The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Memory of Nature

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Simon and Schuster, Mar 26, 2012 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 480 pages
Explains how self-organizing systems, from crystals to human societies, share collective memories that influence their form and behavior

• Includes new evidence and research in support of the theory of morphic resonance

• Explores the major role that morphic resonance plays not just in animal instincts and cultural inheritance but also in the larger process of evolution

• Shows that nature is not ruled by fixed laws but by habits and collective memories

In this fully revised and updated edition of The Presence of the Past, Cambridge biologist Rupert Sheldrake lays out new evidence and research in support of his controversial theory of morphic resonance and explores its far-reaching implications in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology.

His theory proposes that all self-organizing systems, from crystals to human society, inherit a collective memory that influences their form and behavior. This collective memory works through morphic fields, which organize the bodies of plants and animals, coordinate the activities of brains, and underlie conscious mental activity. Sheldrake shows how all human beings draw upon and contribute to a collective human memory and that even our individual recollections depend on morphic resonance rather than physical storage in the brain. He explores the major role that morphic resonance plays not just in animal instincts and cultural inheritance, such as religion and ritual, but also in the larger process of evolution, which Sheldrake shows to be more an interplay of habit and creativity than a mere “survival of the fittest.”

Offering a replacement for the outdated, mechanistic worldview that has dominated biology since the nineteenth century, Sheldrake’s new understanding of life, matter, and mind shows that rather than being ruled by fixed laws, nature is essentially habitual. And because memory is inherent in nature, he explains, in order to survive successfully for generations to come, we will have to give up our old habits of thought and adopt new ones: habits that are better adapted to life in a world living in the presence of the past--as well as the presence of the future.
 

Contents

CONTENTS
ETERNITY AND EVOLUTION
CHANGELESS LAWS PERMANENT ENERGY
FROM HUMAN PROGRESS TO UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION
THE NATURE OF PHYSICAL FORMS
THE MYSTERY OF MORPHOGENESIS
MORPHOGENETIC FIELDS
FIELDS MATTER AND MORPHIC RESONANCE
THE MORPHIC FIELDS OF ANIMAL SOCIETIES
THE FIELDS OF HUMAN SOCIETIES AND CULTURES
Rituals
THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE
COSMIC EVOLUTION
CREATIVITY WITHIN A LIVING WORLD
EPILOGUE
ENDNOTES

BIOLOGICAL INHERITANCE
ANIMAL MEMORY
MORPHIC RESONANCE IN HUMAN LEARNING
REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING
MINDS AND BRAINS
MYTHS RITUALS AND THE INFLUENCE OF TRADITION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Copyright

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About the author (2012)

Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., is a former research fellow of the Royal Society and former director of studies in biochemistry and cell biology at Clare College, Cambridge University. He is the author of more than 80 technical papers and articles appearing in peer-reviewed scientific journals and 10 books, including Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, Morphic Resonance, and The Rebirth of Nature. He lives in London.

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