This discussion group will explore the effects of spiritual practices through Rupert Sheldrake’s book entitled Science and Spiritual Practices. 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 book, Sheldrake illustrates how science helps validate seven practices that underpin all major world religions:
◊ 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. Science and Spiritual Practices illuminates the evolutionary origins of various spiritual traditions and gives a new appreciation of their power. It also shows how the core practices of spirituality are accessible to all, without the need to subscribe to a particular religious belief system. Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. He is 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 Director of the Perrott-Warrick project for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, California, and of Schumacher College in Devon, England.
In this discussion group, we’ll read the book together during each session with no reading assignments. This discussion group meets on the third Sunday of the month from 10 am to 12 pm.
