This is the second episode of my Do Radio Series Where To Next? A new episode is released every Monday. The week after each episode is aired I put it up here on my Substack to create a series archive for those who discover it in the future and want to go back to the start, and for those who want to re-listen to the wisdom of my guests that does seems to bloom on a second and third listening. That has been the case for me, anyway. This episode was first broadcast on DO Radio on September 8th 2025.Thank you so much for your support, which is crucial for me to be able to continue making the show. I have recorded eight episodes so far, with many more exciting guests organised between now and Christmas. I’m also thrilled to say that Iain McGilchrist has agreed to appear on the show and I can’t wait to go and visit him up in Scotland later this year.
Now back to this episode. I went to see Mark Vernon at his home in South London at the end of May and we had a wonderful conversation about William Blake (Mark’s new book on Blake is available here ), Owen Barfield, serendipity and the Realisation Festival that Mark is also involved in. All of Mark’s books and his latest event appearances can be found on his website here
There were so many fascinating takeaways from the conversation. I particularly enjoyed the way Mark explained Blake’s work that has made a huge difference to how I now make sense of him. He also showed me how Blake saw the imagination not as something inside our heads that we have but as something outside of us we can receive, which reflected an idea I spoke about in my Do lecture about ideas a decade ago. We also discussed the continuum of experience we travel back and forth along every day of our lives, with rationality at one end and the more sacred and mystical experiences at the other. Mark encourages us to venture away from rationality alone and live more in the middle, which is something I have been doing ever since.
Mark is a wonderful man and an incredibly smart thinker with a range of perspectives taking in physics, theology and philosophy and he is able to roam within all three at once while talking. You will learn a huge amount from this episode. Enjoy!
Much love,
Dan
Following The Stag by Dan Kieran is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and help me fund my Do Radio show, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
