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https://youtu.be/4w6XRjgGgjM Marilyn Schlitz, PhD, is professor of transpersonal psychology at Sofia University. She is president emeritus of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. She is coauthor of Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine, Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life, and Worldview Explorations. She is coproducer, with Deepak Chopra of the documentary, Death Makes Life Possible. Here she describes her successful journey, of more than forty years, as a researcher in parapsychology. Her work encompasses remote viewing, distant mental influence on living systems, and psychic healing. Along the way, she worked with many luminaries in the field....

Biological Psychokinesis with Marilyn Schlitz This video is a special release from the original Thinking Allowed series that ran on public television from 1986 until 2002. It was recorded in about 1991. Studies show that many of us can exert a mental influence on the physiological activity of others in distant locations. Marilyn Schlitz, a parapsychologist and anthropologist, was a research associate with the Mind Science Foundation when this video was recorded. She suggests that this phenomenon, known as biological psychokinesis, may be the basis for much of what is known as psychic healing. Now you can watch all of the programs from...

Humans have always been fascinated by the possibility of a "larger reality." Especially in times of transition -- a sudden illness, a failed relationship, the death of a loved one, an unplanned shift in career -- we may sense that there is more being to our everyday world, more dimensions than we usually comprehend. Such moments often carry the signature of grace, for so often they leave us aware of ourselves in relation to things beyond. Many report that their sense of "I" becomes part of a larger "we," and that they recognize connection as the true basis of reality. For...

Can we glimpse the future? Is there any truth to people’s belief in premonitions? Such provocative questions have largely been ignored by scientists, many of whom argue that claims of precognition can be completely explained away as superstition or delusion. But a small group of scientists continue to tackle these questions head on. In a laboratory at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in Northern California, psychologist Dean Radin approaches human experience with an open mind and experimental rigor. In a series of experiments that Radin describes as “presentiment,” participants are invited to see and feel into the future. Sitting in a...

What happens when we die? Can people communicate with those who have passed on? Efforts to answer such questions using science have been underway since the late 1800s. Over the years, the methods have varied, some more convincing than others. One area that is both promising and amenable to rigorous science involves the study of mediumship, or “spirit” communication. In a standard mediumship “reading,” a client (or “sitter”) asks questions about a friend or relative who has passed away (a “discarnate”). The medium reports that he can connect with the friend and offer reliable insights. An important but unresolved question about such...

As I live into my own process of aging, my worldview has been informed by the depth and insight of many great teachers. These include masters from different wisdom traditions, health care practitioners, friends facing end of life, and researchers studying the transformative nature of death, dying, and beyond. For decades, the team at the Institute of Noetic Sciences has conducted research, created educational programs, and engaged in conversations on transformations in consciousness. We have been led to an ever-expanding appreciation for the aging process and its transformative potentials. We also have found ourselves moved by a great calling to...

A few days ago, on March 7, 2012, Jeanne Achterberg, PhD passed on to the next phase of her spirit journey. Jeanne was a dear friend for decades. Her work with IONS was foundational; she and Dr. Carl Simonton received one of the first IONS grants for her pioneering clinical research on psychoneuroimmunology—then an emerging new field. She helped map the inner mechanisms of the healing response, always eager to understand the links between body, mind and spirit. Her fascination with cross-cultural perspectives on healing led her to a life of integration between cultures, psychology, and science. Jeanne was a faculty member for...

It's been quite a year -- and it's barely April. Extreme political unrest is underway throughout the Middle East. Earthquakes rock New Zealand, China, California and Japan. Shifting plates and tsunami waves in the Pacific Ocean have nuclear power plants perched on the edge of explosion. Like many, I track these global events through social media. I'm overwhelmed by the graphic images that are communicated through video links and real time postings. The Twitter feeds about the earthquake in Japan move so rapidly I can't follow more than fragments of what is being shared. Fearful talk of the next Armageddon is...

I was preparing for my lecture on consciousness transformation to the League of Optimists in Brussels, Belgium when I got the news: All flights from Europe were cancelled. I was due to go on stage shortly and nothing about the implications of this information had sunk in. I just wanted to be here tonight and home tomorrow. As part of my back story, I was in Europe on our IONS global engagement tour. I had spent the past two breathtaking weeks meeting and connecting with the European consciousness community. Perhaps more importantly, as mother of an 11-year-old son, we were both...

Scientists from across the world fill the meeting hall at the Bial Conference in Porto, Portugal. Movement toward scientific precision around mind and brain defines this exceptional gathering. Tables, graphs, data – all transport the participants toward deeper engagement with a sense of proof; every day we experience greater mastery over the mysteries of consciousness. One after another, scientists representing many disciplines map our inner and outer worlds. Through the lens of objectivity, these thoughtful scholars attempt to explain the nature of consciousness. We are making the unconscious sensible through brain scans, physiological monitoring, statistics, and rational discourse. I’m compelled by...