A Conscious Universe? – Dr Rupert Sheldrake

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Published 2020-08-09
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The sciences are pointing toward a new sense of a living world. The cosmos is like a developing organism, and so is our planet, Gaia. The laws of Nature may be more like habits. Partly as a result of the ‘hard problem’ of finding space for human consciousness in the materialist worldview, there is a renewed interest in panpsychist philosophies, according to which some form of mind, experience or consciousness is associated with all self-organizing systems, including atoms, molecules and plants. Maybe the sun is conscious, and so are other stars, and entire galaxies. If so, what about the mind of the universe as a whole? Rupert Sheldrake will explore some of the implications of this idea.

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 85 scientific papers, and was named among the top 100 Global Thought Leaders for 2013. He studied natural sciences at Cambridge University, where he was a Scholar of Clare College, took a double first class honours degree and was awarded the University Botany Prize in 1963. Dr Sheldrake then studied philosophy and the history of science at Harvard before returning to Cambridge, where he took a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1967.

He is the author of 13 books, and in 2012 he published ‘The Science Delusion’. This book examines the ten dogmas of modern science, and shows how they can be turned into questions that open up new vistas of scientific possibility. It received the Book of the Year Award from the British Scientific and Medical Network. His most recent book: ‘Ways To Go Beyond, And Why They Work’ was published in 2019, and looks at seven spiritual practices that are personally transformative and have scientifically measurable effects. You can keep up to date with Rupert’s work on his website: www.sheldrake.org.

