Jul 18, 2023 · 1 hr 9 min
NC
Religion & Spirituality
Navigating Consciousness with Rupert Sheldrake
Rupert Sheldrake
A wide ranging discussion of consciousness at the intersection of science and spirituality with Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University Rupert worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Hyderabad, India. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge.
- 127 episodes
- Updated June 28
Episodes127
- NCJul 4, 2023 · 39 min
The Force of Habit: New Tests for Morphic Resonance
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
- NCJun 20, 2023 · 1 hr 19 min
Trialogue: Disincarnate and Non-human Entities, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham
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 ...
- NCMay 30, 2023 · 41 min
Trialogue: Creativity and Chaos, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham
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
- NCMay 16, 2023 · 45 min
Ralph Abraham: Form from Chaos, Attractors, Cosmic Expansion, Energetic Flux, World Soul
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
- NCMay 10, 2023 · 42 min
Cellular Immortality, a New Theory of Senescence and Rejuvenation
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
- NCApr 25, 2023 · 50 min
How do birds navigate and pigeons home?
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
- NCApr 18, 2023 · 54 min
Trialogue: Fractal History at the Edge of the Millenium, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna
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
- NCApr 11, 2023 · 1 hr
Trialogue: Radical Speculations From '98 on the Emergence of Super-intelligent AI, with Terence McKenna and Ralph Abraham
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/
- NCMar 28, 2023 · 1 hr 21 min
Dr Andrew Weil, Fields of Mind and Body
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.
- NCMar 14, 2023 · 47 min
The History of Orthodox Scientific Thought, From Greek and Hebrew Roots to Medieval Universities, the Enlightenment, Evolution and the Big Bang
This is an extract from Rupert's workshop with Brother David Steindl-Rast at Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC in August, 2011.
- NCMar 14, 2023 · 40 min
Q&A with Brother David Steindl-Rast and audience; re: History of Orthodox Scientific Thought
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
- NCFeb 28, 2023 · 43 min
Dr Andrew Weil, Evidence and Belief in Science and Medicine
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.
- NCFeb 21, 2023 · 1 hr 12 min
Dr Andrew Weil, Integrative Medicine and the Extended Mind
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.
- NCFeb 14, 2023 · 1 hr 38 min
Inherited Consciousness, with Anastasia & Michael Shilo
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.
- NCJan 2, 2023 · 38 min
Is science scientific enough? With neuroscientist Alex Gómez-Marín
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
- NCDec 26, 2022 · 42 min
Trialogue: Chaos and the Imagination Part 2, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna
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.
- NCDec 20, 2022 · 33 min
Are memories stored in brains? With neuroscientist Alex Gómez-Marín
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
- NCDec 12, 2022 · 45 min
Trialogue: Chaos and the Imagination Part 1, with Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna
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.
- NCDec 6, 2022 · 22 min
Telepathy and the Taboos of Materialism
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.