Inner Life, Talks and Thoughts

A little known, astonishingly personal article by King Charles provides a remarkable window onto his soul. In it, he speaks of an extraordinary power and hope that might not only steady a moment of constitutional transition, but even calm a period of widespread and deepening social anxiety.The article was a tribute he wrote to the poet and William Blake scholar, Kathleen Raine, subsequently published in Resurgence magazine. In this talk, I unpack what the new king said and ask why it matters.

Sam Harris raised the question of the location of heaven, not least in the space age, when "up there" is not straightforwardly a good answer.Jonathan Pageau responded eloquently, noting that up is, of course, an analogy that might guide us towards the way in which earth and heaven are different dimensions of participation in divine reality. The ancients knew earth and heaven phenomenologically rather than just physically.Here, I offer a different conception again, that I think is useful now - taking a lead from Jesus's remarks that the kingdom is within, that praying is best done in secret, and that withdrawal and reflection are key to discerning the divine, heavenly presence.I consider how the Platonic notion of ascent, from The Symposium, is actually an mistaken gloss on what Diotima actually explains to Socrates. Love's path to Beauty is, in fact, one of subtly, awakening and understanding.And then I consider Dante's journey through the planetary spheres in Paradiso. Again, whilst metaphors of movement are present, the dynamic that Dante tracks is one of perception: the more he understands of the divine light within himself, the more he understands and knows how he is closer to heaven than he ever suspected.

I enjoyed Jordan Peele's movie, Nope. But what is it saying?NOTE: This comment is full of spoilers!

William Blake saw himself as a prophet, which means that his writings challenge, even repulse, on occasion. However, Blake's harding sayings are the moments when his greatest vision stands before us. They are worth wrestling with, if he is to become more than a poet with a compelling line that we might grab as a proof quote.In this talk, I consider how Blake's vision of nature, politics and humanity sits uncomfortably alongside the received wisdom of today, in both secular and Christian domains.“Without man, nature is barren,” he writes in the Proverbs of Hell.Golgonooza “continually building & continually decaying desolate,” he writes in Jerusalem.“They were as Adam before me, united as One Man,” he also sees in Jerusalem.In the light of the infinite, that Blake longs to awaken in us, they speak of the higher dimensions of the cosmos that are to be discovered; of a politics of expectancy not utopia that awaits; and how the divine might be an imaginative intimation within us.We will also need the freedom of forgiveness, Blake insists, as well as a new science, built on the capacity to see how  how all is animate, intelligent, alive. But that can stir the perception of God's activity as the true nature of our act activities, and so lead to an overcoming of the threatened self, to yield to the one life which is the truth of all life.

The Book of Job has been used to retell the Christian story, as with Carl Jung's Answer to Job. It can also be sought for what it says about suffering.The Hebrew tale inspired William Blake in a distinctive, brilliant way. It helped him to diagnose the modern predicament and its religious errors. Job's suffering and patience led Blake to a mature statement of his spiritual perception, found in his 21 illustrations.In this set of reflections, I ask what Blake shows us in each of his plates, and how Blake charts a path from a mistaken religiosity of rite and righteousness to one of awakening and participation in the human form divine.Creation is not about separation, Blake avers, but manifestation. Christianity is not about sin but sleep. Humanity does not enlarge God's consciousness. Rather, humanity can awaken to its being-in-God.0:00 Blake’s take on Job4:45 Critique of righteous religiosity9:44 Satan or selfhood unleashed12:58 The spectre in the world16:07 Job’s incomprehension18:29 The wastes of moral law21:53 Job’s inner undoing24:06 Self-righteousness fails27:12 Job bewails his alienated being28:50 The false god of rule and order31:07 Job embraces unknowing33:06 The darkness of transformation38:00 Youthful stirrings of a new age40:51 Job’s whirlwind ecstasy42:59 Reality revealed47: 33 The lesson of wonder49:45 Selfhood falls to truth51:55 The human divine54:13 Perception as guide55:51 The effects of awakening57:55 The realisation of abundance59:10 Eternal life

Baruch Spinoza is widely regarded as either a God-forsaking atheist or a God-intoxicated pantheist, but Clare Carlisle says that he was neither. In her latest book, Spinoza’s Religion, she reads his masterpiece, the Ethics, to show that being-in-God lies at the heart of his nondual perception of reality.  The book unfolds a powerful philosophical vision for the modern age—one which Carlisle argues overcomes "philosophical pathologies", from reductive materialism to nihilistic atheism, as well as putting crucial questions centre stage, such as how to live a joyful, fully human life.For more on Clare Carlisle - https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/clare-carlisleFor more on Mark Vernon - https://www.markvernon.com

This is a talk I gave at the Weekend University.For more on Mark Vernon - https://www.markvernon.comFor more on my book about Jung - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/19267016-carl-jung0:00 His distinctiveness10:02 Dreams16:34 Archetypes29:41 The Self and Collective Unconscious39:40 Synchronicities

A talk give at St Matthew's Church, Wimbledon, London on 12th July 2022.

A walk through the labyrinth at Penpont, with thanks to William Blake.

The Scientific and Medical Network organised a gathering on Friday 8th July to mark Rupert’s 80th birthday and reflect on his work. In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert and Mark Vernon discuss the day, recalling remarks made by speakers including Merlin Sheldrake, Jill Purce, David Lorimer and Pam Smart. They discuss a variety of themes seminal to Rupert’s work, from science as the calling to share in a living cosmos to the business of coping with sceptics, which is not without its amusing as well as tricky moments. The conversation celebrates the richness of an engaged and free approach to the study of the natural world, with its many mysteries, often active immediately around us everyday.