Evidence That Your Mind is NOT Just In Your Brain - Rupert Sheldrake

Summary

The video explores the idea that consciousness and the mind extend beyond the brain, challenging materialist views. It introduces the concept of fields in science, drawing parallels between electromagnetic fields and the mind's ability to reach out beyond the body. Rupert Sheldrake discusses the phenomenon of feeling stared at, proposing it as evidence of mind interacting with fields. He suggests that consciousness is not confined to the brain but extends through the body and beyond, offering a broader perspective on the mind-body connection and the hard problem of consciousness.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The idea that everything is confined to the brain is too limiting; there are broader scientific perspectives that include fields extending beyond the brain.
• ⚡ Fields like gravitational, electromagnetic, and others are invisible but have major influences on physical objects, stretching far beyond them.
• 🧠 The brain and mind are often localized, but fields of the mind might extend beyond the body, suggesting that consciousness is not confined to the head.
• 👁️ Extramission theory suggests that images are not just received by the brain but also projected outward, meaning what we see exists where it appears, not solely inside our heads.
• 🔄 Intromission (light entering the eyes) and extramission (images projected outward) are two theories of vision, with the latter being taught for understanding mirrors and still held by many.
• 👀 The sense of being stared at, or 'scopaesthesia,' is a common experience and has been statistically verified through numerous experiments.
• 🔬 Experiments show that even though people are taught that nothing goes out of the eyes, many retain a belief in extramission, indicating it's a deeply ingrained concept.
• 🐾 Animals, like humans, seem to possess the ability to sense when they are being looked at, which may have evolved in predator-prey relationships.
• 🧬 The sense of being stared at is thought to have biological and evolutionary roots, with practical applications in fields like martial arts and detective work.
• 🌟 Minds may extend beyond the brain through fields and may interact with electromagnetism, challenging the traditional view that consciousness is confined to the brain.

Q & A

What is the main argument Rupert Sheldrake presents about the brain and mind in this transcript?

Sheldrake argues that the idea that the mind is confined to the brain is limiting. He proposes that consciousness and the mind extend beyond the brain, interacting with the world through invisible fields, much like how gravitational or electromagnetic fields work.

What scientific concept does Sheldrake use to explain how minds might extend beyond the brain?

Sheldrake uses the concept of fields, like gravitational or electromagnetic fields, to explain how the mind could extend beyond the brain. He suggests that consciousness operates through these invisible fields, much like physical forces in nature.

How does Sheldrake connect vision to his theory of the extended mind?

Sheldrake explains that when we see something, we are not just processing images inside our heads. He argues that vision involves a projection of images outward, meaning our consciousness extends to where the objects are, rather than just being confined to our brain.

What is the 'intromission' theory of vision, and how does it differ from the 'extramission' theory?

The intromission theory of vision, developed by Kepler, holds that light enters the eyes and forms images inside the brain. The extramission theory, which Sheldrake supports, suggests that not only does light come in, but our mind projects images outward, creating a more extended experience of vision.

What does Sheldrake mean by 'scopesthesia,' and how does it relate to his theory of the extended mind?

Scopesthesia refers to the sense of being stared at. Sheldrake uses it to support his theory of the extended mind, suggesting that when someone looks at us, their mind might be reaching out through invisible fields, allowing us to feel their gaze.

What evidence does Sheldrake provide for the sense of being stared at?

Sheldrake cites experiments conducted at over 37 schools and colleges, along with research at the Nemo Science Museum, which involved 20,000 participants. These experiments showed statistically significant results indicating that people can sense when they are being stared at, supporting his theory.

How does Sheldrake use animal behavior to support his argument?

Sheldrake points out that many animals have the ability to sense when they are being watched by predators. This evolutionary trait, he argues, suggests that the ability to sense a gaze could be biologically ingrained and that the mind might extend outward to interact with the world.

What does Sheldrake say about phantom limbs in relation to the extended mind?

Sheldrake suggests that people who experience phantom limbs are not just feeling sensations inside their brain but are projecting a part of their mind to the location where the limb used to be, which aligns with his theory of the mind extending beyond the brain.

What does Sheldrake believe about the connection between consciousness and electromagnetism?

Sheldrake proposes that consciousness may interface with electromagnetic fields, much like brain activity correlates with electromagnetic signals. He suggests that this interaction could extend beyond the brain, challenging the conventional view that consciousness is confined to the head.

What is Sheldrake's critique of materialist theories of the brain and consciousness?

