Can Morphic Fields Help Explain and the Sense of Being Stared At?

Introduction

he morphic feld hy- pothesis proposes that sia) could well be a result of this minds are systems of process, mediated by perceptual felds that are located felds, which are kinds of morphic T felds. inside brains but also extend far beyond them, just as the felds of Morphic felds are felds within magnets are both within magnets and around systems in which the and extend invisibly beyond them, whole is greater than the sum of and as the electromagnetic felds the parts, including molecules, of mobile telephones are both cells, organs, organisms, and so- within them and extend beyond cieties of organisms. They contain | by RUPERT SHELDRAKE, PhD them. an inherent memory, given by a Minds are extended beyond process called morphic resonance, If rats ran a new trick in London, brains in every act of perception, namely the infuence of similar for example rats all over the world and the felds of visual perception patterns of activity in self-orga- should be able to learn the same link the looker to the object that nizing systems on subsequent trick quicker. There is already is looked at. Hence something can similar systems across time and evidence that this happens (Shel- be afected by looking at it. In an- space. This hypothesis predicts, drake, 2009). imals, human and non-human, the for example, that each species In the light of morphic felds, sense of being stared (scopesthe- has a kind of collective memory. telepathy can be understood as

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an interaction between members felds are. Most researchers treat B a s i c p r e m i s e s of social groups within the mor- them as a descriptive convenience, and postulates phic feld of the group as a whole, placeholders for fully mechanistic which interconnects the individual explanations that have not yet The basic postulates of the hy- animals (Sheldrake, 2013). been discovered. I fnd it more pothesis of formative causation, Morphic felds associated with fruitful to think of them as real the overall name for the hypothe- specifc intentions could perhaps felds, of a similar degree of reality sis of morphic felds and morphic help in understanding psychokinet- to magnetic felds, with their own resonance, are as follows: ic phenomena and remote viewing. particular properties. These include 1. Self-organizing systems, But this hypothesis does not pro- memories from previous systems including molecules, cells, vide any immediate explanation for that shape the felds themselves. tissues, organs, organisms, or presentiment. This memory is given by morphic societies and minds are made Intellectual history and ancestry resonance, a connection from up of nested hierarchies (hol- From the 1964 to 1974, I did re- past to present systems across archies) of holons or morphic search on space and time on the basis of units (Figure 1). At each level at Cambridge—in particular on similarity (Sheldrake, 2009). These the whole is more than the the development of plants. I also felds work by drawing developing sum of the parts, and these worked on plants growing under systems towards attractors, as parts themselves are wholes feld conditions at an International described mathematically by the made up of parts. Agricultural Research Institute French mathematician René Thom in India from 1974 to 1985. But (Thom, 1975). neither my own work nor other This hypothesis has many impli- research in developmental biology cations for the understanding of gave an adequate explanation of biological processes like protein the development of form. Chemical folding, inheritance, collective signals, gene activation, and other memory, learning, and memory molecular processes seemed inad- itself, which on this hypothesis de- equate. Something more was need- pends on morphic resonance rather ed and I was drawn to the long than on material traces stored established concept of morphoge- within brains (Sheldrake, 2012). netic felds, or form-shaping felds, My interest in psi phenomena frst proposed in the 1920s. These arose in the 1980s when I realized Figure 1. A nested hierarchy or holar- felds shape the form of developing that this hypothesis implies that chy of morphic units, each organized cells, tissues, organs and organ- scopesthesia and telepathy should by a morphic feld. These could be sub- isms. They are within and around be widespread in the animal king- atomic particles in atoms, molecules, the system they are shaping. dom. They are biological phenome- and crystals. Or they could be cells, Although this concept is widely na, natural, not supernatural, nor- tissues, organs, organisms, and soci- used by developmental biologists, mal, not , and probably eties of organisms. no one knows what morphogenetic common to many animal species.

