The linked video below has Sheldrake briefly mentioning Jordan Peterson, but he veers off quite quickly into other areas which address questions related to materialism and the mechanistic worldview. Sheldrake is aware of and has links to Kenny and Co. and the Integral network in general. It's probably a given, then, that he views materialism as reductionist and a worldview premised on Wilber's Orange SDI meme or stage. It should be noted that I'm not a fan of that particular ranking system and believe it fails as a means or gauge of assessing the nature of things when it comes to complex human interactions within culture.
I do think he's right that this whole issue needs to be framed in a more productive manner. I also think atheists need to take a step back against the background noise of 15-billion years and hold what is called 'weak atheism' or agnostic atheism. At the same time, religionist's must learn to talk and frame their beliefs as metaphysical speculation--this goes to the 'I'm spiritual but not religious' crowd, too! I find both camps to be practicing various types of fallacy and I find the debates dishonest and duplicitous which leads me to consider the street called conspiracy lane--but that's another post:)
Let's take one example: spiritual levitation. Ya know, walkin' on water and the claim in India that it's a cheap parlor trick not worthy of a true yogi. As far as I can see India has had universities for at least 70-years and I can't for the life of me understand how this phenomenon hasn't been studied under controlled conditions. It seems they are asleep at the spiritual wheel in India's universities on this issue while materialist science is making headway into magnetic levitation--I'm a great lover of irony and pathos. As long as there are spiritualists claiming levitation as a sales pitch then it needs to be studied under controlled conditions and verified or falsified--this would be a part of a post-postmodern society.
At any rate, once again I think there are two main points that could help sort this mess out: 1) an openmindedness to the idea of teleology without projecting one's own notions into this field (bad Kenny!) 2) that society is built upon a Secular Humanist foundation with the very best of logic and reason as its pillars (sadly, we are nowhere near this as we live under oligarchic plutocracy)...We shouldn't let sneaky spiritualist's steer the wheels of civilization as the history of this field is mired in lies, hypocrisy, and duplicity. Got Freemasons, Jesuits, and A Cabal of Jewish and Saudi EL-ites?
That's all, for now, Mr. Sheldrake.
