If nature is made of nothing but unconscious matter, how come we're conscious?

The way of thinking that made most sense to me came from Hindu philosophy, the idea there's a larger

consciousness of which we're all part.

Scientific is where people turn science into a kind of religion. It becomes a kind of dogmatic belief system.

No purpose in the materialist universe, no God. It works mechanically, simply unconscious laws.

And that means all religions ridiculous.

And I think it's no coincidence the endemic disease of modern industrial society is depression.

Spiritual practices can actually help with all this.

These are things that make people happier, life more fulfilling and richer.

There's now been a lot of scientific research.

I'm not saying become religious. What I am saying is try these spiritual practices, give them a chance. And the I'm going to do. This week on the show we have Dr Rupert Sheldrake who is a biologist and author

known for his theory of morphic resonance and he has a brand new book out called

science and spiritual practices.

I love Rupert.

He was on the show five years ago.

He's been to my house for Thanksgiving dinner,

and this is his most personal book ever.

He talks about his own journey,

going to India, and discovering religion and realizing

that it doesn't conflict with him as a scientist.

And he also teaches us that we need to adopt a lot of the religious rituals that we've kind of

throw out when we reject religion and that includes chanting, gathering, going on

...