Navigating Consciousness with Rupert Sheldrake

Science, Spirituality & the Practices That Transform Us, with Dr. Jessica Harland

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 18:00:00 +0100

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_Lkku3QH-c

What if gratitude isn't just good manners, but measurably changes your wellbeing? What if the medieval Christians were right about nature being alive, and we've spent the last 400 years getting it fundamentally wrong? And why are half a million people now walking ancient pilgrimage routes across Europe when rationalist materialism promised to free us from such "superstitions"?

In this wide-ranging conversation at Hampstead Parish Church, I explore these questions with Dr. Jessica Harland, touching on everything from my early crisis of conscience in a vivisection lab to discovering LSD at Cambridge, from the Protestant Reformation's assault on pilgrimage to why your GP should probably be prescribing forest walks. We go into the scientific evidence behind spiritual practices—yes, there are thousands of peer-reviewed studies—and discuss why saying grace before meals, walking to holy places, and reconnecting with the living world aren't quaint relics of the past, but practices our secular age desperately needs to rediscover.

Whether you consider yourself religious, spiritual-but-not-religious, or simply curious about why these ancient practices refuse to die, I hope you'll find something here that sparks your imagination—and perhaps your own spiritual journey.

Recorded at The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead, October 2025. If you're in London, I highly recommend coming by to experience choral evensong.
https://www.choralevensong.org/uk/the-parish-church-of-st-john-at-hampstead-27.php

How do Animals Predict Natural Disasters? London Society for Psychical Research

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:00:00 +0100

For more see Rupert’s Substack article on this topic
👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com/p/animal-warnings-of-earthquakes

Recorded on November 4, 2017 at the Society for Psychical Research in London.

When disasters strike, it is often animals who seem to know first. Long before seismographs were invented, people noticed that snakes, rats, dogs, and birds behaved strangely in the days leading up to earthquakes. Similar reports come before tsunamis, avalanches, air raids, and even medical crises like seizures. Are these simply heightened senses—an ability to detect tremors, gases, or subtle vibrations—or do they point to something deeper, an anticipatory awareness we do not yet understand?

In this talk, I share some of the evidence I’ve gathered over the years: from ancient Greek accounts to modern field studies, from the Chinese earthquake networks under Mao to the toads of central Italy abandoning their mating grounds days before a quake. The pattern repeats across cultures and circumstances, yet mainstream science has largely dismissed it as superstition.

Why is that? What are we overlooking when we ignore such a consistent body of observations? Could systematic study of animal behavior, especially with today’s global communications, provide early warnings and even save lives?

I don’t claim to have the answers. But I invite you to explore these questions with me, and to consider what they reveal not only about animals, but about our shared sensitivity to the unseen.

Consciousness and the Mysteries of Everyday Life – How the Light Gets In Festival

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 03:00:00 +0100

What if the “weird” feelings we shrug off—being watched, knowing who’s calling, waking seconds before an alarm—aren’t glitches but signals? In this talk, given at the How The Light Gets In festival, September 21st, 2025, Rupert Sheldrake argues that these everyday hunches point to mind-to-world reach (projective vision), mind-to-mind links (telepathy), and mind-to-future sensitivity (presentiment). How do we decide what counts as evidence, who gets to ask taboo questions, and how science should treat common human experiences? Beyond anecdotes, Rupert shares simple experiments, huge natural-history datasets, and a working picture of mind as something that reaches, bonds, and anticipates—often strengthened with emotional closeness. He flags practical paths forward: citizen science, the Eyesense Training app to sharpen sensitivity, and real-world applications from caregiving to early-warning via animal behavior.

Try the Eyesense Training app
👉 https://eyesense.training

See Rupert’s Substack for the Latest articles and early access to videos
👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

Ancestors and Pilgrimages, with Bishop Marc Andrus at Hollyhock

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0100

A dialogue on praying for ancestors and on pilgrimage: Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC; August, 2016.

See Rupert’s Substack for the Latest articles and early access to videos
👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

Detoxifying Christianity, with Bishop Marc Andrus at Grace Cathedral

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 17:00:00 +0100

For many people, Christianity is like a toxic brand. Why is this so and what can be done about it? A dialogue with Marc Andrus, the Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; September, 2015.

See Rupert’s Substack for the Latest articles and early access to videos
👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

What is a blessing? Is it just wishing someone well, or is there more to it? ...with Marc Andrus

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0100

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, in August of 2016.

See Rupert’s Substack for the Latest articles and early access to videos
👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

What Insights Can Psychedelic Experiences Give Us? University of York

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 21:00:00 +0100

Watch on Substack
https://open.substack.com/pub/rupertsheldrake/p/psychedelic-experiences-what-insights

This is a talk I gave recently to the Drug Science and Bioscience Societies at the University of York.

I first became interested in psychedelics when I was at school in the 1950s and a young doctor friend was involved in some of the early research on the effects of LSD. When I was 17, before going to Cambridge, I worked in a pharmacology research lab on the effects of LSD and mescaline on chicks. However, it was not until 1970, when I was 28, that I experienced the mind-opening effects of LSD for myself.

In the 1980s, I became friends with Terence McKenna, an expert on the shamanic use of psychedelics, and Ralph Abraham, a chaos mathematician at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We had many discussions about the effects of these substances, including their influence on the growth of computer graphics. I also attended a series of conferences on psychedelics at the Esalen Institute in California and have been in continual contact with recent researchers on the subject.

In this talk, I discuss the nature of psychedelic visions, their possible relationship to dreams and near-death experiences, and the ‘entities’ that many people encounter through them, including machine elves and angels. I look at the cultural history of their use, the emergence of new psychedelic religions such as Santo Daime in Brazil, and suggest that the current psychedelic renaissance is part of a major cultural shift—away from materialism towards a more interconnected worldview.

Spiritual Practices and Transformative Experiences in a Scientific Age

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 19:00:00 +0100

A talk delivered to the Conference of the International Network for the Study of Spirituality, University of Northampton, UK in June 2025.

The INSS is a unique international network for people interested in bringing the study of spirituality to life through research, scholarship, education and practice.

https://spiritualitystudiesnetwork.wildapricot.org/conference-2025

God in Nature and Nature in God - Panentheism

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 22:00:00 +0100

In this talk, Rupert Sheldrake explores panentheism—the idea that the divine is not separate from the world but present throughout it, while also transcending it. With the grip of mechanistic materialism loosening, Rupert invites us to reconsider how we see nature, mind, and spirit. Tracing a broad arc from ancient philosophies and Christian mysticism to AI-generated worldviews, panpsychism, and psychedelics, he reflects on how the sacred presence in nature—-long affirmed by spiritual traditions-—is re-emerging through science, experience, and renewed practices of attention.

Recorded at St James Church, Piccadilly, a longstanding hub for open spiritual inquiry and progressive theology in the heart of London.

Rupert’s Substack
Latest articles, early access to videos, exclusive talks
👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

Reconnecting With Religious Roots, with Bishop Marc Andrus

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. Our ancestors’ lives from birth to death were shaped and structured by spiritual traditions but today many people are no longer connected to religious festivals or practices. This loss of religious faith in unprecedented, and in 2016 in the UK a survey showed that for the first time in history a majority of the population say they have no religion. In this dialogue Rupert and Marc discuss the possibility of reconnecting through festivals, pilgrimages and sacred places.

The Healing Power of Animals, with Bishop Marc Andrus at Grace Cathedral

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 23:00:00 +0000

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. Many people who keep pets have experienced their ability to comfort and heal. There is now a pet therapy movement where people take dogs and cats into hospices and children’s hospitals, and the human animal bond can help many physical and mental issues. In this dialogue Rupert and Marc discuss the many powers of animals and explore to what extent animals themselves live spiritual lives.

Is Christianity a victim of its own success? with Bishop Marc Andrus at Grace Cathedral

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. European civilisation has been shaped in many ways by its Christian heritage. In the Middle Ages the Church started schools, universities and hospitals, and set up systems for caring for the sick and the poor. In the twentieth century, the hospice movement was started by Christians. Even the principles of democracy and human rights are rooted in the Christian doctrine that all people are equal before God. Yet these achievements are now widely seen as a triumph of secularism. What is going on?

Holy Days and Festivals, with Bishop Marc Andrus at Grace Cathedral

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Many traditions include holy days or ‘holidays’ as days of festivity to celebrate and many traditional festivals revolve around the cycles of creation including solar and lunar cycles, harvests, death and rebirth. Festivals help connect individuals and the community to the pulse of nature. Rupert and Marc explore the on-going relevance of festivals and holy days in the modern secular world.

All Souls Day, with Bishop Marc Andrus at Grace Cathedral

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 23:00:00 +0100

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. All Souls Day — the day of the dead — falls on November 2, and is particularly spectacular in Mexico. Hallowe'en, or All Hallows' Eve, is the eve of the festival of the dead, which starts with All Saints' Day on November 1.

