Who Is Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake (born 1942) is a British biologist, author, and one of the most controversial scientific thinkers of the past half century. Educated at Cambridge (where he studied natural sciences and received his PhD in biochemistry) and Harvard (where he was a Frank Knox Fellow), Sheldrake had an impeccable mainstream scientific pedigree. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, conducted plant physiology research for the Royal Society, and worked as a principal plant physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute in Hyderabad, India. Then, in 1981, he published A New Science of Life, which proposed the hypothesis of morphic resonance—and the scientific establishment largely recoiled. The journal Nature editorially called the book "the best candidate for burning there has been for many years."

Sheldrake matters for IMHU’s mission precisely because of the reaction his work provokes. His hypotheses—whether ultimately right or wrong—expose the boundaries of what mainstream science considers thinkable, and they do so with rigorous argumentation, testable predictions, and genuine empirical engagement. His core claim is simple: the regularities of nature are better understood as habits than as fixed laws, and these habits are transmitted through a process he calls morphic resonance—a kind of non-local memory in nature by which patterns of organization in one system influence similar systems across space and time. If he’s right, the implications for consciousness, learning, memory, and healing are enormous. If he’s wrong, the questions he raises about the assumptions embedded in mechanistic science remain important. His work forces anyone interested in consciousness, anomalous experience, or the relationship between mind and nature to grapple with what we actually know versus what we’ve simply assumed.

Core Concepts

1. Morphic resonance and morphic fields
   • Sheldrake’s central hypothesis is that self-organizing systems—from crystals to cells to organisms to social groups—are shaped by "morphic fields" that carry a collective memory of how similar systems have organized in the past. This memory is transmitted through "morphic resonance"—a process by which the form and behavior of past systems influence present systems across time and space, without any known physical mechanism of transmission. The more often a pattern occurs, the stronger the field becomes. This would explain, for example, why new chemical compounds become easier to crystallize worldwide after they’ve first been crystallized in one laboratory, and why animals seem to learn new behaviors more quickly when other members of their species have already learned them.
2. The habits of nature versus the laws of nature
   • Sheldrake argues that what we call "laws of nature" may be better understood as habits that have evolved over time rather than as fixed, eternal principles imposed on matter from outside. If nature’s regularities are habits rather than laws, then they can change—and the universe becomes a fundamentally more creative, evolutionary, and open system than the mechanistic worldview allows. This reframing has implications for how we understand everything from biological evolution to the plasticity of consciousness.
3. The extended mind
   • Sheldrake has proposed that the mind is not confined to the brain but extends beyond it—through morphic fields that connect organisms to their environments and to each other. He has investigated phenomena that would support this view, including the sense of being stared at, telepathy between bonded pairs (mothers and children, pet owners and their animals), and the ability to anticipate who is calling on the phone. These investigations are methodologically controversial, but the underlying question—whether consciousness is strictly intracranial or extends beyond the skull—is one of the most important open questions in consciousness studies.
4. Science as a practice, not just a set of findings
   • In Science Set Free (published in the UK as The Science Delusion), Sheldrake identified ten core assumptions of mainstream science (matter is unconscious, nature is mechanical, the laws of nature are fixed, etc.) and argued that each of them is an unexamined belief rather than an established fact. His point is not that science is wrong but that it has confused its working assumptions with proven truths—and that genuinely empirical science should be willing to question everything, including its own metaphysical foundations.
   • My take: Sheldrake is a genuinely unusual figure—a rigorous Cambridge-trained scientist who asks questions that most of his peers consider professionally dangerous. Whether or not morphic resonance turns out to be real, his work is valuable as a sustained, intelligent challenge to the unexamined assumptions of scientific materialism. His critics often dismiss him without engaging his actual arguments; his supporters sometimes embrace his conclusions without applying the same critical rigor he asks of mainstream science. The truth, as usual, requires more patience than either camp has shown.

Essential Writings

• A New Science of Life
  • The book that started the controversy: Sheldrake’s original presentation of the morphic resonance hypothesis. Clearly argued, specific in its predictions, and remarkably readable for a book that rewrites the foundations of biology.
  • Best use: the essential starting point. Read this before forming an opinion about Sheldrake.
• Science Set Free (UK title: The Science Delusion)
  • Sheldrake’s most accessible and wide-ranging book, systematically questioning the ten core dogmas of mainstream science and making the case for a more open, empirical approach. Each chapter takes one assumption and shows why it should be treated as a question rather than an answer.
  • Best use: the best gateway text for general readers—and for scientists willing to examine their own assumptions honestly.
• The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Memory of Nature
  • The most comprehensive statement of the morphic resonance theory, extending it from biology to chemistry, physics, psychology, and culture. More detailed and technical than A New Science of Life.
  • Best use: for readers who want to engage with the full theory and its implications across disciplines.
• Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work
  • Sheldrake’s exploration of spiritual practices—including meditation, gratitude, fasting, pilgrimage, and psychedelics—through the lens of his scientific framework. More personal and practical than his earlier work.
  • Best use: for readers interested in the intersection of Sheldrake’s scientific thinking and contemplative practice.

Image Attribution

Author: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Zereshk. Rupert Sheldrake, Toward a Science of Consciousness, Tucson, Arizona.