Morphic Resonance: The Nature of Formative Causation

by Rupert Sheldrake

Morphic Resonance( The Nature of Formative Causation) <> Paperback <> RupertSheldrake <> ParkStreetPress

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spirituality, Nature, Psychology, Biology

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 80 scientific papers and ten books. A former Research Fellow of the Royal Society, 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. He then studied philosophy and history of science at Harvard University, where he was a Frank Knox Fellow, before returning to Cambridge, where he took a Ph.D. in biochemistry. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, where he was Director of Studies in biochemistry and cell biology. As the Rosenheim Research Fellow of the Royal Society, he carried out research on the development of plants and the ageing of cells in the Department of Biochemistry at Cambridge University.

Recently, drawing on the work of French philosopher Henri Bergson, he developed the theory of morphic resonance, which makes use of the older notion of morphogenetic fields. He has researched and written on topics such as animal and plant development and behaviour, telepathy, perception and metaphysics.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was difficult for me to read because of the jargon. I gave it a lower rating than it may have deserved simply because I feel like I don't fall into the intended audience. This book read like the thesis of a biochemistry graduate and not like a book directed to the layman. I struggled with parts like this,
"Aggregative morphogeneses occur progressively in inorganic systems as the temperature is reduced: as a plasma cools, subatomic particles aggregate into atoms; at lower temperatures, atoms aggregate into molecules; then molecules condense into liquids; and finally liquids crystallize. In the plasma state, hydrogen atoms split up into electrons and naked atomic nuclei. The nuclei can be regarded as the morphogenetic germs of atoms; they are associated with the atomic morphogenetic fields, which contain the virtual orbitals of elections. In one sense these orbitals do not exist, but in another sense they have a reality that is revealed in the cooling plasma as they are actualized by the capture of electrons. Electrons that have been captured within atomic orbitals may be displaced..."
That certainly wasn't written for the common man.

I find the subject fascinating but I still have difficulty describing what morphic resonance is and what formative causation is. Here is how the book describes Morphic fields:
"Morphogenetic fields organize morphogenesis. Motor fields organize movements; behavioral fields organize behaviour; and social fields organize societies. These fields are hierarchically ordered in the sense that social fields include and organize the behavioral fields of animals within the society; the animals' behaviour fields organize their motor fields; and the motor fields depend for their activity on the animals' nervous systems and bodies organized by morphogenetic fields. These are all different kinds of morphic field. "Morphic field" is a generic term that includes all kinds of fields that have an inherent memory given by morphic resonance from previous similar systems. Morphogenetic, motor, behavioral, and social fields are all morphic fields, and they are all essentially habitual."

There are occasions where the phenomenon is better described. I understand morphic fields to contain information that we don't understand where it comes from. For example, the instincts of an animal: how can a baby bird (hatched from an egg and having never communicated with any other birds) know how to build a nest? How do monarch butterflies know how, where, and when to migrate? How do spiders know how to build a spider web? We used to think that we would find this information in DNA but we discovered that mapping the genomes of various species still proved to be insufficient to answer these questions. So the author proposes that this missing information exists in morphic fields and morphogenetic behaviour to be driven by knowledge that exists in the morphic field.
"In some cases animals mend nests and other structures after they have been damaged. Potter wasps can fill holes made by the experimenter in the walls of their pots, sometimes using actions never normally performed when the pots are being constructed. And termites repair damage to their galleries and nests through cooperation and coordinated activities of many individual insects."

Here's a story that attempts to describe how the chreode (likely path of the morphic field) comes into existence:
"Hens come to the rescue of chicks in response to their distress call, but not if they simply see them in distress, for example behind a soundproof glass. According to the hypothesis of formative causation, recognition of these sign stimuli depends on morphic resonance from previous similar animals exposed to similar stimuli. Owing to the process of automatic averaging, this resonance will emphasize only the common features of the spatio-temporal patters of activity brought about by these stimuli in the nervous system. The result will be that only certain specific stimuli are abstracted from the environment, whereas others are ignored. Consider, for example, the stimuli acting on hens whose chicks are in distress. Imagine a collection of photographs taken of chicks in distress on many different occasions. Those taken at night will show nothing; those in the daytime will show chicks of different sizes and shapes seen from the front, the rear, the sides, or from above; moreover, they may be near to other objects of all shapes and sizes, or even concealed behind them. Now if all these photographs are super imposed to produce a composite image, no features whatever will be reinforced; the result will simply be a blur. By contrast, imagine a series of tape recordings made at the same time the photographs were taken. All bear the record of distress calls, and if these sounds are superimposed, they reinforce each other to give an automatically averaged distress call. This superimposition of photographs and tape recordings is analogous to the effects of morphic resonance from the nervous systems of previous hens on a subsequent hen exposed to the stimuli from a chick in distress: the visual stimuli result in no specific resonance and evoke no instinctive reaction, however pathetic the chick may look to a human observer, whereas the auditory stimuli do."

