MorphoGen
=== Definitions
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From URL:[1]
- MORPHIC FIELD
- A field within and around a self-organizing system that organizes its characteristic structure and pattern of activity. According to the hypothesis of formative causation, morphic fields contain an inherent memory transmitted by previous similar systems by morphic resonance and tend to become increasingly habitual. Morphic fields include morphogenetic, behavioral, social, cultural, and mental fields. The greater the degree of similarity, the greater the influence of morphic resonance. In general, systems most closely resemble themselves in the past and are subject to self-resonance from their own past states.
- MORPHIC RESONANCE
- The influence of previous structures on subsequent similar structures of activity organized by morphic fields. According to the hypothesis of formative causation, morphic resonance involves the transmission of formative influences through or across time and space without a decrease due to distance or lapse of time.
- MORPHOGENESIS
- The coming into being of form.
- MORPHOGENETIC FIELDS
- Fields that play a causal role in morphogenesis. This term, first proposed in the 1920s, is now widely used by developmental biologists. According to the hypothesis of formative causation, these fields contain an inherent memory, transmitted from similar past organisms by the process of morphic resonance.
=== Quotes
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From URL:[2]
"The instructors said that all morphogenesis is genetically programmed," Sheldrake says now. "They said different species just follow the instruction in their genes. But a few moments' reflection show that this reply is inadequate. All the cells of the body contain the same genes. In your body, the same genetic program is present in your eye cells, liver cells and the cells in your arms. The ones in your legs. But if they are all programmed identically, how do they develop so differently?"
Sheldrake discovered that around 1920, three biologists --- Hans Spemann, Alexander Gurwitsch and Paul Weiss --- independently proposed that morphogenesis is organized by fields. (Albert Einstein extended this field concept to include the gravitational field that holds the universe together.) After Sheldrake took several extended trips to India, he developed his theory of "morphic resonance." He put forth the notion that morphic fields influence everything from plant growth to migration patterns to what C.G. Jung called the "collective unconscious." He wrote, "As time goes on, each type of organism forms a special kind of cumulative collective memory. The regularities of nature are therefore habitual. Things are as they are because they were as they were."
Last Edit: Sun, 10 Mar 2002 14:26:52 -0800 Revisions: 1