ions - kn

The Global Consciousness Project (GCP) originated out of the Princeton Engineering and Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR) in the 90s and soon became a part of IONS. Now, it’s been reimagined with GCP2.0. Beyond asking if movements of collective mind can be observed in matter, GCP2.0 is hoping to discover if collective consciousness can actually become a conscious tool for creating a better world. A scientific collaboration between IONS — including GCP original cofounders, IONS Fellow Roger Nelson and IONS Chief Scientist Dean Radin — the HeartMath Institute and a team of independent researchers, it is also a citizen scientist initiative, inviting members of the general public to contribute to this potentially paradigm-shifting research in a number of different ways. We’ll share more about the project, how to participate in it, and how it may become central to creating a global mind change movement at our virtual 2024 50th anniversary conference, BEYOND: Global Mind Change in Action from May 30-June 2. We hope to see you there! —Claudia Welss, GCP2 Lead Citizen Scientist, IONS Board Chair and Interim CEO

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Reaching a point of no return. Meeting “beings of light.” And then getting propelled back into this moment, into the here and now.

Most people never properly learn how to do the one thing that keeps us alive: breathing. Ironic at its best, illness-provoking at its worst.

In the quest to unravel the mysteries of the human mind, few pursuits captivate the imagination like the exploration of telepathy. The notion of directly communicating thoughts and feelings from one mind to another, transcending the constraints of language and distance, has long intrigued scientists and laypeople alike. IONS Chief Scientist Dean Radin has created A Proposal for Mind-to-Mind Experimentation, a groundbreaking initiative to systematically investigate the psychic ability of telepathy through rigorous scientific experimentation.

In a recent article, Dean Radin, PhD, Chief Scientist of IONS, writes an homage to the legendary Charles Tart, PhD, an influential figure in parapsychology for over 60 years. Tart co-founded the discipline of transpersonal psychology (a branch of psychology that explores the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience), he advanced the idea of post-materialist sciences (a movement that challenges the traditional materialistic paradigm of science), published some 210 journal papers, including influential articles in the esteemed scientific journals Science and Nature, and co-authored 14 books. He is also the person who popularized the term “altered states of consciousness” to characterize the spectrum of consciousness whereby typical everyday awareness is just one specialized form.

We’re experiencing a mental health crisis – and the uncertainty in the world doesn’t make things better. Allopathic medicine can be a slow and not always efficient route to treating mental health issues. 

“We are living through one of the most fundamental shifts in history – a change in the actual belief structure of Western society. No economic, political, or military power can compare with the power of a change of mind. By deliberately changing their images of reality, people are changing the world.”  — IONS founding President Willis Harman

In the 2000 book Cultural Creatives, IONS collaborator and sociologist Paul Ray describes crisis as “transformation without a container.” That same year, IONS left its offices in downtown Sausalito, CA to establish the EarthRise campus in Petaluma (named after the famous EarthRise photo taken by Apollo 8 that provided the very first images of Earth from deep space, changing our perceptions of ourselves and our home forever) as a container for humanity’s transformation. This 194-acre “Global Wisdom Center” would further the scientific understanding and embodied experience of interconnection and expanded human potential to promote the evolution of civilization and our world. 

Human beings are not the only ones able to create art: the universe paints the most stunning works of art on the canvas of the black sky. NASA has built a web index with the latest shots from the James Webb Space Telescope. 

What are Biofield Therapies? 

Biofield Therapies, a major sub-group of integrative healthcare practices involving energy healing, have their origins in widely diverse cultures. Reiki and Johrei were developed in Japan, External Qigong in China, and Yakson Touch in Korea, in each case from long-standing systems of Traditional East Asian Medicine.  Pranic Healing is based in the Ayurvedic medicine of South India, while Spiritist Passe originated in Brazil. Therapeutic Touch and Healing Touch each developed within the Nursing profession in the United States.