I thought that the author went a little far when he proposed this idea. Consider a newly synthesized organic chemical that has never existed before. According to the hypothesis of formative causation, its crystalline form will not be predictable in advance, and no morphogenetic field for this form will yet exist. But after it has been crystallized for the first time, the form of its crystals will influence subsequent crystallizations by morphic resonance, and the more often it is crystallized, the stronger should this influence become. As I read on I discovered this was an already observed phenomenon.
"For example, turanose, a kind of sugar, was considered to be a liquid for decades, but after it first crystallized in the 1920s, it formed crystals all over the world. Even more striking are cases in which one kind of crystal appears and is then replaced by another. For example, xylitol, a sugar alcohol used as a sweetener in chewing gum, was first prepared in 1891 and was considered to be a liquid until 1942, when a form with a mealtime point of 61'C crystallized out. Several year later another form appeared, with a melting point of 94'C, and thereafter the first form could not be made again."

If the content of the quotations in this review weren't too overwhelming then maybe this book is for you.

This book was thoroughly indexed and the author always cites his sources.

[Natylie Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

Sheldrake's ideas are brilliant and fascinating but I would recommend watching his presentations and interviews (available on YouTube), which are more accessible than this book.

[Michael DiBaggio · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great contribution of this book is not that it convincingly establishes the existence of morphic fields and morphic resonance--It does not manage that, in my opinion--but that it shines a light on modern scientific orthodoxy and reveals it to be based on a great many questionable premises and flimsy assumptions. If you want to be provoked to think about things you've always accepted as a matter of course, read this book.

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first came across Rupert Sheldrake on YouTube, giving lectures on his theories which I had never come across. As a man very interested in science I was amazed I had never heard of him. But the reason is simple: his views challenge those of accepted science and so have been ridiculed and not taken seriously.
One might then be tempted to disregard them, but I would urge anyone to at least look into them. The problem is that morphic resonance has not yet been proved, but it does at least offer an explanation for phenomena science can't explain. But rather than doing experiments to test the theory, mainstream science labels it "pseudoscience" and refuses to entertain the idea.

This book gives an understandable explanation of morphic resonance, together with evidence to support (if not prove) the idea. There are many things which the theory explains (how spiders know how to build webs, how birds know where in Africa they should migrate to even though they have never visited, how rats in laboratories thousands of miles apart learn the same trick more quickly after it has been learned before, to name but a few) and a list of experiments which could support or disprove the theory (some of which have already been done).

A very interesting book which roused my curiosity in alternative theories whilst making me frustrated at the blunkerdness of the scientific community.

[Shirin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book though at first it looked rather like an elementary biology book and boring, if you flip through the pages quickly. This is due to the diagrams and illustration included to explain some of Sheldrake's experiment and/or observation of experiments done by others. Sheldrake was quite detailed in his descriptions of the experiments and this made the book easy to read.

To be fair, I have been converted to Sheldrake's point of view, and that is to consider all the evidence before passing off judgment, which many materialist have chosen to ignore for fear of being considered unprofessional. Since I am no scientist, this means nothing to me, so I am all ears and my mind opens wide with the ideas Sheldrake to put forth about morphic resonance, morphogentic fields, influence of the past through morphic resonance, etc. He also included a chapter on his conclusions at the end and Appendices that detailed out experiments and his interview with David Bohm, a theoretical physicist who died in 1992.

Before starting on this book I had read Sheldrake's other book, Science Set Free (UK) or the Science Delusion (USA) and I enjoyed that as well.

For updates on his experiments and videos of his lectures, check out his website www. sheldrake.org.

[Peter Pike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book. Sheldrake's views are controversial, but he writes well and brings much to the table. I'm pretty convinced that something similar, if not identical, to morphic fields must be true to explain a lot of what we see in the world. I'm reading another of his books now, so I will hold off on a full examination of his views until then.

But I would recommend this to anyone who is curious about why certain structures in nature look similar to each other, even though the processes by which they are formed are so radically different (such as rivers looking like veins which looks like cracks in a rock face, and so on), as well as for those who might be curious if there's any scientific basis for things we often consider to be more paranormal, such as group knowledge, forms of telepathy, and the like.

[Antony · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has no real evidence an utter infuriating read with no proposal to a formation or cause of such an imaginary concept

[Ximena FT · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had some interesting info, however, it was buried deep within the clutter of technical useless stuff. Don’t think I’d recommend buying it. Go find some abridged version online and you’ll get the goods

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes
Big bang first proposed by Catholic priest Georges Lemaitre, the Cosmic Egg theory of the primeval atom, exploding in a moment of creation. Fred Hoyle disparagingly calls it the big bang theory.

Terence McKenna - science says ‘give us one free miracle, and we’ll explain the rest’ (appearance of all mass and energy in the universe, and all the laws governing it - in an instant from nothing).

