The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Memory of Nature Book

Preface to the 2012 Edition

Acknowledgments

Introduction 

The Habits of Nature

The Plan of This Book

1 Eternity and Evolution

Evolution in an Eternal World

Physical Eternity

Evolution

The Evolutionary Universe

Do the Laws of Nature Evolve?

The Growth of Habits

2 Changeless Laws, Permanent Energy

Intuitions of a Timeless Reality

The Pythagoreans

Platonism, Aristotelianism, and the Rise of Western Science

From Nicholas of Cusa to Galileo

Descartes and the Mechanical Philosophy

Atomism and Materialism

The Newtonian Synthesis

The Theory of Relativity

Quantum Theory

Eternal Energy

The Survival of Eternal Laws

Repeatable Experiments

3 From Human Progress to Universal Evolution

Faith in God’s Purposes

Faith in Human Progress

Progressive Evolution

Time for Very Slow Change

The Tree of Life

The Blind Watchmaker

Evolving Organisms

4 The Nature of Physical Forms

The Elusiveness of Form

Philosophies of Form

Platonic Physics and Chemistry

Platonic Biology

Aristotelian Biology

Materialistic Biology

Morphogenesis

5 The Mystery of Morphogenesis

The Unsolved Problem of Morphogenesis

Organisms Are Not Preformed

The Regeneration of Wholeness

The Germ-Plasm

Entelechy

Selfish Genes

Genetic Programs

The Duality of Matter and Information

Why Genes Are Overrated

Chemical Theories of Pattern Formation

Organic Wholes

6 Morphogenetic Fields

Fields of Different Kinds

Morphogenetic Fields

The Nature of Morphogenetic Fields

The Evolution of Morphogenetic Fields

The Hypothesis of Formative Causation

Influence through Space and Time

Morphic Fields

Fields of Information

The Appearance of New Fields

7 Fields, Matter, and Morphic Resonance

Aether, Fields, and Matter

Atoms and Organisms: Fields within Fields

Morphic Fields as Probability Structures

A Provisional Hypothesis

Molecular Morphic Resonance

The Structure and Morphogenesis of Proteins

Experiments on Protein Folding

Morphic Resonance in Crystallization

Crystallization Experiments

Symmetry and Internal Resonance

Self-Resonance

Quantum Physics and Morphic Fields

8 Biological Inheritance

Genes and Fields

Mutations

The “Lamarckian” Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

Epigenetic Inheritance

The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics in Fruit Flies

Dominant and Recessive Morphic Fields

The Morphic Fields of Instinctive Behavior

The Inheritance of Behavioral Fields

Studies with Identical Twins

“Missing Heritability” and the Human Genome Project

Morphic Resonance and Heredity

9 Animal Memory

Morphic Resonance and Memory

Are Memories Stored inside the Brain?

Habituation

Learning

The Transmission of Learning by Morphic Resonance

The Evolution of New Patterns of Behavior

10 Morphic Resonance in Human Learning

The Acquisition of Physical Skills

Morphic Resonance in Language Learning

Experimental Tests with Foreign Languages

A Test with Morse Code

A Possible Test with Hindi Keyboards

New-field Tests

Rising IQ Test Scores

11 Remembering and Forgetting

Behavioral and Mental Fields

Memories and Morphic Resonance

Habituation and Awareness

Recognizing

Recalling

Brains and Memories

The Trace Theory of Memory

Brain Damage and the Loss of Memory

The Electrical Evocation of Memories

Forgetting

Memories of Past Lives

12 Minds and Brains

Materialism versus Dualism

Programs of the Brain

Brains and Extended Minds

Vision

Perceptual Fields

Body Images and Phantom Limbs

Extended Minds and Personal Experience

13 The Morphic Fields of Animal Societies

Animal Societies as Organisms

Societies of Insects

Schools of Fish

Flocks of Birds

Computer Models

The Organization of Animal Societies

Cultural Inheritance

14 The Fields of Human Societies and Cultures

Human Societies as Organisms

Cultural Inheritance

Theories of Social and Cultural Organization

Functionalism and Structuralism

Group Minds

Collective Behavior

The Collective Unconscious

Evolutionary Psychology

15 Myths, Rituals, and the Influence of Tradition

Myths and Origins

Rituals

Initiations

Traditions, Schools, Styles, and Influences

The Fields of Science

16 The Evolution of Life

Evolutionary Faith

The Ambiguity of Darwin

Spontaneous Variation

The Effects of Habit

Natural Selection

The Evolution of Morphic Fields

Extinction and Atavism

Evolutionary Convergences

17 Cosmic Evolution

Science, God, and the Origin of the Universe

The Evolution of the Known Fields of Physics

Mathematical Universes

Is There a Purpose in Evolution?

Formative Causation and the Evolution of Physics

Morphic Resonance between Planets

Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Morphic Fields of Galaxies

Universal Self-Resonance

18 Creativity within a Living World

The Mystery of Creativity

How Evolution Brings Nature Back to Life

Fields, Souls, and Magic

Creative Morphic Fields

Habit and Creativity

The Origin of New Fields

The Primal Field of Nature

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Glossary

Index