Sheldrake pictures morphogenetic
fields as being the context in which forms (
of life or physical reality) which arose in the past exercise their causal influence by a non-energetic «resonance» with subsequent similar systems13 Resonance
of course is a physical analogy for something that is not physical: «A «
resonant» effect
of form upon form across space and time would resemble energetic resonance in its selectivity, but it could not be accounted for in terms
of any
of the known types
of resonance, nor would it involve a transmission
of energy «14 In order to distinguish it from energetic resonance, Sheldrake calls this process morphic resonance.