Mark Vernon is a former priest turned psychotherapist who has spent the last 30 years exploring one central question: how do we find meaning in a secular age?

After a crisis of faith pulled him away from the Church’s inner sanctum in his youth, Mark turned to Plato and Jung in pursuit of a deeper understanding of purpose, connection, and the soul. Today, his writing bridges ancient philosophy, religion, and modern psychology, a powerful triad he also applies to his work as a therapist.

In this episode, we discuss:

✦ The overwhelm of conflicting meanings and remembering the sacred

✦ The spiritual thread connecting Dante, William Blake, and Jesus

✦ How wonder helps us access the divine

✦ Why psychotherapy is a path for ‘spiritual intelligence’

Mark's work invites us into the depths of wonder and spirituality as a necessity for the soul.

Chapters

0:00 Intro: The modern crisis of meaning

5:08 Psychotherapy and the vertical dimension of life

11:25 The cloud of unknowing and mystical experiences

18:19 Kairos time: Moments of spiritual significance

23:01 William Blake on joy and eternity

27:04 Death as a transcendent and transformative experience

33:08 Early Christianity's deeper mysteries and meanings

40:44 Humility as an expansive spiritual virtue

50:56 Owen Barfield and the evolution of consciousness

57:35 Ontological shocks and transformative experiences

1:02:41 Outro: The importance of sacred experiences

Follow Mark:

Website: https://www.markvernon.com/

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X: https://x.com/platospodcasts

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PlatosPodcasts

Awake! William Blake and the Power of the Imagination: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/awake/

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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wonderstruck/id1671879661

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6fS5boWGwYTShddG7SKlVw

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