Editing Rupert Sheldrake (section)

== Career ==
After obtaining his PhD, Sheldrake became a [[research fellow|fellow]] of Clare College,<ref name=overhyped/> working in biochemistry and cell biology with funding from the [[Royal Society]] Rosenheim Research Fellowship.<ref>{{cite book |title=Year Book of the Royal Society of London |year=1973 |volume=78 |publisher=Harrison and Sons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nn47AQAAIAAJ}}</ref> He investigated [[auxin]]s, a class of [[plant hormone]] that plays a role in plant [[vascular cell|vascular]] [[cell differentiation]].<ref name="Discover2000" /> Sheldrake and Philip Rubery developed the [[Polar auxin transport#Chemiosmotic model|chemiosmotic model]] of [[polar auxin transport]].<ref name="Abel2010">{{cite journal|last1=Abel|first1=S.|last2=Theologis|first2=A.|year=2010|title=Odyssey of Auxin|journal=Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology|volume=2|issue=10|pages=a004572|issn=1943-0264|doi=10.1101/cshperspect.a004572|pmid=20739413|pmc=2944356}}</ref>

Sheldrake has said that he ended this line of research when he concluded:

{{blockquote|The system is circular. It does not explain how [differentiation is] established to start with. After nine years of intensive study, it became clear to me that biochemistry would not solve the problem of why things have the basic shape they do.<ref name="Discover2000" />}}

From 1968 to 1969,<ref name=":1" /> Sheldrake worked at the [[University of Malaya]].<ref name=TimAdams/><ref name=":1" />

Having an interest in [[Indian philosophy]], [[Hinduism]] and [[transcendental meditation]], Sheldrake resigned his position at Clare and went to work on the physiology of tropical crops in [[Hyderabad, India]],<ref name="bio2" /> as principal plant physiologist at the [[International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics]] (ICRISAT) from 1974 to 1978.<ref name="chaos" /><ref name="bio2" /> There he published on crop physiology<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles&Papers/papers/cropphysio/index.html |title=Papers on Crop Physiology |publisher=sheldrake.org |last=Sheldrake |first=Rupert |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006065504/http://www.sheldrake.org/Articles%26Papers/papers/cropphysio/index.html |archive-date=6 October 2013 }}</ref> and co-authored a book on the anatomy of the [[pigeonpea]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bisen|first1=S. S.|last2=Sheldrake|first2=A. R.|year=1981 |title=The anatomy of the pigeonpea|publisher=ICRISAT}}</ref>

Sheldrake left ICRISAT to focus on writing ''A New Science of Life'', during which time he spent a year and a half in the [[Saccidananda Ashram]] of [[Bede Griffiths]],<ref name=bio2/><ref name=bio1/> a [[Benedictine]] monk active in [[interfaith dialogue]] with Hinduism.<ref name=bio-anglican/> Published in 1981, the book outlines his concept of morphic resonance,<ref name=bio2/> of which he has said:

{{blockquote|The idea came to me in a moment of insight and was extremely exciting. It interested some of my colleagues at Clare College—philosophers, linguists, and classicists were quite open-minded. But the idea of mysterious telepathy-type interconnections between organisms and of collective memories within species didn't go down too well with my colleagues in the science labs. Not that they were aggressively hostile; they just made fun of it.<ref name=bio2/>|sign=|source=}}

After writing ''A New Science of Life'', he continued at ICRISAT as a part-time consultant physiologist until 1985.<ref name=chaos/>

Sheldrake published his second book, ''The Presence of the Past,'' in 1988.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheldrake |first=Rupert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UwhFAAAAYAAJ |title=The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature |date=1988 |publisher=Collins |isbn=978-0-00-217785-6 |language=en}}</ref> In the 1990s and 2000s, he continued to publish books, which included several joint discussions with [[Ralph Abraham (mathematician)|Ralph Abraham]], a mathematician, and [[Terence McKenna]], an ethnobotanist and mystic.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sheldrake |first1=Rupert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2uIPAQAAIAAJ |title=The Evolutionary Mind: Trialogues at the Edge of the Unthinkable |last2=McKenna |first2=Terence K. |last3=Abraham |first3=Ralph |date=1998 |publisher=Trialogue Press |isbn=978-0-942344-13-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sheldrake |first1=Rupert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ylwoDwAAQBAJ |title=Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness |last2=McKenna |first2=Terence |last3=Abraham |first3=Ralph |date=2001-11-01 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-59477-771-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sheldrake |first1=Rupert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIPHtyQHpTIC&dq=sheldrake%20McKenna%20Abraham&pg=PP1 |title=The Evolutionary Mind: Conversations on Science, Imagination & Spirit |last2=McKenna |first2=Terence |last3=Abraham |first3=Ralph |date=2013-04-02 |publisher=Monkfish Book Publishing |isbn=978-1-939681-10-2 |language=en}}</ref> Sheldrake also collaborated with [[Matthew Fox (priest)|Matthew Fox]], a priest and theologian, on two books in 1996.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-IlAQAAIAAJ&q=editions:ISBN0385483562 |title=Natural Grace: Dialogues on Creation, Darkness, and the Soul in Spiritualiy and Science |last2=Sheldrake |first2=Rupert |date=1996 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-48356-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=May 1, 1996 |title=Natural Grace: Dialogs on Creation, Darkness, and the Soul in Spirituality and Science by Mathew Fox and Rupert Sheldrake |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/matthew-fox/natural-grace/ |website=Kirkus Reviews}}</ref>

