Apocalypse? Its now! Good news & secular salvation, climate crisis & time. With Gunnar Gjermundsen Mark Vernon 2026-09-20 | Apocalypse? Its now! Good news & secular salvation, climate crisis & time. With Gunnar Gjermundsen
Christian Mysticism with Dante. Online, Sat 11th Apr, 2pm BST Mark Vernon 2026-02-28 | Email/message me, mail@markvernon.com, or tickets at TicketTailer - https://buytickets.at/spiritualconsciousnesswithmarkvernon/2082558. On this online half-day you will:- learn from the threefold structure of the Comedy- hear about the teachings Dante receives on his pilgrimage- consider the significance of the work’s tremendous images- contemplate in the encounters that Dante has on the way- be able to befriend afresh this work of spiritual genius- have a chance to ask questions and hear the discussion- spend time in the presence that Dante transmits.On this day you will:- learn from the threefold structure of the Comedy- hear about the teachings Dante receives on his pilgrimage- consider the significance of the work’s tremendous images- contemplate in the encounters that Dante has on the way- be able to befriend afresh this work of spiritual genius- have a chance to ask questions and hear the discussion- spend time in the presence that Dante transmits.
The Kings Philosophy of Harmony: Explained. A Conversation with Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon Mark Vernon 2026-02-17 | For the 100th episode of The Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon considered the role of harmony, wholeness and hope in the modern world. The event was held in-person as well as streamed online.The evening took as its inspiration the work of King Charles, who can be called a philosopher king. It follows the February 6 release on Amazon Prime of the documentary “Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision”. But what is this philosophy?Rupert and Mark explore new ways that are old of looking at the world, aided by science, poetry, and perennial wisdom traditions. How is diversity transformed by awareness of unity? How might the unfolding of life aid transformation? Spirit, imagination and intelligence much matter.The conversation was held in the Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead.For more of Mark and Rupert's conversations see - markvernon.com/talks
Sexual drives wreck lives. And yet, the erotic opens paths to paradise, shows Dantes Divine Comedy Mark Vernon 2026-02-15 | Christianity doesn’t do well with erotic love. The unease stems, in part, from the fact that the word “eros” doesn’t appear in the New Testament. The lacuna means that points of reference for discussions about sex are typically inadequate and thin. Command stands in for clear thinking.Then, there is Saint Paul’s remark: “marry if you must” (1 Cor 7:8-9). His ambivalence has resulted in sexual relationships being hidden in marriage, hoping that there, they do less harm than good. Lady Hillingdon’s remark comes to mind, to lie back and think of England - the wit glossing oceans of suffering.That said, there are remarkable exceptions to the handwashing, of which, in the Christian West, the shining example is The Divine Comedy. Dante’s understanding of the way romantic love can initiate a path to God is fearless, instructive and, because intrepid, transformative. We need it now for, as William Blake observed, “Our wars are wars of life & wounds of love.”For more on Mark and his book about Dante's Divine Comedy - www.markvernon.com
How myths can be invaluable guides Mark Vernon 2026-02-10 | A thought on the value of stories that no one person wrote.
