Letter from the President Dear Fellow Explorers, Over the past four decades, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) has had a catalytic influence on the frontiers of scientific inquiry and the evolution of healthcare. Our investigation into the role of consciousness in healing has significantly contributed to the scientific understanding of how the mind influences health. Our work helped to transform mind-body medicine from a fringe idea into a vital component of virtually all major medical centers in the United States and, increasingly, worldwide. Our original research on the benefits of meditation and compassion sparked the development of new scientific methods and insights into how we can cultivate our highest potentials. Our pioneering scientific work on interconnectedness through time and space has challenged traditional notions of the nature of reality and is now making its way into mainstream physics. Our frontier research into perennial mysteries, including precognition, life after death, prayer and healing, and transformative experiences, continues to broaden the range of acceptable topics for scientific inquiry. In short, IONS continues to expand the boundaries of our understanding of ourselves and of reality. And yet we still have far to go. Technological advancement without ethical wisdom has brought us to the brink of social, political, economic, and ecological destruction. Religious dogma and ethnic intolerance continue to foment violence, war, and genocide. Mainstream medicine remains largely disease-centered rather than healing-centered. Public education is only beginning to recognize the value of social and emotional learning and educating the whole person. We believe that the noetic sciences are more vitally needed than ever. As old paradigms of scarcity, fear, and greed eat away at the ideals of civilization, human survival—let alone flourishing—is calling for a deeper understanding of how to shift our individual and collective consciousness. To that end, we are continuing to blaze new trails into how consciousness impacts human beings and the physical world and to develop better ways of translating those findings into tools and applications for use in everyday life. Please join us in this effort. It is time to acknowledge how deeply consciousness matters and to blend the wisdom of the heart, the authority of deep knowing, the clarity of scientific understanding, and technological know-how to create a positive future for all beings. With deep gratitude for your support and collaboration in this vital work, Marilyn Schlitz, PhD President Institute of Noetic Sciences
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 07:53:55 +0000