> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.withrealityinmind.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Questioning consensus reality - URL: https://www.withrealityinmind.com/patrick-harpur-reality-in-two-modes/ - Published: 2026-05-14T09:27:19.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-20T14:07:10.000Z - Description: Patrick Harpur on how even the literal is metaphor | Dialogue with Bernardo Kastrup - Author: Amir Giles - Tags: recording Recording details Date: 13 May 2026 Duration: 2h 5m Free preview Chapters 0:00:00 Welcome to Patrick Harpur 0:08:59 Can something be concrete without being literal? 0:12:30 **Blake’s double vision**: seeing through the world 0:19:55 When ordinary nature becomes a revelation 0:28:34 Does consensus reality survive a walk with friends? 0:30:00 A **UFO** encounter and a crack between worlds 0:35:33 Fairy enchantment and the uncertainties of perception 0:41:30 Can a vivid memory be something that never happened? 0:44:30 The missing keys that unsettle ordinary reality 0:48:32 Why Patrick questions literal **alien abductions** 0:53:21 **Is anything truly literal?** 0:58:36 How language divides what we experience 1:03:58 Is metaphor the foundation of language? 1:08:55 Could science explain why there is no pure perception? 1:16:01 Why do we remember film scenes that aren’t there? 1:21:09 **Proust**: remembering a life or reliving it? 1:27:39 Are some people more open to the daimonic? 1:29:12 Patrick’s childhood encounter with a numinous world 1:34:32 **Imagination isn’t fantasy** 1:40:12 The otherworld hiding in popular culture 1:45:24 Are we ourselves **daimonic beings**? 1:50:04 Why Bernardo took decades to truly encounter a cat 1:53:02 Is there room for daimons in Christianity? 1:56:53 Fairies, angels and sacred wells 2:01:31 Closing reflections: stories around the campfire 2:02:38 Introducing the recording search tool "It took me two-thirds of my life to encounter a cat for the first time" says Bernardo, after having lived with them most of his life. Dialogues with Patrick are full of exotic fairies and UFOs, but the fundamental message is how mysterious "ordinary" reality truly is. We are blinded by a culture that wants to make everything literal, when for Patrick, even notion of literal is a metaphor. This session is a challenge to the very notion of consensus reality, an invitation to enchantment, and to encounter our world at a depth we so often ignore. We discussed: - Why "consensus reality doesn't hold up" - The connection to McGilchrist's left and right brain - Three types of mystical vision: nature, the beloved, and God - Catholics vs Puritans about fairies - Blake's sun: a heavenly host, a golden guinea — already a simile either way - Why there may be nothing truly literal at all As ever, I look forward to your reflections, and wish you many a true encounter.... Amir ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/2025/08/image-1.png) Speakers ![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/2025/07/Patrick-Harpur-2011-crop.jpg) Patrick Harpur Bernardo considers Patrick his top 3 author worthy of far more exposure. He attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, to read English, and his writings have appeared in The Guardian, Fortean Times, Gnosis, Resurgence, the New Statesman and the Independent on Sunday. He is often invited to give talks in the UK, in Spain and in America; and he has taught post-graduate students at Schumacher College (Dartington). As well as several novels, Patrick is the author of 4 non-fiction books including **Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld** which attempted to make sense of visions and apparitions by recourse to Platonic philosophy, Jungian psychology, and the Romantic notion of imagination. He also wrote **The Philosophers' Secret Fire: A History of the Imagination** outlined an esoteric Western way of seeing the world which has been largely neglected. In 2010, Rider published the rather ambitiously titled **A Complete Guide to the Soul**, which appeared a year later in the US as **The Secret Tradition of the Soul** (Evolver Editions, an imprint of North Atlantic Books). **The Stormy Petrel** (The Squeeze Press, 2017) is a novel based on the life and work of the Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard, whose writings have gripped Patrick for years. You can read his article on the [Daimonic Nature of Reality here](https://www.essentiafoundation.org/seeing-things-the-daimonic-nature-of-reality/reading/?ref=withrealityinmind.com) Speakers ![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/2026/09/Bernardo-Kastrup-profile.jpg) Bernardo Kastrup Analytic idealism Bernardo Kastrup is the Executive Director of Essentia Foundation and Founder/CEO at AI systems company Euclyd BV. His work has set off the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy (ontology, philosophy of mind) and another in computer engineering (reconfigurable computing, artificial intelligence). As a scientist, he has worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Philips Research Laboratories (where the ‘Casimir Effect’ of Quantum Field Theory was discovered). He has also been creatively active in the high-tech industry for almost 30 years, having founded parallel processor company Silicon Hive (acquired by Intel in 2011) and worked as a technology strategist for the geopolitically significant company ASML. Most recently, he has founded AI company Euclyd BV. Formulated in detail in many academic papers and books, his ideas have been featured in *Scientific American*, the magazine of *The Institute of Art and Ideas*, the *Blog of the American Philosophical Association* and *Big Think*, among others. His most defining book is *Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell: A straightforward summary of the 21st-century’s only plausible metaphysics.* [Explore Bernardo’s work →](https://www.bernardokastrup.com/?ref=withrealityinmind.com)