Why the sun is conscious | Rupert Sheldrake

Quick Overview

The idea that the sun, stars, and planets are conscious, animate beings is a very old and nearly universal concept across many cultures, which contrasts sharply with the modern scientific view that everything external to humans is inanimate and machine-like.

Key Points: The concept of conscious celestial bodies is an old and virtually universal idea found in traditional cultures, including Japanese (where the sun is a goddess) and Indian traditions (where the sun is Surya). Plato referred to the planets as "the visible gods," demonstrating that attributing consciousness to heavenly bodies is a deeply historical philosophical notion. The modern scientific view, particularly in the 17th century during the Scientific Revolution, declared the heavens and Earth to be unconscious, inanimate, and machine-like. The speaker is predisposed towards Panpsychism, a view that suggests consciousness is fundamental and not restricted to brains. Panpsychism liberates the imagination by suggesting consciousness does not have to be located only in brains, opening the possibility for the sun and stars to be conscious. The speaker notes that the ancient Indian Gayatri Mantra asks for the blessings of the sun to illuminate meditation, illustrating a historical recognition of the sun's positive influence, possibly implying consciousness.

Context: The speaker, Rupert Sheldrake, discusses the historical and cross-cultural belief system where celestial bodies like the sun, planets, and stars were considered conscious or divine entities, contrasting this with the prevailing modern scientific worldview that emerged significantly after the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, which relegated the non-human world to an inanimate, mechanical status. Sheldrake frames this discussion through the lens of Panpsychism, a philosophical stance he favors, which posits that consciousness is a fundamental feature of the universe.

Detailed Analysis

Rupert Sheldrake explores the ancient near-universal belief that celestial bodies—the sun, stars, and planets—are conscious, animate beings, contrasting this with the dominant modern scientific perspective that arose from the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, which posits that everything external to humans is inert and mechanical. He notes that in traditional cultures, such as in Japan, the sun is viewed as a goddess, and in India, it is Surya, a god; even Plato termed the planets "the visible gods." This ancient view treats the heavens as conscious beings, sometimes with angelic intelligences. Sheldrake states he is personally predisposed towards Panpsychism, which suggests consciousness is fundamental to nature, not just a product of brains. This view liberates imagination by suggesting consciousness does not need to be localized solely in brains, thus opening the door to the possibility that the sun and stars are conscious. He cites the Gayatri Mantra from India, which petitions the sun for illumination in meditation, as an example of recognizing the sun's vital, perhaps conscious, role. The modern materialist view, which views the cosmos as dead matter, makes the question of the sun's consciousness seem absurd, but Panpsychism offers a framework where entities like electrons and atoms could possess some form of consciousness, thus satisfying criteria like agency and self-organizing behavior, which the modern view reserves only for complex, brain-bearing beings like humans.