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Direct Experience and the Importance of Spiritual Practices

Rupert Sheldrake

Leader

Rupert Sheldrake

Dr Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 100 scientific papers and nine books, including Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work. He was a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and 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, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge, for research on unexplained human abilities. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, and of the Temenos Academy in London. He lives in London. Web site: www.sheldrake.org

Date

Oct 06 2026

Time

CET
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Location

Online

Conducted via Zoom or live-stream.

Religious experiences seem likely to play a key role in the future of religion, as indeed they have done in the past. People are persuaded and engaged much more deeply by what they experience themselves than they are by verbal teachings alone, which is why all religions have always included practices like meditation, gratitude, chanting, prayer, pilgrimage, fasting, rites of passage and festivals.  Although doctrines and interpretations differ from culture to culture, the scientifically measurable effects of these practices are similar in different contexts. These practices can enhance health and wellbeing, and some play important roles in increasing social cohesion and cooperative behaviour, as well as lessening fears of death.

Rupert Sheldrake

Leader

Rupert Sheldrake

Dr Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 100 scientific papers and nine books, including Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work. He was a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and 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, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge, for research on unexplained human abilities. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, and of the Temenos Academy in London. He lives in London. Web site: www.sheldrake.org

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Rupert Sheldrake

Leader

Rupert Sheldrake

Dr Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 100 scientific papers and nine books, including Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work. He was a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and 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, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge, for research on unexplained human abilities. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, and of the Temenos Academy in London. He lives in London. Web site: www.sheldrake.org

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