Consciousness in Action

From Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 August, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) held its 12th International Conference: Consciousness in Action, the science and practice of transformation.  If you have some interest in my work, you know how much I appreciate what IONS is working at for many years now.

With their own words: "The Institute is not a spiritual association, political-action group, or a single-cause institute. Rather, we honor open-minded approaches and multiple ways of knowing, bring discernment to our work, and support diversity of perspectives on social and scientific matters. The institute's work is dedicated to transforming contemporary worldviews on the relationship between consciousness and matter. The implications of our empirical research and community education efforts extend far beyond the laboratory and the lecture hall. Indeed, our work speaks to a shift involving humanity's deepest knowing and understanding of ourselves and our universe."

I went there with my spiritual counterpart, my wife Erna, and why not to share a nice picture.

An impressive number of very interesting speakers shared their ideas, but even more so their commitment to the work of IONS. With the risk of leaving out some crucial ones, a little list of those that at least left a strong impression with me.

Of course, the IONS founder and former Apollo Astronaut, Edgar Mitchell. The visionary who understood the importance of better understanding how consciousness works, and this already many years ago. The IONS researchers Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, Dean Radin, Tina Amorok, and Cassandra Vieten. Visionary workers and speakers, that all make an impressive contribution to the world, in making that world a more happy and worthwhile place to live in. Moreover, they are all able to share their commitment with the roughly 1000 participants present in a straight forward and involved manner.

Van Jones on green collar workers and in the inclusion of less favoured youth in the society. Lynne McTaggart about the extreme power of intention and how it influences the world. Hazel Henderson, known from her site on ethical markets, about the impact that all of us might have on how economics behave. And not to forget the life stories of Lynne Twist and Hafsat Abiola. Such nice people that might be real examples for all of us.  They do have an impact on the world, and a real positive one.

Not only was this a very motivating event, for which I would like to congratulate IONS.  Many speakers also highlighted that we really needed another economic model, another theory of the firm and another shared value set amongst managers. A subject dear to me, to which I hope I can continue contributing  and hopefully even in a more impacting way. Is it a dream to have an IONS research program around a paradigm shift in economics and management, a transformation, and is it a dream to have IONS more present and active in Europe ?  I hope not.

Comments

[Vinay Rathod]

Dear Walter,

One thought in the direction to serve our human community and ofcoure our environment. We can start from our own home "euromed". Can we start a movement against smoking, not in the direction of reaction to those who smoke, but proactive actions by showing how it will affect them and how it is bad for the environment. It will not be the movement to stop someone smoking but it will be the movement to change someone from heart to accept the concept of nonsmoking, to learn and not to be tought(this is your concept by the way).........! may be we can serve our community by this. We dont have any conventional scintific model to do this action but I am quite sure that if you will take interest, we can have lots of creative ideas from you to act, which will definitely lead us to the way most of the wise people wish us to follow.

Regards, Vinay