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All Comments (21)
  • @hankchinaski_
    find it very encouraging that about 400K people are willing to listen to a Rupert Sheldrake lecture on consciousness. Perhaps there is still some hope for humans......
  • @parrsnipps4495
    I love how before the 17th century the prevailing world view was all life had consciousness, including animals & plants, planets, etc. Very unfortunate the subsequent mechanized view reducing animals to machines with no souls. Thank goodness people like yourself Dr. Sheldrake are resurrecting the subject for a greater understanding.
  • @misewixe2777
    To be genius like this is one thing, but to actually tell the story uninterrupted without being all over the place or ppl losing the thread of interest, is a craft most geniuses do not have. It might look and sound great in their head or in the equations but to put it verbally in an easy and digestible format for consensus to consume and understand is a big + :)
  • @GraceDollesin
    The awesome thing I did for myself was when I turned my backyard into a mini forest. I never felt this good and somewhat spiritual and closer to the universe. I kid you not! My mini forest consists of five 30 feet Japanese Maple Trees, one 30 feet Magnolia Tree, 12 Pine Trees about fifty feet tall, Alberta Spruce, Lilacs Trees, Smokey Bush Trees, Walnut Tree, Japanese Apple Tree, climbing trumpet flower, birds and annual flowers. I love my backyard. When I feel sad, I walk barefoot in the backyard and hug my trees. I find joy and happiness being in the backyard. It took me 26 years of hard work and finally I’m starting to enjoy my trees. That’s how long it took those trees to grow into those heights. It’s like a condominium between those branches. So many birds are living in my trees. So cute! Thank you everybody who’s here in the comment section. Life might be difficult for all of us but there is always bright light at the end of the tunnel .❤❤❤ I do hope and pray that we keep loving each other. We live in a troubled world. Love and kindness is stronger than negative force.❤❤❤
  • My father was a believer in hard science. He was basically a rocket engineer. He had no time for spirituality and thought it hogwash. He was quite surprised when his mother and brother would come and visit him while his body failed due to cancer. They both passed away years earlier. He described to me some of his experiences, and he had all the classic hits, too. He experienced time phenomenon, he would swear he was somewhere else for days when he never left his bed. There was a distinct "guide" that was with him. Dad didn't like him. He manifested as a security guard and wouldn't let my dad leave, even pulled a gun on him once. He had visitations from deceased family members. He was calm. Very calm for understanding his situation. He didn't want to die but there was no panic in him at all. He knew he was going to die. In 45 years it was the only time he ever called just to talk. He knew.... Anyhow if a man like my father can have the classic near death experience, that tells me there is something else going on. As well, i had a desperate urge to get a haircut. I probably get one every 3 to 6 months. I drove across town to the only barber I could find, I was just determined. My dad called me less than a minute after I left the barber. It was a video call. He never did that before and ad I said it was probably only the third time he called in 45 years.There are things in the Universe we don't understand and just don't perceive in our daily lives, but they are there. There is something that connects us, I know. It made me get a haircut.
  • @sandralewis-hy3no
    Dr Sheldrake is amazing, to conduct a lecture and to explain things so simply, without prompts, without slides is incredible.
  • A fascinating man to listen to, very engaging and doesn't 'talk down' to people. Interesting lecture.
  • @margeneroso3101
    Our great grandparents would have simply and bashfully smiled if they heard this talk. Our universe is all about consciousness and the 90% unseen! Our human minds are so powerful that collective human thoughts do produce very visible results … what’s seen in our society today, ie upheavals, restlessness, political chaos … are results of many similarly collective psyches. Ever hear the saying, “society gets the politicians they deserve?” … “Watch your thoughts, they become words … words actions …” Everything one does is recorded in the universe! “Everything we do in life echoes in eternity.” ( from the movie Gladiators). I talk to plants, the birds & the bees, and yes, even my car … because I truly can and because everything is truly connected. This is how great & wonderful God’s universe just is! 🙏
  • @markcalder1111
    Oh my, this is so liberating! I never quite understood how it has become taboo to say something like the Sun could be a god or that trees have consciousness. I spent so much of life under the spell of scientific materialism that I'd managed to doubt all else. The consequence of the materialistic view is that it promotes the primacy of humans. How selfish! Thank you for making me feel ok with the spiritual world again.
  • @zenmeister451
    This is the third time I've listened to this talk; one might imagine that I'd have learned by now, eh? However, each listen reveals new nuances of understanding for me. Excellent talk - brilliant mind!
  • @onevastanus
    I did a night time scuba dive in Thailand. The dive itself was amazing, but when I surfaced, alone on the dark ocean pretty far from the boat but close to the island and in no real danger, I looked up to see the Milky Way in all its splendid glory. It told me very clearly that it is me. I guess we can call it a metaphysical experience, and mainstream followers of scientism would scoff and ask what I was on, but I know what I felt and was told. I know that I am part of the and that any part is of the whole. It changed my life in ways I can't begin to explain. Knowing that you are the galaxy and the galaxy is you fundamentally changes the way one sees this reality.
  • @nathananderson8720
    This is one of the channels that gave me the courage to start my YouTube channel 6 months ago about self development. Now I have 429 subs and > 100 hours of watch time. I know it’s not comparable with others but I’m still proud I started because I’ve been learning so many lessons that I could haven’t learned without getting started in the 1st place.
  • @gesswa4755
    An amazing direct transmission! No notes, compelling, comprehensive and convincing. Bravo Prof for your brilliance in the way you simplify a multidimensional complexity.
  • @peterwbryce
    On the cusp of a transition to a new consciousness, on the threshold of a dream. Thanks so much Rupert for sharing the journey of consciousness through the ages.
  • With such gentle,happy and respectfull attitude the world becomes alive and frendly...very refreshing Spirit...healthy and spontaneous ...thank you Rupert !
  • @devonseamoor
    An excellent lecture, thank you, Rupert Sheldrake. I'm following your lectures again, and again. They land in new mindsoil, so to speak. Through the years, over 3 or 4 decades, your way of thinking moves closer to what's in the process of re-membering in our human consciousness now, as I observe this. You're not only a very intelligent scientist and clear speaker, but also a man with humour, and joy for life. A very British gentleman, God bless you!
  • excellent I need a breather every 20 mins to digest and integrate all these thoughts and information , I let it sink in for 10 mins and then continue to listen, being a very creative person having some creativity and more fun from Dr Rupert would be easier to absorb all this, thank you for all your work, focus and dedication, yes I have had many experiences of different aspects of consciousness within myself, plants, animals, water all things .....and love the comments people have written below ..amazing too...
  • @hasansahsah223
    As a Sufi mystic would; one like to explain with a direct experience and here is one direct experience: One hot summer day, the need rose to visit a friend. Needed a taxi. There was a billboard next to home, in an alley, where it is unlikely to find a taxi. I said to the billboard: you always direct people, you are an expert in directions; it is noon and hot, please direct a taxi to me here. Five taxis showed up in a moment in this small alley. I thanked the billboard for it’s generosity and took off. It is all natural if you live it. We tend to talk much and live little.
  • @robbyquade2966
    Love you Mike! Thank you for all you do, miss you when you're away, and always excited when I get my daily dew notifications. You've become a daily comfort. Keep up the incredible work. Much Love to you and your family 💓 Robby
  • My family lived within walking distance of the Pacific Coast in Central America in the 1950’s. One evening, we went to the swimming area where the shark net concentrated the crowd. I wandered off beyond the net to an area that had no footprints. I was four, maybe five. I looked back to make sure my family was still in sight, and I looked down and saw my footprints. Just mine, no others, and a thought came into my head — Does the sand know I’m here? Maybe it just knows that someone has been walking across.” In 1974 my future wife an I were driving across the New Mexico desert. There were small, pretty cacti everywhere. She wanted one, but I had no idea how I would dig one up. I thought maybe I could use a tire tool, a flat rock, or a stick. We finally saw a small one about a hundred feet from the road, just on the other side of a barbed wire fence. There on the ground, almost touching the cactus, was a very old shovel. It didn’t look “store bought,” more like it came from a blacksmith shop a long time ago, and most of the wooden handle was rotted off. But it worked. I thought about taking it with me but it didn’t seem right. There’s a wide, four-lane highway there now, so maybe somebody else found it when the road crews came through. In 1984 my girlfriend (I got divorced) and I were in Bloomington Indiana, sitting behind a 1973 Ford LTD, on a motorcycle. That car probably weighed over 5,000 pounds. All along the road there were signs that said “NO PASSING ON THE SHOULDER.” I’m 70 years old — I’ve never gotten a traffic ticket. I’m almost obsessive-compulsive about following the rules… But, a few seconds after stopping behind that big Ford, a kind of wordless thought screamed in my mind MOVE so, I passed on the shoulder. As we were passing, the Ford lurched forward into the car directly in front, pushing that car into the next one, and we heard the sound of metal being bent, crunched, and twisted. Somebody in what looked like a Toyota had slammed into the Ford, apparently without even hitting the brakes. Yeah, breaking the Law saved two lives. There have been a few incidents of uncommon thoughts and very against-the-odds events in my life, not enough to think I’m psychic or anything, just enough to make me wonder if something’s going on. But none of them compare to the strangest thing I ever SAW, with my brother standing next to me, who saw the same thing. Nobody believes me when I speak of it, except the most rabid UFO hounds. And it was really no more than a pinpoint of light in the sky, which, at first we thought was a satellite, doing impossible shit — as in, against the laws of physics.