Celebrate our 100 dialogues and the King’s philosophy Mark Vernon 2026-02-01 | Buy tickets at Ticket Tailor or https://buytickets.at/thesheldrakevernondialogues/2010539For the 100th episode of The Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon consider the role of harmony, wholeness and hope in the modern world. The event will be held in-person as well as streamed online.The evening takes as its inspiration the work of King Charles, who can be called a philosopher king. It follows the February 6 release on Amazon Prime of the documentary “Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision”. But what is this philosophy?Rupert and Mark will explore new ways that are old of looking at the world, aided by science, poetry, and perennial wisdom traditions. How is diversity transformed by awareness of unity? How might the unfolding of life aid transformation? Spirit, imagination and intelligence much matter.The conversation will follow the service of Choral Evensong starting at 5pm in the Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead, sung by one of the best church choirs in London. The service and the event will be possible to attend in-person, with the dialogue alone, beginning at 6.15pm, streamed online.Buy tickets at Ticket Tailor or https://buytickets.at/thesheldrakevernondialogues/2010539
The Shared Vision of William Blake, Rudolf Steiner & Owen Barfield Mark Vernon 2026-01-30 | Rudolf Steiner and Owen Barfield thought that William Blake anticipated much of their own work.Energy, for Blake, wasn't just that which does work, as Newtonian physics defines it, but is the spirit within all things drawing them back to God.The empirical senses are comprehended fully as spiritual senses, carrying us over the thresholds of perception into infinity.So how does Blake illuminate the insights of Steiner? How do Steiner and Barfield help us understand the importance of Blake?This talk by Mark Vernon was given at Rudolf Steiner House in London on 9th November 2025 as part of a day on Owen Barfield organised by Rudolf Steiner House and the Temenos Academy."Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination is Mark's book on William Blake - markvernon.com/books/awake-william-blake-and-the-power-of-the-imagination"A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness" is Mark's book on Christianity through the lens of Barfield's insights - markvernon.com/books/a-secret-history-of-christianityFor more on Mark's work - www.markvernon.com
Celebrate our 100 dialogues and how they began! Mark Vernon 2026-01-25 | Buy tickets here - https://buytickets.at/thesheldrakevernondialogues/2010539For the 100th episode of The Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon consider the role of harmony, wholeness and hope in the modern world. The event will be held in-person as well as streamed online.The evening takes as its inspiration the work of King Charles, who can be called a philosopher king. It follows the February 6 release on Amazon Prime of the documentary “Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision”. But what is this philosophy?Rupert and Mark will explore new ways that are old of looking at the world, aided by science, poetry, and perennial wisdom traditions. How is diversity transformed by awareness of unity? How might the unfolding of life aid transformation? Spirit, imagination and intelligence much matter.The conversation will follow the service of Choral Evensong starting at 5pm in the Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead, sung by one of the best church choirs in London. The service and the event will be possible to attend in-person, with the dialogue alone, beginning at 6.15pm, streamed online.Buy tickets here - https://buytickets.at/thesheldrakevernondialogues/2010539
Might is right and rules-based morality both trap the soul! Mark Vernon 2026-01-24 | Much talk doing the rounds about “might is right” and the “rules-based order”. I wish commentators would read - no, really read - the source document for the might-is-right arguments: Plato's Republic. Because then, they/we might realise that rules are not the constrainer of might at all.Rather, Plato advocates for justice - which, back then, wasn't to do with morals or principles, well-honed judgments or righteous outrage, but, rather, the state of the soul: individual and city-state.Justice was a form of inner coherence: alignment of each person and the body politic with what is good, beautiful and true.Morality, as is meant now - right by calculation (utilitarianism) or reason (deontology) - is antithetical to the older idea of justice because inner coherence is taken out of the equation. Behaviour is all, not character and certainly not soul, which is sniffed at or pooh-poohed.The upshot is that people today are rarely educated in what Plato thought fundamental. Moral diktats are blind to the inner conflicts that are at the heart of the art of knowing yourself, as are ethical calculations to the longings of the soul. Uneducated, the conflicts and longings run riot.Why do might and moral rules determine the parameters of debate? They appear to be the only two options when people feel themselves to be imprisoned in a cave-like reality, trapped by dark material constraints that raw power promises to ease and rules to govern. Gone is the spiritual vision that knows of the light, desired by love, and pursued not by power or principle, but by perception: discovering that the divine life within is the divine life without. Only with that comes true peace and strength.