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2. The wholeness of each level collective memory. Mor- the implicate order, according to depends on an organizing phic resonance depends on Bohm, “everything is enfolded into feld, called a morphic feld. similarity and is not atten- everything” (Bohm, 1980). This feld is within and around uated by distance in space Or resonance may pass through the system it organizes and is or time. Morphic fields are the quantum vacuum feld, also a vibratory pattern of activity local, within and around the known as the zero-point energy that interacts with electro- systems they organize, but feld, which mediates all quantum magnetic and quantum felds morphic resonance is non-lo- and electromagnetic processes of the system. The generic cal. (Laszlo, 2007). name morphic feld includes 5. Morphic resonance involves a Or similar systems might be a. Morphogenetic felds that transfer of form, or in-form- connected through hidden ex- shape the development of ation, rather than a transfer of tra dimensions (there are fve in plants and animals. energy. string theory and six in M-theory) b. Perceptual and behavior- 6. Morphic felds are felds of (Carr, 2008). It’s also possible al felds that organize the probability, like quantum that morphic resonance depends perceptions, movements, felds, and they work by im- on new kinds of physics as yet instincts and learned behav- posing patterns on otherwise unthought-of. ior of animals. random events in the systems As applied to the sense of being c. Social felds that link under their infuence. stared at (scopesthesia), morphic together and coordinate the 7. All self-organizing systems feld hypothesis implies that the ef- behavior of social groups are infuenced by self-reso- fects on the subject being stared at such as termite colonies, nance from their own past, depend more on the focusing of at- schools of fsh, focks of which plays an essential role tention and intention than on dis- birds, packs or herds of ani- in maintaining a holon’s iden- tance. For example, this sense may mals, and human societies. tity, continuity and memory work just as well over a distance of d. Mental felds that underlie (Sheldrake, 2009). hundreds of feet as over a few feet mental activities and shape if the process of watching is aided the habits of minds. This hypothesis leaves open the by telescopic lenses. It may also 3. Morphic felds contain at- question of how morphic reso- work through indirect means, as in tractors (goals) and chreodes nance actually works. There are television or closed circuit televi- (habitual pathways towards several suggestions. One is that sion (CCTV), although more weakly those goals) that guide a the transfer of information occurs than through direct vision, which system toward its end state through the “implicate order,” establishes a more direct connec- while maintaining its integrity, as proposed by the quantum tion (Sheldrake, 2013). stabilizing it against disrup- physicist (Sheldrake In relation to telepathy, this tions. 2009, Appendix B). The impli- hypothesis suggests that telep- 4. Morphic fields are shaped by cate or enfolded order gives rise athy will occur primarily between morphic resonance from all to the world we can observe, the bonded members of social groups similar past systems, and explicate order, in which things rather than between strangers thus contain a cumulative, are located in space and time. In (Sheldrake, 2013).

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Telepathy would be consciously perceived and may be There is now good evidence that part of a background unconscious dogs know when their owners expected to occur awareness. are coming home even when they most effectively In the course of , a are miles away, when they return greater awareness of being ob- at randomly selected times, and between people who served may have been of adaptive when they travel in unfamiliar are strongly bonded value, especially to a prey animal vehicles. The pets seem to detect sensing when it is being watched their owners’ intentions telepathi- emotionally, like by a potential predator. This cally. This hypothesis also pre- mothers and babies, ability could have become wide- dicts that these efects will occur twins, parents and spread within the animal kingdom. only between animals and people It could also be expected to be with whom they are strongly children, lovers, widespread among human beings, bonded, in agreement with the spouses, and best and indeed surveys show that over facts (Sheldrake, 2011). 90% of the population, including The same principles apply to friends. children and even people in indus- humans. Telepathy would be trial countries, have reported the expected to occur most efectively The sense of being stared at and experience of being watched from between people who are strongly telepathy are natural consequenc- behind or of watching other people bonded emotionally, like mothers es of the hypothesis of morphic who then turn around. There is and babies, twins, parents and felds. Although this hypothesis now good empirical evidence that children, lovers, spouses, and best could perhaps account for clair- people can indeed tell, at levels friends. This indeed seems to be voyance, psychokinesis, and pre- very signifcantly above chance, the case, both in spontaneous cas- cognition, it only does so through when they are being stared at es of telepathy and in experimental chains of additional hypotheses, from behind. This ability can also investigations (Sheldrake, 2013). whereas possible explanations for be detected through CCTV through the sense of being stared at and physiological changes in galvanic Other examples of telepathy emerge naturally and skin response, which are uncon- documents, sup- directly from this hypothesis. scious (Sheldrake, 2005). portive evidence The morphic feld approach Applications to telepathy predicts that it is There is now much evidence for the widespread among animals and sense of being stared at and for This hypothesis predicts that may enable members of social telepathy in animals and people, as animals might be able to detect groups to communicate at a dis- summarized in my books Dogs That through their own perceptual felds tance. Animals such as pet dogs, Know When Their Owners Are Com- when the perceptual felds of other cats and parrots that bond with ing Home, And Other Unexplained animals are brought to bear upon humans will pick up their owners’ Powers of Animals (second edition, them, even if they cannot see, hear, intentions telepathically, including 2011) and The Sense Of Being or smell the animal watching them. their intentions to return home. Stared At, And Other Unexplained This feld sensitivity may not be