Angels and the festival of Michaelmas

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0100

Rethinking Education: From Passive Learning to Holistic Understanding with Dr. James Mannion

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 05:00:00 +0100

In this episode of the "Rethinking Education" podcast, I join Dr. James Mannion to explore the state of modern education and its implications for science and spirituality. We discuss the dominance of the passive voice in science education, the impact of a moral vacuum, and the need for a more holistic, hands-on approach to learning. Drawing from my experiences, I argue for reimagining education to embrace interdisciplinary connections, practical engagement with nature, and a broader understanding of consciousness beyond the brain. Join us as we challenge the status quo and explore new ways of fostering curiosity and creativity in the classroom.

Watch on YouTube
https://youtu.be/lX3AyZy7oS4

Consciousness, Temples, Mysticism, and Science, with Praveen Mohan

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 21:00:00 +0100

In this episode, I join Praveen Mohan to explore the deep connections between science, consciousness, and spirituality. We delve into the purpose of ancient temples, the resurgence of pilgrimage in both India and Europe, and the implications of panpsychism and morphic resonance. This conversation offers fresh insights from my experiences living in India, discussing the mystical roots of sacred places with someone steeped in the culture. Tune in for a thoughtful exchange on how science and spirituality intersect and why challenging materialist paradigms can open new doors for understanding our reality.

Watch on Praveen's Channel:
https://youtu.be/zBEwy8cpt8M

Finding God in Nature and Consciousness; from the Realizing God Online Summit

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 22:00:00 +0100

In this interview with Dr. Marc Stollreiter for the Realizing God Online Summit, Rupert Sheldrake shares his journey from atheism to spiritual awakening, discussing the intersection of science and spirituality, the power of prayer, and the revival of pilgrimage in modern times.

Attend the Summit
https://realizing-god.com

Running from 02/07/2025 - 02/16/2025, the summit includes workshops, Satsangs and interactive sessions led by esteemed spiritual guides from around the world.

Vision Quests, with Marc Andrus, Bishop of California

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Many cultures have rites of passage, especially for people entering adulthood. Among many Native American communities boys often underwent a vision quest by going out into the wilderness alone and fasting. Rites of passage for girls were generally quite different. Monastic retreats also offer a kind of vision quest although people on retreat do not have to encounter the external struggles of the physical landscape, but like the early hermits have to wrestle with internal struggles. In this dialogue Marc and Rupert explore the potential for vision quests in the modern world.

Fields as Formal Causes, with David Bentley Hart

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 05:00:00 +0100

Watch the talk: https://youtu.be/dU0NIU5d4BI

In this conversation, Rupert Sheldrake and David Bentley Hart delve into the concept of fields in physics, discussing their nature as non-material formative causes and their historical context in scientific thought. They explore the idea that fields, such as gravitational and electromagnetic, act as top-down causes, aligning with Aristotle's formal and final causes, and argue for a re-evaluation of these ancient concepts in modern science.

Dying, Death and Beyond, with Satish Kumar & Guy Hayward

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 18:00:00 +0100

Watch the talk: https://youtu.be/j91Er2Zh3j4

Join Satish Kumar and Rupert Sheldrake in an expansive conversation covering death, reincarnation, the afterlife, cycles, intentional dying, NDEs and more. Hosted by Guy Hayward, this discussion delves into personal memories, cultural practices, and philosophical views on death and what lies beyond. Interview questions were designed in collaboration with death doula Sierra Campbell. Video recorded in Hampstead, London, Dec 7, 2023, by Leslie Knott (Tiger Nest Films), with audio editing by Lucy Martens.

@rupertsheldrake @resurgencetrust @drguyhayward @pilgrimtrust @choosenurture @tigernestfilms @lucylnmartens

The Power of Chanting: Exploring Sonic Resonance and Morphic Fields

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Watch the full talk: https://iai.tv/video/discovering-the-world-beyond-science-rupert-sheldrake

Dive into the fascinating world of chanting and its profound impact on personal and collective resonance. In this enlightening talk, we explore the vibratory power of mantras across different religious traditions. Through a series of simple experiments, discover the physical and spiritual resonance of chanting, from the basic "Amen" to the universal "Om," and learn how these sounds can transform our bodies, minds, and the spaces around us.

The Nature of Phantom Limbs

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Video: https://youtu.be/v0i1xc-khTQ

After the amputation of a limb, most amputees experience a phantom limb in the place where their limb used to be. Subjectively, these phantoms feel real even though they do not behave like normal limbs and can be pushed through solid objects. The standard theory is that these phantoms are produced as illusions inside the brain, but Rupert suggests they may be the subjective experience of the fields of the missing limbs, which are located exactly where they seem to be. If so, the phantoms might interact with the fields of other people, and some types of healers may be particularly sensitive to them. Rupert discusses simple experiments that can reveal whether phantoms really are where they seem to be and remain part of the body-field even though the material limbs are no longer even present. This research has profound implications for our understanding of the relations between minds, body images and bodies.

Anatheism: Rediscovering God in a Secular Age

Tue, 21 May 2024 04:00:00 +0100

March 20th, 2024 St. James's Church, London
Video: https://youtu.be/QuicgRaE7E8

In this talk, Rupert Sheldrake explores the theme of finding God again, in an increasingly secular society. Drawing from personal experiences in India and his journey through various spiritual traditions, Rupert provides insights into anatheism, or returning to God, and how this process is unfolding in a post-Christian world. He touches on the connections between science and spirituality, the value of pilgrimage and sacred places, and the emerging concept of panpsychism, which considers consciousness as a fundamental quality in nature. An engaging Q&A session with the audience dives deeper into perennial philosophy, the role of feminine energy in Christianity, and the impact of psychedelics on spiritual practices.

Presentiment: Waking Before Alarms, Making Millions Through Day Trading

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +0100

Most people have had the experience of waking soon before an alarm clock goes off and some can even wake before a specified time without an alarm. The usual assumption is that this depends on an exquisitely sensitive time sense, but Rupert argues that it may be explained better in terms of presentiment, or ‘feeling the future’, or even in terms of an ‘extended present’.

We already know that our sense of the present is not a mathematical instant, but has width, and perhaps it widens over ranges of seconds to include portions of the near future, Presentiment is now a well-established phenomenon in laboratory experiments, carried out at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Cornell University and elsewhere, and may be widely distributed among people and non-human animals.

It could play an important part in everyday life, and become especially significant in fast-moving sports like downhill skiing, tennis and ping pong. Some people may make use of this ability in day trading where they make decisions on movements of the markets over very short time periods, sometimes only a few seconds.

Rupert discusses how this ability could potentially be trained, enabling airline pilots and racing drivers to be better prepared for potential accidents, and helping some people to get rich quick – as some day traders already have – by using intuitive abilities that cannot be duplicated by computers.

References
____
An Experiment with Time
by John William Dunne
https://archive.org/details/AnExperimentWithTimeEbook
____
Listen to the Animals: Why did so many animals escape December's tsunami?
https://www.sheldrake.org/tsunami
____
Predicting the unpredictable; evidence of pre-seismic anticipatory behaviour in the common toad
https://www.sheldrake.org/toads
____
Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home
https://www.sheldrake.org/dogs
____
Unconscious Perception of Future Emotions: An Experiment in Presentiment
by Dean Radin, Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 163-180, 1997
https://www.sheldrake.org/RadinPresentiment

My scientific explorations through fieldwork in Asia and Europe

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 19:00:00 +0000

March 18th, 2024
University College London Expeditions and Fieldwork Society

In this talk given Rupert Sheldrake explores the allure of expeditions and fieldwork, delving into his own adventures exploring Mayan ruins in Mexico and studying tropical plants in Malaysia. Throughout the talk he illustrates how these experiences broadened his scientific and spiritual horizons, connecting this intrinsic human curiosity to our ancestral hunter-gatherer roots.

The Science Delusion: TEDx Whitechapel, the "banned" talk

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 05:00:00 +0000

TEDx Whitechapel, Jan 12, 2013

The theme for the night was Visions for Transition: Challenging existing paradigms and redefining values (for a more beautiful world). In response to protests from two hardcore materialists in the US, the talk was taken out of circulation by TED, relegated to a corner of their website and stamped with a warning label.

Room for discussion was made, but those who condemned the talk never showed up. The vast majority of those who spoke out were outraged, including those who'd never heard of morphic resonance. Ironically, at the time of removal the video had a modest 35,000 views on YouTube; since then, its clones have been watched over 7 million times. The video has been translated into 24 languages by generous members of the YouTube community.

Read more: https://www.sheldrake.org/ted

Desert Island Discs in Hampstead: Music in Rupert’s Life

Sat, 20 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Modelled on the BBC radio series, this long-standing local programme was produced live by a group in Hampstead, London, in 2023. As the castaway on a theoretical desert island, Rupert could bring with him eight pieces of music (listed below), a few books, and one luxury item.

