ConnectIONS Live

This ConnectIONS Live video recording is available to the public until February 1, 2024.

After that time they are available to IONS Members. (Members, see the ConnectIONS Live video portfolio.)

Notes of Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness and Being

Recorded on April 19, 2024

Complexity theory provides a unique way of understanding the processes whereby the universe gives rise to living, conscious beings and, indeed, may be considered living and conscious foundationally and its totality. 

This talk moved from using complexity to weave together contemporary understandings of biology, chemistry, and physics (including relativity and quantum mechanics) to perspectives on how consciousness and our universe are related.  Insights from contemplative spiritual practices – wherein the mind examines itself – were included.

Co-hosted by the Scientific and Medical Network

PRESENTER

Neil Theise, MD, is a professor of pathology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Through his scientific research, he has been a pioneer of adult stem cell plasticity and the anatomy of the human interstitium. Dr. Theise’s studies in complexity theory have led to interdisciplinary collaborations in fields such as integrative medicine, consciousness studies, and science-religion dialogue. He comes from a spiritual background of devotional Jewish practices, is a Senior Student at the Village Zendo in NYC, and has been initiated into shamanic practice.

HOST

David Lorimer is a writer, lecturer, poet, and editor who is a Founder of Character Education Scotland, Programme Director of the Scientific and Medical Network, and former President of Wrekin Trust and the Swedenborg Society. He has also been editor of Paradigm Explorer since 1986 and completed his 100th issue in 2019. He is the author and editor of over a dozen books, including Survival? Death as Transition, Resonant Mind (originally Whole in One), The Spirit of Science, Thinking Beyond the Brain, and Radical Prince about the ideas and work of the Prince of Wales. He is the originator of the Inspiring Purpose Values Poster Programmes, which has reached over 350,000 young people. He is also Chair of the Galileo Commission which seeks to widen science beyond a materialistic worldview. Visit his website to learn more.

We are pleased to share the following resources mentioned in the webinar:

Articles

• Theise ND, Kafatos MC.  Fundamental Awareness: a framework for integrating science, philosophy and metaphysics.  Communicative and Integrative Biology 2016; 9 
• Theise ND, Kafatos M.  Complementarity in biological systems.  Complexity 2013; 18: 11–20
• Two chapters in Quantum and Consciousness Revisited (ed. Menas C. Kafatos Debashish Banerji Daniele C. Struppa) (available for purchase or interlibrary loan)
  1. Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems, Complementarity and Fundamental Awareness — Neil D. Theise, Goro C. Kato, Menas C. Kafatos.  pp 251-284. 
  2. Complexity Theory and Quantum-like Qualities in Biology — Neil D. Theise pp 285-310.

Videos

• Everything Only Looks Like a Thing
• Interview, Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown – “Overcome the Illusion of separation”
• Reading at the Bureau of General Services/Queer Division bookstore – “Queer Science”
• Interview, Buddha at the Gas Pump

Podcasts / CD

• Dax Shepherd’s Armchair Expert

Books

• Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being.
• Quantum and Consciousness Revisited (ed. Menas C. Kafatos Debashish Banerji Daniele C. Struppa) (available for purchase or interlibrary loan)
• Awakening: Exploring Spirituality, Emergent Creativity, and Reconciliation. (eds. Neufeld Redekop V, Neufeld Redekop G):  Lexington Books, 2019.
• Transforming: Applying Spirituality, Emergent Creativity, and Reconciliation. (eds. Neufeld Redekop V, Neufeld Redekop G):  Lexington Books, 2021.

Special Event

Make-A-Will Month with IONS: Estate Planning and the Joy of Living

August is National Make-A-Will Month, and IONS hosted a free will and estate planning webinar! Learn the process for ensuring your loved ones are cared for after you are gone, and you’ll find out how you can support the causes you care about through the power of a planned future gift. IONS member Denis Greene also shared his personal, noetic story about preparing his estate.

