Navigating Consciousness with Rupert Sheldrake

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 understan...

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 spi...

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

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...

Watch the talk: https://youtu.be/dU0NIU5d4BIIn 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.

Watch the talk: https://youtu.be/j91Er2Zh3j4Join 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 (...

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

Video: https://youtu.be/v0i1xc-khTQAfter 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 s...

March 20th, 2024 St. James's Church, LondonVideo: https://youtu.be/QuicgRaE7E8In 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...

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 ...

March 18th, 2024University College London Expeditions and Fieldwork SocietyIn 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.

TEDx Whitechapel, Jan 12, 2013The 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 th...

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 island4:47 Bach, Mass in B minor (Gloria)7:25 Purcell, Music for a While 16:47 Monteverdi, Madrigal24:33 Beatles, Because36:41 S...

A lecture for the Psychedelic Research Society at the University of Sussex, Nov 6th, 2023.https://www.facebook.com/sussex.uni.psychesociety/

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/KyNgE6RsGnwIain 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 co...

Episode 4 of the online course How To Transform the Sciences: Six Potential Breakthroughshttps://www.sheldrake.org/online-coursesAround 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...

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? Wha...

A seminar at Cambridge University, June 2023

Hazelwood, Devon, England, June 1993Ralph 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 polyt...

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....

1995, Esalen InstituteThe 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 ...

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/

Hollyhock, 2008Andrew 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.

Hollyhock, 2011Andrew 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.

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

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 repres...

1995, Esalen InstituteThe 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 BookChaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousnesshttps://sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/chaos-creativit...

1995, Esalen InstituteThe 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 BookChaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousnesshttps://sheldrake.org/bo...

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

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-coursesRelated book:Seven Experiments That Could Change the Worldhttps://www.sheldrake.org/books-by-rupert-sheldrake/seven-...

1998, UC Santa CruzThe 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 r...

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 McKennaA 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 m...

Hollyhock, 2006Andrew 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.

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 consciousness07:07 Rupert: Analog computers as possible framework for machine consciousness07:57 David: So it is possible?08:23 Rupert: Promissory Materialism will "prove" that people are machines&...

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

Hollyhock, 2005Andrew 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.

Hollyhock, 2004Andrew 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.

Rupert's appearance on the DemystifySci podcast. Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOs8pDjnqkAnastasia 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 fre...

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 abo...

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 technolo...

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 t...

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 livi...

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

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

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 la...

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 hol...

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....

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 ...

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 Universityhttps://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 essa...

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-voidThe 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 philosophe...

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...

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 ...

Hollyhock, 2007Andrew 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.

Hollyhock, 2007Andrew 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.

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/

Hollyhock, 2009Andrew 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.

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.euProduced by iai, The Institute of Art and IdeasPhilosophy for our times: c...

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.http...

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

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/

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

London Society for Psychical Research, November 4, 2017Many 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.

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...

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

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

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 comm...

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.

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.

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 experien...

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 o...

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.

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_t...

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 experi...

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 so...

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 ...

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

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,...

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

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.

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.

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/3fRwnw4Recorded July 20th, 2020.

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 thro...

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

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

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

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

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

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_IThe books:Science and Spiritual Practiceshttps://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 placesWays to Go Beyond And Why They Workhttp...

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

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.

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/Qvx0on0Hj2IThe image being discussed is Blake's painting of Newton from 1795: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_(Blake)#/media/File:Newton-WilliamBlake.jpg

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/

Rupert’s talk at the 2020 Oxford Real Farming Conference. Recorded at Oxford Town Hall, Jan 9th, 2020http://orfc.org.uk/

Recorded in April of 2020Rupert 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

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?

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-8l40John's website: https://spiritualunfoldment.co.uk

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-mckennaTwo of our conversations, trialogues with Ralph Abraham, were published in book form:Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic C...

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-freeThis talk was hosted by Georgia Graham of TalkBoxTalkBox is...