1:07 If you had not been a scientist what would you have been?
2:27 Getting to the island

4:47 Bach, Mass in B minor (Gloria)
7:25 Purcell, Music for a While
16:47 Monteverdi, Madrigal
24:33 Beatles, Because
36:41 Subbulakshi, Devotional Song
45:07 Mozart, Laudate Dominum
54:55 Cosmo Sheldrake, Solar Walz
1:03:19 Tallis, Salvator Mundi, Hampstead Parish Church Choir

Some music was cut for copyright reasons, or poor audio quality.
Here's the playlist on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQNvVzO_W4EzTopdM6ZxrrYBQoIvhxNGe

Psychedelics and Consciousness, University of Sussex

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 22:00:00 +0000

A lecture for the Psychedelic Research Society at the University of Sussex, Nov 6th, 2023.

https://www.facebook.com/sussex.uni.psychesociety/

Dr Iain McGilchrist - The Intersection of Consciousness and Matter

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 19:00:00 +0000

This was recorded at the Beyond the Brain 2023 conference, by The Scientific and Medical Network: https://scientificandmedical.net/

Video is also available here: https://youtu.be/KyNgE6RsGnw

Iain McGilchrist and Rupert Sheldrake delve into a spectrum of profound subjects, touching upon the essential role of spirituality in human endeavors, the revitalization of spiritual practices, and the fundamental structure of the cosmos. They discuss panpsychism's implications for the interconnection of consciousness and matter, the enduring nature of memory, the archetypal forms that underpin our reality, and the subtle energy fields that animate existence. The conversation also navigates the terrain of values and the purpose they serve in our lives.

The Reproducibility Crisis in Science: How do Expectations Influence Experimental Results?

Sat, 18 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Episode 4 of the online course How To Transform the Sciences: Six Potential Breakthroughs
https://www.sheldrake.org/online-courses

Around 2015, scientists were shocked to find that most papers in high-prestige peer-reviewed scientific journals are not reproducible. In one study of papers in prestigious biomedical journals, 90% could not be replicated, and in experimental psychology more than 60%. This crisis partly arises from systematic biases that Rupert discusses in his chapter on ‘Illusions of Objectivity’ in The Science Delusion (2012, new edition 2020; in the US this book is called Science Set Free), including the selective observation and reporting of results, and perverse incentives for scientists and journals to publish striking positive findings. The crisis continues to roll on, as shown, for example, by an editorial in Nature, December 2021, about un-reproducible results in cancer biology.

All this is relatively straightforward, but Rupert suggests that some experiments may also involve direct mind-over-matter effects. It has long been known that experimenters can influence their experimental results through their expectations, in so-called ‘experimenter expectancy effects’, which is why many clinical trials, psychological and parapsychological experiments are carried out under blind or double-blind conditions.

In most other fields of science, experimenter effects are ignored and blind methodologies are rarely employed. Rupert suggests that in addition to the usual sources of bias, experimenters may also influence experiments psychokinetically, through direct mind-over-matter effects. Scientists may be particularly prone to this source of error because most scientists believe psychokinesis is impossible, and hence take no precautions against it. They practise unprotected science. Rupert proposes experiments on experiments to test for the effects of experimenters’ hopes and expectations.
References

References
____
A Dream, or the Astronomy of the Moon
Johann Kepler, published posthumously in 1634 by his son
https://sheldrake.org/somnium
____
Rupert's essay The Replicability Crisis in Science
https://sheldrake.org/replicability
____
Bad Pharma
Ben GoldacreFourth Estate, 2012
https://sheldrake.org/badpharma
____
Artifacts in Behavioral Research
Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow, Oxford University Press, 2009
https://sheldrake.org/rosenthal
____
Over half of psychology studies fail reproducibility test
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2015.18248
____
Differential indoctrination of examiners and Rorschach responses
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1965-12396-001
____
A longitudinal study of the effects of experimenter bias on the operant learning of laboratory rats
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1965-01547-001
____
Could Experimenter Effects Occur in the Physical and Biological Sciences?
Skeptical Inquirer 22(3), 57-58 May / June 1998
https://sheldrake.org/skepticalinquirer98
____
Quantum‐Mechanical Random‐Number Generator
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.1658698

------
Dr Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University, as a Fellow of Clare College, he was Director of Studies in biochemistry and cell biology. As the Rosenheim Research Fellow of the Royal Society, he carried out research on the development of plants and the ageing of cells, and together with Philip Rubery discovered the mechanism of polar auxin transport. In India, he was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, where he helped develop new cropping systems now widely used by farmers. He is the author of more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and his research contributions have been widely recognized by the

Trialogue: Utopianism and Millenarianism, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Esalen, California, 1992.

A cultural history of utopianism. Surges of utopian renewal. The trinitarian utopian model. Are the utopian and millenarian movements tendencies of the European mind in reaction to Christianity? Millenarians are dominated by the apocalyptic idea. How have these trends influenced the trialoguers? The Marxist utopian model. Scientific utopianism. Liberal political utopianism. New age and psychedelic utopianism. A mathematical utopia. 2012 - the end of history? What is the connection between the Archaic Revival and the Timewave? Is millenarianism an anti-progressive force? Origins and end-points. Utopianism is reasonable if we can change our minds. Our role as care-takers of the world. Is time speeding up? A fractal model of time. A model of history that shows catastrophic transformations to new equilibria. Self-fulfilling prophecies. Does the Omega Point concern the entire cosmos or is it limited to human destiny on earth? A vision of a world revived through animism, mathematical vision, stellar communication and psychedelics. Questions and answers: Large scale vacuum fluctuation. The birth of universe. Life after death. Ralph considers new forms of trialoguing and teaching the trialogue idea.

Related Book
Chapter 10 of The Evolutionary Mind
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

Panpsychism, Cambridge University

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0100

A seminar at Cambridge University, June 2023

Trialogue: Fractal Boundaries and Dischaos, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 21:00:00 +0100

Hazelwood, Devon, England, June 1993

Ralph tells a fractal story and explains how fractal models can illuminate our understanding of the world. Applying fractals to individual psychology.. The need for chaos and disorder in the personality. Multiple personality 'dischaos'. A 'sandy beach' model of the mind. Therapeutic strategies to increase chaos. The need to restore pantheism. A mathematical model for monogamy. Order and chaos must be balanced. Multiple attractors at the end of time. A polytheistic psychology. The unity within polytheistic systems.. Cultures and individuals need fractal rather than rigid boundaries. A fractal cosmos. The mystery of the Holy Trinity. The loss of unity through rigid boundaries. How can we fractalize our boundaries and create unity? Psychedelics, meditation, travel, tantra and chanting. Returning to the pre-verbal mode of expression. What about people whose boundaries are too low already? The cure to boundary anxiety can be found within. Is there any culture that has managed to avoid 'dischaos'? Questions and answers: The Aristotelian perspective of modern science needs to be balanced by the Platonic. Maths anxiety. Chaos is a kind of order and vice versa. Jung's deconstruction of Yahweh. The sacred trinity of the goddess. Recovering the aboriginal state of consciousness. Cultural taboos.

Related Book
Chapter 7 of The Evolutionary Mind
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

Trialogue: The Heavens, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:00:00 +0100

Esalen, California, 1992. The ancient view of the universe as alive. The anima mundi. The fall into the deterministic and mechanistic worldview. How this view is now being transcended. The recovery of the sense of the life of nature and of the heavens. Creativity and morphic resonance in nature. Resacralizing the earth through seasonal festivals and pilgrimage. Linking astronomy and astrology and resacralizing the heavens. Is the universe somehow conscious? Contacting celestial intelligences. Elizabethan star magic and the concept of the great chain of being. Are the contents of our imagination somehow real? Organismic philosophy and the re-infusion of spirit into nature. Re-animating the cosmos. The different levels of intelligence in the universe, and possible techniques for communicating with them. Channelling the stars. A synthesis of astrology and astronomy. Guiding intelligences. Questions and answers: The need to engage with the environment. Light and energy as a manifestation of spirit. Various ways to invoke stellar deities. Long barrows. The feeling of reverence for the heavens. The sky as teacher. The consciousness of the sun. Imagination as the source of creativity in nature. Renaissance magic.

Related Book
The Evolutionary Mind
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

Trialogue: The Apocalypse, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0100

1995, Esalen Institute

The apocalyptic tradition: paranoid self-fulfilling prophecy or an intuition of instability? Stripping the provincialism from apocalyptic messages. Apocalyptic scenarios, including the 'God-whistle' theory. The ecological catastrophe as the appropriate interpretation of the Apocalypse. Steering the Apocalypse toward a tolerable conclusion. The power of faith. Big Bang cosmology as a projection of the Judaeo-Christian model of history. The fate of the sun. The projection of the Apocalypse in 2012. Ecological catastrophe and forces of novelty that may create planetary metamorphosis. Global crucifixion. The recovery of Eden. The personal apocalypse: a glimpse of post-mortal life. Interplanetary morphic resonance. The green version of the apocalyptic vision.

Related Book
Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

David Lorimer: The Scientific and Medical Network

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0100

The Scientific and Medical Network (SMN) is a worldwide professional community and membership organisation for open-minded, rigorous and evidence-based enquiry into themes bridging science, spirituality and consciousness. It promotes a cultural shift in our understanding of reality and human experience beyond the limits imposed by exclusively materialist and reductionist approaches. 2023 is the Network's 50th Golden Jubilee.

https://scientificandmedical.net/

Dr Andrew Weil: From Epigenetics to Healthcare System Failure, Fasting, Laughter Yoga and Beyond

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0100

Hollyhock, 2008

Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada. In this talk they discuss Rupert's stabbing in Santa Fe, epigenetics, the broken US healthcare system, fasting, laughter yoga, Dr Weil as a brand, and many other topics still relevant today.