Patron Saints and Spirits of Place - 99th conversation with Rupert Sheldrake and news of the 100th! Mark Vernon 2026-01-23 | Saints, bodhisattvas and genii locorum, or spirits of place, are the names in various wisdom traditions given to guardian beings who protect, assist and inspire. So what does it mean to call on these sacred beings? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon discuss the role of patron saints who are associated with churches and shrines, days and names. What powers might figures from Saint Mary to Saint Nicolas bring to us? How do we call upon them and how is their presence understood? Rupert and Mark explore the ways in which saints connect heaven and earth in individual lives, particular places and at various times of the year.ANNOUNCEMENTThe next episode of The Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues will be the 100th!In celebration, Rupert and Mark will talk with an in-person audience that people will also be available to join via live streaming.Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon consider the role of harmony, wholeness and hope in the modern world. Themselves inspired by the book, Harmony, co-authored by King Charles, they consider new ways that are old of looking at the world, aided by science, poetry, and perennial wisdom traditions. How is diversity transformed by awareness of unity? How might the unfolding of life aid transformation? Spirit, imagination and intelligence much matter.BUY TICKETS HERE - app.tickettailor.com/events/thesheldrakevernondialogues/2010539
Did Carl Jung fear Ramana Maharshi? Mark Vernon 2026-01-19 | A clip from my conversation with Clare Carlisle.The full conversation is Transcendence Revisited - youtu.be/qKgIOumNG18?si=23i3sum4-ZHCH6pG
Transcendence Revisited. India and nondualism in the West. A conversation with Clare Carlisle Mark Vernon 2026-01-15 | What is the meaning of religious experience? What do spiritual questers from the West find in India? Just what happened to Ramana Maharshi and others who are said to have awakened? And how does this fit with Christian teaching and belief?I talk with Clare Carlisle who has recently published a book the mixes the personal and the philosophical. Transcendence for Beginners raises many questions that press for those draw to explore the nature of reality and the presence of the divine. We talk about why Carl Jung didn’t visit Ramana Maharshi when he visited India. We ask whether the doctrine of the unique incarnation of Jesus can be reconciled with the Indian intuition that there are many incarnations of God. We explore how these things can be written about and taught, if at all. We ask about the significance of miracles and signs - and the risks of pursuing certain types of spiritual, ecstatic experience.For more information about Transcendence for Beginners - google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=clare+carlisle+trasnedence+for+beginnings&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8For more information about Clare Carlisle - kcl.ac.uk/people/clare-carlisleFor more on Mark's work - markvernon.com
Come to the 100th Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon dialogue! Mark Vernon 2026-01-15 | Buy tickets here - https://buytickets.at/thesheldrakevernondialogues/2010539For the 100th episode of The Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon consider the role of harmony, wholeness and hope in the modern world. The event will be held in-person as well as streamed online.The evening takes as its inspiration the work of King Charles, who can be called a philosopher king. It follows the February 6 release on Amazon Prime of the documentary “Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision”. But what is this philosophy?Rupert and Mark will explore new ways that are old of looking at the world, aided by science, poetry, and perennial wisdom traditions. How is diversity transformed by awareness of unity? How might the unfolding of life aid transformation? Spirit, imagination and intelligence much matter.The conversation will follow the service of Choral Evensong starting at 5pm in the Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead, sung by one of the best church choirs in London. Both the service and the event will be possible to attend in-person, with the dialogue alone, beginning at 6.15pm, streamed online.Buy tickets here - https://buytickets.at/thesheldrakevernondialogues/2010539
What has truth to do with beauty? A #newyear thought Mark Vernon 2026-01-01 | From the beautiful, if spooky, Chanctonbury Ring on the South Downs Way.
Reject error! Embrace truth! Know the Last Judgment! #williamblake Mark Vernon 2025-12-29 | William Blake on the Last Judgment:"The Last Judgment is one of these stupendous visions. I have represented it as I saw it. To different people it appears differently, as everything else does...The Last Judgment is not fable, or allegory, but vision. Fable, or allegory, is a totally distinct and inferior kind of poetry. Vision, or imagination, is a representation of what actually exists, really and unchangeably. Fable, or allegory, is formed by the daughters of Memory. Imagination is surrounded by the daughters of inspiration, who, in the aggregate, are called Jerusalem. Fable is allegory, but what critics call the fable is vision itself...All life consists of these two: throwing off error and knaves from our company continually, and receiving truth or wise men into our company continually. He who is out of the Church and opposes it is no less an agent of religion than he who is in it: to be an error, and to be cast out, is a part of God's design. No man can embrace true art till he has explored and cast out false art (such is the nature of mortal things); or he will be himself cast out by those who have already embraced true art. Thus, my picture is a history of art and science, the foundation of society, which is humanity itself. What are all the gifts of the Spirit but mental gifts? Whenever any individual rejects error, and embraces truth, a Last Judgment passes upon that individual."
Kids need to believe in Santa! How Father Christmas secures the good in dark times... Mark Vernon 2025-12-23 | ...
