The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) was co-founded in 1973 by former astronaut
Edgar Mitchell and industrialist Paul N. Temple [11]to encourage and
conduct research and education programs on mind-body relationships for the purpose of expanding "human possibility by
investigating aspects of reality—mind, consciousness, and spirit."[1] The term noetic is defined as "pertaining to, or originating
in intellectual or rational activity." Institute programs include research in what they call "extended human capacities,"
"integral health and healing," and "emerging worldviews". This includes research into spiritual energy, meditation, consciousness, alternative healing, spirituality, human potential, psychic abilities and life after death, among others.[2]
Headquartered in Petaluma, California, the Institute's membership is
approximately 35,000.[3] The organization is situated on a
200-acre (80 hectare) campus housing an active retreat and
learning center. [4]
The Institute publishes a quarterly review called Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness.
History
The Institute of Noetic Sciences was co-founded in 1973 by Edgar Mitchell, an astronaut who was part of the Apollo 14 mission and
wealthy industrialist Paul N. Temple.[12] During the three-day journey back to Earth aboard Apollo 14, Mitchell had an epiphany while looking down on the earth from space. "The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I
knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes ... The knowledge came to me directly,"
Mitchell said of that experience. Following his spaceflight, Mitchell and others founded the Institute of Noetic
Sciences.[5]
Among the projects the Institute have sponsored include a bibliography on the physical and psychological effects of
meditation, a spontaneous remission
bibliography, and studies on the efficacy of compassionate intention on healing in AIDS
patients.[6] They have also conducted a number of
parapsychological studies into extra-sensory
perception, lucid dreaming, and presentiment.[7]
The Institute currently conducts research programs in three principal areas:[8]
|
Extended Human Capacities
- Creativity
- Meditation
- Psi Studies
- Wisdom Capacities
- Subtle Energies
- States of Consciousness
- Death, Dying, and Beyond
|
Integral Health and Healing
- Biofields
- Distant Healing
- Global Medicine
- Integral Medicine
- Mind Body Medicine
- Extended Survival
- Placebo Expectancy Effects
|
Emerging Worldviews
- Integral Intelligence
- Science of Wisdom
- Gaia Theory
- Transformative Practices
- Cultivating Spiritual Awareness
- East/West/Indigenous Practices
|
Criticism
Research supported by the Institute of Noetic Sciences has been criticized as lacking in strict "peer-reviewed empiricism". In
an article that critiqued the New Age movement's detachment from the mainstream scientific community, Thomas W. Clark, founder of
the Center for Naturalism, referenced work supported by the Institute as suffering from "what
humanist philosopher Paul Kurtz calls the 'transcendental temptation' [that] drives the
flight from standard, peer-reviewed empiricism
into the arms of a dualism that privileges the mental over the physical, the teleological over
the non-purposive."[9]
The skeptical organization Quackwatch includes the Institute of Noetic Sciences on its
list of questionable organizations. The list outlines nine criteria they feel are useful in determining the reliability of groups
offering health-related information.[10]
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry have also criticized distance
healing research supported by the Institute of Noetic Sciences, citing a ten-week study in their critique of parapsychologist Elisabeth Targ where "healers directed their
psi energy to the [AIDS] patients by using prayer or meditation."[11]
See also
References
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. About: History of the Institute of Noetic
Sciences [1]
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. Research: Programs from the Institute of
Noetic Sciences [2]
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. Publications: Frontiers of Research
Articles[3]
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. About the Institute of Noetic Science
[4]
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. "What the Bleep do we Know?!" [5]
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. Research & Education Projects at the
Institute of Noetic Sciences [6]
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. Research & Education Projects at the
Institute of Noetic Sciences [7]
- ^ Institute of Noetic Sciences. Research: Extended Human Capacities [8]
- ^ Clark, Thomas W. "The Specter of Brain Science — or — How the New Age Might
Lose Consciousness" Center for Naturalism, November, 2005. [9]
- ^ Stephen Barrett, M.D. Questionable Organizations:
An Overview. Quackwatch. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
- ^ Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Distant Healing and Elisabeth Targ,
Notes of a Fringe-Watcher (Skeptical Inquirer March 2001) [10]
External links
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