light. They ask about the links between light and intelligence, as discussed by figures from Plato to Dante, as well as how our inner lives, say when we dream, include light. Rupert reflects on his time in the ashram of Bede Griffiths, and Mark recalls remarks made by Roger Penrose. It turns out that the way we talk about the experience of light is hugely suggestive of the nature of reality. There are good reasons light is so closely associated with the divine.For more dialogues between Rupert and Mark see:https://www.sheldrake.org/audios/sheldrake-vernon-dialogueshttps://www.markvernon.com/talks

Artificial intelligence is rarely out of the news. But what is it? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon take a lead from the breakthrough by Google in the prediction of protein folding, which Rupert has studied for decades. Whether this success reveals any deeper understanding of nature leads to a discussion of different types of intelligence, such as emotional and spiritual. They consider what is lost when AI dominates the imagination, and obscures aspects of reality that are embodied, and those that reach beyond, such as pure consciousness.For more dialogues between Rupert and Mark see:https://www.sheldrake.org/audios/sheldrake-vernon-dialogueshttps://www.markvernon.com/talks

Pixar’s animation genius brings us, Soul, a film about the quest for meaning and music. I think it wittily subverts many common nostrums about happiness and fulfilment, purpose and pleasure, by fearlessly tackling the metaphysical as well as the mundane. A written version of this talk can be found at www.markvernon.com.

I heard Rhonda Byrne talking with Rupert Spira and wondered what on earth they might have in common. The Law of Attraction is simply an error in nondualism, identifying with thoughts rather than awareness. But The Greatest Secret offers a very different philosophy to The Secret. In my view, Byrne confuses them to some degree in her new book, though that can in itself be illuminating. There is a written version of this talk, which develops this teasing out the differences, at www.markvernon.com.