Contact
Heidi Fuller
hfuller@noetic.org
415-302-1130
People who experience deep transformation and connection with planet
maintain sustainability habits longest, Noetic Science Research shows.
IONS scientists to present transformation & mind-matter research at Bioneers
Conference
Petaluma, CA, October 8, 2010 - The sustainability movement has long struggled to
universally and permanently change people’s lifestyle habits to support human and
ecological wellbeing. But promise for long-term behavior changes lies in deep
transformational experiences that dramatically shift people’s worldview – or awareness
about one’s interconnectedness with others and the planet, according to research from the
Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). IONS scientists will present results of their research
in “Consciousness: The Missing Piece in the Sustainability Puzzle” at the Bioneers
Conference this month in San Rafael, Calif.
IONS has been researching worldview transformation for more than three decades. A
recent 10-year study indicates that when people feel interconnected with each other and
with the planet, they can recruit their logical mind to revise lifestyle behaviors. On the
other hand, based only on duty, obligation, or morals, behavior changes are time limited
and can be lost when people experience periods of stress or fatigue.
“Our Living Deeply study looked at how people become more compassionate and
altruistic enough to make sustainable changes in the way they live in the world,” said Dr.
Cassi Vieten, Research Director at IONS. “Adopting lifestyles of health and
sustainability was part of that research. We were able to study the dynamics and
experiences that change people so that they become better global citizens, more caring of
the planet.”
Past theories indicated that more information about environmental problems and more
motivational methods to learn planet-friendly habits would create change, Vieten
explained. However, a person’s ability to sustain change comes when they no longer have
a choice, when the necessary behaviors become an intrinsic element in their worldview
about how they exist relative to the planet.
In addition to its application research on worldview transformation, IONS laboratory
research on mind-matter interaction also points to ways people can experience
interconnectedness with the planet. In those experiments, evidence shows that intention
or attention directed toward someone or something outside of the self can have a real
impact on the physical world.
Dr. Vieten and IONS senior scientist Dr. Dean Radin will present their work on the
transformative process that guides dramatic worldview shifts that help people sustain new
positive behaviors toward the planet. Dr. Vieten will address the influences in everyday
life that can facilitate or obstruct worldview transformation. Dr. Radin will discuss the
tools of science that are used to investigate distant intention. He will present his
laboratory research in three areas of mind-matter interaction:
1. Distant intention: IONS has pioneered methods to show intention has an effect on
physiological and or physical systems from a distance.
2. Collective consciousness: Studies using Random Event Generators (REG) and the
Global Consciousness project.
3. Double slit experiment: a project that indicates people who master meditation can
use thought to influence a laser beam delivering photons between two slits in the
laboratory apparatus.
Drs. Vieten and Radin will present their research on Sunday, October 17, 4:30 to 6 p.m.
at the Marin Center: 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael, CA.
About IONS
The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a leading science center researching the relationship
between consciousness and the physical world. Its three program areas offer enormous
potential for positive change: consciousness and healing, worldview transformation and
extended human capacities. IONS hosts a community where people connect, learn, and
transform through live and online programs. IONS biannual conference, Noetic 2.0:
Tools and Technologies for a World Transforming, takes place in San Francisco July 20th
- 24th, 2011, at the Westin Market Street. IONS introductory membership is now free at
the new NOETIC.ORG. IONS is located on a 200-acre campus in Petaluma, CA.