Science and Spiritual Practices: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains, and Health

by Rupert Sheldrake

Overview

A biologist draws on science and psychology to validate the benefits of 7 common religious practices—from meditation and gratitude to rituals and pilgrimage.

“I have personally adopted many of [these] practices . . . and experienced more love, joy, empathy, gratitude, and equanimity as a result.” ―Deepak Chopra

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. In this pioneering book, Rupert Sheldrake shows how science helps validate 7 practices on which many 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

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 nonreligious, this book will show how the core practices of spirituality are accessible to all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640091184
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	08/28/2018
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	96,387
File size:	986 KB

About the Author

RUPERT SHELDRAKE, PhD, is a biologist and the author of more than eighty-five scientific papers and twelve books. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge University, a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard University, and a Research Fellow of the Royal Society. From 2005 to 2010, he was the director of the Perrott-Warrick Project, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, California, and of Schumacher College in Devon, England.

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface 1
Introduction 13
1. Meditation and the Nature of Minds 23
2. The Flow of Gratitude 50
3. Reconnecting with the More-Than-Human World 64
4. Relating to Plants 93
5. Rituals and the Presence of the Past 111
6. Singing, Chanting and the Power of Music 136
7. Pilgrimages and Holy Places 162
8. Conclusions: Spiritual Practices in a Secular Age 191
Acknowledgements 209
Notes 211
Bibliography 225
Index 237

Editorial Reviews

06/11/2018
Biologist Sheldrake attempts to beat new atheists at their own game by using science to shore up devotion to spiritual practices in this persuasive appeal for a more enchanted world. To do that, he considers seven practices that are spiritually fulfilling while also having proven health benefits: meditation, gratitude, connecting with the non-human world, human-plant relationships, ritual, singing, and pilgrimage. For each, he provides a brief, intriguing history of its rise and modern diminishment across various traditions. Sheldrake pines for his vision of a less profane, more individualized past, as he makes clear through his laments about loss of connection to nature and the secularization of pilgrimages. He draws on a wide range of studies to show benefits for each type of worship: meditation increases the brain’s gray matter, gratitude leads to better health, and group singing enhances abilities to concentrate. A few fuzzy moments, including reliance on many studies about improved happiness and overly speculative accounts (such as his claims that ritual repetitions create an inheritable memory across generations), do not overwhelm the otherwise convincing work. With accessible suggestions, clear arguments, and an encouraging tone, Sheldrake makes a good case for reincorporating bygone spiritual habits. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"I have personally adopted many of the practices Rupert describes in his book and experienced more love, joy, empathy, gratitude, and equanimity as a result. We are all indebted to Rupert, who has tirelessly brought us deep insights from both science and spirituality." ―Deepak Chopra

“Rupert Sheldrake once again acts as a bridge builder between science and spirituality . . . Psychological and scientific studies are cited to underpin his findings, and an engaging account of his own life path helps to create a very accessible and authentic tone for the reader . . . It’s a testimony to his courage and integrity that he continues to harness the horses of both science and spirituality to pull the chariot, and he drives his vehicle well.” ―Quest: Journal of the Theosophical Society in America

"For readers wishing to follow his path, Sheldrake offers advice on seven ways in which we can begin to appreciate the transcendent world of the Spirit . . . We learn how to connect with the more-than-human world of nature; to respect plants and explore the benefits of small orchards; to value rituals and experience pilgrimages; to enjoy the power of music through chanting. All these practices can deepen the meaning of our lives and open our minds to a universe flooded with consciousness." ―Church Times

“A simultaneously grounded and inspiring approach to appreciating the benefits of both science and religion.” ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“With accessible suggestions, clear arguments, and an encouraging tone, Sheldrake makes a good case for reincorporating bygone spiritual habits.” ―Publishers Weekly

"Rupert Sheldrake is not only a consummate scientist, but is a person alive to the spirit. I am personally grateful for the writing and publication of Science and Spiritual Practices, and not only endorse it wholeheartedly, but look forward to the support and depth it will bring to my own life.” ―Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California

"Science and Spiritual Practices is a breakthrough. It is a promise and sign of hope in a dire time, an apocalyptic time, but a potentially revelatory time also . . . Is it true that the modern age of antagonism between science and religion, psyche and cosmos, can be healed? Is it true that this is happening right now? That spiritual experience is available to believers and unbelievers alike? Read this important book and find out for yourself." ––Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox, Progressing Spirit

"I love this book! For its clarity, its first-person stories and applications, its science and experientially based facts, its timeliness, its humor, its blunt questions and challenges put to the guardians of die-hard scientific materialism, its breadth of topics and depth of insights historical, philosophical, religious, and spiritual. Few living scientists have the courage and the chops to ask the questions Rupert does, research them, and deliver answers in language all can understand. Be prepared as you read this book for an exciting and free-ranging ride, a sort of scientific pilgrimage journeying into spiritual practices and how they have benefited and can benefit humanity." ―Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing

"This is a refreshing and reflective work, a great contribution by a scholar whose intellectual life has been dedicated to showing connections among practice and polity, science and Spirit. His Science and Spiritual Practices reminds us clearly that everything is connected." ―Jeffrey Patnaude, author, teacher, priest

"Urgent, vital, gently devastating, and an exhilarating read. Buy it, read it, and give it to all your friends and all acolytes of scientism. Sheldrake will help us stay alive and be more alive. We all need his help." ―Charles Foster, Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, and author of Being a Beast

From the Publisher

★ 2018-05-23
A holistic exploration of spiritual and religious practices through a scientific lens.In this slim but dense and well-reasoned book, biologist Sheldrake (Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery, 2012, etc.) delves into seven common spiritual practices and relates the many healthy and transformative effects that can be attributed to each. The author offers a unique perspective as a well-regarded scientist with a profoundly grounded spiritual awareness. In the preface, he shares his particular path to enlightenment, from the secular and atheistic stance of his early scientific education to his eventual spiritual awakening through early experience with transcendental meditation and eventual travel to India, as well as his study of Hindu philosophy and Christian mysticism. Through all his studies, he has come to realize that "the old-fashioned opposition between science and religion is a false dichotomy. Open-minded scientific studies enhance our understanding of spiritual and religious practices." Sheldrake devotes separate chapters to meditation; the flow of gratitude, connecting with nature; relating to plants; rituals and their relation to the past; singing, chanting, and the power of music; and pilgrimage and holy places. Throughout, he displays his vast knowledge of religious history and a broad range of scientific research, and he closes each chapter with at least two examples for practical applications. By the concluding chapter, the author establishes further reasons for maintaining a balanced awareness of both scientific and spiritual studies, and he feels that scientism extremists are imposing an unjustly rigid worldview. "I was disillusioned when I found that some people have made science into a kind of religion and are often exceptionally dogmatic," he writes. "They accept the scientific worldview on faith, impressed by the authority and prestige of scientists, and imagine that they have arrived at this worldview by their own freethinking. I still believe in the ideal of open-minded science….In my own experience, believers in scientism are more dogmatic that most Christians."A simultaneously grounded and inspiring approach to appreciating the benefits of both science and religion.

Kirkus Reviews