Navigating Consciousness with Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert speaks with Jonas Atlas about the high cost of scientific heresy and what it reveals about the gap between science's public face and its private reality. Beginning with the 1981 Nature editorial that branded A New Science of Life "a book for burning," they trace how Rupert was effectively excommunicated from mainstream science, then turn to deeper questions: how to tell genui...

Across decades of reading and travel, something has struck me again and again: wildly different traditions, from Daoism to Hinduism to Christianity, converge on a threefold or Trinitarian model of ultimate reality. In this talk I trace that pattern through philosophy, theology, and modern physics, and suggest it reflects something fundamental about the nature of things. Many churches will be celeb...

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_Lkku3QH-c What if gratitude isn't just good manners, but measurably changes your wellbeing? What if the medieval Christians were right about nature being alive, and we've spent the last 400 years getting it fundamentally wrong? And why are half a million people now walking ancient pilgrimage routes across Europe when rationalist materialism promised t...

For more see Rupert’s Substack article on this topic 👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com/p/animal-warnings-of-earthquakes Recorded on November 4, 2017 at the Society for Psychical Research in London.  When disasters strike, it is often animals who seem to know first. Long before seismographs were invented, people noticed that snakes, rats, dogs, and birds behaved strangely in the days leading...

What if the “weird” feelings we shrug off—being watched, knowing who’s calling, waking seconds before an alarm—aren’t glitches but signals? In this talk, given at the How The Light Gets In festival, September 21st, 2025, Rupert Sheldrake argues that these everyday hunches point to mind-to-world reach (projective vision), mind-to-mind links (telepathy), and mind-to-future sensitivity (presentiment)...

A dialogue on praying for ancestors and on pilgrimage: Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC; August, 2016.  See Rupert’s Substack for the Latest  articles and early access to videos 👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

For many people, Christianity is like a toxic brand. Why is this so and what can be done about it? A dialogue with Marc Andrus, the Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; September, 2015. See Rupert’s Substack for the Latest  articles and early access to videos 👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, in August of 2016. See Rupert’s Substack for the Latest  articles and early access to videos 👉 https://rupertsheldrake.substack.com

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 goi...

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

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 p...

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. Our ancestors’ lives from birth to death were shaped and structured by spiritual traditions but today many people are no longer connected to religious festivals or practices.  This loss of religious faith in unprecedented, and in 2016 in the UK a survey showed that for the first time in history a majority...

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.  Many people who keep pets have experienced their ability to comfort and heal.  There is now a pet therapy movement where people take dogs and cats into hospices and children’s hospitals, and the human animal bond can help many physical and mental issues.  In this dialogue Rupert and Marc discuss the many...

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. European civilisation has been shaped in many ways by its Christian heritage. In the Middle Ages the Church started schools, universities and hospitals, and set up systems for caring for the sick and the poor. In the twentieth century, the hospice movement was started by Christians. Even the principles of...

Many traditions include holy days or ‘holidays’ as days of festivity to celebrate and many traditional festivals revolve around the cycles of creation including solar and lunar cycles, harvests, death and rebirth.  Festivals help connect individuals and the community to the pulse of nature. Rupert and Marc explore the on-going relevance of festivals and holy days in the modern secular world.

A dialogue with Marc Andrus, former Bishop of California, at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. All Souls Day — the day of the dead — falls on November 2, and is particularly spectacular in Mexico. Hallowe'en, or All Hallows' Eve, is the eve of the festival of the dead, which starts with All Saints' Day on November 1.

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 ed...

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 pla...

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 Summit https://realizing-god.com Running from 02/07/2025 - 02/16/2025, the summit includes workshops, Satsangs...

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...

Watch the talk: https://youtu.be/dU0NIU5d4BI In 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...

Watch the talk: https://youtu.be/j91Er2Zh3j4 Join 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 wit...

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

Video: https://youtu.be/v0i1xc-khTQ After 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 th...