Dr Andrew Weil, Unsolved Mysteries in Science and Medicine

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 05:00:00 +0100

Hollyhock, 2011

Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada. In this talk they discuss the rise in gluten sensitivity and autism, amongst a variety of medical mysteries.

The Force of Habit: New Tests for Morphic Resonance

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0100

Part of an online course on potential scientific breakthroughs:
https://www.sheldrake.org/online-courses

In this talk Rupert discusses new ways in which the hypothesis of morphic resonance can be tested, including with holistic quantum systems like Bose-Einstein condensates, with new materials like high-temperature superconductors, through experiments on cellular adaptation to toxins and heat stress, in experiments on learning in non-human animals, including nematode worms and fruit flies, and with popular online puzzles like Wordle.

The implications of these tests, if successful, would be very far reaching, and could lead to new understandings of physical phenomena like the melting points of crystals, which would depend on influences from previous similar crystals, rather than on timeless laws. In biology, morphic resonance from past organisms would play an essential role in heredity, in addition to genes and epigenetic modifications of gene expression. In humans, collective memory would facilitate learning and problem-solving, and morphic resonance would underlie what the psychologist Jung called ‘the collective unconscious’.

_References_

Mind, Memory, and Archetype: Morphic Resonance and the Collective Unconscious
https://sheldrake.org/memory

Rat Learning and Morphic Resonance
https://sheldrake.org/rats

The Flynn effect
https://james-flynn.net/

The Sound of a Hidden Order
https://www.nature.com/articles/498041a

A reprogrammable mechanical metamaterial with stable memory
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03123-5

Evidence for unconventional superconductivity in twisted trilayer graphene
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04715-z

Antiferromagnetic half-skyrmions and bimerons at room temperature
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03219-6

Conditioned aversion
https://dictionary.apa.org/conditioned-aversion

An Experimental Test of the Hypothesis of Formative Causation
https://sheldrake.org/rose

Steven Rose's 'A hypothesis disconfirmed' refuted by Rupert
https://sheldrake.org/rose-refuted

The Hill Effect as a Test for Morphic Resonance
https://sheldrake.org/essays/the-hill-effect-as-a-test-for-morphic-resonance

Trialogue: Disincarnate and Non-human Entities, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0100

Are disincarnate and non-human entities mental projections or non-physical, autonomous entities? What can we learn from them? Their variety and persistence in human history. Early modern science and angelic communication. The shamanic model. The aversion to the irrational in Christianity and science. The need to analyze the entities' messages. A mathematical model of body, soul and spirit. Entities as inhabitants of the spiritual domain of the logos. The evolution of their multifarious representations. The dogma of purgatory. Contacting these entities through dreams and psychedelics. The deepest layers of the faery tradition. Metaphors of light? Entities as artificers and their use of language. Is the world soul behind these entities? Corn circles. The call to prepare language for these encounters. Experiential contact with the celestial sphere. The humanist illusion of self-sufficiency, leading to societal possession. Mammon. A celestial battle on earth? Redirecting attention to the positive forms. The ultimate partnership - reconnecting the Gaian and celestial spheres to the human spirit. Where could the new alchemical kingdom be?

From the book:
Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness first published as Trialogues at the Edge of the West, Chapter 6.
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

0:00Terence
12:40Ralph
18:17Terence
20:55Ralph
23:20Terence
26:05Ralph
30:41Terence
31:22Rupert
35:10Terence
39:54Rupert
...

Trialogue: Creativity and Chaos, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Tue, 30 May 2023 07:00:00 +0100

1995, Esalen Institute

The idea of an attractor for the entire cosmic evolutionary process. The role of the attractor in chaos dynamics. Motivation and attraction. The value of spoken language. Mathematical modelling. The relationship between mathematical models with chaotic behaviour and the chaos in life. Idolatry and models becoming reality. The feminine aspect of creativity.

Related Book
Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

Ralph Abraham: Form from Chaos, Attractors, Cosmic Expansion, Energetic Flux, World Soul

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:00:00 +0100

1995, Esalen Institute

The chaos revolution, chaotic attractors and indeterminism in nature. The emergence of form from the field of chaos. The formative process in cooling. Is the mathematical realm of the world soul in co-evolution with ordinary reality? The potential of mathematics to aid us in our own evolution by extending our language for dealing with complex systems. Visual intuitions and the Butterfly Effect.

Related Book
Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

Cellular Immortality, a New Theory of Senescence and Rejuvenation

Wed, 10 May 2023 17:00:00 +0100

The second of a series of six talks on potential scientific breakthroughs:
https://www.sheldrake.org/online-courses

Rupert proposed a new hypothesis of cellular rejuvenation in an article in Nature in 1974, and in 2023 published a review article entitled ‘Cellular Senescence, Rejuvenation and Potential Immortality’ in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, summarising results of recent research, which support his hypothesis. In this talk he gives an overview of this hypothesis, which applies to cells of all kinds, including bacteria and yeasts as well as plants and animals, and he shows how it sheds new light on the nature of stem cells.

In mammals, embryonic stem cells have a special property that enables them to divide indefinitely without senescing and Rupert suggests that cancerous transformations involve the hijacking of this embryonic stem cell system. He suggests ways in which this hypothesis could be tested, and shows how it could lead to new approaches in cancer therapy – by blocking the rejuvenative system that cancers have acquired. If this system were inhibited, then cancer cells might senesce like most other somatic cells and become less virulent.

References
____
Sheldrake, R. (1974). The ageing, growth and death of cells. Nature, 250, 381-385.
https://www.sheldrake.org/ageing
____
Sheldrake, R. (2022) Cellular Senescence Rejuvenation and Potential Immortality. Proceeding of the Royal Society B, 289, 20212434
https://www.sheldrake.org/immortality
____
Nine open questions suggested by the cellular rejuvenation hypothesis, and ways of answering them empirically (Supplementary to the above paper in Proc. Royal Soc. B)
https://rs.figshare.com/ndownloader/files/34255402

How do birds navigate and pigeons home?

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0100

Despite decades of research, no one knows how birds navigate to destinations hundreds of miles away. Rupert suggests that there is a field-mediated sense of direction through which they are attracted towards their goals. This is the first of a series of six talks on potential breakthroughs in the sciences released as an online course here:
https://www.sheldrake.org/online-courses

Related book:
Seven Experiments That Could Change the World
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/seven-experiments-that-could-change-the-world

References
____
Satellite Tracking of Wandering Albatrosses
Jouventin,P. and Weimerskirsch, H. 1990. Nature 343, 745-748.
____
Perdeck, Albert C.
Two Types of Orientation in Migrating Starlings, Sturnus yulgaris L., and Chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs L., as Revealed by Displacement Experiments. Ardea, 55(1–2) : 1-2.
____
Netherlands Ornithologists' Union
https://doi.org/10.5253/arde.v1i2.p1
____
Magnetic Fields 1750-1980
Bloxham, J. and Gubbins, D. 1985. The secular variation of tye earth’s magnetic field. Nature 317, 778-781.
____
World War 1 Pigeon Loft Photos
public domain
____
Mobile Loft Experiment at Coldham hall, Suffolk, 1989
With Robbie Robson of Bury St. Edmunds Racing Pigeon Club
Photo by: Jill Purce
____
Dutch Navel Pigeon Experiment
HNLMS Tydeman
June, 1995
Filmed by: Louis van Gasteren, Gregor Meerman and Jacqueline van Vugt

Trialogue: Fractal History at the Edge of the Millenium, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0100

1998, UC Santa Cruz

The fractal idea of history, and millenia as the plateaus of history. These bifurcation periods as opportunities to influence the creation of the future. What kind of future or change are we trying to create? The need for the enhancement and spread of clarity. Psychic pets and their role in breaking the spell of rationalism. Psychedelics, the World Wide Web and psychic pets as forms of boundary dissolution. The need for change in the educational system. The problem of the rejection of mathematics.

Related Book
Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

Trialogue: Radical Speculations From '98 on the Emergence of Super-intelligent AI, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0100

1998, UC Santa Cruz

"In the same way that the daughter of Zeus sprang full-blown from his forehead, the AI may be upon us without warning."
- Terence McKenna

A discussion on the evolution of consciousness as it relates to machines. Symbolic logic, nanotechnology and the possibility of a synthetic superintelligence. Terence compares the advent of superintelligent AI to the advent of language. Virtual computers as a route for AI to escape controls. How much control do we have in the evolution of machine intelligence? Quantum computers as a superior medium.

Related Book
The Evolutionary Mind
https://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

Terence predicts virtual computers... children can now build virtual computers in Minecraft:
https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Tutorials/Redstone_computers

No Linux? No problem. Just get AI to hallucinate it for you
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/openais-new-chatbot-can-hallucinate-a-linux-shell-or-calling-a-bbs/

Dr Andrew Weil, Fields of Mind and Body

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0100

Hollyhock, 2006

Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.

Q&A with Brother David Steindl-Rast and audience; re: History of Orthodox Scientific Thought

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

This is an extract from Rupert's workshop with Brother David Steindl-Rast at Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC in August, 2011.

