International University • Department of Applied Consciousness Studies

A Statement of Mission


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If you are somewhere on the leading edge, you can't explain everything. If you knew all about it, it wouldn't be the leading edge. - Karl Pribram

Consciousness is always one step ahead of the leading edge. As we approach it, it lures us over that edge. In fact, it is our own consciousness that is compelling us to discover ourselves. As St. Francis of Assisi understood it:

What we are looking for is what is looking.

But are we ultimately too limited by our brain's perceptual ability and the paradigms of reality that it creates to ever truly know the source of self?

The premise of the International University Department of Applied Consciousness Studies is that we can know the truth of existence, not necessarily through quantifiable observations, but by learning a new language - a language of experience consisting of metaphor, analogy, and parallel manifestation. The reality of existence is not hidden from us. There is information everywhere, although not in a form we are taught to recognize. The course work at the International University guides the student in the exploration of the nature of this information, as well as the discovery of the meaning it holds for us. The student's first objective is to become conversant in the language of consciousness. This language promises to open the student tothe greater depths of available information - the information necessary to act consciously.

To act consciously is to be at cause. Unfortunately, most humans, though in possession of consciousness, continue to act unconsciously. An unconscious act is not action, but reaction based on patterns - behavior we have learned or programmed ourselves to re-enact given specific external events. To respond to a stimulus in this automatic way is to respond unconsciously. Automatic response is not free will. It is pre-programmed will; it is little more than instinctual behavior.

By contrast, a person who acts consciously responds to external events free from the limitations of patterns. This person is able to respond creatively and freely at any time. More significantly, such a person is also able to initiate events of his or her own choosing. This is free will. This is living consciously.

The intention of the University's degree process and programs is to provide [the student] students with the means to discover the nature of reality, the nature of consciousness as an aspect of reality, and the nature of the interactive relationship between consciousness and the real world. With an understanding of consciousness, external reality, and the laws that describe the interactive process between the two, it is possible to gain the ability to affect fate - to be at cause rather than at effect.

This ability is not to be taken lightly. The discovery of one's power to manifest at will, to influence relationships, and to inspire external events locally and globally is an extraordinarily powerful prospect. The experience of such power is truly humbling. And with that power comes the burden of responsibility. However, when one gains power from the limitless potential of consciousness one also gains an understanding of the source of that power. The ultimate discovery of consciousness is that personal power is attained through alignment with the source of that power. A person who initiates actions and responds to events consciously, with full knowledge of the power of consciousness, is a "response-able" person: a person who demonstrates personal responsibility.

The mission of the International University's Department of Applied Consciousness Studies is to educate the student in the experiential knowledge of the potential of consciousness, and in applications of consciousness principles that will enable the student to be at cause in life, and in a deep appreciation of and respect for the unity of consciousness in life.

 Copyright ©2007 The International University.