Morphic fields for all kinds of organizing influences - morphogenetic (molecules, crystals, tissues), social (flocks of birds), behavioral - with inherent memory.

Eliminative materialism does away with beliefs/feelings altogether, all is material working of neurons. Epiphenomenalists agree consciousness exists, but as epiphenom that doesn’t do anything.

Mechanistic theory of morphogenesis centers on DNA because 1. Differences in animals can be traced to genes 2. Chemical basis of genes is DNA 3. DNA replicates through transcription and translation and into amino acids which link to form polypeptide chains which fold to form proteins. 4. Cell characteristics like metabolism, structure etc depend on proteins.

Inducers/Repressors can switch on/off genes - control of protein synthesis. A ‘genetic toolkit’ of genes are concerned with the regulation - almost identical across organisms: for instance those concerned with body-axis in fruit-flies, mice, and humans are all similar.

Vaitalists: Hans Driech uses regulation, regeneration, and reproduction to show there is something about living organisms that acted on the physical system but was not part of it - he calls this Entelechy - an intensive manifoldness, a nonspatial causal factor that acts into space. Not a form of energy (so does not violate second law of thermodynamics or law of energy conservation) - instead acted by affecting the detailed timing of microphysical processes.

Organicists: morphogenetic fields, analogous to magnetic fields. Cut a magnet, get 2 magnets. Bring 2 magnets together, make a single one. Waddington’s ‘chreode’ or epigenetic landscape, a field that is topology canalizing the path down the valleys to its final state.

Rene Thom’s catastrophe-theory, all physical forms represented by an attractor

From Newtonian energy as basis for motion to post-newtonian fields: gravitational, e.m, and quantum-field (particles as quanta of excitation of matter-fields - proton is excitation of the proton - antiproton field). Energy is still cause of change, but ordering of the change depends on spatial structure of fields.

For a chain of 150 aminos, there are 10^45 conformations. Clearly not all are traversed, because that would take 10^26 years, whereas the protein achieves the folding in 2 minutes, ‘directed’ along certain pathways. Morphogenetic Field as the architectural blueprint - formative causation (as opposed to energetic causation).

Morphic resonance as form’s equivalent of energetic resonance (sympathetic vibration of stretched strings, tuning of radio sets, absorption of light-waves in spectra etc) - between vibrating systems.

Turanose, a sugar, was considered liquid for decades, then after it was first crystallized in 1920s, it formed crystals all over the world. Xylitol, a sugar alcohol was liquid until 1942, when a crystal form emerged, then another, after which the first form could not be made again. (on the other hand, some polymorph crystals coexist, like diamond and graphite). Replacement of one polymorph by another is a recurrent problem in pharma - Abbott had to pull Aids drug Ritonavir, could not find a way to revert to first polymorph after new one emerged.

Spread of new crystallization processes depends on transfer of seeds from lab to lab, like an infection.

Taboo on Lamarckianism begins to lift at turn of millennium, with rise of epigenetics - improve lives of fat, disease-prone Agouti mice through diet, which passes on to descendents despite no change in DNA sequence, only expression of agouti gene.

A social field is the field of a social group. It organizes the form of the society and the interrelations between the individual animals within it. For the bees cycling through different roles in the hive as they age, each role is covered by a social field - changes in the bee’s nervous system brings it into morphic resonance with previous workers who filled the new role, causing it to change roles.

The hungry animal is the germ structure that enters morphic resonance with previous fields of feeding. The field of capture projects into space around the predator, and includes the virtual form of the prey. When this virtual form is actualized with prey corresponding to the form, it is recognized, and the capture chreode is initiated.

Stereotyped patterns of movement brought about by such chreodes at lower levels appear as reflexes, and at higher levels as instincts. from the point of view of the hypothesis of formative causation, there is a difference only of degree between instincts and habits: both depend on morphic resonance, the former from countless previous individuals of the same species and the latter mainly from past states of the same individual.

Karl Pribram has suggested that memory “traces” are somehow distributed within the brain in a manner analogous to the storage of information in the form of interference patterns in a hologram.

Instincts are organized in a hierarchy of “systems” or “centers” superimposed upon one another. Each level is activated primarily by a system at the level above it. The behavior that occurs under the influence of the major instincts often consists of chains of stereotyped patterns of behavior called fixed action patterns. If early in the chain, they are appetitive behavior, if the last part of the chain they are consummatory acts. Each system requires a stimulus to be activated or released. The sign stimulus acts on a specific neurosensory mechanism called the innate releasing mechanism.

Shapes often ineffective as sign stimuli, because of variability and dependence on angle at which seen. On the other hand, colors are less dependent, and odors/sounds not at all. Where shapes are effective, there is a constancy of viewpoint, eg: young birds on the ground see predators flying above them in silhouette.