Sheldrake criticizes materialist theories for confining consciousness and the mind to the brain, arguing that these views ignore the broader possibilities offered by the concept of fields and the extended mind. He believes that limiting consciousness to the brain hinders progress in solving the 'hard problem' of mind-brain interaction.

Outlines

00:00

💡 Fields of Influence: Beyond the Brain

The speaker challenges the materialist perspective that limits consciousness to the brain, introducing the broader scientific concept of fields, such as gravitational and electromagnetic fields. These fields, although invisible, have immense influence, and the speaker proposes that consciousness operates similarly, extending beyond the brain through mental fields. This theory, according to the speaker, could play a critical role in addressing the hard problem of consciousness.

05:04

🔍 Extramission Theory of Vision

The speaker explains the contrast between the intromission theory (light entering the eyes) and the ancient extramission theory, which suggests that we project our visual images outward. Using examples like mirrors and reflections, the speaker explains how we see virtual images outside ourselves. Despite intromission being the dominant scientific view, extramission remains a widespread and deep-seated way of understanding vision, even among children and non-experts.

10:08

👀 The Sense of Being Watched

The speaker dives into the phenomenon of 'scopaesthesia'—the feeling of being stared at—suggesting it might be real rather than an illusion. Various experiments and anecdotal evidence point to humans (and animals) sensing when they are being watched, even when unaware of an observer. The speaker suggests this ability evolved in predator-prey relationships and may hint at a broader understanding of the mind’s capacity to extend beyond the brain.

15:11

🧠 The Extended Mind and Phantom Limbs

The speaker extends their theory to other mind-body phenomena, such as phantom limbs, arguing that these experiences are part of the 'extended mind' and not simply confined to the brain. By challenging the materialist dogma, they propose that exploring how consciousness interfaces with electromagnetic fields and extends beyond the body could be key to solving the hard problem of mind-brain interaction.

📱 Experimenting with Perception

The speaker concludes by mentioning ongoing research, including an app designed to help people train their sensitivity to the sense of being stared at. They encourage viewers to experiment with it and share their experiences, emphasizing that this research is in progress and there is still much to learn about enhancing this ability.

Keywords

💡Fields

Fields refer to regions of influence that extend beyond physical objects, often invisible but exerting significant effects, like gravitational or magnetic fields. In the video, Rupert Sheldrake suggests that fields could also be connected to human consciousness, arguing that the mind extends beyond the brain and interacts with the environment in ways similar to how physical fields work, thus broadening the understanding of consciousness.

💡Materialism

Materialism is the philosophical view that everything in the world, including the mind, can be explained purely by physical matter and its interactions. Sheldrake challenges this view, suggesting that materialism unnecessarily confines consciousness to the brain, ignoring the possibility that the mind might extend beyond the physical body, interacting with fields like electromagnetism.

💡Intromission Theory

Intromission theory is the widely accepted scientific view of vision, which states that light enters the eyes, forming an image inside the brain. Sheldrake discusses this theory, explaining that although this is the mainstream understanding, it fails to capture the experience of seeing something as being 'out there' in the world, rather than just a mental representation inside the head.

💡Extramission Theory

Extramission theory is an older idea that vision not only involves light entering the eyes but also involves the mind projecting images outward. Sheldrake supports this theory, suggesting that what we see is not entirely confined to the brain, but rather projected outward into the space around us. He cites this as part of his argument for the extended mind.

💡Scopesthesia

Scopesthesia refers to the phenomenon of sensing when someone is staring at you. Sheldrake discusses this in relation to his idea of the mind extending beyond the brain, suggesting that this sense of being watched is a result of an outward projection of consciousness, interacting with the environment in ways that current scientific models do not fully explain.

💡Electromagnetic Fields

Electromagnetic fields are invisible forces produced by electrically charged objects, influencing other objects at a distance. In the video, Sheldrake draws parallels between electromagnetic fields and the mind, suggesting that consciousness may interact with electromagnetism, much like how the brain's activity is associated with electromagnetic processes.

💡Hard Problem of Consciousness

The 'hard problem' refers to the challenge of explaining how and why we have subjective experiences, also known as qualia, from purely physical brain processes. Sheldrake argues that traditional approaches confine consciousness to brain activity, but if we consider the possibility of an extended mind interacting with fields, this could provide new ways to approach this difficult question.

💡Extended Mind

The extended mind is Sheldrake's concept that consciousness is not limited to the brain but can extend beyond the body, interacting with the world through fields like electromagnetism. This idea challenges the materialist view and suggests that our mental experiences could involve projections into the environment, which may explain phenomena like the sense of being stared at.

