The most insightful poet that ever lived. Iain McGilchrist & Mark Vernon on William Blake
Iain McGilchrist calls William Blake “the least cosy of poets and one of the most insightful that ever lived.” Blake is cited more often than most figures in Iain’s great book, "The Matter With Things".So what did Blake express that might much matter now? How did he understand key features of our humanity such as the imagination and inspiration, as well as the character of our day?In this conversation, prompted by the publication of "Awake!", Iain and Mark often land on wonderful quotes of Blake to unpack them. ”To the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.” “As a man is, so he sees.” "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite."They explore Blakean imagery such as the spiral shape of Jacob’s Ladder. Contemporary concerns are central too, from architecture to AI. Above all, they celebrate Blake as a figure who can guide our desires, aid us with the contraries of modern life, and sustain our faith that life is good, for all the ills that surround us.For more on Iain’s work - https://channelmcgilchrist.comFor more on Mark’s work - https://www.markvernon.comMark’s new book on William Blake is “Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination” - https://www.markvernon.com/books/awake-william-blake-and-the-power-of-the-imagination0:00 No-one has imagination!05:27 The narrowing of imagination08:36 Fantasy and uncoupling11:55 The misenchantment of the world13:08 Place, space and architecture16:26 Spiritually aware consumerism19:43 The glowing presence of infinity21:13 Cleansing the doors of perception24:38 Speaking from the outside in26:38 The failure of empathy and need for the sacred31:24 Primary connection not separation33:10 Blake’s orthodoxy34:37 Jacob’s Ladder as a spiral38:12 The good can hold the bad39:55 Data, memory and AI42:33 Memory that inspires45:44 The enlivening of ritual48:10 Blake on divine science53:37 The character of things and insights57:17 Distinctions without difference59:28 Illuminating Blake and Dante
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How to Live like William Blake!
A conversation from History with Chris Harding.In Mark Vernon's new book "Awake!", he argues that we’re missing something from our view of the great visionary artist William Blake.It’s that word - ‘visionary.’Mark argues that Blake’s extraordinary art reveals an expanded experience of the world that Blake lived with every day: angels, fairies, realms beyond our own. Blake wasn’t, in other words, making it all up…Mark says that we shouldn’t be afraid of the ‘supernatural Blake.’ We should embrace him - and even aspire to live a little as he did.00:00 Introduction to William Blake02:45 Blake's Life and Context04:32 Blake and India08:45 The Nature of Perception13:06 Childhood Experiences and Spirituality19:50 Blake's Relationship with Institutional Christianity24:43 The Role of Forgiveness in Jesus' Teachings26:05 Blake's Vision of the Human Form Divine28:00 The Sacrificial Nature of Spiritual Awakening29:28 Blake as a Social Critic 31:30 Blake and Science35:21 The Dangers of Abstraction 36:19 Blake and consumerism43:06 What does Blake offer us now?
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Awake! Albion awake! And let us awake up together!
Recorded in St James’s Piccadilly, the church in which William Blake was baptised, with his life mask also present.Thoughts on Blake’s great call to us today from the launch of my new book, “Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination”.
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Top 10 William Blake quotes! The full countdown
A taste of Blake’s genius and what he might mean for us. Celebrating the release of "Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination" by Mark Vernon.The full countdown:10. I’ll sing to you to this soft lute, and shew you all aliveThe world, where every particle of dust breathes forth its joy.9. I give you the end of a golden string; Only wind it into a ball, It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate, Built in Jerusalem’s wall.8. Monos ho Jesus7. The ruins of Time build mansions in Eternity. 6. If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.5. To see a world in a grain of sandAnd a heaven in a wild flower,Hold infinity in the palm of your handAnd eternity in an hour.4. How do you know but every bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos'd by your senses five?3. It is right it should be so Man was made for Joy & Woe And when this we rightly know Thro the World we safely go Joy & Woe are woven fine A Clothing for the soul divine Under every grief & pineRuns a joy with silken twine2. He who binds to himself a joyDoes the winged life destroy;But he who kisses the joy as it fliesLives in eternity's sun rise. 1. There is a Moment in each Day that Satan cannot find,Nor can his Watch Fiends find it, but the Industrious findThis Moment & it multiply, & when it once is found.
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On the Right Track. Liberty from left-brained analysis. William Blake’s path of perceptual expansion
Acknowledging that there are complementary modes of perception has become commonplace. But left-hemisphere analysis can diagnose the problem without offering much sense of how better to incorporate the right.Which is where William Blake comes in. He describes the narrowing of perception from the perspective of the wider involvement. The result is a guide to participation that is simultaneously a path of transformation.He speaks of the sometimes useful but confined view called Ulro, which might give way to Generation – a second mode of perception – and then Beulah and, finally, Eternity. In this talk, I consider how each is known and how the one might lead to the other.For more on my book, Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination, see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/awake-william-blake-and-the-power-of-the-imagination
Reflections from Mark Vernon on soulful matters including spirituality and psychotherapy, science and religion, consciousness and the divine. For more on see www.markvernon.com
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