“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
As we prepare for our upcoming conference, Willis’ words ring in our awareness. Our hearts go out to all those suffering from the many conflicts escalating or unfolding in real time around the world — even as we acknowledge that, in a paradigm of interconnection in which there is no “other,” everywhere is impacted by the devastating effects of violence and injustice anywhere. Our whole planet is in profound transition, and the call for a new paradigm that reconciles science and spirit, that bridges inner and outer space and that recognizes the fundamental and causal nature of consciousness in our models of reality, couldn’t be more urgent.
Our 50th anniversary conference launches our latest and possibly our greatest opportunity to successfully answer this call. If together we can create what Willis Harman named in 1988 a “global mind change” by expanding our collective perceptions of reality to recognize our fundamental unity, we can manifest what I’m calling a global mind change movement to embrace this realization and transform our world.
“BEYOND: Global Mind Change in Action” will be held Thursday, May 30 through Sunday, June 2, 2024. While it’s our first virtual conference, allowing people from all over the world to participate live, it will be our 19th conference in IONS’ storied 50-year history.
In 1989, the IONS conference was entitled, “Beyond Conflict: Transcending “Us vs. Them;” in 1992, the first international IONS conference was called “Global Mind Change: from Vision to Reality.” Our 2024 Golden Anniversary conference (1973-2023) will invoke these same original energies and intentions. We’ll celebrate the many contributions the noetic sciences have made toward creating a global mind change as a way of noticing how where we’ve been can inform where we’re going.
Since the beginning, the field of noetic sciences has recognized that the dominant scientific paradigm is not complete, resulting in limited and limiting views of the nature of reality, consciousness and human potential. For decades, we’ve been providing compelling evidence for a new holistic paradigm that can help humanity transcend its most gripping challenges. Last year, we announced renewed efforts in applying the noetic sciences to the illumination of new, constructive narratives to reorient our understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), artificial intelligence (AI), environmental collapse/climate, and the use of psychedelics within the context of a nonlocal consciousness — that is, consciousness not confined to specific points in space or time — and how nonlocal consciousness connects to the foundations of science.
Joining our team this year will be many formative voices familiar to the IONS community, like Deepak Chopra, Pachamama’s Lynne Twist, Charles Eisenstein, Bruce Damer and Shamini Jain. We’re also reaching beyond our usual community with the inclusion of Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb and Harvard physicist Anita Goel, Integral Philosopher Ken Wilber, Neurotheology’s Andrew Newberg and our new IONS President, Thomas Brophy. How far have we collectively come? How far must we still go, and how will we get there in time? What forces are reaching an inflection point in achieving the next (r)evolution in science and culture? How many more minds need to change to reach a critical mass, and how do we translate all we’ve learned over the last 50 years to move from compelling vision to new reality? Throughout the event, Calls to Action and Paths to Participation will be shared to help create a global mind change movement.
Also new to our community is Experimentalist Gerard Senahi, who will inspire a sense of wonder and imagination as he demonstrates things that shouldn’t be possible under the current materialist paradigm.
Apollo 14 astronaut and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Capt. Edgar Mitchell founded IONS to discover the science behind the savikalpa samādhi experience he had in space while returning from the moon in which he perceived no “other.” He knew bridging the divide between inner and outer space was crucial to the survival of our species and planet, and was the next necessary step in our evolution.
By joining us for this historic marking of 50 years of IONS, you’ll become part of a (r)evolution in science and a global mind change movement to reach BEYOND perceptions rooted in fundamental separation and the artificial limits that hold our current culture in place, to help birth a new holistic paradigm recognizing our fundamental unity with unlimited potential for Earth and all Life to thrive.
Don’t miss early bird pricing. Learn more and register today!