New Born Wonder. Jesus, Owen Barfield, William Blake Mark Vernon 2025-12-19 | How can we understand what is happening today from the perspective of what is sometimes called salvation history? What might be struggling to be born in our times? Why is a spiritual analysis - an unfolding of consciousness - key?The talk was delivered at The School of Myth, “Wild Christ”, weekend with Martin Shaw, Rowan Williams, Heather Pollington and others.I use the insights of Owen Barfield and Rudolf Steiner, to interpret developments across 3000 years of Christianity, given the movement of spirit began a millennia before Christ. I also take their lead on the value of William Blake to perceive the significance of what Blake called a “New Age” emerging now - which we might love, too.My book unpacking Barfield’s interpretation of Christianity is “A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness”.My book on Blake’s prophetic analysis of the dynamics active today is “Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination”.For more see www.markvernon.com
Should we trust the AI geniuses? Mark Vernon 2025-12-17 | The geniuses of AI are the worst people to ask about a future shaped by AI. They have had to conform their imaginations to AI to become the geniuses.
Abundance! A thought on the responses to reactionary Christian nationalism. Mark Vernon 2025-12-13 | ...
Realisation Festival - speakers announced! Mark Vernon 2025-12-11 | Sharon Blackie and Nikki Trott will be headlining at the gathering in June 2026 at St Giles House, Dorset. See realisationfestival.com for more information and to book tickets!
Truth at the BBC Mark Vernon 2025-12-11 | The episode of Radio 4's Moral Maze, with truth in the box, will be broadcast on Christmas Eve...
Philosophy Now magazine. Out now. In which I write on #WilliamBlake, philosopher. Mark Vernon 2025-12-09 | My artical is on how Blake would have philosophy of science allies in figures as diverse as David Hume and Werner Heisenberg...
God, meditation and the World. A conversation with John Butler and Mark Vernon Mark Vernon 2025-12-07 | John Butler and Mark Vernon explore the experience of meditation, letting go into the silence, the place of words, the wonder of nature, and why contemplation matters in the world today.For more on John see spiritualunfoldment.co.uk/meditationFor more on Mark see markvernon.com For more on Broughton Sanctuary see broughtonsanctuary.co.uk
From Dark Wood to Divine Silence. The Spiritual Journey of Dante’s Divine Comedy Mark Vernon 2025-12-05 | A richly illustrated, introductory guide to Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, with a focus on Dante and our inner transformation and path into God.For more on Mark’s book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey, see www.markvernon.com
What is meditation? John Butler in conversation with Mark Vernon Mark Vernon 2025-11-30 | Late Autumn 2025. John Butler is Mystic in Residence at Broughton Sanctuary. Mark Vernon is Philosopher in Residence. They get together to explore attention, presence and practice.For more on John's work see - youtube.com/@SpiritualUnfoldment For more on Mark's see - markvernon.com
The Quiet Revolution and the New Theism. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake Mark Vernon 2025-11-23 | The mood has shifted. Subjects that were once taboo - like God - are now discussed openly. So if a new theism is abroad, what might it bring?In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon ask why individuals engaged in pursuits from cultural critique to theoretical biology are now actively interested in traditions such as Christianity and Platonism. Full conversation at my YouTube channel.
The Quiet Revolution and the New Theism. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake Mark Vernon 2025-11-22 | The mood has shifted. Subjects that were once taboo - like God - are now discussed openly. So if a new theism is abroad, what might it bring? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon ask why individuals engaged in pursuits from cultural critique to theoretical biology are now actively interested in traditions such as Christianity and Platonism. What is new about this turn and what is old? What does it mean in terms of understanding our humanity, the sciences and wider cosmology? And how can these new currents be best assessed and discerned?Rupert and I have almost 100 dialogues online.For more on Rupert see - sheldrake.orgFor more on Mark see - markvernon.com
Opposites attract? #CSLewis and ##OwenBarfield on polarity Mark Vernon 2025-11-12 | Owen A. Barfield is Owen Barfield’s grandson who works tirelessly to ensure his grandfather's work, which inspired Tolkien too, stays available.My book inspired by Barfield is "A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness."
