From The Platform

18/03/2024

We’ve referred to John Vervaekes work in the past here is a nicely put together and fairly comprehensive overview of the 4 ways of Knowing:

This is a brief presentation that pieces together several talks John has given about this model in an attempt to cover all the main arguments in one standalo...

12/02/2024

I am leading the workshops for the CSN Fellowship weekend this year. We are going to really sit with what it means to listen, hear and be heard. The idea of listening to each other is so simple it can become clichéd and only engaged in at one level. On the weekend we aim to get deeper in to what it means to "have ear to hear".

Bookings are now open for our Fellowship Weekend at Holland House near Pershore. Please book early to secure your place - booking this week would be helpful for our planning.

15/08/2023

I've been letting lots of the ideas from the podcast influence my exhorts recently so I've added them to the podcast playlist here if you'd like to listen.

An exhort given at Handsworth. If i were to relate this to the last Circles and Lines Exhort I'd say its an attempt to see how Jesus draws the circle into which he invites people so they might explore

22/04/2023

If you're in the UK and interested in open, honest and constructive conversation please consider the Christadelphian Summer School as an excellent weekend of study, workshops and fellowship. You can request more information and a booking form from [email protected]

18/04/2023

Here is another episode for you. We start with Descartes and use it as a launch pad to see one of what I believe to be the biggest lenses we see the world through in the West.

In this Episode we look at how René Descartes influences a highly rational bottom up approach view of the work and how we in the West have adopted this as a way of attending to the bible. The Death pa

25/02/2023

Woooo this captures so much in just a couple of minutes

Inspiration: https://youtu.be/7LqaotiGWjQ?t=4964

21/01/2023

https://soundcloud.com/fromtheplatform/se2ep5

Here is Episode 5 of our Series looking at the cultural lenses we look through none seem to be quite as important for Christians in the West as the Protestant Reformation. Here is our attempt to see its impact and what it goes on to mean for Christadelphians.

As we get into the 12th and 13 Centuries huge changes take place that effect the western world view not least the protestant reformation. We take a look at what lenses this period in time have become

30/09/2022

New episode out. Hopefully it makes sense and fits in with the overall idea of the cultural lenses we wear! Feel free to send us any feed back!

This was a tough episode but we go there. We explore the rediscovery of Aristotle and what that means for Christianity in the West. Aquinas' separation of the natural and supernatural and how that cre

29/09/2022

Very interesting topic here: Do we study the bible like its a video game? Are we letting it "bleed" into the real world?

Damien Walter teaches the online course Advanced SciFi & Fantasy: Writing the 21st century myth which can be found here: https://damiengwalter.com/Damien an...

16/09/2022

Jonathan Haidt on point yet again. Incredible insights in this piece. Do we see a similar thing happening within our own community?

It’s not just a phase.

23/08/2022

For anyone in the Birmingham area, I am hosting an Authentic Relating evening at my house on the 19th September. Poplar Road Bearwood. Let me know if you fancy joining us. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birmingham-authentic-relating-house-group-tickets-406357284577

26/06/2022

Check this out from 9mins 35. A great set of ideas revolving around how we have conversations.
https://youtu.be/mrdJJCKkwdI?t=575

22/05/2022

New Podcast up!
In this series we are working through the history of World Views in order to gain insights into how we see the world, God and the bible in the 21st C in which some of these view have been internalised. Episode 3 works through Plotinus and Augustine!
https://soundcloud.com/fromtheplatform/s2e3-setting-the-scene-for-augustine?in=fromtheplatform/sets/podcast-episodes

In this episode we continue to look at the lenses we see the world through. This time we see how two big thinkers integrated and synthesised previous ideas to create new coherent ways of seeing the wo

26/04/2022

This distillation gives a good flavour of the work of John Vervaeke who has been a big influence on my thinking recently . https://youtu.be/jWLUVyMthkU

John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist whose work is on meaning - his 50 hour youtube series "Awakening from the Meaning Crisis" is famously rich and rewardi...