Sheldrake was one of six subjects, along with [[Oliver Sacks]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Stephen Jay Gould]], [[Freeman Dyson]], [[Stephen Toulmin]], who were covered in 1993 by the Dutch filmmaker Wim Kayzer in ''[[A Glorious Accident]],''<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goodman |first=Walter |date=1994-06-10 |title=TV Weekend; Serious Entertainment From a Rare Resource |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/10/arts/tv-weekend-serious-entertainment-from-a-rare-resource.html |access-date=2023-01-31 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> a documentary series that posed a series of questions about [[consciousness]] and culminated in a roundtable discussion between the participants.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Angier |first=Natalie |date=1994-06-12 |title=TELEVISION; Six Smart Guys Sitting Around Talking |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/12/arts/television-six-smart-guys-sitting-around-talking.html |access-date=2023-01-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The film was shown on [[Dutch public broadcasting system]] [[VPRO]] in 1993, followed by United States PBS member station [[WNET]] in 1994.<ref name=":2" /> The book ''A Glorious Accident: Understanding Our Place in the Cosmic Puzzle'' was produced from the transcripts of the program and published in both Dutch<ref name=":12">{{cite book |last1=Kayzer |first1=Wim |url=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/66099260 |title=Een schitterend ongeluk |date=1993 |publisher=Contact |isbn=9789025403959 |location=Amsterdam |oclc=66099260 |accessdate=30 October 2020}}</ref> and English.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kayzer |first=Wim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcqAPgAACAAJ&q=editions:ISBN0716731444 |title=A Glorious Accident: Understanding Our Place in the Cosmic Puzzle |date=1997 |publisher=W.H. Freeman |isbn=978-90-254-0725-4 |language=en}}</ref>

Since 2004,<ref>{{cite web |title=ht_faculty |url=http://www.learn.edu/ht/ht_faculty.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040530000342/http://www.learn.edu/ht/ht_faculty.htm |archive-date=30 May 2004 |publisher=The Graduate Institute}}</ref> Sheldrake has been a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute in [[Bethany, Connecticut]],<ref name="bio1" /> where he was also academic director of the Holistic Learning and Thinking Program until 2012.<ref name="bio1" /> From September 2005 until 2010, Sheldrake was director of the [[Perrott-Warrick Fund|Perrott–Warrick]] Project for [[psychical]] research for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, funded from Trinity College, Cambridge.<ref name="overhyped" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sheldrake.org/About/biography/pwfund.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207231747/http://www.sheldrake.org/About/biography/pwfund.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 February 2007 |title=The Perrott–Warrick Project |publisher=Sheldrake.org |access-date=27 August 2012 |last=Sheldrake |first=Rupert }}</ref> As of 2014, he was a fellow of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] in [[California]] and a fellow of [[Schumacher College]] in [[Devon, England]].<ref name="current bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.sheldrake.org/about-rupert-sheldrake/biography|title=Biography of Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D.|publisher=Rupert Sheldrake|access-date=29 April 2014}}</ref> Since 2014, he has been a fellow of the Temenos Academy, London.<ref>{{Cite web |last=NA |first=NA |date=March 26, 2024 |title=Temenos Academy Fellows |url=https://www.temenosacademy.org/fellows/ |access-date=March 26, 2024 |website=Temenos Academy}}</ref>

In 2017, Sheldrake published a dialog with science writer and skeptic [[Michael Shermer]] titled ''Arguing Science: A Dialogue on the Future of Science and Spirit''.<ref name="Arguing Science 2016, p. 1" /> In 2023, at the How The Light Gets In festival of philosophy in Hay-on-Wye, UK, Sheldrake debated Shermer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shermer |first=Michael |date=Oct 12, 2023 |title=Rupert Sheldrake v. Michael Shermer {{!}} On the edges of knowledge {{!}} Full discussion |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4IeQokxHdM |access-date=January 15, 2024 |website=YouTube}}</ref> In 2023, Sheldrake debated the existence of consciousness outside of brains at the University Aula in [[Bergen|Bergen, Norway]], alongside anthropologist [[Tanya Luhrmann]] and neuroscientist [[Anil Seth]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Malone |first=David |date=December 2, 2023 |title=The 2023 Holberg Debate: 'Does Consciousness Extend Beyond Brains?' |url=https://holbergprize.org/en/2023-holberg-debate-does-consciousness-extend-beyond-brains |access-date=January 31, 2024 |website=Holbergprize.org}}</ref>

Sheldrake has outlined his spiritual practices in two books: ''Science and Spiritual Practices'' (2017)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheldrake |first=Rupert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CK8FDgAAQBAJ |title=Science and Spiritual Practices: Reconnecting through direct experience |date=2017-11-02 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=978-1-4736-3010-9 |language=en}}</ref> and ''Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work'' (2019).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheldrake |first=Rupert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kdIDwAAQBAJ |title=Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work: Seven Spiritual Practices in a Scientific Age |date=2019-01-24 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=978-1-4736-5342-9 |language=en}}</ref>