Cleansing the Doors of Perception. William Blake, Romanticism and the Meaning Crisis Mark Vernon 2025-11-12 | The Romantic movement is a tragic movement. In response to the Enlightenment, poets and painters sought a return of feeling but failed in one crucial aspect: to ground the vision, to make clear how it is a means of truth.The result is that, alongside the wonderful, powerful presence of reason in the modern world, runs a desire to intensify feeling is if that can bring back the meaning otherwise lost to the technological and abstract.Only, ungrounded, Romantic feeling doesn't. Instead, too often, it leads to reactionary nationalism, fundamentalism in religion, hedonism and sentimentality, and modes of inner healing that offer exaggerated experience as a proxy for transformation.William Blake spotted this tendency. He realised that Romanticism must come of age, to borrow the expression of Owen Barfield, by understanding the imagination as a way of knowing of and growing into the fundamentals of existence. In this talk, delivered to the Centre for the Study of Platonism at the University of Cambridge, I explore how Blake conveyed the crucial awareness that might redeem the tragedy of Romanticism, so damaging alive in the modern world.
The rest is history? CS Lewis and Owen Barfield on the evolution of consciousness Mark Vernon 2025-11-11 | Owen A. Barfield is Owen Barfield’s grandson who works tirelessly to ensure his grandfather's work, which inspired Tolkien too, stays available.My book inspired by Barfield is "A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness."
Mere fancy? #CSLewis and #OwenBarfield on the imagination. Mark Vernon 2025-11-10 | Owen A. Barfield is Owen Barfield’s grandson who works tirelessly to ensure his grandfather's work, which inspired Tolkien too, stays available.My book inspired by Barfield is "A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness."
William Blake the revolutionary! Poetry that changes you Mark Vernon 2025-11-07 | Leah Brooksher and I spoke at Symposium Books, Providence RI. The joy of arriving in a new place and meeting someone with a shared love and perception! A kindred soul.
Whats God, the Science, the Evidence really about? Mark Vernon 2025-11-02 | Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies don't prove God but do show that a narrow materialism is inadequate to the mysteries of existence.
William Blake sees a ghost! A #Halloween tale... Mark Vernon 2025-10-30 | There's much more about Blake's clairvoyance and sight of angels in my book, Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination.www.markvernon.com
The man who awed #CSLewis and #Tolkien. Owen Barfield Symposium Mark Vernon 2025-10-28 | Full details of the symposium at temenosacademy.org/events-programme/poetic-imagination-and-the-rediscovery-of-meaning-a-symposium-inspired-by-owen-barfield
Ode to Joy Podcast. A conversation with Paul Wilkinson and Mark Vernon. Music That Shapes Us podcast Mark Vernon 2025-10-27 | A psychotherapist, philosopher and writer drawn to the wellsprings of both ancient and modern philosophy and the illumination of the inner life. His work moves between the timeless and the modern, exploring friendship and belief, wellbeing and wonder, and the quiet art of living with depth in a restless age.His recent books trace paths through the visionary landscapes of William Blake, the awakening of spiritual intelligence, the pilgrimage of Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the Christian imagination as seen through Owen Barfield — the Oxford Inkling and close companion of C.S. Lewis.You can find out more about Paul via his website - www.paulwilkinson.co.ukYou can find out more about Mark via his website - www.markvernon.com
William Blake Masterclass at the Unherd Club. With Esmé Partridge, Mark Vernon and Florence Read Mark Vernon 2025-10-06 | At a time of renewed interest in the spiritual, what could challenge the uninspiring notion of ‘cultural Christianity’? One answer is by embracing the esoteric. William Blake, the painter and poet, has become a model for a new kind of rebellious spirituality. Though he spent his life in poverty and obscurity, Blake’s radical vision of the divine is now a cornerstone of modern mysticism. Psychotherapist and podcaster Mark Vernon, author of ‘Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination’, and religion researcher, Esmé Partridge, talk in a masterclass, hosted by Unherd in London, on the meaning and mythos of Blake.0:00 What world Blake was responding to2:15 What did Blake mean by Newton’s sleep?5:28 How did Blake see the natural world?8:30 Why did Blake react against the Christianity of his day?11:50 Understanding “The Garden of Love”13:50 Understanding “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”16:50 Blake against the ills of today: sentimentality and unforgivingness18:40 The road of excess and erotic desire21:47 Navigating the contrary tensions of life25:15 Blake’s mythological figures29:30 What about Los and Jerusalem?32:30 What about Blake’s view of politics and revolution?36:50 How do you cleanse the doors of perception?40:20 So in what way was Blake Christian?43:46 How did William and Catherine support themselves?46:52 How do we distinguish between imagination and fantasy?49:51 How can Blake be helpful to modern psychology?52:30 How can Blake help us reach for the eternal?56:10 How can Blake bring meaning to life?57:30 What would Blake make of Nietzsche?1:00:00 What would Blake make of Spinoza?1:01:30 Can we diagnose Blake and his visions?1:03:20 What about Blake and cultural Christianity today?1:05:30 What did Blake make about violence?1:07:43 Can you say more about Catherine Blake?1:09:30 Blake’s wit about his visions1:10:54 Can you comment on Blake and Englishness?