00:00 Brother David Steindl-Rast: Making a thing out of the soul; AI Sentience
04:08 Rupert Sheldrake: Golem/Frankenstein myths and robot consciousness
07:07 Rupert: Analog computers as possible framework for machine consciousness
07:57 David: So it is possible?
08:23 Rupert: Promissory Materialism will "prove" that people are machines
09:04 Rupert: The genome wager with Lewis Wolpert
14:13 David: Science as limited faith, one without hope
15:00 Audience: if Science and Faith both seek truth, they must converge
15:41 Rupert: we all have implicit biases; materialists in particular have huge blindspots
17:31 Audience: Truth emerging like a flower
17:54 Rupert: Institutionalized science, grants, educational conformity
19:32 David: How can you do it?
19:36 Rupert: I was forced to work independently, not recommended
21:04 Rupert's excommunication by Nature Editor John Maddox
22:29 Rupert: Pluralism in politics, but not science "we know the truth"
24:13 David: Questioning establishment power
25:32 Audience: A rebirth of creative thinking?
25:43 Rupert: Trouble with the academic system; funding reform; medical system fatigue; alternative therapies
29:10 Audience: Morphic resonance, homeopathy, interpersonal neurobiology, setting science free
30:17 Rupert: Comparative effectiveness research, pragmatic medical systems, most scientists are from Eastern cultures (India, China)
32:35 Audience: What if you talked to a radical cosmologist?
32:48 Rupert: Mainstream cosmology IS radical, multi-verse theory, laws of nature must be fixed
34:58 Rupert: Martin Reese's simpler hypothesis "get's rid of God"
36:09 Rupert: Stars being conscious too much for Martin Reese
37:48 Rupert: Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, creation story, popularized science, natural philosophy

The History of Orthodox Scientific Thought, From Greek and Hebrew Roots to Medieval Universities, the Enlightenment, Evolution and the Big Bang

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

This is an extract from Rupert's workshop with Brother David Steindl-Rast at Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC in August, 2011.

Dr Andrew Weil, Evidence and Belief in Science and Medicine

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Hollyhock, 2005

Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.

Dr Andrew Weil, Integrative Medicine and the Extended Mind

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Hollyhock, 2004

Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.

Inherited Consciousness, with Anastasia & Michael Shilo

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Rupert's appearance on the DemystifySci podcast. Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOs8pDjnqk

Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Michael Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities.

Is science scientific enough? With neuroscientist Alex Gómez-Marín

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 07:00:00 +0000

After more than a hundred hours of private conversations on Zoom, Rupert and physicist turned neuroscientist Alex Gómez-Marín meet in person to discuss some of their favourite themes.

In this new installment, Rupert and Alex reflect on the scientific enterprise itself. Starting by acknowledging that new paradigms are near but never quite seem to make it, they address some of the deep reactionary forces that oppose such changes. This leads beyond the naïve understanding that science is just about data; core assumptions can make evidence irrelevant. Science must then be observed also from a sociological and historical perspective – the politics of knowledge are at stake. Deeper roots may be found in The Reformation: the current dogmatic materialist worldview is a kind of amnesic Protestantism squared. The conversation then leads to the obvious but non-trivial point that scientific facts are literally made, involving a consensus amongst experts who share the same model of reality. Other models (and other experts) are excluded. In that sense, Science (with capital S) is probably too Catholic. The future scientist will not have an easy time. And yet, all those minority reports are of majority interest.

This conversation was held on December 8th 2022 at Rupert’s house in London.

Dr Alex Gomez-Marin, PhD, is a Spanish theoretical physicist turned neuroscientist. He was a research fellow at the EMBL Center for Genomic Regulation and at the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown in Lisbon. He is currently the head of the Behavior of Organisms Laboratory at the Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, as an Associate Professor of the Spanish Research Council. He is also the director of The Pari Center in Italy. https://behavior-of-organisms.org

Trialogue: Chaos and the Imagination Part 2, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A three-way conversation, or trialogue, in two parts.

Part 2 Festivals, a calendrical reform and 'pharmacological intervention'. Oscillating models of chaos, creativity and the imagination. Eleusis as a great turning point. The Virgin of Guadalupe. The Faustian pact with the physical world. The cultural cul-de-sac of the dominator mode. Restoring partnership values, opening our lives to chaos and the world soul. Chaos as Gaian fury and as a moment of opportunity. A forward escape into technology? Included in Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness first published as Trialogues at the Edge of the West Chapter 3.

This Trialogue and others are available in book form:
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

Ralph Abraham, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author, and pioneer in the fields of Chaos theory, computer graphics, visual mathematics and dynamical systems.

Terence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the novelty wave, and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000.

Are memories stored in brains? With neuroscientist Alex Gómez-Marín

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 05:00:00 +0000

After more than a hundred hours of private conversations on Zoom, Rupert and physicist turned neuroscientist Alex Gómez-Marín meet in person to discuss some of their favourite themes.

In this installment, they address the problem of memory localization. Rather than taking for granted that memories are "stored" inside our heads and rushing to speculate about where and how, they instead entertain the idea that memories could be both everywhere and nowhere in particular -- memories are in time, not in space. To make such thoughts more thinkable, they discuss the recurrent historical failures to find actual memory traces in brains and bring forth some of the pioneering ideas of the French philosopher Henri Bergson in the context of current neuroscience. They also discuss concrete experiments to test such hypotheses and reflect more widely on the nature of form and the idea that the laws of nature may be more like habits than eternal edicts. They end by discussing the need for scientific pluralism.

You can listen to a former Sheldrake & Gomez-Marin encounter on The Future Scientist conversation series here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpr0QP4Qcvk

... and a plea for a Bergsonian neuroscience here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQxNlot9SxU&t=9s

This conversation was held on December 8th 2022 at Rupert’s house in London.

Gomez-Marin’s site
https://behavior-of-organisms.org

Trialogue: Chaos and the Imagination Part 1, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A three-way conversation, or trialogue, in two parts.

Part I How can chaos theory and full access to the imagination aid us in our understanding of the world and in the creation of our future? Chaos in mythology. The repression of chaos, the rise of patriarchy and the fall into history. The chaos revolution. Bringing chaos tangential to the burning planet. Vision plants and shamanism. Our 'secret history' and how it relates to the Gaian mind. The creative act as the night sea journey. The living mystery of the imagination. Dominator and partnership culture. Included in Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness first published as Trialogues at the Edge of the West Chapter 3.

This Trialogue and others are available in book form:
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

Ralph Abraham, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author, and pioneer in the fields of Chaos theory, computer graphics, visual mathematics and dynamical systems.

Terence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the novelty wave, and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000.

Telepathy and the Taboos of Materialism

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 07:00:00 +0000

This is an excerpt from an episode of the Spiritually Incorrect Podcast, with JD Lyonhart and Seth Hart.
https://www.spirituallyincorrectpodcast.com

JD Lyonhart is a fellow at the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Platonism and an Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Lincoln Christian University.

Seth Hart is a PhD candidate in science and theology at the University of Durham. He holds masters in theology from Oxford, Regent College, and Johnson University.

What does telepathy have to do with prayer, angels and other Christian beliefs?

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Trialogue: Creativity and the Imagination Part 2, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A three-way conversation, or trialogue, in two parts.

Part 2 How is human imagination related to the creative principle of nature? The nature of the Gaian mind. Human history as a Gaian dream. The Divine Imagination as the source of all creativity. How can we extract the message of the Gaian mind? How could the imaginations of the solar system, galaxy and cosmos be related to each other? Dark matter and the cosmic unconscious. The nature of the Logos. The personal apocalypse. The journey of language to the Divine Imagination. Natural law, ordinary reality and chaos.

This Trialogue and others are available in book form:
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

Terence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the novelty wave, and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000.

Ralph Abraham, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author, and pioneer in the fields of Chaos theory, computer graphics, visual mathematics and dynamical systems.

Forms and the Causes of Forms, Cambridge University Symposium

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A talk Rupert gave at a symposium on the philosophy of form Cambridge University in May 2022. A long debate about the nature and causes of forms has been going on at least since the time of ancient Greece, and within the sciences has been most hotly contested in relation to the morphogenesis of plants and animals. Since the seventeenth century, mechanists – still the dominant orthodoxy – have tried to explain morphogenesis in terms of material causes present in eggs, whereas vitalists and holistic biologists have suggested explanations in terms of formative forces and, more recently, morphogenetic fields. This debate continues, and could well help to revolutionize not only biology, but also chemistry and physics.

Trialogue: Creativity and the Imagination Part 1, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A three-way conversation, or trialogue, in two parts.

Part I The crisis in science: collision between the permanent and evolutionary views of the nature of reality. The universe as an evolving system of habits. Did natural law exist before the Big Bang? Cosmic creativity, imagination and the womb of chaos. Chaotic sudden perturbations. The Omega Point. The ego's response to chaos. The cosmic attractor in the evolutionary process.

This Trialogue and others are available in book form:
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

Terence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the novelty wave, and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000.

Ralph Abraham, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author, and pioneer in the fields of Chaos theory, computer graphics, visual mathematics and dynamical systems.

Trialogue: The Evolutionary Mind and Machines, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A three-way conversation, or trialogue, recorded at Esalen in 1989.