Four general categories of learning; habituation (waning of response to repeated stimulation without reinforcement); 2. Improvement of innate patterns (learning to fly); 3. New stimulus-reaction pair (Pavlov); 4. Operant conditioning - learn to reach a goal as a result of actions - rats in skinner boxes.

In both trial-and-error, and insight-learning, existing chreodes are integrated with new higher-level motor fields - syntheses that come as sudden-jumps and repeated if successful.

Richard Dawkins coined the word meme to refer to “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation”. He deliberately chose a word that sounded rather like gene to stress the analogy between genes and memes as replicators. But one of the problems with this term is that it is atomistic: it implies that memes are independent units, at the same level as each other. By contrast, thinking of cultural inheritance in terms of morphic fields has no such implication: morphic fields are organized in nested hierarchies

All the patterns of activity characteristic of a given culture can be regarded as morphic fields. The more often they are repeated, the more strongly stabilized they will be. But because of the bewildering variety of culture-specific morphic fields, each of which could potentially canalize the movements of any human being, morphic resonance cannot by itself lead an individual into one set of chreodes rather than another. So none of these patterns of behavior expresses itself spontaneously: all have to be learned. An individual is initiated into particular patterns of behavior by other members of the society. Then as the process of learning begins, usually by imitation, the performance of a characteristic pattern of behavior brings the individual into morphic resonance with all those who have carried out this pattern in the past.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reading, and worth reading again.
Provides many mind expanding branches.

[James Harbaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe the cartoon in Jane & Dunne's "Molecular Memories’' or another PEAR work but it goes something like this... {Picture: One Experimenter/inventor has a Rube Goldberg machine that is obviously functioning and another college is observing it} {Observer's Quote: "But does it work in theory?"}. Most of Parapsychology is pretty amorphous and complex with observer influence giving contradictory results, but Dr. Sheldrake's plethora of observations are from a more substantial permutation of reality. The only other work I've seen on this was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Metamorphosis of Plants'' though older and obscurer works like those of Charles von Reichenbach and it's hard to describe as 3D form cycling through time for metamorphosis is rather complex and more right brained (thus more geometry and less equations with can let in a lot of underground woo). Dr. Sheldrack has an amazing composite of finding and I'll only take from the crystal formation as the book is well worth reading. However, the open section will probably turn off a large portion of readers in the biology domain as he has to fight the purely deterministic view of genes from the dominant camp in the field who had to establish themselves by fighting previous notions of biology (names aren't important and these battle lines make it difficult for building bridges... so maybe just gloss the other perspectives section and go to the accumulation of evidence). With that, I believe this phenomena has a valid explanation in an improved understanding of magnetism for all elements but first looking at what makes iron special, red/blue shifts at a molecular level, and resonating frequencies of atomic and molecular structures in similar vibrations.

The Iron Law
When you hear magnetism, Fe or iron most likely comes to mind first and any other material possessing the trait probably sounds ludicrous save its adjacent elements like cobalt, nickel, and copper which can be magnetized. But what makes this row special is its strong magnetic properties. This row is filling it's 'd orbital' shell which is interesting since there are there is perfect symmetry with 3 of the crosses but a stronger bi symmetry with two of them since one is polar with a hoop and the other is spurring out from it in a diagonal cross (it's way easier to visualize than describe). With the assumption that each electron makes it 'spin' (particle placement) on bipolar ends of orbital per the frequency of the element (measured by mass spectroscopy as it's rhythm in time), one could imagine iron being highly unbalanced as it has 5 of 10 in this d orbital... kind of like a jumping jacks made of maracas (though there's one bean per hollow area and they're connected like an hourglass, but each shell can have one bean at a time). So, Iron would be able to have 3 of 5 beans or electrons pop up in just one side of the z axis as the other 2 are on the xy... this could allow the element to 'shake' or vibrate with energy more so than elements that have these orbitals filled or more symmetrical s and p orbitals (shell scale filling would dilute the effect going down the table in the d field). So iron would be equally vibrating back and forth along it's z axis thus a little 'as above so below' is required since moving particles red shift (the longest visible wavelength to humans) when they move away and blue shift (the shortest wavelength visible to humans) when the come close. Visual this iron would have a light field in all directions of space, chopped in its frequency and thus wavelength, but this would be bisymmetrical (a little shorter and longer at each pole of the z axis) in all directions due to vibration and cycling in time. Now looking at the magnetic elements next to iron, their shells are not as unbalanced and would similar at a phased frequency vibration bu with less amplitude per temp than the iron waves (iron having multiple straight line dislocations within crystal bountries that then alter but would be able to sync up with averages and cross angles). The next assumption is that blues align with reds and vice versa for resonate (of the same or similar lamda/hz) and since light/space connects all particles, would reorient elements into synchronization from sharing light pulses (the earth being mostly iron and nickel on the inside and aligning a floating, sympathetically magnetized piece of metal on water since friction is lower than the force). The more magnetic elements like aligned cobalt or nickel would pull in one direction but not as much in the other phase due to a dulled shell and each time draw the iron closer on the unbalanced pulse. The same thing would apply to dropping a magnet in a copper tube as the light frequency would resonate and not all of the potential energy would be directed by the overlapping lines of light and weighted probability that is gravity... also with electromagnets in copper coils causing these light flows from electron flows in an enhanced one directional d orbital resonance (it's still a rough draft but I think you can see the pattern and overly it with Maxwell's equations for disturbing these 3d light fields of magnesium and electron placement).

