The new Idler magazine! I am all at sea in a beautiful pea-green boat.
Mark Vernon
@askwilliamblake.bsky.social
Writer, psychotherapist, lover of William Blake - Plato, Dante and Owen Barfield, too. For more see www.markvernon.com
There's something not quite being got at in the discussion of Nolan's #Odyssey. And it has to do with the knock-on effects of flatlanding the gods. A psychological worldview, a moral one, even when filled out with the nuance in #Homer's original, isn't enough for we humans. youtu.be/UkkLVuCCLjs
Homer's Odyssey, Nolan's telling. Crucial losses in the movie version of nostos, homecoming
YouTube video by Mark Vernon
youtu.be
I’ve been reflecting on the discussion of the gods in The Odyssey, following the release of Christopher Nolan’s film, unsatisfied by what is made of the awareness of deities. There is another story to tell. New article at my Substack, A Golden String. open.substack.com/pub/markvern...
When Gods Walked Amongst Mortals
Odysseus conversing with Athena is a perception shared by ancient Greeks and Hebrews
open.substack.com
“A minority secular world-view has captured the agenda . . . more than 80 per cent of the world’s population have a sacred world-view" The Sustainable Development Goals are restricted by a secular world-view, argues @askwilliamblake.bsky.social #SDGs #Sacredness #UN #UnitedNations
Human flourishing requires the sacred
ALL beauty is an echo of God’s beauty. This statement and others like it have been made by Christians across the ages, alongside theists from other traditions. “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, ...
churchtimes.co.uk
This telling of the #Odyssey epic is Nolan's epic telling. The opening title reads: “A time of apparent magic”, which is a clear signal. But the original tale asks more: who are we, not merely, how should we behave? markvernon942268.substack.com/p/sing-for-o...
Sing For Our Time Too! The Divine Song Of The Odyssey
The spiritual way was the original way of reading Homer's tale of homecoming
markvernon942268.substack.com
Year 529 AD. Saint Benedict establishes the Abbey of Monte Cassino. The Platonic Academy in Athens closes after 900 years. A spiritual handing on of the baton. Happy Saint Benedict’s day!
Reflections on Mary Beard's Being Greek radio series and the ramifications of god-blind discussions of premodern worlds. At my Substack, A Golden String, open.substack.com/pub/markvern...
In Search of Lost Gods
On ancient Greek tales of sexual misadventure and priestly election
open.substack.com
#WilliamBlake had mixed feelings about American Independence. He shared his friend Thomas Paine’s championing of liberty, but knew, too, that revolution can become caught in endless cycles of violence: an incomplete apocalypse, or revelation, ruled by Urizen, not Eternity. #fourthjulyweekend🇺🇸
A lot of ground surveyed in this lively BBCFreeThinking. Chunky generalisations on subversive Englishness were less persuasive than STW novel @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social talks to @tweedpipe.bsky.social Jade Munslow Ong, Sophie Scott-Brown @askwilliamblake.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Eccentrics & Outsiders
Matthew Sweet takes a sideways look at Englishness.
bbc.co.uk
There's still time to support your local indie bookshop this #IndieBookshopWeek! Get your copy of 'Awake: William Blake and the Power of the Imagination' by @askwilliamblake.bsky.social at @pgwells.bsky.social in Winchester. #ChooseBookshops
The imagination available to embrace contemporary troubles, particularly when they are threaded with fatalism and declinism, rests much on the richness, or paucity, of the vision held about what it is to be human. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String, open.substack.com/pub/markvern...
Magnifica Humanitas In Temporibus Anxietatis
The Pope knows anthropology is key to contemporary troubles because Christianity redefined what it means to be human
open.substack.com
The @idlermagazine arrives. And relax. My piece this month on mundane ecstasy, such as guided #Bowie in “boring Bromley”. Available from idler.co.uk and in good newsagents.
I much enjoyed talking with Monika Beisner, the greatest living illustrator of Dante’s Divine Comedy, on her work and #Dante. youtu.be/9dPzcZYzRGE?...
Illuminating Dante's Divine Comedy - A Dialogue between Monika Beisner & Dr. Mark Vernon
YouTube video by The King's Foundation School of Traditional Arts
youtu.be
I talk with Tim Nash at Nomad Podcast on why, I feel, the apophatic way offerings something like no other… open.substack.com/pub/markvern...
Under The Radar Mystics
The Cloud of Unknowing and why all shall be well
open.substack.com
How to read William Blake's "Jerusalem the Emanation of the Giant Albion." Brilliant to talk with Susanne Sklar about this great, epic poem. #WilliamBlake #Jesus #Christianity youtu.be/EkBcFrygTKY
How to read William Blake's "Jerusalem the Emanation of the Giant Albion"
YouTube video by Mark Vernon
youtu.be
Jung was asked about God and said, he knew. But what did he know and why might that much matter? New essay at my Substack, A Golden String. substack.com/@markvernon9...
Carl Jung’s Penultimate Concerns
Depth psychology illuminates modern phenomena from overwork to UFOs. But Jung's ambivalences need critique
substack.com
It's never not a good moment to contemplate the vital, engaged, felt qualities of our participation in life. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String. markvernon942268.substack.com/p/the-nature...
The Campaign For Real Intelligence
AI hype and reality is confusing, but also an opportunity
markvernon942268.substack.com
Vegetal mysticism, the mind a plant, is not some shroom-head extravagance, but the very essence of contemplation. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String markvernon942268.substack.com/p/trust-your...
Trust Your Inner Plant, As The Mystics Say
Psychedelics dominate vegetal spirituality. But there is another herbaceous tradition
markvernon942268.substack.com
A new episode of Philosphy Slam! the podcast just released. Two randomly generated words, “carpet” and “relieve”, turn out to have unexpectedly close connections… Do have a listen with Robert Rowland Smith and myself. youtu.be/clPoTLx7-Ag
Two Philosophers Riff on Carpet and Relieve
YouTube video by Philosophy Slam!
youtu.be
I like the idea that the man who fled naked from the arrest of Jesus, strangely detailed in the Gospel of Mark, was indeed Saint Mark. Fear strips us but is not the end of the story. Happy Saint Mark’s Day. Image: “The Betrayal of Christ”, Hendrick Goltzius
Congratulations to Simon Conway Morris for being awarded the 2026 Templeton Prize. To my mind, he is one of the most interesting Darwinian evolutionary biologists... markvernon942268.substack.com/p/simon-conw...
Simon Conway Morris on Owen Barfield, consciousness and the significance of language
The 2026 winner of the Templeton Prize and a fuller account of evolution
markvernon942268.substack.com
Wonderful reflections from Mark Vernon.
Mark Vernon@askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe lunar trip, when back on Earth, wrecked the lives of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and several others. Fame played a part in that, but more powerful was the destabilising aftermath of the overview effect. #artemis #splashdown markvernon942268.substack.com/p/splashdown...
The lunar trip, when back on Earth, wrecked the lives of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and several others. Fame played a part in that, but more powerful was the destabilising aftermath of the overview effect. #artemis #splashdown markvernon942268.substack.com/p/splashdown...
Splashdown. Now Comes The Greatest Danger
Apollo astronauts suffered much after their lunar encounter. Will those on Artemis?
markvernon942268.substack.com