Your Year in Review, Your Year to Come

A growing tradition with ICRL Meetups is to dedicate some time for members of the ICRL family to share what they have been doing, where they are in their lives, and what they are envisioning for the year to come.  Please join our next Meetup on the Winter Solstice, December 21st, 2024 at 1:00 pm EST, to share your stories and your intentions.

Each person will be invited to take a few minutes (think like five minutes, not like thirty minutes) and let others know what’s happening. You do not need to prepare anything formal, although feel free to put together a picture or two if you wish… simply grab some eggnog, a warm, fuzzy blanket, and ease into the end of the year with friends!

After the passing of her father, Liz Entin delved into understanding the possibilities of life after death, ultimately writing two books about her investigations.

She now runs a podcast, WTF Just Happened, in which she has interviewed over a hundred people on a wide range of related topics.

In episode 108, she interviews ICRL’s president, Jeff Dunne, about the research done at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory.

Check out the recording, and perhaps even share it (and other of Liz’s work) within your circles!

We are excited to announce the release of ICRL Press’s 22nd title: Verifying Spiritual Reality, by Robert Traer.

In the process of academic research, the first thing one does is to read the ‘survey’ materials that give an overview of the field. This book provides just that – an overview of the overwhelming evidence that is out there supporting the undeniable evidence that we are more than physical beings. But unlike academic articles or dry textbooks, Traer’s work goes beyond being thorough, providing an approachable, engaging summary of evidence for our spiritual nature.

This is an absolute must-have for anyone who is interested in explaining to others why we are, without any doubt, spiritual beings.

The book is on Amazon in both paperback and digital formats.

We are honored that our next ICRL Meetup, to be held online on Saturday, November 30th at 1:00 pm EST, will feature Dr. Bill Bengston speaking about:

Making “Unconventional” Healing “Conventional”: A Selection of Research

Abstract
Research has provided us with innumerable studies demonstrating what I call “stage 1,” or proof of concept. Within this stage are reliable data showing such things as healing itself shows a lack of respect for distance, belief, and a whole host of correlates which have been uncovered. The list of things currently unknown has also seemingly continued to expand, thus providing stage 1 researchers with ample fodder to continue inquiry.

At the same time, healing also has a clinical component, but the number of people who might benefit from unconventional healing approaches far exceeds the number of healers capable of providing sufficient services.

How to meet the demand? In order to make healing widely available, two conditions must be present: healing intention must be made storable (stage 2) and healing must be made scalable (stage 3). There has been a paucity of research on stages 2 and 3. This presentation will look at a selection of research on all three stages.

About Dr. Bengston
Bill Bengston is an emeritus professor of statistics and research methods at St. Joseph’s University in New York, and the past President (2010-2022) of the Society for Scientific Exploration, an international group of scientists who study anomalies. Bill has been doing research into anomalous healing for over forty years, and has numerous peer reviewed academic publications. His memoir, The Energy Cure, is published by Sounds True Publishers. He has also lectured widely in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Bill’s research has produced the first successful full cures of transplanted mammary cancer and methylcholanthrene induced sarcomas in mice by energy healing techniques that he helped to develop. He has also investigated assorted correlates to healing such as EEG and fMRI entrainment, and geomagnetic micropulsation anomalies in healing space. His current work involves the attempt to reverse engineer healing and reproduce healing without the healer, and to develop therapies that can be scaled. To read more, see bengstonresearch.com.

You can register for this meetup using the below form. Any donation to ICRL to support these Meetups is greatly appreciated (and tax-deductible).  Please note that Zeffy, the company that handles registration system, will default to a donation to them based on any donation to ICRL.  You can eliminate this if you wish by customizing that Zeffy donation and setting it to $0.

This first Consciousness Dialogues retreat of 2025 will begin the afternoon of Wednesday, March 26 and continue through the morning of Sunday, March 30.  During these days participants will participate as a group in a selection of activities designed to highlight different aspects awareness. Some examples from the inaugural CD retreat include: guided meditation, out-of-body experiences, dance and improv, group art creation, and (of course) variations of PEAR (Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research) Laboratory experiments like remote viewing and affecting Random Event Generators.

After each activity, the group participates in a Bohm-esque discussion focused on exploring the prior consciousness experience through the lens of foundational principles.

The cost for retreat participation is $500, which includes lodging, food, and all materials associated with the activities. The food at the retreat is all vegetarian with vegan options, but non-vegetarian cuisine is within walking distance.

If you are local to Gainesville and/or would prefer to handle your own lodging, please reach out to discuss potential discounts. If you are a student who wishes to attend but is financially limited, please also reach out, as ICRL and the BIHS may be able to provide supplemental support. Note that travel to and from the Gainesville area is the responsibility of the individual participant, although we may be able to assist with coordinating with other retreat attendees.

Please register using the below form. Note that in the checkout process, the service, Zeffy, that handles the financial transaction defaults to making a donation to Zeffy. Unless you want to specifically want to support them, you will need to manually change the default donation to $0.

Several years ago ICRL partnered with the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS) on a project to explore the language that we use in consciousness research, with the ultimate goal of creating a form of Rosetta Stone to help everyone understand how we intend the words we use.

Our initial retreat, held at the beautiful Monroe Institute, was an overwhelming success, with a dozen people coming together to experience a variety of group activities ranging from interpersonal relating to meditation, art, dance, and – of course – telekinesis and remote perception. Each activity was followed by a discussion to further exploring the essence of the shared experience and the expressions of consciousness they contained.

Now it is time to do it again.