A discussion on the evolution of consciousness as it relates to machines. Symbolic logic, nanotechnology and the possibility of a synthetic super-intelligence. Artificial Intelligence as a part of ourselves that could shape our evolution. Virtual computers as the source of the AI. Partnership or conflict between human and machine? How much control do we have in the evolution of machine intelligence? Challenges to the premises of the AI argument. Quantum computers, machine-time and the possibilities of the World Wide Web.

Religion Without Belief? Dr Philip Goff and Paul Kingsnorth

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Rupert speaks with Paul Kingsnorth [author, deputy editor of The Ecologist], and Dr Philip Goff [author, Professor of Philosophy at Durham University] about the possible benefits of religious practices, without their associated beliefs.

This is part of the _Meeting of the Minds_ series offered by The Weekend University
https://theweekenduniversity.com/about/

Paul Kingsnorth is a former journalist and deputy editor of The Ecologist magazine who has won several awards for his poetry and essays. He is also the author of ten books: both fiction and nonfiction. In 2009, he co-founded the Dark Mountain Project, an international network of writers, artists, and thinkers in search of new stories for troubled times.
Philip_Goff

Dr Philip Goff is a Professor of Philosophy at Durham University, whose main research focus is consciousness, but he is interested in many questions about the nature of reality. Goff is most known for defending panpsychism, the view that consciousness is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of the physical world. He has authored an academic book with Oxford University Press – Consciousness and Fundamental Reality – and a book aimed at a general audience – Galileo’s Error. He is currently working on a book exploring the middle ground between God and atheism.

Microcast: Metaphysical Experiences and Religion With Philosopher Slavoj Žižek

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This excerpt is from the Institute of Art and Ideas debate "Fantasy and the void" featuring Slavoj Žižek, Rupert Sheldrake and Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen. Wes Alwan hosts.

Watch the full talk:
https://iai.tv/video/fantasy-and-the-void

The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics.

Slavoj Žižek is a globally renowned philosopher and cultural critic. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. He is the author of several books, including The Sublime Object of Ideology, The Parallax View, Living in the End Times and Heaven in Disorder. His unique style of philosophy, which is often imbued with humour and political incorrectness, has gained him admirers and critics across the globe.

Trialogue: The Evolutionary Mind, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0100

A three-way conversation, or trialogue, recorded at Esalen in 1989.

What could have been the cause for the breakthrough in the evolution of human consciousness around 50,000 years ago? Collective memories of predation and how they may shape our minds today. The role of the imagination in our evolution. Physiological evolution and the idea of divine brain surgery. The psilocybin hypothesis. The transformation of human nature through connection with higher levels of consciousness in the universe. The universal information field and cosmic evolution.

This Trialogue and others are available in book form:
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

Terence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the novelty wave, and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000.

Ralph Abraham, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author, and pioneer in the fields of Chaos theory, computer graphics, visual mathematics and dynamical systems.

Trialogue: Introduction, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0100

In this introduction to the trialogues held at Hazelwood house in Devon, England in June 1993, Rupert, Ralph and Terence introduce each other and give their perspectives on their friends' lives, characters and work.

Terence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the novelty wave, and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000.

Ralph Abraham, PhD, is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author, and pioneer in the fields of Chaos theory, computer graphics, visual mathematics and dynamical systems.

Dr Andrew Weil, Placebos and Mind-Body Relationships Part 2

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Hollyhock, 2007

Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.

Dr Andrew Weil, Placebos and Mind-Body Relationships Part 1

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

How Morphic Resonance Affects Our Memories, Families, Rituals and Festivals

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0100

A talk given on September 2nd, 2022 at the Hollyhock retreat center on Cortes Island, BC Canada.

Hollyhock exists to inspire, nourish and support people who are making the world better. Their not-for-profit learning centre offers extraordinary leadership programs to advance consciousness, connection & cultural transformation.

https://www.hollyhock.ca/

Plants, with Dr Andrew Weil

Fri, 02 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Hollyhock, 2009

Andrew Weil, MD, is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, an approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit. Rupert and Andrew had a series of conversations over eight years at Hollyhock, on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.

Philosophy and Psychedelics with Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0100

A live conversation with Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes at the Hay Festival, How the Light Gets In, September 2021.

Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, PhD, is Research Fellow of philosophy and psychedelics and associate lecturer at the University of Exeter, specializing in philosophy of mind with emphasis on Whitehead, Nietzsche, and Spinoza, and in the fields of panpsychism and altered states of consciousness.
http://www.philosopher.eu

Produced by iai, The Institute of Art and Ideas
Philosophy for our times: cutting edge debates and talks from the world's leading thinkers
http://iai.tv

Challenging Dogmatism in Science, with Peter Fenwick and David Lorimer

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0100

From the 2012 annual meeting of the Scientific and Medical Network.

Peter Fenwick is the current president of the Scientific and Medical Network. He was a senior lecturer at King’s College, London, the Consultant Neuropsychologist at both the Maudsley and John Radcliffe hospitals, and has been part of the editorial board for a number of journals, including the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, the Journal of Consciousness Studies and the Journal of Epilepsy and Behaviour.
https://explore.scimednet.org/index.php/peter-fenwick/

David Lorimer is Programme Director for the Scientific and Medical Network. He was President of Wrekin Trust and a Founder of Character Education Scotland. Originally a merchant banker then a teacher of philosophy and modern languages at Winchester College, he is the author and editor of over a dozen books, most recently “The Protein Crunch”.
https://explore.scimednet.org/index.php/david-lorimer/

Does Telepathy Happen? Debate with Prof Chris French at the University of Cambridge

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0100

The Perrott-Warrick public debate: Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Nov 29, 2006. Chaired by Professor Simon Blackburn.

How Skeptics Work

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The Society for Psychical Research Study Day on Skeptics: London, October 25 2008.

Read a review of the day's proceedings by Matt Colborn:
https://www.skepticalaboutskeptics.org/examining-skeptics/matt-colborn-sprs-study-day-on-skeptics/

Temenos Academy: Nature and Modern Science, with Joseph Milne

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0100

A dialogue with Joseph Milne on nature and science in our modern world, which took place at the Temenos Academy on July 13, 2009.

The Sense of Direction in Animals

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0100

London Society for Psychical Research, November 4, 2017

Many animals make remarkable migrations across vast distances, often without ever personally making the trip or having any obvious method of navigating. Recorded on November 4, 2017 at the Society for Psychical Research in London.

Father Bede Griffiths: Angels, Intelligence and Energy

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This is dialogue on angels with Father Bede Griffiths, Rupert's principal teacher, and the only public dialogue they ever had. Recorded in Munich in 1992 at the Benedictine Abbey of St Boniface on September 29, the feast of St Michael and All Angels. Father Bede, also known as Swami Dayananda, was a British-born priest and Benedictine monk who became a noted yogi in South India and was a part of the Christian Ashram Movement.

Recorded in Munich at the Benedictine Abbey of St Boniface, on September 29th, 1992.

The Holy Trinity

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0100

A sermon given on Trinity Sunday, 2019 at St Thomas' Church, Finsbury Park, London.

Re-Enchanting Nature by Learning From Animals

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0100

This was the opening keynote talk at the 2021 Mystics and Scientists Conference, hosted by David Lorimer and presented by the Scientific and Medical Network (https://scientificandmedical.net). The entire conference is available on their channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLHvmUdBmYuqOh0wtGrS73A

The Evolution of Telepathy: Cambridge University

Tue, 31 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

For five years Rupert was the Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project, administered by Trinity College, Cambridge, for research on unexplained human and animal abilities. Recorded at Cambridge University on February 9th, 2011.

Field observations have suggested that wolves and other wild animals may communicate telepathically over many miles, and surveys have shown that about 50% of dog owners and about 30% of cat owners believe that their pets may respond to their thoughts or silent commands. Among humans, apparent telepathy is most commonly reported between members of families and between close friends and colleagues. Experimental investigations of telepathy in animals and people suggest that telepathy may be a natural means of communication between members of animal and human groups. Human telepathy is still evolving in the context of modern technologies, including the internet, emails, SMS messages and telephones.

https://www.sheldrake.org/about-rupert-sheldrake/the-perrott-warrick-fund

Finding God Again: The Rise of Anatheism

Tue, 24 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Dartington Great Hall, Devon, January 28, 2015. Rupert talks about his own spiritual journey, and about the contemporary cultural, intellectual and social movements leading to a rediscovery of God.

Memory, Morphic Resonance and the Collective Unconscious

Tue, 17 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Rupert talks about archetypes, Jung’s collective unconscious, ancient Greek and Jewish philosophies about reality, Sir Francis Bacon, mechanistic science, progressivist views of Darwin, big bang cosmology, multiverse theory, the Hindu and Buddhist world views, and how they all relate to the idea of memory in nature. Recorded at the UK Council for Psychotherapy, Nov 26th, 2014.

The Inextricable Roles of Form and Energy

Thu, 12 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

What do you believe the memory is comprised of in holy places? Is it energy or something else?

Everything in nature, according to modern science, depends on form and energy. If you have form without energy, its virtual, it doesn't do anything. Without the flow of breath, you can't have speech. Similarly, without energy, forms are static, lifeless, inert. So it is with holy places; through our senses we readily experience the forms, textures, scents and sounds of a place. But many also experience the energy there; the spiritual and emotional states of those who came before. Without this energy, without resonating with the past, what we experience is merely data.

