Navigating Consciousness with Rupert Sheldrake Podcast By Rupert Sheldrake cover art

Navigating Consciousness with Rupert Sheldrake

Navigating Consciousness with Rupert Sheldrake

By: Rupert Sheldrake
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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.© 2025 Rupert Sheldrake Philosophy Science Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • What Insights Can Psychedelic Experiences Give Us? University of York
    Jul 22 2025

    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.

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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Spiritual Practices and Transformative Experiences in a Scientific Age
    Jul 8 2025

    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

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    31 mins
  • God in Nature and Nature in God - Panentheism
    Jun 13 2025

    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

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    55 mins
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loved it 😊👍👌very interesting subjects,I'm a big fan of Rupert Sheldrake he is very interesting subjects

AWESOME 👍

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Heretics are fascinating, especially modern day heretics like Rupert Sheldrake. Honestly I came to this podcast with a 'banned tedtalk' and little else known about Sheldrake, except that he is shunned from the scientific community because of wayward thinking and challenging the accepted 'science.'

But isn't science about asking questions about the natural world, and then trying to find answers to those questions? At its heart, that is what science is. So I have always taken issue with anyone who claims 'the science is settled' about anything. Or the folks who seem to regard science as almost a religion, some omnipotent deity hidden in numbers from whose devotees we must take orders and to whom we must pledge our unquestioning devotion.

So anyway, when I saw Sheldrake had a podcast about animals (one of my very favorite topics), I thought, "well why the heck not?"

And I must say, this was an engaging discussion between these two authors. Admittedly they veered into metaphysics and spirituality discussions as much, if not more, than they talked about animals, but... It was thought-provoking and makes one think about things from a slightly different vantage. I like that.

I am not saying that I am ready to prescribe to Sheldrake's theories, but one does not need to believe every word someone says in order to enjoy listening to that person. These gentlemen had a subdued humor, expansive intellects, and very curious views about the nature of reality. And I enjoyed listening to them both very much.

Curious, interesting, open-minded, and enjoyable

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Two of my heroes. Heretics are really just those that question the establishment. Two extremely intelligent men that use critical thinking & open minds to advance understanding. A breath of fresh air.

illuminating conversation

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It just doesn't get any better than listening to Rupert having discussions with some of my favorite scie tests and journalists. Excellent!!!

Top Notch

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