Noetica: Articolo sul New York Times

What Is the Institute of Noetic Sciences?

From its inception in 1973, the Institute of Noetic Sciences has explored the big questions: Who are we? What are our potentials, and how can we achieve those potentials? What leads to personal and societal healing and transformation? Our work rests on the notion that limitations in human consciousness and in our understanding of it underlie many of the most pressing problems that face us as a global society (violence, inequity, misuse of resources), and that gaining a more complete understanding of the nature of consciousness will reduce suffering and enhance quality of life for all. Our mission is to "advance the science of consciousness and human experience to serve individual and collective transformation."



Therefore, our research focuses on the fundamental nature of consciousness, its interaction with the physical world, and how the human experience of consciousness can dramatically transform. We conduct basic science and laboratory research on mind-matter interactions, social science investigations of transformational experiences and practices and their impact on individual and collective wellness, and clinical and applied studies testing the real-world effectiveness of consciousness-based interventions.



We also advance the study of consciousness by training young scientists through our internship program, stimulating innovative new work through our awards and small grants programs, and facilitating strategic collaborations and invitational meetings among scientists to accelerate development of new, crossdisciplinary studies. We synthesize bodies of knowledge, such as the science of meditation or the role of consciousness in healing, disseminate these summaries, and use what we've learned to identify next steps. We then communicate what we've learned in peer-reviewed scientific journals and scholarly meetings as well as to the general public, and we translate our findings into educational products and curricula for targeted audiences.



"The idea of universal consciousness is no ethereal New Age concept, it's hard core scientific reality, and harnessing it has the potential to transform our world," says the fictional Dr. Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol. She continues, "I promise...if we as humans can grasp this one simple truth...the world will change overnight."