The Noetic
Council was formed in Walla Walla, Washington in January 2014. This website will feature material provided
by council members, and other information useful for the study of the nature of
mind and being. If you are interested in
joining the council or attending one of its events, please email
clarkdn@charter.net, or write to Noetic Council, PO Box 1222, Walla Walla WA
99362.
Because of
varying definitions of the term "Noetic," the following introduction
to a study of Noetic experiences is helpful and is found on the National
Institutes of Health website.
The term “Noetic” comes from the Greek word noēsis/noētikos that means inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding. William James, the American philosopher, and psychologist, defined noetic experiences as “states of knowledge. They are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule, they carry with them a curious sense of authority for after-time” ( James, 1985, pp. 380–381). As James describes, some noetic experiences can appear receptive and others can appear expressive, such as the mind influencing matter.
William James refers to the phenomenon that noetic experiences often feel like a state of understanding intuitively accessed knowledge, known as truth. One arrives at this state without intellectual, left-brain analysis. The experience is also ineffable in that the experience is hard to describe in words. These noetic experiences are present in the oldest of humanity’s written records in cultures worldwide ( Hastings, 1991; Klimo, 1998).
Many words have been ascribed to the noetic experience: intuition; clairvoyance; telepathy; psychokinesis; precognition; psi; psychic; extended human capacities; and anomalous information reception, to name a few. Strong taboos preclude open discussion of these topics in most Western academic settings ( Cardeña, 2015; Schooler et al., 2018; Sidky, 2018). Thus, many may not feel comfortable transparently discussing or researching these topics, despite growing evidence for them in laboratories and real-world settings ( Cardeña, 2018; Cardeña et al., 2015) and their rampant global prevalence ( Bourguignon, 1976; Castro et al., 2014; A. Greeley, 1987; Haraldsson, 1985, 2011; Haraldsson & Houtkooper, 1991; Hunter & Luke, 2014, pp. 101, 211, 231, 234, 237; McClenon, 1993; Palmer, 1979; Ross & Joshi, 1992).
Some propose that all people have the capacity for noetic experiences, that it is an innate human capacity. This notion is proposed in models such as the Psi-Mediated Instrumental Response (PMIR) model ( Stanford, 2015) and First-Sight Model and Theory (FSMT) ( Carpenter, 2014). The PMIR model proposes that people unconsciously access extrasensory information relevant to what they need and then unconsciously use it to modify their behavior to meet their needs. The FSMT proposed that human’s essential nature is to actively, continuously, and unconsciously participate in the world, extending beyond our immediate boundaries of perceived space and time. All of our experiences and behaviors result from unconscious psychological processes that are acted out based on multiple sources of information, including those beyond our traditional five senses. Interestingly, cosmology and quantum physics research support this notion, with informational and holographic theories gaining support. Cosmologist Dr. Jude Currivan expresses, “experiences of nonlocal awareness that are capable of transcending space-time, while nonetheless extraordinary, should come to be seen as innate abilities” ( Currivan, 2017, p. 197).
Transpersonal psychology also can encompass experiences that can be considered noetic. Clinical psychology stresses the pivotal importance of relationships for human development, physical well-being, mental health, and healing. Transpersonal psychology expands the bounds of these relationships ( Kasprow & Scotton, 1999; Tamm, 1993; Walach et al., 2005) to the transpersonal, namely, that “in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans) the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche or cosmos” ( Walsh & Vaughan, 1993, p. 203). Transpersonal experiences are described as experiences in which “consciousness has expanded beyond the usual ego boundaries and has transcended the limitations of time and space” ( Grof, 1985, p. 129). As such, transpersonal experiences are also often noetic experiences in that they go beyond our traditional five senses and often transcend our conventional notions of time and space.
Noetic experiences that transcend an individual’s self-identity and limitations of space-time can have profound and transformative outcomes for a person https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9364752/#:~:text=Introduction-,The%20term%20%E2%80%9CNoetic%E2%80%9D%20comes%20from%20the%20Greek%20word%20no%C4%93sis%2F,experiences%20as%20%E2%80%9Cstates%20of%20knowledge.( Roussillon, 2015; Sagher et al., 2019). Transformation has been described as “a discontinuous leap forward in consciousness, a paradigm shift, wherein the person is significantly changed in terms of world view, behavior and attitude” ( Neal et al., 1999, p. 1). Common to many descriptions of transformative experiences and transcendent states is an intuitive interconnected relationship with the surrounding world that is not limited by space and time ( Corneille & Luke, 2021; de Castro, 2017; Neal et al., 1999; Schlitz et al., 2008). Transformative experiences and transcendent states are of increasing scientific interest ( Kitson et al., 2020), notably as part of the recent interest in contemplative practices ( Berkovich-Ohana et al., 2013; Josipovic, 2014; Nave et al., 2021; Vieten et al., 2018; Woollacott et al., 2021) as well as the therapeutic use of psychedelics ( Barrett & Griffiths, 2018; Dakwar et al., 2014; Forstmann et al., 2020; Reiff et al., 2020; Rothberg et al., 2021). There is also greater awareness and acceptance of the potential of transformative, transpersonal, and noetic experiences to positively benefit both physical and mental health ( Chirico & Gaggioli, 2021; Garland & Fredrickson, 2019; Mills et al., 2020; Sagher, 2018; Seskevich et al., 2004; Thomas, 2021; Wahbeh, 2021, pp. 47–49).
Assuming that some noetic experiences are an innate human capacity and that, in general, they are positively impactful, what is the phenomenological experience of them? Is there variation amongst people for how they are perceived and their function in people’s lives? Likely, noetic experiences exist on a spectrum, from common, well-studied experiences, like empathy ( de Waal & Preston, 2017) and intuition ( Zander et al., 2016) on one side and other more rare experiences, like sensing the future ( Bem et al., 2016; Mossbridge & Radin, 2017) on the other side.
The goal of this research study was to qualitatively evaluate first-hand accounts of noetic experiences that go beyond our conventional notions of time and space and our traditional five senses. The full study is found at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9364752/#:~:text=Introduction-,The%20term%20%E2%80%9CNoetic%E2%80%9D%20comes%20from%20the%20Greek%20word%20no%C4%93sis%2F,experiences%20as%20%E2%80%9Cstates%20of%20knowledge.
