Institute of Noetic Sciences
The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an organization founded thirty years ago by space explorer Edgar Mitchel in 1973, is being listed here because of its holistic approach to inquiry. The Institute takes a scientific approach to exploring our universe that is centered within a spiritual framework. The Institute has been, and remains, at the forefront of research and education in consciousness and human potential.
The Institute is a nonprofit membership organization that conducts and sponsors research into the workings and powers of the mind, including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The open-minded approach taken by the Institute allows it to inquire into phenomena that fail to fit into the conventional scientific model. The Institute works to educate the public about the latest findings through publications, conferences and their web site. The Institute supports community building by providing ways for members and colleagues to share their experiences and ideas with one another through groups, online discussion groups, a Pathfinding project and other networking opportunities.
What Are Noetic Sciences?
The following explanation by Willis Harman, Institute president until his death in 1997,
comes from Noetic Sciences Review (Winter 1998, pp. 32-33)
"What is noetic science and why is it important? We need to remind ourselves
from time to time why this endeavor in which we have joined seems
significant, and to reassess where we are.
A new science is arising, a science of the human mind much broader than
psychology has been to date. We have called it "noetic" science, after the
Greek word for intuitive knowing. Perhaps it is somewhat inaccurate to
speak of it as though it were totally new; it might be better to refer to a
noetic emphasis in the human sciences. But the radical nature of the
developments should not be underestimated. It is the second stage of a
two-stage process.
The first stage, the rise of modern materialistic science, is one of the most
important evolutionary leaps in human history. Its essence embodies a
remarkable proposition, namely that knowledge of the objective
sense-perceived world should not be based on religious or traditional
authority, nor the guarded property of an elite priesthood, but should be
empirically based and publicly verifiable, open and free to all. Thus there is
not Russian chemistry and American chemistry, or Hindu physics and
Christian physics. There is only science the best framework of empirical
relationships and conceptual models currently available, continuously tested
in public by agreed-upon procedures.
The goal of the second stage, just begun, is creation of a similar body of
knowledge, empirically based and publicly validated, about the realm of
subjective experience. For the first time in history we are beginning to create
a growing, progressively funded body of established experience about
humanity's inner life and particularly about the perennial wisdom of the
great religious traditions and gnostic groups. For the first time there is hope
that this knowledge can become not a secret repeatedly lost in
dogmatization and institutionalization, or degenerating into manifold varieties
of cultism and occultism but rather the living heritage of all humankind.
This extension of scientific exploration, which we have termed noetic, differs
from the materialistic science of the past in a number of ways. It is centrally
concerned with subjective experience where materialistic science has dealt
almost entirely with objective, sensory experience. To the reductionistic
models of materialistic science it adds holistic models; to deterministic
explanations of events it adds teleological, purpose-recognizing explanations.
Where materialistic science was largely value-inattentive, noetic science is
centrally concerned with value issues. Materialistic science has tended to
test knowledge by noting whether it leads to the ability to predict and control;
while the consensus on validation of noetic sciences has not yet emerged, it
seems clear that it will have more to do with understanding than prediction,
and more with joining than control."
For more information: visit the Institute at www.noetic.org
Or contact them by phone at (707)775-3500
Their mailing address is 101 San Antonio Road, Petaluma, CA 94952-9524
The New Dimensions Broadcasting Network is an independent, listener-supported producer and distributor of public radio and shortwave programs. New Dimensions is "dedicated to presenting a diversity of views from many traditions and cultures, and strives to impart practical knowledge and perennial wisdom. New Dimensions fosters the process of living a more healthy life of mind, body and spirit while deepening our connections to self, family , community and the environment." A weekly one-hour, in-depth interview series, New Dimensions Radio literature describes NDR as the contemporary continuation of the oral tradition.
"The purpose of New Dimensions is not to take advocacy positions, but to provide an expansive window overlooking the rapidly changing culture without attachment to a particular point of view."
"New Dimensions explores quietly and intimately what humanity and the universe are all about"
The San Francisco Chronicle
For thirty years the world's leading thinkers and social innovators have spoken through New Dimensions, inspiring and empowering people all over the plant to seek their own creative contributions. Many of these conversations can be purchased on audio cassette though their web site at www.newdimensions.org. A catalog can also be obtain by calling toll free: (800) 935-8273 or writing New Dimensions Tapes, P.O. Box 569, Ukiah, CA 95482-0569
Outside the US call (707) 468-9830
New Dimensions, founded by Michael and Justine Toms in 1973, is heard in 134 countries, on every U.S. military ship at sea over the Armed Forces Radio Network and via shortwave on Radio for Peace International.
For a world-wide listing of radio stations that carry New Dimensions radio click here
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