The dispute enjoyed by #CSLewis and #OwenBarfield, which they called their Great War, as explained by Barfield’s grandson. Issue #1 imagination.

One way of unlearning and so reimagining how Plato and ancient Greeks approached philosophy is to say that they didn’t think of or about death, nature, virtue etc, but that they thought death, nature, virtue etc. open.substack.com/pub/markvern...

New issue of @idler magazine released today. My thoughts this month are on bullshitters, whom #Dante placed in a very low circle of hell.

Talking #WilliamBlake tomorrow if you’re near Providence RI! Entry free but book discount here as well - www.eventbrite.com/e/author-eve...

Really stimulating speaking with Elizabeth Rovere @wonderstruckpod about our shared practice of psychotherapy and links to spiritual intelligence, as well as the golden string that links #Dante, #WilliamBlake and #Jesus. wonderstruck.org/episodes/psy...

Do come along if you’re in town! www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/the-power-...

Essential life hack, imho.

Justin Martyr regarded Socrates as a “Christian before Christ”. On #AllSaints day, the death of the Athenian sage, as Plato presents it in the Phaedo, offers a fresh way of contemplating the meaning of death. open.substack.com/pub/markvern...

Big thanks Virginia Theological Seminar rare books library for showing me this gorgeous 15th century Flemish book of hours. The glint of the goldleaf and brilliance of the colours is like a wormhole in time, as Catherine Clarke, our guest Idler drinks, pointed out in the discussion that followed.

#WilliamBlake sees a #ghost! A #Halloween tale from in between worlds…

If you’re in Chicago on Friday! @seminarycoopbookstores www.semcoop.com/event/

The symposium on #OwenBarfield is a week Sunday, 9th Nov, at Rudolf Steiner House, London. Book tickets at Temenos Academy website.

Hugely looking forward to this #OwenBarfield event. If you're remotely interested in his genius, and why #CSLewis and #Tolkien were in awe, do come along!

Fun and stimulating to add music into talking about #WilliamBlake with @paulwilkinsonmusician. youtu.be/ZbL0T_I9bLw?...

The problem with seeking from science the existence of God is that the more the evidence is rationalised to delivery a deity, the more the cosmos is emptied of what divine presence brings: life, imagination, being, love. The result is a demiurge-ruled, highly machined artifice.

“A modern European can read Plato and Aristotle through from end to end, he can even write books expounding their philosophy, and all without understanding a single sentence.” #OwenBarfield. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String… open.substack.com/pub/markvern...

Come along. This afternoon. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/william-bl...

The King with the Pope is not only about the glamour of history. They will discuss the encyclical Laudato si’ and “integral ecology”: care for the spiritual inside of the world, not just practical externals. A crisis in outer nature is, first, a crisis of inner nature. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ce...

I much enjoyed this discussion, with much thanks @ArtsFirstUK. We quickly got to really crucial matters when understanding William Blake… artsfirst.substack.com/p/e32-willia...

“The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.” #WilliamBlake

Or as #WilliamBlake might say: “Awake! Awake O Sleeper of the Land of Shadows!”

Post-literacy? The flashing, scrolling screen is a symptom, not cause, following a generations-long eroding of the meaning of words - often, if inadvertently, fostered by those now worried about the collapse of reading. New essay at my Substack… open.substack.com/pub/markvern...

One of the few good things to come out of covid is the regular Drink with the Idler, featuring @askwilliamblake.bsky.social's thought for the week. Last night was @irvinewelsh.bsky.social but I am particularly looking forward to hearing from Tim Richardson. www.idler.co.uk/events/

A new thought on social media is becoming the norm: it’s not a cause of fragmentation but appeals because of an already existing love of division. #WilliamBlake would agree. The algorithms work because moralising has long been a way of living with others. pghrev.com/the-contrari...

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof, there thou may’st rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe; And all the daughters of the year shall dance! - William Blake

Werner Heisenberg meets William Blake in Mark Vernon's new article for @iai.tv – Physicist & poet alike warn of the danger of viewing the world only through idealising models, losing the vitality of direct encounters with reality. bit.ly/47eI8u3 #philsky #physics #poetry #philsci

@askwilliamblake.bsky.social's brilliant book on William Blake has just been published by @hurstpublishers.bsky.social – www.hurstpublishers.com/book/awake/

Against science? #WilliamBlake is often thought to be in that camp. But that’d be wrong… iai.tv/articles/hei...