Visualize Whirling Peas
Given that loose framework, one could alter it for all other elements that are not in d orbital but do gain asymmetry in geometry due to molecular bonding. So more as a visual, imagine each element as its own side of a green circle which is also its length in time and it generates circles around it in concentric rings a little bigger (red spacing) and smaller (blue spacing) so that the circles are not perfectly centered. If the spacing between these blue and red waves are similar to the size of other elements (green circles or peas) they resonate and affect the direction of blue and red squeezing and since they send out waves as well the two will bob in a similar fashion... basically entanglement or 'spooky action at a distance.' Nicole Yunger Halpern's "Quantum Steampunk" covers how this is accomplished with magnets so it seems self-evident that the feature comes from all pervasive magnetic fields in sympathy... though there are many peas whirling in their own direction. The situation changes though with a complex molecule since the bonds make it more of a snowman shape (though offset with different size balls and bodies). Given this asymmetry and framework, Sheldrack's use of increasing melting points makes sense over time since these molecules can take on a different exclusive forms as the cool from high entropy to low and solidify (I can't remember the epigenetic name but thing of it as a decision tree again with lower melting point configurations of elements obviously occurring at lower temps or longer branches into the tree from it's hot trunk). Like his telling example of nitroglycerin changing properties over time and across the globe, this would make sense once the first configuration came about. Since the frequencies are all the same as the drop in vibratory power, the push and pull of red and blue on the green nodes would be captured first (or weighted as he says) with resonate structures at that temperature (shorter in the heat tree) than later. Another example I'll take from Raghuveer Parthasarathy's "So Simple a Beginning" as an illustration to protein folding (though constrained by transcription, hydrophilic/phobic, and polarity). In the book he mentions how prions work as manifolded proteins (mad cow disease and kuru which are both from the abominable practice of cannibalism) that share the same elemental chain but have different folded shape and cause healthy folded proteins of the same elements to miss fold. This seems like a perfect illustration of how this phenomena works in terms of proximity and amplitude (the amount of that pattern resonating is similar patterns) as well a melting point stability. I don't think that these are unreasonable assumption and conclusions with some very useful outcomes that could be applied in medicine and nano tech for increasing production of things like graphene which has the potential to revolutionize material sciences. The issue is that such phenomena are complex and exponentially morose with with each scale. Something that is a tad less woo and would tie genes to this process would be in metamorphosis based on the proteins expresses pushing and pulling cells with them to guild into place (steering Brownian Motion) in addition to chemical morphogens which are outlined nicely in Dr. Parthasarathy's book (Dr. Sheldrake has an older observers diagrams of fish with grids overlapping them to show how their field has been squeezed, stretched, elongated, twisted to give different forms which could be a mix of certain protein resonating differently as the morphemic cycles and clocks unfold... but it's super complex with many pieces so more work is required). Exiting the more grounded (alchemical earth) areas one could make light frameworks of the more squishy repercussions with time and choice (alchemical water and air). One other piece here is the magnetization of wood in the US's Defense Intelligence Agency's report on "Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research from 1975 which will be used later (perhaps by observing and entangling the spin of carbon chains that would be quick to decoherence and was weak to begin with most likely due to the size and symmetry of carbon).

