To celebrate the release of his new book, Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps, the Pari Center invited Mark Vernon, to talk about his new work with Beth Macy.

They discuss the notions of spiritual intelligence, the spiritual commons, the Axial revolutions, the presence of suffering, and whether we are in a new Axial Age now.

For more on Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Beth Macy has been a manager, leader, consultant or participant in organizations experiencing difficult issues. David Bohm’s dialogue has been core to her research, writing, consulting and teaching for nearly three decades. Living in the USA (Texas) she is a contributor in the forthcoming Holoflux:Codex – Form/Movement/Vision inspired by David Bohm (Pari Publishing).

For more on Mark Vernon see - www.markvernon.com

Spiritual Intelligence In Seven Steps is my new book, released December 2022.

This is a short thought on step seven, which is about different types of time. Chronos, or clock time, dominates the world today. But there are other kinds, including kairos, which sees every moment as revelatory and is needed in times of change.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Spiritual Intelligence In Seven Steps is my new book, released December 2022.

This is a short thought on step six, which is about how spiritual intelligence understands the value of virtue over ethics or morality. This preference is because virtues don't primarily tell us what to do, but rather connect must fully with the nature of things.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Spiritual Intelligence In Seven Steps is my new book, released December 2022.

This is a short thought on step five, which is about death. Any wisdom tradition worth considering will have much to say about death, both as an end to mortal existence and as a daily experience.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Spiritual Intelligence In Seven Steps is my new book, released December 2022.

This is a short thought on step four, which is about how beneath and through the ups and downs of everyday life, that vitality which can be called our soul, can be detected a wider being, which can be called spirit.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Spiritual Intelligence In Seven Steps is my new book, released December 2022.

This is a short thought on step three, which is concerned with how our sense of individuality, or oneness, can be known as a mirror of the unity of all things. This perception, in turn, facilities awareness of an abiding simplicity running through all complexity.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Spiritual Intelligence In Seven Steps is my new book, released December 2022.

This is a short thought on step two, which asks about the nature of our freedom. Spiritual intelligence understands that, whilst good to have, freedom is not ultimately about choice or voice, but aligning with what's good, beautiful and true. This is where true freedom is found.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Spiritual Intelligence In Seven Steps is my new book, released December 2022.

This is a short thought on step one, which concerns the big history that we tell ourselves about ourselves. In short, the dominant big story is driven by a crude Darwinism that writes out spiritual intelligence, though there is good reason from the science to conclude that's wrong.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps

Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps is my contribution to aiding the recovery of the full range of human capabilities and consciousness. Artificial, rational, even emotional intelligence are not enough to ground us, valuable though they be. We need not just know-how, but know-that our lives are grounded in a spiritual commons.

The steps I outline here, and explore fully in my book, are to do with story, freedom, simplicity, soul, death, virtue and time.

For more on the book see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/spiritual-intelligence-in-seven-steps.

The secular historian, Tom Holland, has made the case that atheistic humanism is, at heart, an off-shoot of Christianity. In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon ask how that can be so. 

After all, contemporary humanists are inclined to blame Christianity for all ills, not thank Christianity for seeding values they share. Rupert and Mark agree that there is much in what Holland argues. For example, the tendency to evangelise for western values, as well as fall into dispute over what they might be, mirrors Protestant Christianity. 

But Mark is also wary of Holland’s theory, both as history and also because it risks presenting Christianity is a moral creed, not a revelation of the relationship between the human and divine. (A recent speech that Holland gave outlining his ideas can be found at Unherd.com and the website of the think tank, Theos.)

For more in our longstanding series of dialogues see https://www.sheldrake.org/audios/sheldrake-vernon-dialogues and
https://www.markvernon.com/talks