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Mark Vernon

Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist, writer and teacher, with a particular interest in ancient philosophy and why it matters today. He has a private psychotherapy practice, including constellations-based groups, and also works at the Maudsley hospital. He teaches at The Idler Academy and The School of Life. His latest book is The Idler Guide to Ancient Philosophy (Idler Books). For more information see www.markvernon.com.


September 2017

  • Prince George arrives at Thomas’s Battersea for his first day of school.

    Pity poor Prince George – discouraged from having a best friend at school

    Mark Vernon
    As Aristotle noted, close friendship is one of the pinnacles of human experience. What a shame that Thomas’s Battersea frowns on such bonds, says psychotherapist and writer Mark Vernon

April 2016

  • The coffin of former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew with a photograph of him on it

    Dealing with death can lead to conflict – as Singapore’s first family shows

    Mark Vernon
    It’s no wonder that Lee Kuan Yew’s children are rowing about how to mark their father’s anniversary. Mourning takes time – and practice

November 2015

  • Sigmund Freud published his paper about the unconscious in November 1915.

    100 years old and making a comeback – Freud’s theories of the unconscious

    Mark Vernon
    After a century of being derided, Freud’s ideas are quite rightly being re-evaluated – as they could shed light on some of medicine’s great unknowns

March 2013

  • wodehouse

    Abdel Hakim Belhaj, Auntie Maude and the art of saying sorry

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: An apology that is transformative and healing is a rare thing – whether about torture in Libya or spilling juice on a tablecloth

February 2013

  • A baby is baptised

    Cif belief
    Is love more real when grounded in faith?

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: God may be love to those spiritual souls, but scientific theories of the most powerful human sentiment also show it makes life richer

January 2013

  • Pews

    Cif belief
    Spiritual, but not religious? A dangerous mix

    Mark Vernon
  • <Mr. Bergh to the Rescue> Cartoon by Thomas Nast

    Cif belief
    The Most Despised Science Book of 2012 is … worth reading

    Mark Vernon

December 2012

  • Epictetus

    Cif belief
    A reminder that stoicism can be divine

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: Stoics argued that logos, or flow, was crucial to the good life, but this spiritual element has not been mentioned in Stoic Week

November 2012

  • Taizé church

    Cif belief
    Are we living in a new axial age?

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: The first axial age marked a discovery of transcendence. A new book proposes this energy is being retapped in the fringes today

October 2012

  • Woman with rosary sending a prayer to God, the dark setting suggests she is sad or lonely

    Cif belief
    Spirituality is not just another health tonic

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: The effect of religious practices on our wellbeing is of growing interest. But in looking at the links, we must not confuse the two

September 2012

  • Rowan Williams

    Cif belief
    Rowan Williams, we'll miss you

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: Whatever his supposed shortcomings in an impossible job, the outgoing archbishop of Canterbury practises what he preaches

August 2012

  • Rowan Williams

    Cif belief
    Rowan Williams and Francis Spufford on being a Christian

    Mark Vernon
  • richard dawkins

    You told us
    Richard Dawkins: an end to mythmaking?

    Mark Vernon

July 2012

  • Anuj Bidve

    Cif belief
    Evil is not about what killers like Kiaran Stapleton have, but what they lack

    Mark Vernon

    Mark Vernon: If evil is the absence of good – a dark gap in one's heart, then it perfectly describes these brutal killers who show no empathy

June 2012

  • Mass Meditation in Central Bangkok, Thailand - 20 Jan 2010

    Cif belief
    'Silence is a lovely idea' – so why have churches become so noisy?

  • Anders Behring Breivik trial

    Cif belief
    Norway is above Anders Behring Breivik's sacrificial logic

    Mark Vernon

May 2012

  • Sex and the City

    Cif belief
    Lovers come and go. Friends remain for ever. That's the myth, anyway

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: Nietzsche's notion of a 'star friendship' is a useful way of thinking about the end of a relationship with someone who isn't a partner

April 2012

  • M16 Eagle nebula in Snake Constellation

    Cif belief
    Goethe and the search for the spirit of science

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: Perhaps the time is coming for thinkers to be braver, to push for a truer contemplation of nature that knows its aliveness

March 2012

  • Malvern Hills, Herefordshire

    Cif belief
    Roger Scruton and the kindly atheists

    Mark Vernon

    Mark Vernon: Scruton's reflections on what it is to be human shed light on the reluctance of some atheists to reject religion's poetry

February 2012

  • Hindu Fresco with Shiva and Parvati

    Cif belief
    Love in the shadow of Eros's deepest longings

    Mark Vernon
    Mark Vernon: On Valentine's Day, what can religious imagery such as Indian ragamala tell us about affairs of the human heart?
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