Interesting talk from Rupert
Sheldrake on The Science Delusion, freeing the Spirit of Enquiry. He claims 10
dogmas of the scientific creed and I was applying it very much to the ethos and
values of A Quiet Place based on 'first do no harm' and second does it work?
The ten
are:
1.
The
universe is mechanical, everything is a machine and brains are like computers.
This is a useful metaphor but loses the wonder and richness of
humans
2.
All
matter is unconscious, human consciousness is an illusion created by
electrical/chemical activity in the brain. Can't remotely find this useful,
inner life of humans and who knows what animals and plants remains a mystery but
is demonstrated everywhere
3.
The
total amount of energy and matter is always the same (except the Big Bang of
course!) - that is a theory and as we move on in time other theories come out
from our new knowledge base, organic development surely must be reflected in
everything..'as above..so below'
4.
Laws of nature are fixed, a
constant. Who says?
5.
There
is no purpose to nature, no goal or direction, everything has evolved by
accident. How can anyone still believe that when we see so many connections,
spiralling coincidences, numbers and sacred geometry all
around?
6.
All
biological inheritance is carried in the DNA. That has been disproved since
the discovery of the genome didn't let us into every secret of mankind...hands
up in amazement!
7.
Minds
are inside our brains and everything is inside your head. Maybe our
interpretation is in our head but we don't really know that we are purely an
invention of our own figments!
8.
Memories are stored in the brain as
material traces, absolutely unproven and they have tried hard to find memory
banks..they are wiped out at death. One of the latest theories I heard was that
memory is stored in the water within our body and that is estimated between
70-85% of our makeup depending on the scientist you listen to. Sounds good to
me! Think of heart transplants and memories transferring in the blood, why is it
anathema in some belief systems not to have other people's
blood?
9.
Unexplained phenomena are all
illusory or trickery. There is so much anecdotal information as well as
scientific if any sceptics want to really look
10.
Mechanistic medicine is the only
kind that really works. Tell that to different cultures and people who have
used complimentary medicine successfully. Even the medics are now beginning to
use placebo effect, remembering that they are supposed to be 'healing'
practitioners, and indeed I know some very good ones but... interestingly enough
the net is helping open minds rather than be purely influenced by big
pharmaceutical companies and find days out to hear the latest pill without
connecting it to the side effects on the rest of the
body
Anyway
good for Rupert for challenging these laws even when it is uncomfortable, my
teacher, years ago said, ‘if you hold your hands out for truth some b..... will
knock nails into them'.
Ouch!
