Hypothesis of Formative Causation (Morphic Resonance)

By Scott Jeffrey

The Theory in a Nutshell

In the 1920s, an idea developed in contradiction to the mechanistic approach to biological development called morphogenesis. In this concept, all organisms have morphogenetic (form-shaping) fields surrounding and vibrating through them. For example, the tiny acorn contains the field of an entire oak tree, the field being responsible for organizing its structure and development. Also, if you cut a plant into many pieces, each piece can be repotted and grown into its own plant—from a tiny fragment, you can get a whole. (Sound familiar? See the Holographic Paradigm.) Cut a salamanders tail off, and it grows back as if the structure of the tail is encoded in the field of the salamander.