The Realisation Festival Podcast

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The Realisation Festival Podcast

Mark Vernon

16 episodes

5 months ago

Understanding AI has is a recurrent challenge. Should we be afraid or more sanguine or some combination of the two? Ben is a good person to talk to as he works in the front line of AI developments and is alert to the wonder and complexity of things. He found the Realisation Festival through the work of figures such as Iain McGilchrist and John Verveake and brings their insights to bear upon his work and sense of things. In this conversation, he discusses his own story of moving from a mechani...

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Understanding AI has is a recurrent challenge. Should we be afraid or more sanguine or some combination of the two? Ben is a good person to talk to as he works in the front line of AI developments and is alert to the wonder and complexity of things. He found the Realisation Festival through the work of figures such as Iain McGilchrist and John Verveake and brings their insights to bear upon his work and sense of things. In this conversation, he discusses his own story of moving from a mechani...

Show more...

Episodes (16/16)

The Realisation Festival Podcast

Presence, soul and AI. A conversation with Ben R Smith

Understanding AI has is a recurrent challenge. Should we be afraid or more sanguine or some combination of the two? Ben is a good person to talk to as he works in the front line of AI developments and is alert to the wonder and complexity of things. He found the Realisation Festival through the work of figures such as Iain McGilchrist and John Verveake and brings their insights to bear upon his work and sense of things. In this conversation, he discusses his own story of moving from a mechani...

5 months ago

35 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

The good, the beautiful and the truth. A philosophical godfather of the Realisation Festival, with Esmé Partridge

The Realisation Festival is held at St Giles House, Wimborne, the home of the Earls of Shaftesbury. The place is loaded with the history of social reform and philosophical innovation - not least when it comes to ideas that inspire our gathering. In this episode of the podcast, Mark Vernon talks with Esmé Partridge about one figure in particular. The Third Earl of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, was born in the latter stages of the seventeenth century and seeded in his genius the genius of...

5 months ago

36 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

The joys of spring. A conversation with Indra Adnan

If politics is broken how might people rediscover agency? If capitalism favours the powerful are there alternative forms of power to be found? If life often feels fragmented how can the fractal become revelatory? And further: how might practises like improvisation and resources like spiritual traditions assist? Indra Adnan explores these themes and more in conversation with Mark Vernon. Indra is a Co-Initiator and Founder of The Alternative which seeks to surface new ways of coming together. ...

6 months ago

52 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

Poetry as a tool for transformation. A conversation with Josiane Smith

What good is a poem? How might poetry be a tool for transformation, both personally and collectively? And how does poetry help us to better understand the spirit of our times? In this conversation, Mark Vernon and Josiane Smith explore the ways in which poetry goes beyond 'the poem', towards a more soulful way of living; engaging more deeply with the forces of nature and change all around. It can be used in surprising places to console and challenge, it can be a catalyst for our dreams ...

6 months ago

50 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

The Spiritual Function of Myth. A conversation with Martin Shaw, 2025 Realisation Festival guest speaker

What is the function of myth and story? How can they help us become more human? What do they teach us about the nature of reality and how we might orient wisely in a time such as ours when the world is in turmoil? In this conversation, Michael Bready of the Realisation team explores these questions with writer, mythographer and master storyteller, Martin Shaw. With warmth, wisdom and wit Martin shares from his deep experience as a wilderness guide, lover of mythology, and ch...

7 months ago

1 hour 1 minute

The Realisation Festival Podcast

Soul nerding and becoming the ground in collapsing times. A conversation with Sarah Wilson, Realisation Festival 2025 speaker

Why is seeing simply so valuable? How can we relearn from nature a reimagining our of lives? What does it mean to tackle contemporary troubles with joy and devotion? And what role might myth and ritual play in the rediscovery of pathways to the future? Mark Vernon talks with Sarah about these questions and more. Sarah is speaking at The Realisation Festival held in St Giles House, Dorset, 26-29 June 2025. For more about the festival see - https://realisationfestival.com/ For more about ...

8 months ago

30 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

Science and imagination, nature and meaning. A conversation on bridging divides with Pauline Rudd

Professor Pauline Rudd is a leading glycobiologist, recognised most recently by being awarded the Torbern Bergman Medal 2025. So what is it like to work as a scientist? And why is she inspired by everything from beluga whales to the grail stories? In this conversation with Mark Vernon, Pauline describes how understanding the habits of sugar molecules is akin to playing music: a moment is reached when, in some sense, the object of study becomes part of you. She discusses how meaning in t...