💡Phantom Limbs

Phantom limbs refer to the sensation that an amputated limb is still present. Sheldrake uses this as an example of the extended mind, proposing that the feeling of a phantom limb may not be just a mental illusion confined to the brain, but a projection of the mind that extends into the space where the limb once existed, further supporting his theory of mind extending beyond the body.

💡Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget was a developmental psychologist whose research showed that young children naturally believe that their vision projects images outward. Sheldrake references Piaget's work to support his argument that the extramission theory of vision is a deep-seated, intuitive way of thinking, even though modern science teaches intromission as the only valid theory.

Highlights

The idea that the mind is confined to the brain is an unnecessary limitation, and fields of the mind may extend beyond the body.

Fields in nature, such as gravitational and electromagnetic fields, extend beyond physical objects and have significant effects even though they are invisible.

The extramission theory of vision suggests that not only does light enter the eyes, but the mind projects images outward, making consciousness extend beyond the head.

Jean Piaget showed that young children naturally believe in extramission, projecting images outwards, a deeply ingrained way of perceiving vision.

Visual extramission, the projection of images outwards, is taught in physics to explain how mirrors work, but it's considered a heresy in biology and psychology.

The sense of being stared at, or 'scopesthesia,' is a common phenomenon where people can feel when someone is looking at them from behind.

Scientific experiments, including large-scale studies in museums, show statistically significant results proving the sense of being stared at is real.

Predators and prey may have evolved the ability to sense being stared at for survival, making this phenomenon deeply embedded in biology.

Private detectives, martial artists, and surveillance officers often use the sense of being watched as part of their training, validating its practical application.

Brain activity that correlates with consciousness involves electromagnetic activity, suggesting that consciousness could extend beyond the brain through electromagnetic fields.

Phantom limb sensations after amputations are an example of the extended mind, as people project and feel the lost limb outside the body.

The extended mind theory could help solve the 'hard problem' of consciousness by moving beyond the idea that consciousness is confined within the brain.

Rupert Sheldrake suggests that the mind's interaction with electromagnetism isn't confined to the head, as traditional materialist science assumes.

Sheldrake proposes that once the arbitrary boundary between mind and brain is removed, it could lead to breakthroughs in understanding consciousness.

A mobile app has been developed to train users to become better at detecting when they are being stared at, supporting further research into this ability.

Transcripts

[Music] I think that the idea that it's all in  the brain is an unnecessary limitation materialist  

thinking about the brain is extraordinarily  local it localizes all these things actually  

inside the head but within the Sciences since the  19th century we now have a much broader view of M  

and the way that nature is organized and  this is broadened through the concept of  

fields first introduced into science by Michael  Faraday uh in relation to electric and magnetic  

fields then through Einstein's general theory  of relativity taken to include the gravitational  

field and there are many fields in in science now  fields are defined as regions of influence they're  

usually invisible the gravitational field of the  earth is in the Earth but EX extends far beyond  

it the reason we're not floating in the air at  the moment is because it's holding us down to the  

ground it's invisible this room is full of it but  we can't see it it holds the moon in its orbit it  

stretches far beyond the Earth the gravitational  field of the Moon affects the tides on the earth  

so these are invisible Fields with enormous  effects at a distance even though you can't  

see them uh electrical and magnetic fields also  stretch out Beyond physical objects a magnetic  

field stretches out far beyond the magnet you  can reveal its lines of force through sprinkling  

iron filings around it but the field itself is  invisible and the electromagnetic fields of your  

mobile telephone uh within the mobile telephone  but stretch invisibly Beyond it this room is full  

of radio Transmissions from mobile phones from  radio and television programs the the world is  

full of invisible Fields this is a revelation of  19th and 20th Century science which I don't think  

has been taken on board by people thinking about  materialist theories of the brain and what I'd  

like to suggest is that our fields of our mind  stretch out far beyond our bodies they stretch  

out invisibly and our Consciousness is related to  and based on these fields that if we're going to  

solve the heart problem taking into account fields  of the Mind may be a very important in ingredient  

as well as studying processes within the brain  the easiest way to see what I'm talking about  

is indeed through vision what's going on when you  see something um well everybody knows that light  

comes into the eyes ever since Johan Kepler in  16004 worked out that there were inverted images  

on the retina we know that the lens focuses the  light in each eye you have a small inverted image  