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Powers Of Human Minds (second detect the earth’s magnetic feld. moved from the pigeons rather edition, 2013). Although a compass sense may than the pigeons from the home. help an animal stay on course, it I have conducted several exper- A p p l i c a t i o n t o cannot possibly explain navigation iments with mobile pigeon lofs non-parapsycho- itself. Imagine that you parachute that have yielded very promising logical phenomen a into an unknown place and are results. In the most recent test, and mainstream given a compass. You would im- a pigeon lof was mounted on a d o m a i n s mediately know where north was, ship belonging to the Royal Dutch but this would not tell you where Navy and moved 6,000 miles from The hypothesis of morphic felds home was. A compass sense could Holland to the Caribbean and back was primarily developed in help you if you knew where home again. Pigeons were able to fnd relation to chemistry, biology, was by some other means, but their home on the moving ship psychology and social organiza- would not help if you did not have from substantial distances—in tion. It is primarily about “normal” a map or some other source of one case from 300 miles away non-psi phenomena. directional information. over the Atlantic Ocean (Shel- Another application of this My own hypothesis is that drake, 2002, Appendix). hypothesis is a new approach to pigeons are linked to their homes animal navigation. I discuss the by morphic felds, built up through F u t u r e r e s e a r c h question of how animals navigate familiarity with their home and a n d a p p l i c a t i o n s remains largely unsolved in my surrounding area. The pigeons, book Seven Experiments That when taken away from home, 1. Experimental tests of Could Change The World (Shel- remain connected with it through scopesthesia in non-human drake, 2002). The most detailed these felds, which give a sense animals. For example, if experiments are on homing of direction. A crude mechanical prey animals, e.g., mice, are pigeons. Pigeons can fnd their analogy is to think of the pigeons placed in a cage and flmed home from hundreds of miles as joined to their home by a kind continuously, do they behave away from unfamiliar places. Rac- of invisible elastic band. Through diferently when they are ing pigeons can return from 600 this feld connection, they feel being watched by a cat behind miles away in about 10 hours, an a pull toward their destination. a one-way mirror, compared average speed of 60 mph. They do Attempts to explain navigation with when the cat is prevent- not search at random; they know without this sense might illumi- ed from watching them by where to go. Attempts to explain nate some details of the animals’ interposing a barrier between this phenomenon in terms of a sun sensory processes, but there is the cat and the mirror? Ex- compass, memorizing the outward no explanation for the sense of periments of this type would journey, inertial navigation, and direction itself. open up the possibility of an the sense of smell have all failed. Thus morphic felds might help extended natural history of Some researchers speculate that to solve the mystery of animal scopesthesia both through a magnetic sense could explain navigation. One way of testing laboratory experiments and navigation, and some migrating this hypothesis is to use a mobile observations of wild animals. animals do indeed seem able to pigeon lof, in which the home is Such experiments would not

