Science and Spiritual Practices

Science and Spiritual Practices

Talk
Monday, October 30, 2017 - 19:00 to 20:30
Spiritual
Inspiring
Alternatives says: 
GALLERY SEATS ONLY This is the launch event for Rupert's new book, Science and Spiritual Practices
Description: 

In this pioneering talk Rupert Sheldrake shows how science helps validate seven practices on which all religions are built, and which are part of our common human heritage:

·        Meditation

·        Gratitude

·        Connecting with nature

·        Relating to plants

·        Rituals

·        Singing and chanting

·        Pilgrimage and holy places.

The effects of spiritual practices are now being investigated scientifically as never before, and many studies have shown that religious and spiritual practices generally make people happier and healthier.

Rupert Sheldrake summarizes the latest scientific research on what happens when we take part in these practices, and suggests ways that readers can explore these fields for themselves. For those who are religious, Science and Spiritual Practices will illuminate the evolutionary origins of their own traditions and give a new appreciation of their power. For the non-religious, this book will show how the core practices of spirituality are accessible to all, even if they do not subscribe to a religious belief system.

This is a talk for anyone who suspects that in the drive towards radical secularism, something valuable has been left behind. Rupert Sheldrake believes that by opening ourselves to the spiritual dimension we may find the strength to live more wholesome and fulfilling lives.

About the speaker, Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake PhD is a biologist and author of more than a hundred technical papers and nine books, including The Science Delusion (called Science Set Free in the US).

He studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge and the History and Philosophy of Science at Harvard. As a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, he was Director of Studies in Cell Biology, and was also a research fellow of the Royal Society. He worked at the University of Malaya on tropical ferns, and in Hyderabad, India, as Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). In India, he also lived for two years in the ashram of Fr Bede Griffiths in Tamil Nadu. From 2005-2010, he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick Project for the study of unexplained human and animal abilities, funded fromTrinity College, Cambridge.

He is currently a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, of Schumacher College in Dartington, England and of the Temenos Academy in London. He lives in London and is married to Jill Purce, with whom he has two sons, Merlin, a mycologist and author of the bestselling book Entangled Life, and Cosmo, a musician.

Timetable: 
18:30
Doors open
Venue: