Check some vocabulary which you will find in the examples of how morphic fields work.

Read these examples A to E and match the titles to the texts.

A  Scientific tests show that these birds don’t use eyesight, the sun, smell or magnetism to guide them. Sheldrake says that something like an invisible elastic band connects them to their home, and draws them back toward it. When the birds fly away from home, this band is stretched. If on their return they fly past their home, the band pulls them back again.

B  Scientists who were teaching rats to run a particular maze discovered that each new generation of rats around the world learned it faster, even though they were not in physical contact. Experiments on people have shown the same results. Sheldrake says this is because new knowledge is not stored in the brain, but in a ‘memory’ morphic field that is shared by every member of a species.

C If you put a steel plate down the centre of a termite mound, the termites on each side of the metal plate will not be able to contact each other. In spite of this, the termites on each side of the plate will continue to build as if they were working together. When you take the plate away, the two halves of every arch or tower they have built will match perfectly. Sheldrake says the termites tune into a morphic field containing all the information they need to build their mound.

D  During the First World War, a young British man was sent to France to fight. He left his dog, Prince at home. Somehow Prince found his way across the English Channel, to his master's side at the battlefront in France. Sheldrake says some animals are able to tune in to the morphic fields of other species, especially humans they care about.

E  Two brothers, David and Michael, were both ship captains. One day on board his own ship, David felt a strange need to go to his cabin. When he opened the door, he saw a ghost-like hand writing the name of his brother's ship. Worried, he went looking for him. Two days later, David found his brother alive, in a lifeboat. Michael’s ship had sunk two days before. Sheldrake says David tuned into the morphic field that contains the thoughts we all share.

Listen to people discussing the examples and decide which example they are talking about in each case.  Click on the 'loudspeakers' to listen.

Now decide which speaker agrees and which disagrees with Rupert Sheldrake's explanations.  Click on the 'loudspeakers' to listen.