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Several models bumping into each other. These Dutch Navy. Such experiments feld-like phenomena occur would be best carried out at of psi start when the individuals are very sea. Support for the morphic from physics, in close to each other, but exper- feld hypothesis of animal particular quantum iments on separating schools navigation would indirectly of fsh or focks of birds into support the morphic feld hy- physics, whereas subgroups could reveal wheth- pothesis of psi phenomena. the morphic field er this coordination to some 6. The evolutionary and biologi- extent remains at a distance. cal basis of telepathy is prob- model starts from a Similar experiments could ably rooted in the communi- holistic approach to be carried out with ant and cation of needs or alarms at a [...] termite colonies, which may distance. Telepathic commu- also be coordinated by morphic nication between babies and necessarily confrm the details felds (Sheldrake, 2002, Chap- their mothers seems to occur of the morphic feld/extended ter 3). These phenomena may quite commonly (Sheldrake, mind hypothesis, but they difer in degree, but not in kind, 2013), and further research on would ground the phenome- from telepathy at a distance. mother-baby telepathy could non more frmly in biology and 4. In the Appendix to the third help ground human telepathy natural history, whatever the edition of my book A New in a biological and evolution- preferred explanation. Science of Life (called Mor- ary context. Similar research 2. Experiments on animal telep- phic Resonance in the United on telepathy between lactat- athy could help to normalize States) I suggest ten new ing mammals of other species telepathy as a biological tests for morphic resonance in and their babies would widen phenomenon within social the realms of physics, chem- this topic and deepen our groups. For example, do wolf istry, biology, psychology, and biological understanding. cubs, when flmed by a min- analogue computing (Shel- iature camera in their den, drake 2009). If any of these Differentiating show signs of anticipation tests support the hypothesis f r o m o t h e r m o d e l s before their parents return of morphic resonance they of psi from a hunting trip with food? would indirectly support the Is the behavior of wild animals morphic feld hypothesis of psi Several models of psi start from analogous to dogs that know phenomena. physics, in particular quantum when their owners are coming 5. Further experiments with physics, whereas the morphic home? homing pigeons are needed feld model starts from a holis- 3. Morphic felds of social groups to fnd out whether pigeons tic approach to nature that does may help to coordinate focks can indeed fnd a home that not seek to explain everything of birds and schools of fsh, moves, taking further the pre- in terms of smaller systems, which can rapidly change di- liminary experiments from my and ultimately in terms of the rection without the individuals own research with the Royal smallest of all systems, namely

WWW.PARAPSYCH.ORG Volume 11 Issue 1 2019 Mindfield 31 Can Morphic Fields Help Explain Telepathy The Bulletin of the Parapsychological and the Sense of Being Stared At? Association quantum processes. The morphic a higher level, but rather on felds resonance. The fullest statement feld approach also difers radical- of connection between animals of the hypothesis of formative ly from the generalized quantum and what they are watching, and causation and its application to theory model, which is based on also connections between mem- collective memory, individual mem- non-local correlations rather than bers of social groups. ory and cultural inheritance is in causal connections (Walach et al., This hypothesis also difers my book The Presence of the Past: 2014). The sense of being stared from physics-based approaches Morphic Resonance and the Habits at arises as a response to being designed to account for precogni- of Nature (second edition, 2012). stared at: staring is a cause, and tion and presentiment in terms of Research on telepathy in ani- detecting it is an efect. Likewise, causal infuences “backward” in mals, as well as animal premoni- telepathy is causal: a distressed time. The morphic feld hypothesis tions and the sense of direction baby causes its mother’s tele- has little to say about precogni- is summarized in my book Dogs pathic response. tion and presentiment. Morphic That Know When Their Owners Are Nevertheless, the approach to felds may be complementary to Coming Home, and Other Unex- telepathy in terms of morphic time-reversal hypotheses. plained Powers of Animals (second felds is similar to Dean Radin’s The morphic feld model difers edition, 2011). hypothesis of entangled minds, from James Carpenter’s frst- The extended mind hypothesis taking quantum entanglement or sight model of psi in its emphasis. and a discussion of human telepa- non-locality as a model that can The frst sight model deals with thy is summarized in my book The be applied at systems at much unconscious mental processing Sense of Being Stared At and Oth- higher levels of complexity (Radin, that is scanning inputs, includ- er Unexplained Aspects of Human 2006). In common with the entan- ing psi inputs, which are at frst Minds (second edition, 2013). gled minds model, the morphic preconscious (Carpenter, 2012). The empirical evidence for feld hypothesis predicts that It is a psychological model rath- scopesthesia and its theoretical organisms that have been part of er than a model of the extended implications were the subject of the same social system from the mind or of social felds. But these a special issue of the Journal of past, part of a bonded group, will two approaches seem compatible. Consciousness Studies (Vol. 12, remain connected at a distance. Morphic felds and the extended No. 6, 2005) in which I wrote two This hypothesis also predicts that mind would infuence frst sight. target articles and a response to the connections will not fall of 14 other articles and comments with distance, in agreement with Further reading by other researchers, including many observations on telepathy. skeptics. The morphic feld hypothesis My book A New Science of Life I have also published many also difers from “one mind” ap- (third edition 2009, called Morphic experimental papers on the sense proaches that treat psi phenom- Resonance in the US) outlines the of being stared at and on animal ena as aspects of an ultimately hypothesis of formative causation and human telepathy and which unifying mind underlying all things through morphic felds and mor- are all available online through my (Dossey, 2014). The morphic feld phic resonance, reviews evidence website: approach does not necessarily de- from 25 years of research, and pend on a kind of ultimate mind at proposes ten new tests for morphic