8 months ago

36 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

When the world gives back. A conversation with Ed Haddon

How is sport a spiritual practice? What is the value of coaching? Why are collective undertakings as valuable as individual goals? Mark Vernon talks with Ed Haddon, who Is one of the directors of the Realisation Festival and knows St Giles House, playing a longstanding part in its re-emergence. He has represented England in sport and learnt much from the pursuit of excellence. He also knows the ways in which the choices we make in life can be deeply affected by personal difficulties and pain....

9 months ago

34 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

The confidence to be human in an age of AI. A conversation about the complexity of things with Mazviita Chirimuuta

What do we really learn from neuroscience? How can scientific assumptions shape the world we perceive? Why might notions such as soul and mind matter all the more in times of mechanistic, computational thinking? Mark Vernon talks with philosopher and neuroscientist Mazviita Chirimuuta. Mazviita is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and author of the prize-winning book, The Brain Abstracted. She is also an advisor to the Realisation Festival Details of ...

9 months ago

41 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

In the beginning was connection. A conversation with Kenneth Cross

Many of today’s troubles could be described as ones of connection. But is that about a lack of connection, a flood of connection, or perhaps the quality of connections? Mark Vernon talks with Kenneth Cross about relationally and, in particular, the inspiration that might be drawn from fungi. Mycelium exist in a substerranean world, blurring the distinctions between organisms, sharing in ways that are strange even disturbing. So what light does that cast on human sympathies and selfhood? ...

9 months ago

36 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

From energy transition to knowing your bees - and there is a link. A conversation with Jonny Williams

What is it like to work in the world of renewables? Why is transitioning to new fuels so complicated and what practical difference can soulful concerns make? Mark Vernon talks with Jonny Williams about multipolar traps and the seductive appeal of targets. They discuss the challenges of mostly male workplaces, as well as the imaginative factors that can help and hinder moving beyond a carbon-based culture and economy - which is where beekeeping comes in. Jonny Williams is the founder of ...

10 months ago

34 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

The body as the practice of the imaginal. A conversation with Dominique Savitri Bonarjee

The body as the practice of the imaginal. A conversation with Dominique Savitri Bonarjee. What does it look and feel like to explore life through the body? How can ancient traditions of movement help us meet today’s challenges? Mark Vernon talks with artist Dominique Savitri Bonarjee about her exploration of practices including the Turning of Rumi and the Japanese philosophy of Butoh. They ranges over themes including the principle of nonduality and Noh-theatre inspired by Buddhism, emb...

11 months ago

40 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

Passion and trust in a turbulent age. A conversation with Juliette Otterburn Hall

What does it mean to have a shared story? How can collaboration be fostered in competitive times? Mark Vernon talks with Juliette Otterburn Hall about the power of connecting to purposes and how uniqueness is actually the key to cooperation. They ask about following the energy of the imagination as opposed to fear, and how building resilience is aided by knowing your roots. Juliette is a managing partner at Value Squared and a former TV producer. For more see - https://www.valuesquared....

11 months ago

38 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

How to be a pilgrim of cultures. A conversation with Jacob Kishere

Much is changing in the world, evidenced by movements flourishing as well as environments degrading. So how can we live into these times? What qualities and imaginative tools might help? Mark Vernon talks with Jacob Kishere about dialogue and healing, psychedelics and Christianity. They ask about the nature of soul-fields with which we can tune, as well as whether the burgeoning world of podcasts is a sign of hope as the media landscape evolves. Jacob is a professional dialogue facilita...

12 months ago

50 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

Levity, trees and the shape of the festival. A conversation with Pippa Evans

The Realisation Festival is five years old, so how is it shaping up? What ways best describe the gathering? And also, what of its distinctive coupling of music and improvisation with ideas and the challenges of today? Two directors of the festival, Pippa Evans and Mark Vernon, share their sense of St Giles House, the place that hosts the weekend, as well as the genius brought by the Realisation Players, the improvisers of which Pippa is one. They talk about improvisation itself and how it ...

1 year ago

32 minutes

The Realisation Festival Podcast

Ghosts, sci-fi and fictional philosophy. A conversation with Carrie Myshkin

What would happen if the doors of perception were cleansed, to recall William Blake's phrase? Can science-fiction help us re-imagine the world in which we live? Might strange experiences play a part in enlightening us? Mark Vernon talks with Carrie Myshkin about ghost stories, sci-fi and alternative ways of doing philosophy. They range from the work of Philip K Dick to Neoplatonism. Carrie has a BA in Creative Writing and Philosophy, and an MA in English Literature, focusing on space and ti...

1 year ago

27 minutes