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ICRL regularly receives numerous inquiries from seriously motivated
young scholars and others who are challenged to explore the role of
consciousness in physical reality and are seeking guidance on how to
proceed with their quest. In response, we have established an
outreach program to offer intellectual background, provide other useful
resources, stimulate new scientific initiatives, and encourage
pragmatic applications of consciousness-related physical
phenomena. A few of these components have already been
implemented, some are now under development, and others are still in
planning stages awaiting the necessary resources to fulfill them:
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The body of experimental studies and theoretical models
generated by the PEAR laboratory over its 28-year history provides a
viable platform for such an outreach program. Over fifty
articles and technical reports are available on the PEAR website
that describe various aspects of the laboratory’s empirical
results, conceptual and analytical models, and philosophical
implications. We recommend the book Margins of Reality: The Role of
Consciousness in the Physical World, originally published in
1986 by Harcourt, Inc. and now re-issued by The ICRL Press, and the article entitled The PEAR Proposition to those who may not be familiar with the PEAR heritage.
- A special issue of Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing (May/June 2007, Vol 3, No. 3) contains an anthology of PEAR publications relevant to the subject of health, with an insightful introduction by Dr. Larry Dossey.
- ICRL has just established its own publishing imprint,
The ICRL Press. It has recently re-issued Margins of
Reality, and has recently published a book of essays entitled
"Filters and Reflections," based on the article
“
Sensors, Filters, and the Source of Reality." Taken
together, the nineteen individual contributions serve as an array of
lenses that amplify the seminal essay.
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AVAILABLE NOW!
Filters and Reflections: Perspectives on Reality
Edited by Zachary Jones, Brenda Dunne, Elissa Hoeger, and Robert Jahn.
This new book is a series of essays related and responding to the PEAR laboratory publication, “Sensors, Filters, and the Source of Reality." This anthology presents an assortment of perspectives on how consciousness creates its experiential reality through an array of subjective “filters” by which “we endeavor to infer, either intuitively or analytically, composite functional models of our world and of ourselves.” Taken together, the individual contributions serve as an array of lenses that amplify the seminal essay. Click HERE to view a full Table of Contents and Summary
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Margins of Reality: The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World
"WHAT HAS MODERN SCIENCE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG? This pioneering work, which sparked intense controversy when it was first published two decades ago, suggests that modern science, in the name of rigor and objectivity, has arbitrarily excluded the role of consciousness in the establishment of physical reality. Drawing on the results of their first decade of empirical experimentation and theoretical modeling in their Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) program, the authors reach provocative conclusions about the interaction of human consciousness with physical devices, information-gathering processes, and technological systems. The scientific, personal, and social implications of this revolutionary work are staggering. MARGINS OF REALITY is nothing less than a fundamental reevaluation of how the world really works."
Margins of Reality, by Robert G. Jahn and Brenda J. Dunne. Updated edition, 432 pages, 2009 ICRL Press.
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NEW! ICRL-PEAR Webcourse: Consciousness and the Physical World
Consciousness and the Physical World is dedicated to the development of collaborative resources for teaching and learning about consciousness.
The first course that we have developed is based on the work of the PEAR lab (cache). We have put this course material
together, and we are making it freely available, in order to provide a
concise introduction to the research of the PEAR lab and foundational
research of the emerging Science of the Subjective.
The course is organized for students unfamiliar with these topics but
it also contains much detailed material and links to current research
so that an advanced student will also find much of value. Like a
university course, it assumes a certain level of background education.
In this case, some understanding of the scientific method and
statistical analysis will be assumed. http://www.consciousness-studies.org/
ICRL
has convened several Academies of Consciousness Studies that have
assembled select groups of talented young scholars together with more
experienced senior researchers for intensive face-to-face discussions,
planning, and community building. The first of these was held at
Princeton University in 1994, and is described in an article published
in the Journal of Scientific Exploration entitled ”Report on the 1994
Academy of Consciousness Studies.” Two other 10-day convocations
were held in Princeton in 2003 and 2006, and a shorter 3-day
gathering took place in Røros, Norway, in August 2007. From
each of these has emerged an array of new research projects,
communication networks, and assorted publications. For example,
the 1994 meeting resulted in a book of essays entitled “Intuition: The
Inside Story” (R. Davis-Floyd and P. Sven Arvidson, eds., New York and
London: Routledge, 1997, pp. 121-128), and one of the participants has
shared a more personal perspective on this event. Future
gatherings of this type are being planned, some interdisciplinary and
others focusing on specific themes. In addition, members of the
ICRL community frequently hold small local meetings to maintain
collegial communications and to explore new collaborative
activities.
The International Institute for Biophysics
hosts an annual Summer School on "Biophotonics and Applications of
Biophotons." The topics of the 2008 program, to be held from
August 17th to 22nd at IIB's headquarters at the Station Hombroich in
Neuss, Germany, will address "Biophotonics in Medical Aspects and
Consciousness." Presentations are in English, and the program
will also include open discussions, common meals and demonstrations in
groups.
Project Hessdalen conducts an annual Science Camp to
increase interest in math and physics among young people. Students are
taken on an expedition to the Hessdalen Valley, where they bring
instruments and camp overnight in tents to conduct research on Earth
Lights. The 2008 program will be held from September 8th - 12th and
from September 15th - 19th.
ICRL works closely with the Young Investigators Program
of the Society for Scientific Exploration, which offers information and
resources pertaining to the scholarly study of anomalous phenomena and
other frontier areas of science that are not currently addressed by
traditional academic programs and professional forums. This
website provides information about available academic programs or
on-line courses of study; institutions offering relevant degree
programs; symposia or conferences of potential interest; recommended
reading lists; links to a wide range of useful on-line resources; and
SSE-sponsored student internships and independent research projects.
Abstracts of available publications relating to anomalies
experiments are being compiled to provide a comprehensive core of
published research on mind-matter interactions and remote
perception. The eventual goal of this project is to chart the
established facts according to their physical features and the strength
of the research supporting each piece of evidence. It is hoped
that this anthology will enable a network of researchers to
collaborate on specific problems and to develop innovative experimental
protocols and cogent theoretical models.
Projects still in the planning stages include:
- Creation of a book for young children, illustrating the
essential nature of open scientific inquiry, the dialogue between
experiment and theory, and the role of humility in the face of
uncertainty. This will be a science book that offers no “correct
answers,” but only suggestions on how to formulate and pursue questions
and projects in a productive systematic manner.
- Implementation of topic-specific electronic forums or discussion groups.
- Assembly of other pertinent resource material for future presentation on the ICRL website.
All of ICRL’s activities are financed by philanthropic contributions
from visionary individuals and organizations. We would welcome
your tax-deductible donation in support of our overall educational
objective, or of any of the specific enterprises described above. If you would like to contribute, please visit our contributions page.
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