on your retina changes happen in the Cod cells and  the rod cells impulses travel up the optic nerve  

changes happen in various regions of the brain  all this has been mapped and scanned in Greater  

detail than ever before but the mysterious part  is then what happens next how do you create images  

three-dimensional full color images they're all  supposed to be inside your head representations of  

the outer world so I can see you sitting there you  can see me here but all of you are supposed to be  

inside my head as lots of faces and and the whole  of this room is meant to be and inside your head  

is supposed to be a little ret um somewhere inside  your brain that's not what we actually experience  

what we actually experience is that our images  are out there your image of me I'm imagining is  

where I'm actually standing right now and my  image of you is where you are so this oneway  

theory of Vision which we've all grown up with and  which comes from Kepler the intromission theory of  

vision sending in intromission is taken to be the  standard scientific view but there's another and  

older theory of vision the extramission theory  that says not only does light come in but the  

images we see are projected out so my images  of you are where they seem to be they're in  

my mind they're in my Consciousness but they're  not inside my head they're where you're sitting  

now this idea is familiar to the ancient Greeks  it's familiar to people all over the world the  

developmental psychologist Jean P showed that  young European children in his book the child's  

conception of the world think that they're  projecting out images that they take it for  

granted so this is in fact a very deep-seated  way of thinking about vision and uid the great  

geometer used it to explain in the first a really  clear way how mirrors work what happens when you  

look at something in a mirror is the light is  reflected from the mirror the angle of incidence  

the angle of reflection are the same but what  happens then is you project out the images uh  

which go straight through the mirror being virtual  mental projections and you see virtual images  

behind the mirror and ID's theory is still there  in school textbooks to explain mirrors all of you  

no doubt have seen these diagrams they involve  little dotted lines behind the mirror that go  

to What's called a virtual image behind the mirror  a projection of the Mind behind the mirror and so  

this extra mission a sending out theory of vision  is actually taught to all school children even  

though within most of science it's regarded as a  total heresy intromission is the only permissible  

theory in biology and psychology whereas in  Optics which comes under physics extra is the  

standard Theory and no wonder it's confusing  people are taught two completely different  

theories of vision at Ohio State University  Gerald Wier who's a professor of Psychology  

was shocked to find that most adults and children  he interviewed believed in visual extramission  

something going out of the eyes even his own  psychology undergraduates believed it so heall  

this a fundamental misunderstanding of visual  perception and he decided to re-educate them and  

he and his colleagues told them forcefully over  and over again nothing goes out of the eyes when  

you look at something and after repeated drilling  with this into the students when they were tested  

immediately after this denial of extramission  uh teaching they gave the correct answers but  

when they tested them 3 to 5 months later almost  all of them had reverted to their previous views  

they were dismayed at this failure of scientific  education much more recently in fact just in the  

last few years arid gutam uh at working first at  Princeton University now at the kinska institute  

in Stockholm has shown that uh by some very  ingenious experiments that people attribute  

a gental force to the Gaze as it goes out of  the eyes and they've even shown using fmri that  

regions of the brain involved in tracking movement  are activated and as he puts it the results  

this is a quote strongly suggests that when people  view a face looking at an object the brain treats  

that gaze as if a movement were present passing  from the face to the object and they found that  

this occurred even in people who didn't believe  in visual extramission it's deep hardwired in the  

way we see and they tried to explain this  by saying there must be an evolutionary  

reason for it that in uh it's important to  track people's gaze in social situations  

and this leads to the illusion that something's  going out of the eyes when you look at things it  

it make much better sense in evolutionary terms  if it's not an illusion but if it's real and so  

is it real well you're not meant to think it's  real because that goes against the Dogma that  

the mind is nothing but the activity of the brain  and the perceptions are inside the head but is it  

testable well I think it is if when I look at you  a projection from my mind that touches you my mind  

in a sense reaches out to touch you if I look at  you from behind and you don't know I'm there could  

you feel that I'm looking at you well as soon as  you ask that question you realize that the sense  

of being stared at is very common it's now called  scop athesia the scientific name for it scop as  

in microscope seeing aesthesia feeling as in  synesthesia anesthesia scop athesia is extremely  

common most people have experence experienced it  I'm sure most people in this room have experienced  

it you turn around you find someone's looking at  you or you stare at someone and they turn around  

and look back doesn't happen all the time but  it's very common most people have experienced it  

including most children it's usually directional  you turn and look straight at the person you don't  

just feel uneasy and search around I I have  a recent paper on directional scof athesia  