Recorded on February the 16th 2022, at the Meditatio Centre London, by I AM Sound Academy: https://www.iamsoundacademy.com

Holy Places

Tue, 10 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

All cultures, as far as I know, have holy places. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, by their very nature nomadic, and seem to have carried out ceremonies at holy places like Lascaux and Chauvet caves. When people settled in the Neolithic, starting twelve thousand years ago, they were building ceremonial structures, including standing stones and stone circles. Some were built before settled agriculture began. Even in atheist regimes where there's an explicit denial of the sacred and of the holy, the need for holy places persists, like the mausoleum of Lenin in Red Square, in Moscow, to which people went on pilgrimages, rather in the same way Christians visit the relics of saints.

Recorded on February the 16th 2022, at the Meditatio Centre London: https://meditatiocentrelondon.org
Created by I AM Sound Academy: https://www.iamsoundacademy.com

Flowers: The 2015 Vegetable Sermon in Shoreditch Parish Church (sorry for audio quality)

Sun, 01 May 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Thomas Fairchild was a pioneering plant breeder who lived in Shoreditch, in the East End of London. When he died in 1729, he left a legacy for a "Vegetable Sermon" to be preached each year in Shoreditch Parish Church in the week following Pentecost on "the wonderful works of God in creation". Recorded on May 15, 2015.

Sorry for the poor quality of this recording. It was improved with de-essing and reverb noise reduction, but only so much could be accomplished.

Is the Sun Conscious?

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Rupert speculates on the possibility that stars are conscious, given not only the complexity and dynamism of their electro-magnetic activity, but also that all traditional cultures have taken it for granted that the Sun is alive and intelligent. Recorded at the Electric Universe conference in 2018 on July 7th, Bath, UK.

Rupert’s technical paper on the consciousness of the sun was published on April 6, 2021 in the Journal of Consciousness Studies.
https://www.sheldrake.org/files/pdfs/papers/Is_the_Sun_Conscious.pdf

Of Philosopher Kings and Theocracies | Are Enlightened People Better Judges of Reality?

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

A question to Rupert from Ali-Reza Omidvar of the Oxford Psychedelic Society; March, 2022. https://oxpsysoc.org/

Don't you think there is a kind of a philosophical principle: that a community of people who have had more states of consciousness are a more qualified community to give judgments on reality? Not to say that their judgment is right and accurate, but just to say that, for example, the community of Hindu mystics and shamans. That community is better qualified, because they have experienced a wider variety of states of consciousness than the community of materialists, who may have not had those experiences.

Easter, Passover and the Archetype of Blood Sacrifice

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:00:00 +0100

Easter and Passover are closely linked festivals , and this year they overlap, with Passover beginning on Good Friday, April 14. Both are rooted in ancient traditions of blood sacrifice, which in turn has its evolutionary roots in the behaviour of predators; when they have killed one prey animal and have enough to eat, the others are safe for a while. The death of one protects the others. These archetypes run very deep in many religions and cultures. They are still with us today in secular societies, on an unprecedented scale: in the US alone, about 25 million vertebrate animals are sacrificed every year on the altar of science in biomedical research. This is a good time to reflect on how much we owe to those who have died for our sakes, and the Easter archetype of death and rebirth.

Reason for Hope Beyond Materialism | How can we ease the trauma that we see all over the world?

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0100

A question to Rupert from the Oxford Psychedelic Society; March, 2022. Hosted by Ali-Reza Omidvar. https://oxpsysoc.org/

You mentioned Terence McKenna. He said about the current situation of our society, and about our point in history as a whole, that we are in a state of transition. He compared it to the process of birth, which you mentioned in your talk (Episode 35:Expanding Consciousness with Psychedelics). So if you as humanity are in the birth canal, how can we ease the pains and traumas that we see all over the world? And what can we do to not lose faith that there is something beyond?

Expanding Consciousness with Psychedelics

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 17:00:00 +0100

This talk was given to the Oxford Psychedelic Society in March, 2022 and was hosted by Ali-Reza Omidvar. https://oxpsysoc.org/

David Abram, What is Magic?

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Rupert and David Abram probe the meaning and manifestation of magic. Recorded at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, Canada, on August 6, 2015.

David Abram, PhD, is a cultural ecologist, founder of The Alliance for Wild Ethics and award winning author of Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, and The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. An accomplished storyteller and sleight-of-hand magician David has lived and traded magic with indigenous sorcerers in Indonesia, Nepal, and the Americas.

Microcast: Has Culture Lost Sight of the Sublime?

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

This excerpt is from a panel discussion at IAI’s festival, HowTheLightGetsIn, entitled _Trash, trends and the transcendent_ recorded 21st February 2022. What really is the sublime and where can we find it in the 21st century?

Watch the full discussion on IAI TV: https://iai.tv/video/trash-trends-and-the-transcendent?_auid=2020

Why is there so much beauty in the world?

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Dr Sheldrake explores the evolution of the sense of beauty in animals and humans, how beauty seems to be inherent in nature, arising in resonance with animal minds both great and small. Recorded Hollyhock on Cortes Island, British Columbia, August 2017.

What Science Can't Explain, a Debate with Michael Brooks

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A discussion between Rupert and Michael Brooks, consultant for the New Scientist and author of “13 Things That Don't Make Sense”. Chair: Vivienne Parry, science broadcaster and author of “The Truth About Hormones” at the Institute for Contemporary Arts, London on Jan 27 2009.

Seven Myths about Religion, with Jonas Atlas

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Rupert and theologian Jonas Atlas take a deep dive into the seven secular myths about religion. The article by Atlas that sparked this conversation can be found here:
https://bit.ly/3fRwnw4

Recorded July 20th, 2020.

Scopaesthesia and its Implications

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A talk about research on the sense of being stared at, given to the Society for Psychical Research https://www.spr.ac.uk on January 31, 2022. Rupert outlines the natural history of this phenomenon, experienced by more than 90% of the population, including children, which is also widespread among non-human animals. He discusses its implications for theories of vision and the ideas about the extended mind, the mind beyond the brain. He shows how major unanswered questions could be answered through further research, much of which could be done quite simply and cheaply.

Morphic Fields, Social Groups and Family Constellations

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Social groups as morphic fields have a kind of built-in memory. In human families the family has a kind of field and the field of the family has patterns and habits within it, and this is most graphically illustrated by a form of psychotherapy called systemic family constellations, pioneered by the German psychologist Bert Hellinger.

An excerpt from a talk at the 2012 IONS Conference in San Francisco. https://noetic.org

Video of the talk: https://youtu.be/ty5lz9mVezU

Mind Beyond the Brain

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A talk given at the Advaya Initiative workshop ‘Consciousness: Re-Defining Our Parameters’. Recorded at the Rudolf Steiner House, London, on December 3rd, 2018.

The full talk: https://advaya.co/events/2018/12/02/consciousness-re-defining-our-parameters

Microcast: What happens when we die?

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Rupert answered this question during a talk given at Hollyhock in 2014. Might dreams tell us something about what happens when we die?

The full talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxsNpMpPT3Q

Psi in Everyday Life, Evidence and Debate: University of Northampton

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A talk at the University of Northampton given on the 27th of November, 2018 - Morley Room, Waterside Campus.

Video of the talk: https://youtu.be/JtW-FowdF44

Microcast: A Reaction to Sam Harris on the Advancement of Science Versus Spirituality

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Thanks to The Psychedelic Society (http://psychedelicsociety.org.uk) for this excerpt from a conversation between Rupert and Robin Carhart-Harris, with Stephen Reid hosting. Recorded on the 26th of June, 2019 at EartH, Hackney, London, UK.

The full talk: https://youtu.be/l4HuFHWPc6k

Science, Spiritual Practices and Ways to Go Beyond; IONS Keynote Address

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Rupert’s keynote address at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS https://noetic.org) 18th International Conference in Santa Clara, California, July 19th, 2019.

Video of the talk: https://youtu.be/8F1AsThU3_I

The books:
Science and Spiritual Practices
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/science-and-spiritual-practices

· Meditation
· Gratitude
· Connecting with nature
· Relating to plants
· Rituals
· Singing and chanting
· Pilgrimage and holy places

Ways to Go Beyond And Why They Work
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/ways-to-go-beyond-and-why-they-work?yt=IONS2019

· The Spiritual Side of Sports
· Learning from Animals
· Fasting
· Cannabis, Psychedelics and Spiritual Openings
· Powers of Prayer
· Holy Days and Festivals
· Cultivating Good Habits, Avoiding Bad Habits and Being Kind

Microcast: Tim Freke, Consciousness is About Possibilities

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

An excerpt from a longer conversation between Rupert and philosopher Tim Freke (https://timfreke.com), an internationally respected authority on world spirituality and the bestselling author of more than 20 books.

Watch the full conversation: https://www.sheldrake.org/videos/sheldrake-talks-with

Rowan Williams, A Trinitarian Classification of Spiritual Practices

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Dr Williams responds to Rupert's talk on spiritual practice, starting at 33:20.

Rupert speaks with Dr Rowan Williams, noted poet and translator of poetry, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Learned Society of Wales. In 2013, he was made a life peer, becoming Lord Williams of Oystermouth, in the City and County of Swansea.