Supermoonrise, London

William Blake Masterclass at the Unherd Club. With Esmé Partridge, Mark Vernon and Florence Read youtu.be/KNjKLdp-kpg

The genius of #Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Charles Williams saw, is its heart in good living, not strife, but with “the existence of a great world outside the Shire”, lest good living “grow stale by custom”; the spiritual drama, told by English mystics from #Julian to #Blake, revealing who we are.

What is it to be English? #WilliamBlake's #Albion finds an alternative to assertions of moral values or national identity. He discovers change comes with regained perception. Who is he separated from? What awareness does he need? Blake has a way fit for today! pghrev.com/the-contrari...

Taking #WilliamBlake seriously includes taking his clairvoyance seriously - not explaining so as to explain away. Moreover, he thought so too. Thanks to @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social for publishing this excerpt from “Awake!”. pghrev.com/the-angels-o...

The terror of meeting #SaintFrancis. More at my YouTube, “The man who ripped reality and rose like a sun”, youtu.be/bScob-fI7-Q

Practicing the perception of meaning in “Each rock & each hill, Each fountain & rill, Each herb & each tree, Mountain, hill, Earth & Sea” revives the imagination otherwise clouded by doom. New essay at my Substack, A Golden String. markvernon942268.substack.com/p/addiction-...

"The colourful stories of Blake’s second sight, remembered by so many who knew him that they can’t be discounted, reach back into his early childhood." Read an excerpt from AWAKE! WILLIAM BLAKE AND THE POWER OF THE IMAGINATION, by @askwilliamblake.bsky.social. pghrev.com/the-angels-o...

"Blake’s point is that the problems of today are symptoms of a wider cultural issue: the imprisoned imagination is one that fails to see alternative ways forward." Mark Vernon, @askwilliamblake.bsky.social, on the work of William Blake. pghrev.com/the-contrari...

Tree ferns are yantras in Vedic understanding, drawing down spiritual energy and light. This cultivar appeared physically to have manifested the subtler insight.

“Once when I was living in the heart of a pomegranate, I heard a seed saying, 'Someday I shall become a tree…’” Kahlil Gibran

I enjoyed talking with @alexanderbeiner.bsky.social, particularly on how imaginatively Blake might help us relate afresh to “Each rock & each hill, Each fountain & rill, Each herb & each tree, Mountain, hill, Earth & Sea”… open.substack.com/pub/beiner/p...

The pivotal idea in #WilliamBlake? Hmm. That there is Eternity - not as everlastingness, or as a quality, but as the nature of existence and identical with God. His work is absorbed with the perception of Eternity, its perversion by human beings, and its restoration to awareness.

Energy is the only Life! #OwenBarfield spots something remarkable in #WilliamBlake. The full conversation with Mark Vernon and Malcolm Guite is "Rouze Up Souls of the New Age!", at Mark's YouTube channel.

Three top #angel images by #WilliamBlake for the eve of the feast of #Michael and All Angels. 1. Michael Binding Satan. 2. Albion’s Angel distressed at the spiritual death of England, humanity cowering alongside. 3. Angels in Christ’s Sepulchre, awaiting the return of life.

“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? I sat down with poet @malcolmguite.bsky.social… markvernon942268.substack.com/p/rouze-up-s...

A new conversation with Rupert Sheldrake, thinking about #WilliamBlake and the imagination - in nature, in minds, in the world… youtu.be/8vr6AjyqEjw

The most inspiring place I’ve visited this year… fetzer.org/case-study/g...

Near NW3? In NW3! Do come along tonight - @waterstones.bsky.social Hampstead with @RupertSheldrake #WilliamBlake

Join @askwilliamblake.bsky.social and Rupert Sheldrake in conversation about ‘Awake!: William Blake and the Power of the Imagination’ next week at Waterstones Hampstead!✨ 🗓 23rd September ⏰ 6.30pm BST 🎟️ tinyurl.com/ynz66p5j

Why perpetual wars? “The popular imagination fairly fattens on the thought of wars,” wrote William James. Adam Smith gave less often aired and no less insightful reasons for conflict too... markvernon942268.substack.com/p/war-what-i...