Rupert Sheldrake: Your Mind Is Not Just In Your Brain
While participating in a debate at University Aula in Bergen, Norway in 2023, British biologist Rupert Sheldrake offered a scientific argument debunking the standard argument for the mind being nothing more than brain activity.
In his argument, Sheldrake views the idea that the mind is reducible to brain activity as an unnecessary limitation that localizes all mental activity inside the head.
Fields of Energy
Sheldrake argues that science has advanced its view of how matter and nature are organized, particularly as it pertains to the concept of “fields” of energy.
This concept was first introduced by Michael Faraday, who proposed the existence of magnetic and electrical fields of energy.
Albert Einstein also used the concept for his theory of gravity and the gravitational field.
In science, fields are defined as regions of influence that are usually invisible.
The gravitational field of the Earth, for example, is located within the Earth, but it also extends far beyond it as well.
The only reason we’re not all floating around is because of this invisible field that fills every inch of space we occupy at any given moment.
This invisible field keeps the moon in orbit and affects the ocean tide on Earth.
Electromagnetic fields, likewise, extend beyond various objects, and magnetic fields stretch out beyond visible magnets.
We can see the magnetic field, however, when we sprinkle iron filings around the magnet, which reveals magnetic lines of force surrounding the magnet.
The mobile phones we use every day also utilize invisible electrical fields for long distance communication.
At any given moment in time, we’re typically surrounded by invisible fields such as radio, TV and cellular signals.
The world is literally full of invisible fields that play a role in everything we think, feel and do.
Sheldrake argues that most of the scientific community that attempts to reduce the mind to neural activity are completely forgetting the immense role that invisible fields play in modern physics.
He suggests that the fields of our mind extend far beyond our brains and bodies and are deeply associated with consciousness itself.
If we are going to solve the hard problem of consciousness, Sheldrake suggests, we will do well to focus not only on processes within the brain, but on the field effects and relationships of the mental field outside the brain as well.
Extramission and the Extended Mind
Sheldrake argues that the easiest way to illustrate the field-like nature of the mind is through the process of vision.
Science has developed a detailed map of the visual processes that occur when we see something, but it does not necessarily explain how the brain is able to create the realistic 3D images we see visually every day.
According to science, for example, when you see a a group of people, that picture is formed within your brain; that is, it is literally formed inside your head.
In other words, when you see a friend or relative, you’re literally seeing that picture of them inside your head, according to the current scientific theory, which Sheldrake refers to as the “one-way” theory of vision. This concept is also known as intramission.
Sheldrake points out, however, that this theory fails to explain what we actually experience while seeing someone.
When we see people, we experience them as being “out there,” not inside our brains.
Sheldrake speaks of an older theory that states that we not only take in light during the visual process, but we also project light outwards.
In this theory, when we see someone, we’re not just seeing them inside our heads; we’re seeing them where they are: in front of us in space.
The ancient Greeks were familiar with the idea of extramission, wherein light is projected outward from the brain, producing the sense of the object we’re looking at as being somewhere in front us rather than simply inside our heads.
The Sense of Being Stared At
Source – The Sense of Being Stared At
1 thought on “Rupert Sheldrake: Your Mind Is Not Just In Your Brain”
Hello!
So…. What could be done to loosen the effect of being stared, gazed at or watched?
Thx so much,
Allexx