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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 16h

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...

Post-literacy and Playing With Words

Screens disconnect. But infinite scrolls manifest a deeper crisis of meaning

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Mark Vernon

Neil Scott @neilscott.substack.com · 1d

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/

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 1d

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...

The Contraries of Blake - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Division, fragmentation, bloody strife: the watchwords of our times. People of many persuasions are growing increasingly troubled by the tension. Many are

pghrev.com

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 2d

We await better metaphors that selfish genes…

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 2d

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

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Reposted by Mark Vernon

Alasdair Craig @alasdaircraig.bsky.social · 3d

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

Heisenberg meets William Blake: The danger of science's "single vision" | Mark Vernon

bit.ly

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Reposted by Mark Vernon

Alasdair Craig @alasdaircraig.bsky.social · 3d

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

Awake! | Hurst Publishers

A new look at the life, works and enduring relevance of William Blake, a deeply spiritual and politically radical figure.

www.hurstpublishers.com

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 4d

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

Heisenberg meets William Blake: The danger of science's "single vision" | Mark Vernon

iai.tv

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 4d

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 4d

Supermoonrise, London

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 4d

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

William Blake Masterclass at the Unherd Club. With Esmé Partridge, Mark Vernon and Florence Read

YouTube video by Mark Vernon

youtu.be

Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 5d

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.

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 6d

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...

The Contraries of Blake - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Division, fragmentation, bloody strife: the watchwords of our times. People of many persuasions are growing increasingly troubled by the tension. Many are

pghrev.com

2

Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 6d

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 Angels of William Blake - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Wrestling with their weird and wonderful presence is central to Blake: dodging that, out of distaste or embarrassment, is really dodging him. They are central

pghrev.com

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 7d

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

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 7d

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-...

Addiction to Doom

The imagination was made for inspiration

markvernon942268.substack.com

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Reposted by Mark Vernon

Pittsburgh Review of Books @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social · 8d

"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...

The Angels of William Blake - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Wrestling with their weird and wonderful presence is central to Blake: dodging that, out of distaste or embarrassment, is really dodging him. They are central

pghrev.com

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Reposted by Mark Vernon

Pittsburgh Review of Books @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social · 8d

"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...

The Contraries of Blake - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Division, fragmentation, bloody strife: the watchwords of our times. People of many persuasions are growing increasingly troubled by the tension. Many are

pghrev.com

1 1

Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 8d

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

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 9d

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

Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 9d

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...

Hold Infinity: William Blake and Visioning the Future

Mark Vernon on his new book 'Awake!: William Blake and the Power of the Imagination'

open.substack.com

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 11d

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.

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 13d

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.

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Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 13d

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.

Mark Vernon @askwilliamblake.bsky.social · 14d

“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...

Rouze Up Souls of the New Age!

A conversation with Malcolm Guite on William Blake

markvernon942268.substack.com