Rupert Sheldrake "Mysteries of Everyday Life"

Tähenduse teejuhid (Maps of Meaning) is an Estonian language monthly newspaper that is distributed with the country's largest daily Postimees. The first issue came out in September 2020. The centre of gravity of each number is a ca 4000-word interview. We have been fortunate enough to converse with (in the order of appearance) David Fuller, Charles Eisenstein, Merlin Sheldrake, Jeremy Narby, Jules Evans, Richard Tarnas, Rupert Sheldrake, Mark Vernon, David Abram, Matthew Fox, Paul Kingsnorth, Regina Hess, Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, Kyriacos Markides, David Lorimer, David Luke and Dean Radin. While a couple of these interviews have already been made public on this channel, the most of them have appeared only in the newspaper. In this English language playlist we shall make them public for the first time. We start with the spring season of 2023. The second interview with Rupert Sheldrake, the author of "A New Science of Life", appeared in the 34th issue of the paper (September 2023). Here are seven highlights from this interview. The first comes from my brief introduction, the other are direct quotes.
1. “I don’t want to go off on a tangent but what do you think happens to us when we die?” The answer doesn’t take long. “I’ll tell you what I think. It is not the definitive answer of course, it is just what I think. I think when we die, we continue to be able to dream but we lose the ability to wake up.”
2. The scientific world systematically ignores all such evidence because according to the reigning paradigm these phenomena are impossible. So, we have a ridiculous situation where we have to carefully deny one of the most common human experiences in order to support an incoherent theory that all consciousness is inside our brain. While at the same time physicists are still drawing rays going out of our eyes. It is a complete muddle.
3. Kepler's discovery in 1604 is one of the most venerable discoveries of modern science. It comes before Galileo, Newton and Descartes. His theory of intromission is so deeply established in the habits of scientific thinking that hardly anyone challenges or even thinks about it. That is why we have been stuck for such a long time with such a weird theory of mind. That is why there is such a strong taboo about research on the sense of being stared at.
4. In religious language we could say that the mind of God includes all possibilities and all qualities. They are there to start with, we don’t have to explain them. Reality consists not of things but of experiences. If we start from matter and quantities - from nerve impulses and neurotransmitters - we cannot get to qualities. There is no way to make that leap. That is why it is called the hard problem of consciousness.
5. Huxley probably had the highest profile and thus reached the most people. One reason is perhaps that he experimented with psychedelics, whereas the other advocates of philosophia perennis tried to reach mystical states of mind with traditional meditational practices. All in all, I would say that Huxley is a key figure in the cultural transition, which is still going on.
6. I had someone ring me up just this morning who had had an amazing experience in a retreat where ayahuasca is combined with holotropic breathing. He said that this had led to the amazing experience of light. He felt he had gone into the light and it was the most profound experience of his whole life. He said he now saw everything quite differently. For him this was immensely persuasive, said he. Now, that's a revelation. It's a direct experience.
7. To defend the conventional materialistic viewpoint involves rejecting a great deal of experience. I suppose you could argue that it is mental hygiene, it could be seen as a good thing because you don't get obsessed with harmful spirit beings, potential demons and other harmful agencies. But the fact is that throughout most of human history, including today, the vast majority of humanity has experienced various entities as autonomous beings in a mysterious non-material world.
With best wishes,
Hardo