Energy is the only Life! Owen Barfield spots something remarkable in William Blake Mark Vernon 2025-09-28 | The full conversation with Mark Vernon and Malcolm Guite is "Rouze Up Souls of the New Age!", at Mark's YouTube channel.For more on Mark's book, "Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination" see www.markvernon.com
Rouze Up Souls of the New Age! A conversation with Malcolm Guite on William Blake Mark Vernon 2025-09-27 | “Man has no Body distinct from his Soul,” declared William Blake. “Nature is imagination itself!” The human face is the “countenance divine”.Inspiring, yes. But what can we make of his sayings?Mark Vernon sat down with poet Malcolm Guite to discuss how Blake’s ideas about the imagination challenge modern ways of perceiving the world. They stress that dismissing Blake’s converse with angels dismisses the radicality of what he has to offer. They explore how the division between the subjective and objective, which Guite calls “epistemological apartheid”, is false and has terrible consequences for human beings, personally and politically. They argue that theology needs a revival of the imagination as the way we apprehend truths that put the fire into rational comprehension.For more on Mark’s book, “Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination” see www.markvernon.comFor more on Malcolm Guite see malcolmguite.wordpress.com0:00 Ways of knowing01:46 Don't medicalise Blake!3:30 The senses are inlets of soul5:25 A fundamental, false division12:07 Imagination makes real not makes up16:35 Demystifying the imagination20:48 Eternity in the present and particular26:58 Reason the bound of energy: Geoffrey Hill on Blake32:09 Blake's aphoristic philosophy33:20 The renewal of Christianity42:56 The generative teaching of Jesus 44:46 Energy and the Holy Spirit: Barfield on Blake48:17 Albion crucifies the imagination54:21 Contraries that create not conflict58:29 Selfless perception
The Wisdom of the Imagination. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake Mark Vernon 2025-09-23 | The imagination is often regarded as a valuable but fanciful capacity. But what if imagination were not an optional extra, or even the possession of human beings alone, but a fundamental feature of reality?In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon draw on the ideas of William Blake to explore Blake’s insistence that “nature is imagination itself!”. They discuss how the understanding of the imagination has contracted in recent times, though also how modern science is a remarkable exercise in the imagination. They consider matters from how the Platonic notion of ideas relates to cosmic and evolutionary novelty, to whether angels can be said to be imaginative and creative. Mark’s new book is "Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination". For more information see markvernon.com/books/awake-william-blake-and-the-power-of-the-imagination.
A wonderful mingling of fact and fiction. The State visit of President Trump Mark Vernon 2025-09-21 | "Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination" is out now! www.markvernon.com
You dont have imagination. Imagination has you! Mark Vernon 2025-09-20 | "Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination" is out now! www.markvernon.com
William Blake on President Trump and division Mark Vernon 2025-09-16 | More on Blake’s humanism, revolution in perception, and divine vision in "Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination" by Mark Vernon.
The best book on Blake out there! Mark Vernon 2025-09-01 | Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination by Mark Vernon is out now!
Full-strength imagination. Romanticism come of age. Mark Vernon & Robert Rowland Smith talk Blake Mark Vernon 2025-09-01 | Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination is now available worldwide.To celebrate, Mark Vernon and Robert Rowland Smith discuss all things Blake from angels and images, to poetry and prophecy.For more on the book see markvernon.com/books/awake-william-blake-and-the-power-of-the-imagination