Hearts and Minds

Paintings and Statues are great ways to model 3d space but music, literature, and movies are a better medium to represent the temporal aspect across time and the only way to dig into this is to embrace the woo, mystical, or metaphysical (as least to the extent of Daniel Dennett's 'mental stuff' in "Consciousness Explained). The least resistance would probably come from behavioral contagion seen in crowds, herds, flocks, schools, etc. One could say it is cue based and to a partial extent I'm sure it is but there is something 'electric' in being part of a group that seems to be subconscious in its drive and two good candidates would be the heart and brain. If you've ever been at a huge stadium, rally, protest, concert, etc you can feel something you can't see and I think the pacemaker cells of the heart come into a resonance with each other to sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest though there is a freeze that could be seen in group shock). No two hearts are exactly alike but the pacemaker cells are stochastic and synchronizing so one general EM cycling of cells could nudge the others into a shared firing (Steven Strograz's "Sync" goes into this complex mathematical phenomena of pacemaker cells but I'm alibiing the resonance between hearts... A woo example of this is an old Soviet experiment where baby bunnies were separated from their mother whose vitals were read. The little guys were unfortunately killed sporadically (and I think in a submerged sub) and the times of death matched sudden irregularities in the mother's vital signs (partially heart driven by perhaps mostly entangles through this phenomena across space and time as the rhythm in light would suddenly end). Tali Sharot's "Influential Mind" has similar examples with humans but without the killing... mothers were separated from their infants, stressed with the public math problem or speech in front of a purposefully disinterest crowd technique, and then returned to her infant who would be discomforted before the mother held them (I think before they saw them but I'll have to check and more controls would be necessary). However, it shouldn't be too much of a stress to conceive and test hearts without other cues so that overpowering energy from a crowd after a goal (sympathetic arousal) or that ultra calm feeling in a synchronized lighter/cell phone wave at a concert with a slow song (parasympathetic relax)... granted there is mimicry with mirror cells and the shutdown of the decision making structure of parts of the ACC and PFC with authority from experts or crowds (a cool MRI experiment from Ben Parr's "Captivology" with an extrapolation from the expert to crowd in choice/spiritual outsourcing/possession)... an a likely cause to the madness witnessed in 2020 and 21 with Antifa insurgents destabilizing BLM protests and the bought of chaos after the structure changed or the storming of the Capital with one node following another in more aroused and chaotic ways (soccer hoodlums or mosh pits or the temporary insanity in the French Revolution could also be examples of emotional and behavioral contagions of the heart and mind). From there the brain would be harder to study but assuming that groups are genetically similar with shared experiences and moldings of the mind together, the depolarization of structures highly myelinated motor neurons could influence each other as a organized unit and account for the rapid synchrony of motion with resonating circuits being nudged to fire (it's a stretch and other senses would have to be controlled for with some way to drive the behavior with a pacemaker fish potentially influencing all of them). There are many odd stories of identical twins separated at birth and sharing similar behaviors, actions, and tasks which could be an expression of this resonance with genes making proteins and shapes more as antennae than just cogs. I think Dr. Sheldrack has examples of coincidences of identical twins separated at birth making similar choices in different areas (though together they often try to differentiate) and if not, there are examples in Paul Pearsall’s “The Heart’s Code.” Still that’s pretty complex to parse out if the unique matching of the less than 1% of DNA we don’t share is making the difference. Dr. Sheldrake does have some very well laid out training data of rats and single celled organisms where trained “uncles/aunts'' never in contact with their cousin’s still increased their test outcomes without training (it’s easier just to read the book and see the illustrations but the controls are pretty convincing as to the 100th monkey effect). From there it’s a small step in explaining things like the Flynn effect in IQs and the good doctor had a brilliant method for testing the theory with newspaper crossword puzzles. From there it’s not hard to extrapolate to Mark Twain’s observations on why friends used to send letters to each other at about the same time or Upton Sinclar’s work on Telepathy (though the resonance would likely depend not only on minor genetic differences but probably much more on neural wiring and the effects of friends finishing each other's sentences with some MRI results in the previously mentioned “Influential Mind” but with stories… and possibility tapping another trait). Things like language, beliefs, experiences, etc would all mold the mind and since such things vary by culture, the Eugenics movement would not only be misguided by ignoring epigenetics… but also maternal links from past generations while in vitro and the strong effect of the mother’s education on the fetus’s later ability (remember sources) as possible efficient but vague/plastic schematic layout… but would display as genetic inheritance as well… and beliefs, lack of opportunities/expectations from societal systems/structures could re enforce it along with a lack of mental bridged perspectives between prerequisite knowledge/experience.