This coming spring of 2025 (final dates still pending, but anticipated to be in the latter half of March or early April) we are going to be holding the event at the Tigert-Barrow House in Gainesville, Florida – home to BIHS itself.

If you are interested in participating, we encourage you to preregister.  Right now this will give you the opportunity to influence the final dates to meet your needs.  If you are definitely ready to commit, placing a $100 down payment now will also give you a 20% discount off the retreat price (and of course that $100 counts towards the cost of the retreat itself).  You can use the form below to preregister.

Note that when using the form, in addition to the option of making a tax-deductible donation to support ICRL (please do!!), you will also have the option to support the Zeffy platform that we use to process payments (and which is not part of ICRL).  You can easily adjust the Zeffy donation to $0 if you wish (it defaults to 15%, and we can’t change that default).

Lastly, preregistering does not commit you to going to Florida this spring.  We are in the planning stages of holding the following Consciousness Dialogues retreat in September 2025 at the Pari Center near Tuscany, Italy, and you can use your discount there (or at future sessions beyond that too).

It is no surprise, and no overstatement, to say that ICRL is just one of a great many organizations that seek to raise awareness of the nature of consciousness, to emphasize that we are more than the physical, and to help make the world a healthier and more humane place in the process.  Alas, while those who seek to exploit the planet and its organisms for personal and financial gain are very well-organized, the greater community promoting post-materialist view is… not.

While there may not be a lot of money out there for organizations and efforts that seek to help people evolve and find peace and greater harmony, we do have something to offer that is – believe it or not – more satisfying than financial wealth: family.  And we hypothesize that we can leverage such personal relationships to create a network of mutually-supportive organizations aimed at making the world a better place.

This is the vision behind the Consciousness Alliance.

ICRL, the Scientific and Medical Network, and the Pari Center partnered to organize an initial Alliance meeting at the beginning of July 2024.

Ten individuals representing roughly twenty organizations met for two days, exploring the potential for what the Alliance could be, how it should function, and what next steps are on the horizon.

The initial meeting was held at the fledgling ICRL Retreat Center in Roanoke Virginia, and we are now in the planning process for a second in-person gathering, to be held outside of London in November (16th and 17th).

If you are part of an organization that fits the goals and intentions of the Consciousness Alliance and would like more information on what the Alliance is and how to get involved, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.  And in case you missed it on the right-hand side of the page, there is a link to a CA page with a little more information too (that will become much more impressive once we have completed the ICRL website redesign).

Several years ago ICRL partnered with the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS) on a project to explore the language that we use in consciousness research, with the ultimate goal of creating a form of Rosetta Stone to help everyone understand how we intend the words we use.

The effort experienced a COVID delay, but is finally back on track! At the end of June, 2024, ICRL and BIHS joined forces with the Monroe Institute to host our first Consciousness Dialogues Retreat at their beautiful facility in Faber, Virginia.

The event was held over the course of four days with a dozen of the most beautiful souls humanity has to offer. In that time, we engaged in a variety of group activities that ranged from interpersonal relating to meditation, art, dance, and – of course – telekinesis and remote perception.  After each activity, the group engaged in deep discussion, exploring the essence of the shared experience and the expressions of consciousness that were found within.

What’s Next?

Is this going to happen again?  Feedback from the group made it unanimously clear: these event must continue!  We are in the process of finalizing logistics, but here’s how things are shaking out.  In the spring, it looks like we will hold the second retreat at the BIHS facility in Gainesville, Florida.

Later in the year we may return to the Monroe Institute or the ICRL Retreat Center, both in Virginia, although we are also exploring a future Europe-based options as well.

If you are interested in participating, we encourage you to preregister.  In doing so you will be the first to receive details about the event, and may even be able to influence the dates and locations if there is flexibility in the scheduling process. In short, you will be kept ‘in the loop’ as planning happens.  There is no cost for this.

However, if you are ready to commit, placing a $100 down payment now will provide all those benefits and additionally you will a) have top priority when registering for a retreat, and b) receive a 20% discount off the retreat price (and of course that $100 counts towards the cost of the retreat itself). Please note that when you choose this, in addition to the option of making a tax-deductible donation to support ICRL (please do!!), you will also have the option to support the Zeffy platform that we use to process payments (and which is not part of ICRL).  You can easily adjust the Zeffy donation to $0 if you wish (it defaults to 15%, and we can’t change this default).

Last fall we began a Discussion Series focused on the concept of “The Information Field”. What does the term mean?  For that matter, do we even have consistent definitions for concepts like information and field?  And not just what does ‘the information field’ mean, but what does it mean for us – as individuals, as societies, as a species… or even for the whole of the universe.

In the August 2024 ICRL Meetup, which will be held on August 31st at 1:00 pm EST // 7:00 pm CET, several members out of the dozen participants in the Discussion Series group will engage in a panel-style gathering to share their own insights and conclusions from the monthly discussions from this past year.

Please register to receive the Zoom link for joining this free event.

Coming up in only a few weeks, ICRL’s President, Jeff Dunne, will be presenting at the 24th International EUROTAS Conference: Creative Bridges.  In addition to his own presentation, entitled “What Will It Take to Transform the World: A Consciousness-Informed Hypothesis“, Jeff will be part of a roundtable discussion on “Implications of Synchronicity for Consciousness and Reality“.

Please consider attending this event.  You can see the conference program here and register here.

ICRL is proud to be one of the partner organizations helping to bring this conference to you.  As part of that, we did set aside some funds to help students with attendance costs.  If we can help you attend the event, please get in touch!