In this audio interview, IONS President and CEO Cassandra Vieten talks about the importance of creating a shift in consciousness to help humanity evolve toward a more peaceful and supportive global existence.
As the inaugural guest on Evolutionary Voices with Lisa VanderBoom (interview starts at 8 minutes, 30 seconds) , Cassi touches on the historical importance of IONS’ work to-date, and details how ongoing efforts to reveal the nature of consciousness are crucial in attempting to solve major problems encountered by humanity.
“I believe that most of the massive problems that face us really find their roots in limitations in our own consciousness. If you look at things like the use of exploitation in labor to build things that are very inexpensive, or pollution of the environment, or violence and war, police brutality… you’ve got to look at what kind of thinking leads us to be OK with these things happening.”
The missing ingredient in solving these problems, Cassi asserts, is a recognition of how consciousness impacts the world, and an understanding of how shifting our individual and collective consciousness can help to resolve the world’s ills. Such transformations often lead people to experience more meaning and purpose in their lives, becoming more compassionate and service-oriented and becoming agents for positive change in their communities and beyond.
“What kind of transformation in our thinking would move us to a place where people simply wouldn’t buy a product if it was obviously less expensive than it should be because of child or exploited labor, or people just simply wouldn’t buy food products from animals that had been mistreated — that these things just become something that we don’t do.”
She further describes the research that led to IONS Consciousness Transformation Model, the opportunities provided by a deeper understanding of consciousness, and how rapidly problems can be overcome once a shift has occurred.
