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Much attention has been paid to the question, “Is there life after death?” and what people believe about this question in both the media and research. Several studies about Near Death Experiences (NDEs), apparitions and hauntings, mediumship, and reincarnation suggest that consciousness does persist in some form after someone dies. However, much of these studies base their findings on experiences of living people (rather than directly from deceased people). As a result, skeptics argue that the evidence may not actually indicate the survival of consciousness but rather the natural psychological urge to believe that death is not the end of who we are. At this point, it is unlikely that we can contribute completely new evidence that some aspect of our consciousness may exist after physical death. However, what we can do is explore the variety of ideas on exactly what persists after death.

On Wednesday, July 22nd, 261 participants from around the globe joined together on Zoom with Lyla June, IONS 2019 NextGen Consciousness in Action Award Winner. The NextGen Consciousness in Action Awards, which began in 2017, honor up-and-coming professionals who seek to uplift culture and whose noetic work extends into domains beyond what we are focusing on here at IONS. As noetic seekers, we are continuously looking for ways to illustrate our deep interconnection and where we, as humans, can improve life for all on this planet.

Biofeedback is a technique that is easy to learn and allows us to control some of our bodily functions, like our skin temperature and heart rate. Biofeedback is often used to reduce stress, anxiety, and specific conditions like TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction) or shoulder strain. Neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback where people’s brainwaves are monitored using EEG. There is some evidence that EEG neurofeedback can help a variety of brain conditions like depression, anxiety, and insomnia. The majority of evidence involves the treatment of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). With neurofeedback, you can learn to change your brainwaves.

IONS Scientists recently developed and validated the Noetic Experience and Belief Scale — a 20-item survey for evaluating paranormal beliefs and experiences. Belief in the paranormal is widespread worldwide, however, having a belief in the paranormal does not necessarily mean having experienced the paranormal. A paranormal experience refers to an individual’s memory of an experience that one judges to be genuine. A concise questionnaire that adequately evaluates beliefs as distinct from experiences does not currently exist. To address this gap, IONS created the Noetic Experience and Belief Scale (NEBS) to evaluate paranormal beliefs and experience as separate constructs.

Guide your teens on an experiential journey into the ways our worldviews influence our perceptions and behaviors.

Please join us in welcoming the following new IONS Community Groups:

I am thrilled to share the exciting news that the IONS Awaken the Noetic Now! fundraising campaign was an enormous success! While we continue to tally incoming gifts, we can report our preliminary results…drumroll please…$920,000! This remarkable total reflects the generous gift from our Board of Directors, who matched all donations dollar for dollar. The success of this campaign fills a critical gap in IONS’ finances created by the pandemic-related temporary closure of our EarthRise Retreat Center.

All of us age. It is a unifying fact of life. If we can survive adulthood, our last third allows getting closer to being the person we’d like to be. If aging is inherently noetic, then all of us can have access to a quality of mind that senses what is needed without relying solely on rational processes. This is just one of the opportunities that conscious aging offers. Join our panel for a conversation about the noetic wisdom in aging — for ourselves and for our interconnected world.

Last month, I created and moderated a series of IONS webinars on collective consciousness. The social backdrop couldn’t have made it more timely. Still in the midst of a global pandemic, in the United States the triumph of the human spirit demonstrated by entering a new golden age of space exploration stood in harsh contrast to the nearly simultaneous, devastating tragedies on the ground that inspired a newly invigorated, global Black Lives Matter movement — making clear, yet again, that if there is a shared mind of humanity, it’s not united.

Guest Bloggers Evalina Everidge and Marc Blesoff are part of A Tribe Called Aging, heartfelt activists and thinkers who are trying to understand and change our culture’s outlook, policies and fears about aging and dying.