20/04/2022

Please take a look at this years Summer School program always a great weekend and a significant discount for under 35s that want lodgings. I'll be leading an Empathy Circle on the Monday.

29/03/2022

Hello folks. New Podcast episode out now.

We look at some of the frames we look through unconsciously. To become aware of these we have to go back to their roots in the Axial Revolution and briefly discuss how they have an effect of Christadelphian culture.

https://soundcloud.com/fromtheplatform/s2e2-post-axial-thinking

It was hard to title this one! It looks at ideas that develop in the Middle East, Greece and India out of the Axial Revolution that have embedded in our modern day culture. We look at how they have in

21/03/2022

I always appreciate the ways these two hold conversations especially on such a fascinating topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ZaFNIH0co

John Vervaeke, PhD, is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science and Buddhist psychology. Th...

03/03/2022

This is super insightful from Jordan Greenhall
https://medium.com/deep-code/on-thinking-and-simulated-thinking-5e434e92cf86

I would like to explore what I think is a useful distinction between “thinking” and a quite different phenomenon that might be best…

26/02/2022

My live stream videos are now offline. A request was made to remove them and as I felt the situation was escalating and my own sense of pride and stubbornness building I thought I'd take the lesson from Job and stand down at the risk of being caught in the jaws of Leviathan too. I found the process of making them and posting them useful and insightful. Thanks to those who engaged with it. Check out my other stuff here (its more interesting anyway) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hSrgv6w_hw&list=PLO18pafvcP831NZKOndA4_uX4B5xw0Ha5

25/02/2022

Hello, yesterday and today I did a couple of live streams. I'm not sure how insightful they were but in a conversation I had with one person afterwards I did become aware of what may have driven me to sit down and ad-hoc live stream them on the fly and I've put that in a short caveat to the live streams as a separate video here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShlJ_GLr3Ms

After making the live stream videos I've had the following insights after a conversation I had with someone about them.To see the video I made on Transaction...

24/02/2022

Hi folks, I've got the Covid! Although I don't have to isolate in the UK anymore I'm going to stick at home for a bit to be on the safe side. I've decided to rather groggily use my time to look at Christadelphian prophesy content and maybe voice some of the things people don't always feel comfortable saying while the presentation is delivered. I start to flag at the end and mumble out but will pick back up on things tomorrow with perhaps a bit more vim!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHjfnC-2NRY

A live exploration/reaction video on Christadelphian ideas about Russia and the invasion of the Ukraine as a precursor to the return of Christ.I grew up Chri...

22/02/2022

An interesting video in which Iain McGilchrist talks about the Divine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtArjSgM2I8

In The Master and his Emissary, I outlined important differences in cognitive and emotional style between the brain hemispheres. In this talk I will build on...

03/02/2022

I've made this Communication Intervention that could potentially be used when you feel you want to be heard on a certain subject or move through the motions of non-violent communication in responding to someone else. https://forms.gle/DaxrSTKsPfEjRYjb6
Let me know what you think, if there is anything missing/glitches with how it moves through the sections.

This form is designed to lead you through ways of expressing yourself that have a higher likelihood of being received well and engaged with positively. It is based on Marshall Rosenburg's Non-Violent Communication and David Kantor's 4 Player Model. “Every criticism, judgment, diagnosis, and expres...

31/01/2022

Here is the final video in the Dealing with Complexity series summarising the content and sneaking in a bit more about form and structure. (Ignore my missing architrave!)

In this final episode, Tom summarizes the content from the series. He urges listeners to think about what the form and structure of Church currently affords ...

23/01/2022

If you can follow this or even half of it (I'm trying my best!) there are some very insightful points being discussed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jnahnlZ8M

At MMA we recently had a rich discussion with philosopher and cognitive scientist John Vervaeke and his writing partner Christopher Mastropietro about religi...

17/01/2022

The final topic in our Dealing With Complexity Series. This looks at the spectrum of church cultures we may experience in our spiritual lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQSlgqbeL4Q

In episode 9, Tom looks at ideas from Ken Wilber's “Integral Theory”. Part of this theory deals with cultures; how they interact, evolve and innovate. Can we...