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The morphic field Everyday Life. Lanham, MD: Coming Home, And Other Unex- Rowman & Littlefeld. plained Powers of Animals (2nd model differs from Carr, B. (2008). Worlds apart? Can ed.). New York, NY: Broadway James Carpenter’s psychical research bridge the Books. gap between matter and minds?, Sheldrake, R. (2012). The Presence first-sight model of Proceedings of the Society for of the Past: Morphic Resonance psi in its emphasis. Psychical Research, 59, 1-96. and the Habits of Nature (2nd Dossey, L. (2014). One Mind: How ed.). Rochester, VT: Park Street The first sight Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Press. model deals with Greater Consciousness and Why Sheldrake, R. (2013). The Sense unconscious mental It Matters. Carlsbad, CA: Hay of Being Stared At, And Other House Reprint. Unexplained Powers of Human processing that is Laszlo, E. (2007). Science and the Minds (2nd ed.). Rochester, VT: scanning inputs, Akashic Field: An Integral Theory Park Street Press. of Everything. Rochester, VT: Thom, R. (1975). Structural Stabil- including psi inputs, Inner Traditions. ity and . Read- which are at first Radin, D. (2006). Entangled Minds: ing, MA: Benjamin/cummings Extrasensory Experiences in a Publishing. preconscious Quantum Reality. New York, NY: Walach, H., von Lucadou, W. and Paraview Pocket Books. Römer, H. (2014). Parapsycho- Papers on stare detection: https:// Sheldrake, R. (2002). Seven logical phenomena as examples www.sheldrake.org/research/ Experiments That Could Change of generalized nonlocal correla- sense-of-being-stared-at the World: A Do-It-Yourself tions—a theoretical framework. Papers on telepathy in non-human Guide to Revolutionary Science Journal of Scientifc Exploration, animals: https://www.sheldrake. (2nd ed. ). Rochester, VT: Park 28, 605-631. org/research/animal-powers Street Press. Sheldrake, R. (2005). The sense of Papers on telepathy in humans: being stared at. Part 1: Is it real Acknowledgements https://www.sheldrake.org/re- or illusory? Journal of Con- search/telepathy sciousness Studies, 12, 10-31. I am grateful to the Watson Fam- Sheldrake, R. (2009). A New ily Foundation and the Institute Science of Life: The Hypothesis of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, CA, References of Formative Causation (3rd ed.). and to the Planet Heritage Foun- London, England: Icon Books. dation and the Gaia Foundation, Bohm, D. (1980). Wholeness and Published in the United States London, for fnancial support. the Implicate Order (pp. 177). as Morphic Resonance; Roches- London, England: Routledge and ter, VT: Park Street Press. Kegan Paul. Sheldrake, R. (2011). Dogs That Carpenter, J. (2012). First Sight: Know When Their Owners Are ESP and in

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