showing that on the basis of 960 case studies the  directionality is just a basic feature of this and  

the way people experience it I've investigated the  Natural History we've interviewed uh We've dealt  

with through questionnaires we found it typically  happens uh most powerfully with strangers often  

with male strangers in situations that could  be vaguely threatening we've done interviews  

with more than 50 surveillance officers celebrity  photographers and private detectives practically  

all of whom just take this for granted if you've  ever trained to be a private detective and I'm  

guessing that most of you haven't uh you you will  have learned that um when you're following someone  

shadowing somebody you don't stare at their back  cuz if you do they'll turn around catch your eyes  

and your cover's blown you have to look at them a  little bit otherwise you lose them but you look at  

their feet so among practical people these things  are completely taken for granted in the martial  

arts it's taken for granted and they have methods  of training people to become more sensitive  

because if you can feel when someone's approaching  from behind who might attack you you'll survive  

better than if you didn't feel it they train  this ability people get better at it well many  

experiments have already been done on the  sense of being stared at they've been done  

in at least 37 different schools and colleges  have been replicated in many parts of the world  

the statistical significance is astronomical the  Nemo science museum in Amsterdam an experiment on  

the sense of being stared at was running for more  than 20 years more than 20,000 people took part  

it was called have you got eyes in the back  of your head and people had to guess whether  

they were being looked at or not in a randomized  sequence of Trials the results were astronomically  

significant statistically I mean I didn't run this  experiment myself it was run by the Dutch Museum  

the results were analyzed by Dutch statisticians  and it showed a massively significant effect the  

most sensitive subjects in incidentally were  children under the Agee of nine so here we have  

something which is extremely well known it's  well known all over the world the scientific  

evidence suggests it really happens the scientific  teaching of how mirror's work assumes that there's  

an extem mission of influences it seems to be  deep receit in biology it happens with animals  

animals can tell when they're being looked at and  people can tell when animals are looking at them  

so here we have a very very well-known phenomenon  very deep-seated biologically many different  

species of animals have shown this ability I  think it's evolved in the context of Predator prey  

relationships a prey animal that could tell when  a predator was looking at it a hidden Predator was  

looking at it would survive better than one that  didn't and I think it has enormous implications  

for our understanding of the mind because if our  minds are not just about what happens in brains  

and if our conscious experience is extended  through electromagnetic fields which is what  

light is it suggests that Minds have an interface  with electromagnetism we know they do in the brain  

a lot of brain activity that correlates with  Consciousness is electromagnetic activity there  

seems to be an interface between electromagnetism  and Consciousness and why it should be confined  

to the inside of the head is a purely arbitrary  assumption it comes from Ren deart originally I  

suppose um or from the ancient Greek materialists  but deart made a division between extended things  

rise extensor matter is extended in space  whereas mind re cutans was not extended in  

space it was defined by being unextended so the  idea was the mind was unextended but interacted  

with the brain somewhere inside the head so I'm  suggesting that actually when we let go of that  

assumption which has been so limiting for for so  long we can broaden our view of the mind and uh  

go further than we've gone so far in a way that  will help solve the real problems leading towards  

the hard problem finally I just want to say that  I think the extended mind doesn't just extend out  

into the world it extends throughout the body when  someone has say a phantom limb after an amputation  

I think that that Phantom limb is part of the  extended mind and that people feel the limb uh to  

be really there and I think what they're ex doing  is projecting that image of the limb and feeling  

it from within as to where the limb actually is  the official view is it's all inside the brain  

but I don't think it is and so I think once we  Liberate the Mind from the brain more generally  

and Consciousness from the brain more more  particularly we have a much wider context for  

discussing this naughty problem the hard problem  of the relation between mind and brain when we  

take into account the extended mind instead of  just arbitrarily confining to the inside of the  

head we're much more likely to make progress in  understanding how minds are related to our bodies  

and to the physical Fields through which we see  and through which we have our experiences thank

you thank you for watching this video produced  by after skool I'm Rupert sheldrake if you want  

to learn more about my work you can can go to my  website sheldrake.org or my YouTube channel the  

links are below I'm also continuing this research  on the feeling of being stared at I now have an  

app that works on cell phones where you can train  yourself to get better at it I don't know how  

easy it is to train yourself to get better at it  because this is a new project but please do have  

a go if you can if you can get better at it and if  you have any suggestions as to how others might be  

able to to become more sensitive do please email  me and let me know how you've been getting on  

thank you for watching and I hope you're watch  the next production that I do with after skool