Thoughts of the Day
Over the years, ICRL’s president, Jeff Dunne, has found that the study of the natural world – animals, plants, stones, the land and sky, and many things beyond – is one of the best ways to understand oneself, and likewise that self-exploration often gives powerful insights into the nature of the world. On this page, Jeff aims to capture some of the insights that have come to him over the years, lessons that the world has offered to him, in hopes that perhaps one of them might be just the thing that someone else needs to hear at this moment. And even if not the exact right message, perhaps one will point the way through a door of discovery, sparking an idea that will lead to seeing things in a new light.
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| September 9, 2026 | Consciousness is a matter of awareness and intention, of attention and will. We only do one of them at a time. |
| September 8, 2026 | The things that affect us most – both positively and negatively – tell us who and what we are, what matters to us. The positive and negative impacts are not always clear, however. To understand why we react the way we do is the path to self-awareness. |
| September 7, 2026 | Different perspectives/realities are unavoidable owing to the nature of us all not being identical. Sometimes differences do not need to be addressed, and sometimes they do. Can you make that distinction in this particular case? |
| September 6, 2026 | That which is uncomfortable will sometimes become comfortable, yet other times unbearable. How can you tell the difference? |
| September 5, 2026 | When you begin to think of a person as a service, as a resource, instead of a human being with whom you are in some form of relationship… this is the beginning of objectification. |
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Vasileios Basios is a physicist, conducting interdisciplinary research on the foundations of complexity science and nonlinear systems, self-organization and complex matter. During his formative years, he was tutored by Ilya Prigogine, at ULB where he received his PhD, and by Emilios Bouratinos on meditation and philosophy. He is currently interested in the complex interface between action and information. Other interests include the history of ideas in science and their role in the transformation of science beyond the prevailing naïve, materialistic, mechanistic-reductionist world-view. With others from PEAR, he initiated the Mind-Matter-Mapping Project and has since published several essays for ICRL. He is also a member of the Board of the Scientific and Medical Network and the Steering Team of the Galileo Commission. Vasileios is inspired by the prospect of introducing self-reflection into the practice and understanding of science, and the emergence of a Self-Reflexive Science of Consciousness.
Bob (Brahmatirtha) was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1949, completed his B.S. in Chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1971, and received his M.S. in Geology from Rutgers University in 1975. After a twenty-year career serving as a geologist and vice-president of a large regional environmental company, he currently works as an environmental consultant to state governments. He has been a member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute since the inception in 1976, giving a presentation at their First International Conference on Life Comes from Life in 1977, and working on a multitude of projects with R.L. Thompson (Sadaputa) from 1995 through 2008. He is also a certified court mediator. He now serves as the Director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies.
Ian Cook is a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he directs the UCLA Depression Research and Clinic Program at the Semel Institute and was the inaugural holder of the Joanne and George Miller and Family Endowed Chair in Depression Research at the Brain Research Institute. He has been a part of the PEAR/ICRL family since 1980, when he was among the first undergraduate students to conduct research at the PEAR lab. He graduated from the Yale School of Medicine and pursued his residency training and research fellowship at UCLA. His research has focused on understanding the relationships among the mind, the brain, and the body, and in translating developments in technology into more effective treatments for disorders of mood and cognition.
degree from Hollis University and has accumulated a diverse work experience, spanning multiple disciplines: education, technology, business and law, predominately in support and administrative roles. She currently works for the College of New Jersey in its Office of Disability Support Services. Lynn Ann has been an administrative assistant to ICRL’s President since 2011, and has extensive familiarity with the organization’s structure and activities, along with a deep commitment to its mission.
The largest dataset collected at PEAR used Random Event Generators, or REGs. These devices were essentially electronic coin flippers that produced a series of 1’s and 0’s; operators were instructed to influence the machines to produce more 1’s than 0’s or vice versa.