PRESENTER

Denis Greene has been a member since 1992 and included a gift to IONS in his will in 1998. After getting married, he created a trust as part of his estate plans and set a percentage of his estate to go to IONS. He discovered IONS during his search for a scientific explanation of what happened during a transcendent experience he had while riding a motorcycle across Africa in 1980. IONS has played a crucial role in helping Denis understand the different states of consciousness he has experienced as a 50-year daily meditator. His current favorite area of research is lucid dreaming and its healing potential for those with PTSD. He has worked professionally in the area of planned giving and is now a consultant to IONS.

We are pleased to share the following resources mentioned in the webinar:

• Planned Giving Website
• Free Personal Estate Planning Kit
• BLOG: National Make-A-Will Month with IONS

Normally only available for IONS Members, we’re sharing replays of our most popular ConnectIONS Live webinars for the summer.

What Parapsychology Reveals About the Powers of Intention: A Talk by Mitch Horowitz

Recorded on May 5, 2023

PEN Award-winning historian and popular voice of esoteric ideas Mitch Horowitz joined us for a special 90-minute webinar.

In his work, Mitch considers the practical implications of a century of parapsychology, including conditions that foster psychical experience; lessons from ESP research, placebo studies, and neuroplasticity; and the potentials of retrocausality. Mitch explores what findings in psi research and quantum theory may tell us about inter-dimensional capacities of the psyche and fields ranging from thought causation to the UFO thesis.

IONS Chief Scientist, Dean Radin, has this to say about Mitch’s work:

“​​For the clearest and most eminently rational description of exactly how to test the power of your thoughts, there is simply no better choice… “

Time Travel and Unconditional Love

Recorded on February 24, 2023

Time travel. Unconditional love. Not only are these huge subjects to explore by themselves, but for most people, they don’t seem to go together. For Julia Mossbridge, PhD, an IONS Research Fellow, it’s different. Over her long career, she has studied how time is perceived by our unconscious and conscious minds, and how our sense of time is related to authenticity and human interconnectivity.

In this fascinating webinar, Julia Mossbridge shared the latest research and technology in the fields of unconditional love research, precognition, and informational time travel. Plus, Julia led a live guided meditation intended to support time travel and unconditional love!

What are Earthbound Spirits? Scientific, Clinical, and Personal Perspectives

Recorded on October 28, 2022

Around the world, there are cultures that believe a person’s spirit can be trapped on the Earth after they die. This phenomenon can be referred to as earthbound spirits. Some believe that these deceased people did not transition to the light because they either had unresolved issues when they died, or a fear about what would happen to them after death. Earthbound spirits don’t usually refer to spirits who may willingly choose to stay close to the Earth to help others, like guides, gatekeepers, and Bodhisattvas.

ConnectIONS Live hosted a panel discussion exploring this fascinating topic. In this webinar, you’ll hear from Dr. Helané Wahbeh and her panel guests – Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Jan Ögren, Guenet Sebsibe, and David Furlong – as they share their insights on earthbound spirits from scientific, clinical, and personal perspectives.

The Five Stages of Lucid Dreaming

Recorded on February 10, 2023

Robert Waggoner, author and lucid dreaming expert, shared the Five Stages of Lucid Dreaming and some of the powerful realizations that come with each stage. This presentation will help viewers to learn more about the lucid dreaming ‘path’ and what the conscious exploration of the dreaming mind can tell you about the ‘self’ and ‘waking reality.’

As the Taoist Laozi is credited with saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The act of becoming lucidly aware within a dream is like that “single step,” but the unfolding of the lucid dream journey takes time and reflection.

The Nature of Consciousness

Recorded on November 11, 2022

The nature of consciousness is considered one of science’s most perplexing and persistent mysteries. We know the subjective experience of consciousness, but where does it begin? What is its purpose?

Today, the general assumption within the field of neuroscience is that all aspects of consciousness arise solely from interactions among neurons in the brain. At IONS, our research team proposed that there are problems with the assumptions of this materialistic worldview. We are exploring the possibility that consciousness extends beyond the physical brain and body.

IONS Scientist Arnaud Delorme, PhD, discussed his research and shared with us how we can contemplate new ways of thinking about consciousness.

We are pleased to share the following resources:

Watch the June 24th recording of Science and Consciousness: Exploring Beyond the Brain to discover the inaugural winners of the Linda G. O’Bryant Noetic Sciences Research Prize.