Karma Chameleon

Something more exotic and harder to prove would be karma or 4d objects in the multiverse based on past choices (stored in brains as previously stated, but a little more abstract even if the physical record is destroyed but the event/sequence has occurred… though it wouldn’t be necessary for most neural or crystalline memory). Karma means action, so if one think of a hearing a part of a song and being able to finish the rest of with beginning cue, the same could be true of other actions across time being pulled in to these temporal patterns that have occurred once in the decision tree and would be more likely to occur further in the branching as atom's frequencies are like notes in time and thus a highly abstract meme of a elements, trigger, and automation... the same thing as resonant molecules in space but with more complex patterns in time (a brief portion of the akashic records since space and time are one with the update speed of light). That framework is no doubt unsatisfactory and understanding time better has some quirks and dangers I haven't been able to shield against in terms of misuse. That said, this would be the mechanism for karma with the actions you take coming back and giving that weird 'Truman Show' vibe if you pay attention... It's also a framework for telepathy and remote views with accounts of the US Army's Stargate program being documented in Annie Jacobsen's "Phenomena'' or an actual operator's accounts in Lyn Buchanan's "The Seventh Sense." That said these operate with both the alchemical water in cycles of time but are also subject to alteration by choice or spirit in terms of the alchemical air though emotions and other energy tend to lock them down in terms of alchemical fire. Kind of like Dickinson's "Christmas Carol'' where Scrooge asks the spirit "Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of the things that May be only?" The orders are subject to evolution and shifts in other's choices... but strong kinetic energy's from societies and groups tend to keep them in motion (sometimes for good and sometimes not)... so the process isn't as solid as the other sciences past/present spacial morphic fields and into the temporal ones simple observation yield more dense examples. Jaque Eull's “The Technological Society” illustrates this quite well in terms of automated moral compasses or choice with greed or power holding the techniques or temporal orders in place and gradually choking out any choice not in line with efficiency and power in desired areas... that makes the system much more predictable in the sense of a being spiritually dead and unable to adapt (not wanting to engage the flames and float down the river)... destined to destruction and a common theme in the Old Testament with civilizations that couldn't change (Jonah being a counter example of a warning headed and a city saved despite the messenger not wanting it to be). The prophecy/pray mechanism is pretty straight forward in the structure of time... but once again there would need to be safeguards in place given the way the system operates (mostly cyber security and ethical issues of AI able to makes decisions with alchemical air... so a moratorium seems best till such things can be hammered out with divine providence or knowledge.

[Alison Lilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my practice of believing six impossible things before breakfast, Sheldrake is a fascinating if controversial figure in modern science — and lucky for us, exceptionally lucid and accessible as a writer. His hypothesis (a testable one, he repeatedly reminds us) that the “natural laws” we take for granted are not eternal and fixed but “more like long-standing habits” is sure to ruffle feathers. You will either be the kind of person who can’t bear to read this book, or the kind who can’t put it down. It really depends on how comfortable you are suspending your learned disbelief long enough to hear him out.