Recorded in January of 2020.

Microcast: William Blake, Newton and Angels

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

This is an excerpt from an episode of the South Bank Show on Blake originally broadcast in 1995. Watch the full documentary here: https://youtu.be/Qvx0on0Hj2I

The image being discussed is Blake's painting of Newton from 1795: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_(Blake)#/media/File:Newton-WilliamBlake.jpg

New directions in Agriculture

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Rupert's talk at the _Earth Talks: Joy of Six_ series, delivered by Schumacher College in partnership with Dartington Hall. Recorded at Schumacher College on September 23rd, 2020.

https://www.dartington.org/whats-on/

The Spiritual Aspects of Farming, Oxford Town Hall

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Rupert’s talk at the 2020 Oxford Real Farming Conference. Recorded at Oxford Town Hall, Jan 9th, 2020

http://orfc.org.uk/

Rupert Spira, the Nature of Consciousness

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Recorded in April of 2020

Rupert Spira is an international teacher of the Advaita Vedanta direct path method, author of several books, including "Being Aware of Being Aware" and "The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter". He hosts retreats in Europe and the US, as well as weekly webinars. He's also a notable ceramic artist.

https://non-duality.rupertspira.com

Microcast: Questions for Materialists part 4

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Many materialists believe that psychic phenomena are impossible, and hence illusory. Here are a couple of questions you might ask your materialist friends or family members:

Have you yourself ever had any seemingly telepathic experiences?
What might persuade you to change your mind?

John Butler, For All the Saints

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Rupert visits Derbyshire to discuss saints, holy places and much more with John Butler, one of the first organic farmers in the county. John spends about four hours a day meditating in Bakewell Parish Church, as he has almost every day for 25 years.

Watch the talk: https://youtu.be/aiXXlt-8l40

John's website: https://spiritualunfoldment.co.uk

Microcast: My Friendship with Terence McKenna

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Terence McKenna was an ethnopharmacologist, shamanologist, and author, known for his theories on plant hallucinogens and the bardic skill with which he conveyed his ideas. Sadly Terence died aged 53 on April 3, 2000. We were close friends and had many wonderful conversations, many of which are available on my website at:
https://www.sheldrake.org/videos/terence-mckenna

Two of our conversations, trialogues with Ralph Abraham, were published in book form:

Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativity-and-cosmic-consciousness

The Evolutionary Mind: Conversations on Science, Imagination & Spirit
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-evolutionary-mind

This is an excerpt from a conversation with Roi Yozevitch
https://www.youtube.com/c/RoiYozevitch

The Science Delusion / Science Set Free

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0000

In The Science Delusion: Freeing the Spirit of Enquiry (published in the US as Science Set Free), I show the ways in which science is being constricted by assumptions that have, over the years, hardened into dogmas. Such dogmas are not only limiting, but dangerous for the future of humanity. In 2020 I released an updated edition with new findings.
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-science-delusion-science-set-free

This talk was hosted by Georgia Graham of TalkBox
TalkBox is a community organisation that draws people together to collectively engage in talks, debates and discussions. They curate cutting edge, and now virtual, events with informal and welcoming atmospheres.
https://www.thetalkbox.co.uk

Recorded on Dec 27th, 2021.

Microcast: Waking Before Alarm Clocks Go Off

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Please email your experiences with this phenomena to sheldrake@sheldrake.org

For more information on this phenomena see my book _The Sense of Being Stared At_
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-sense-of-being-stared-at-and-other-unexplained-powers-of-human-minds

Rediscovering God

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Many people used to think that belief in God would disappear with the advance of science. But that has not happened, and some prominent atheists are now trying to reinvent religion. What is going on? Is the universe ultimately conscious or unconscious? And if consciousness pervades all nature, how does it work?

Recorded in August of 2014, at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, Canada.
https://hollyhock.ca/

Microcast: Questions for Materialists part 3

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0000

The third in a series of questions. Please try them out with your materialist friends!

Do you think that dark matter is conserved?
Is there always the same amount of dark matter?
Can you accept that there may be a continuous creation of dark energy as the universe expands?

Graham Hancock, Consciousness and the Limits of the Materialist Paradigm

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Recorded on November 5th, 2021

A dialogue from Beyond The Brain 2021 – Further Reaches of Consciousness Research, with host David Lorimer, organzied by the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia, the Scientific and Medical Network, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the Alef Trust.

Graham Hancock is the NY Times best-selling author of a series of controversial books, notably Fingerprints of the Gods (1995), Heaven’s Mirror (1998), Underworld (2002), Magicians of the Gods (2015) and America Before (2019), investigating the possibility of a lost advanced civilization of the Ice Age. He is also known for his work on the role of altered states of consciousness in the origins of art and religion — an interest explored in his 2005 book Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Man.
https://grahamhancock.com/

Beyond the Brain is the world’s premier conference series exploring new research on whether and how consciousness and mind extend beyond the physical brain and body. This year’s event covers the limitations of scientific materialism, parapsychological research, implications of NDEs, savant syndrome, indigenous gateways to the soul and the nature of universal love. There will also be an experiential session on each day.
https://scientificandmedical.net

Watch on YouTube
https://youtu.be/BeaWkX_ASkI

Microcast: The sense of being stared at, is it directional?

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Have you ever felt that you are being looked at from behind and turned to see someone watching you? Or that you've been watching someone and they turn and look directly at you? I believe this experience has a directional quality to it and I would like to hear from those who have felt this directional sense.

Please email your experiences with this phenomena to sheldrake@sheldrake.org

Morphic Resonance After Forty Years

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Recorded in London on June 21st, 2021

On June 21, 1981, Rupert published his first book “A New Science of Life” in which he proposed the hypothesis of morphic resonance, the idea that memory is inherent in nature. This talk was given on the fortieth anniversary, to the Institute of Noetic Science and the British Scientific and Medical Network.

https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/a-new-science-of-life-morphic-resonance

Microcast: Questions for Materialists part 2

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The second in a series of questions. Please try them out with your materialist friends!

Do you think you are a complex machine?
Have you been programmed to believe in Materialism?

Geshe Tenzin Namdak, Science and Contemplative Traditions

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Recorded May 25, 2021
Rupert and Buddhist teacher Geshe Tenzin Namdak discuss how science and contemplative traditions can inform us about the nature of reality, the interconnectedness of all phenomena and the relation between consciousness and the material world. Geshe Tenzin Namdak first worked as an environmental researcher having graduated in hydrology from Van Hall Larenstein University, The Netherlands. He started studying Buddhism at Maitreya Institute in 1993 and took ordination from His Holiness the Dalai Lama before engaging in his formal studies in Buddhist philosophy and psychology at Sera Jey Monastic University, South India, in 1997. He completed the entire twenty-year Geshe program at Sera Jey in 2017 and the traditional one year Vajrayana study program at Gyume Tantric College in January 2019, the first Westerner to do so. Because of his deep interest and background in science and as a member of Sera Jey’s Education Department he spoke on and organized various dialogues and conferences on contemporary science and ancient contemplative wisdom of the mind and its philosophy. Currently, he is the resident teacher at Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London, and teaches worldwide.

About Science & Wisdom LIVE:
Science & Wisdom LIVE is a project of Jamyang London Buddhist Centre.

Each dialogue explores the middle ground between science and contemplative wisdom, focusing on themes such as the ethics of artificial intelligence, gender equality, climate change, and the benefits of mindfulness and meditation for mental health.

Find Out More: www.sciwizlive.com

Copyright: Jamyang London Buddhist Centre, 2021.

Microcast: Questions for Materialists part 1

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 07:00:00 +0000

The first in a series of questions. Please try them out with your materialist friends!

Is the mechanistic worldview a testable scientific theory, or a metaphor?
If it is a metaphor, why is the machine metaphor better in every respect than the organism metaphor?

David Bentley Hart, Learning from Animals

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Recorded June 9th, 2021
A dialogue with the philosopher David Bentley Hart, author of _Roland in Moonlight_ in which he has conversations with his dog Roland. David is one of my favourite philosophers and this is our first dialogue.

He has just started a new subscription channel for his writings: https://davidbentleyhart.substack.com

Microcast: Terminal Lucidity in Animals

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 07:00:00 +0000

This is an appeal for information about experiences with dogs, cats and other animals that are about to die. I am trying to find out if ‘terminal lucidity’, whereby some people with dementia recover their memory and clarity soon before dying, occurs in non-human animals too.

Please email your experiences with this phenomena to sheldrake@sheldrake.org

The Rebirth of Nature

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Recorded April 23rd, 2020.

Rupert urges us to move beyond the centuries-old mechanistic view of nature, explaining in lucid terms why we can no longer regard the world as inanimate and purposeless. He shows that recent developments in science itself have brought us to the threshold of a new synthesis in which traditional wisdom, intuitive experience, and scientific insight can be mutually enriching.

This is Rupert’s first live online talk, conducted by Hardo Pajula of the Edmund Burke Society in Estonia. Many thanks to Hardo and the EBS for permission to republish this audio recording. http://www.burke.ee/

___Read the book___
The Rebirth of Nature: The Greening of Science and God
https://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/the-rebirth-of-nature