This book starts sluggish with a close study of the short-comings of current molecular biology (how exactly *do* polypeptide chains know which of the multiple minima energy states will result in a correctly folded protein for the specialized needs of a particular cell, anyway?) and gets much more interesting from there.

~~~

I should note, I’ve read some of Sheldrake‘s later (arguably more accessible) books before this one, which may explain why I found this one more readable than some of the other reviewers. Unfortunately, his later books will really sound crazy if you aren’t familiar with the ways his theories are grounded in specific criticisms of (and alternative theories to) current science. If you prefer fun stories about psychic pets, etc., read: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, The Sense of Being Stared At, or one of his similar books.

[Joshua Valentine · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I can appreciate about this book is some of the empirical evidence indirectly supportive of Sheldrake’s theory of morphogenesis, such as the mathematical imprecision of crystallography; the paradoxical nature of the molecular complexity of the human genome as compared to other more rudimentary specimens, including the fruit fly; and an instance in the 90s where the chemical formula of an AIDS medicine was seemingly ‘learned’ by other chemical formulas in various isolated labs after the initial formula of the medicine failed to be replicated. All of these serve as intriguing accounts in support of morphogenesis, or at least on the need for a new, post-mechanical theory to explain these apparent anomalies in the biochemical data. I also appreciated how I kind of learned a good amount about genes and phenotypic expression, and the semi-randomized basis of this directional relationship, as well as chemicals and crystallization and the physical basis of form. It’s the theoretical side of this book that really made it very difficult to read. Being able to understand the jargon-heavy text of a good chunk of the book’s sections required an understanding of biochemistry and physics that I only had rudimentary knowledge of. For that reason, I rate this book 3 stars. I will be keeping this book in my collection because Rupert Sheldrake is an important figure to parapsychology, as he has offered more recent developments to mechanical accounts of psi. However, not my favorite.

[aegruam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook.

I am so compelled by the idea of morphic resonance. I think the way the scientific community treated Rupert Sheldrake is completely wrong and unscientific, and I think more people need to have his sort of bravery to come up with an idea to explain the unexplained and then ways to test it. Progress always comes from people trying things out that the general public or even intellectual elite think is foolish. Why do we suppress these people? Now I’m straying from the point of this book review…

I’ve listened to a lot of Sheldrake’s videos and presentations so much of what was presented in this book was not new to me, and a lot of it was repeated throughout which I didn’t love as a reader. However, I do think that he presents his ideas fairly clearly, or at least as clearly as I’m accustomed to with novel thinkers trying to explain their novel ideas.

Three stars because the read itself wasn’t fantastic, but I believe the ideas presented within are important and should be given further study and recognition. If anyone is interested in learning more I would probably recommend listening to one of Sheldrake’s hour or so long presentations on the topic before deciding to read this book though.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought provoking science book. And well-written! Nothing left to obscure language or mathematics. The idea of morphic resonance is all there on paper, fully described. With numerous experiment descriptions the reader is taken step by step through the thought process. Dr. Sheldrake explains where well-formed experiments worked and explained how some experiments had unforseen consequence. He ends with a conversation with another physicist about the lack of the notion of time in quantum mechanics and it's need in making it relevant. IMO everyone should read this book and be wondering just what is going on in our Universe!

[Vostok_landing_gear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sheldrakes hypothesis of formative causation is a great mind opener for personal exploration of the nature of reality.
I love the idea of a resonance "governing" form, physical phenomenon and consciousness rather than eternal rigid laws of nature.
This was a fun read, a little bit repetitive even though the repetition filled a purpose and overall a very fun read, would recommend for anyone interested in biology, physics, consciousness, spirituality and nonmechanistic theories of nature.

[Ileana · Rating 1 out of 5]

The one star is for the organized way of presentation.
The author declares the possibility of morphic fields. Gives no explanation of how they came to be, they just exist. And after that proceeds to develop the concept in a scientific manner. In case someone after him is able to prove them, Sheldrake was first. In case they are disproved, well, it was just a theory. Like ether more than 100 years ago.

[Jeni Ferret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating hypothesis regarding idea of fields of memory energy surrounding species/individuals and affecting future actions, called morphogenetic fields. Influence cells, organs, and organisms similar to how epigenetics affect genes. Proposes several experimental ideas of how to test the hypothesis and examples of how this hypothesis could answer an existing scientific question or concern. A great read, would highly recommend.

[Edward Correa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesantísima lectura que trata de mezclar la biología, la química y la física para justificar la hipótesis del autor. Difícil de explicar en algunos casos y eso hace que por momentos el autor tenga que irse a explicar y contar muchas otras que parece tienen poco que ver, pero que al final terminan informando y alimentando el final del libro.

[Dan Zarfati · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be seen as a pioneering work, analyzing the shortcomings of the materialist schools on the perspective of evolution and opening to some concepts developed at the beginning of the twenty century. There is more to it, but Sheldrake points towards a start. It was considered, the book to be burnt by some reviewers.

[Tejas · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's an interesting idea, it's been 40+ years but no real breakthrough so I don't expect this to go anywhere beyond the hypothesis of a creative mind.

not considering this as science but not a complete fiction either, as they say lack of evidence is not an evidence of this theory being wrong
my money on this, not much, I will wait for another one :)

[Kandachamy Vijayakumaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

An idea that is quite ahead of time which the conventional science would consider voodoo science. But it is absorbing and provoking a thought process which lead to the consoling statement that absence of evidence cannot be considered as evidence of absence.

[Holly]

Listened to 25% of the audiobook. But I just can't push myself anymore through. Even though I want to so badly, it's far too technical for my brain to understand. I love the premise and came from the We Can Be Weirdos podcast with Rupert Sheldrake.

[ISMUDDIN Jamalus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saya baru mau membaca buku ini, karena banyak dibahas oleh orang2 terkenal, seperti Menteri Syofyan Jalil.

[Philip J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it. Challenges all we know about life.

[Karlo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to read this ad it was recommended by someone close to me. I have it 200 or so pages and couldn't finish it.

[SonicRim]

Rupetr Sheldrake has brought focus on the concept of collective memory. His theory of morphic resonance, and cover topics such as animal and plant development and behaviour, memory, telepathy, perception and cognition in general. According to this concept, the morphic field underlies the formation and behavior of holons and morphic units, and can be set up by the repetition of similar acts or thoughts. The hypothesis is that a particular form belonging to a certain group which has already established its (collective) morphic field, will tune into that morphic field. The particular form will read the collective information through the process of morphic resonance, using it to guide its own development. At SonicRim, if we are truly curious about the human nature and of influencing human experience, we need to explore various interpretations of how people experience life. This one is a new and controversial science of life.

[Zarathustra Goertzel]

Fairly decent, amusing book on an hypothesis elaborating "habits form" to the laws of physics (< chemistry < biology< behavior ... hierarchically).

I already knew the gist of the idea, so the initial "motivation" a la "this shit isn't properly explained by the current mechanistic theories" was fairly tedious. Ok, but I can sorta see how it may be later. Or it's not necessarily so clear morphic resonance explains that solidly either.

Sheldrake keeps an eye on how to test Reality for something like morphic resonance.
Fun thoughts on bridging "weird trippy metaphysical shit" and "normal science".

(And if you question the interest in such thoughts, recall what Terence Mckenna said on the question "Are disincarnate and non-human entities mental projections or non-physical, autonomous entities?": those most in favor of explaining away such entities have the least experience with them :p)

[Dan Mutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It becomes clear that current science presupposes uncritically one possible kind of metaphysics. When one faces this, one can at least begin to think about it rather than accepting one way of thinking about it as self-evident, taken for granted. And if one begins to think about it, one might be able to deepen one's understanding of it."

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating concept, but a bit of a dry read. However, presenting the ideas in the form of a traditional essay, complete with detached, impersonal tone allows one to focus on the content rather than the writer.