These Are Urgent Times

Sages and Scientists: The Merging of a New Future




Dear friends,

I am very pleased to send you below an announcement for Sages and Scientists, an important and compelling event hosted by our friend Deepak Chopra. For those of us interested in the intersection of mysticism and science, there are few events that bring together such a deep group of researchers and practitioners like those assembled there, including Victor Chan, Stuart Hameroff, James Doty, Duane Elgin and many others. I can still remember studying almost ten years ago the "orchestrated objective reduction" theory that Penrose and Hameroff created to explain how consciousness arises/is (have fun with that one) in the microtubules of the brain. This and many other exciting frontiers of human consciousness research will be explored and debated. I think you'll find this worthy of your attention, I hope to see you there!

Warmly,



Robb


Dear Friends,

Recent advances in science are posing new questions for spirituality:

Are we in the midst of a major paradigm shift in science?
Is there an ultimate reality?
Does consciousness conceive, govern, construct and become the
physical universe?
Is the universe becoming self aware in the human nervous system?
Is the next stage of human development conscious evolution?
Do we have the ability to influence the future evolution of the cosmos?
How does our understanding of consciousness as pure potentiality enhance our capacity for intuition, creativity, conscious choice making, healing, and the awakening of dormant potentials such as non-local communication and non-local sensory experience?
How does our understanding of consciousness also enhance our capacity for total well being (physical, emotional, spiritual, social, community, financial and ecological)?
If you find the above questions intriguing, I would love for you to join me and my colleagues (who I consider Sages and Scientists) at the second annual Chopra Foundation International Symposium: Sages and Scientists—The Merging of a New Future from February 25-27, 2011 at La Costa Resort and Spa (Carlsbad, California).

The speakers include:

Victor Chan, Trustee and founding Director of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education; co-authored with His Holiness The Dalai Lama Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys.

James Doty, M.D., Director and Founder of Project Compassion, Stanford University, inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist

Duane Elgin, MBA and MA, GOI International Peace recipient, internationally recognized visionary speaker and author - The Living Universe

Bernard Haisch, astrophysicist and author - The God Theory

Stuart Hameroff, MD, physician and researcher at the University Medical Center and Center for Consciousness Studies, and co-author with Sir Roger Penrose - Orchestrated Reduction Of Quantum Coherence In Brain Microtubules: A Model For Consciousness?

Mae Wan Ho, Ph. D., Biochemistry, 1993, 1998 Director of The Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) and author - The Rainbow and the Worm, The Physics of Organisms

Menas Kafatos, physicist, Founding Dean, Schmid College of Science, Vice Chancellor for Special Projects, Director of the Center for Excellence in Applied, Fundamental and Computational Science Professor, and author - The Nonlocal Universe and The Conscious Universe

Robert Lanza, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Advanced Cell Technology, and Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, author - Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe

Leonard Mlodinow, Physicist, co-author – The Grand Design

Dean Radin, PhD, Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University, and author, The Conscious Universe and Entangled Minds

V.S. Ramachandran, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and Professor with the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at the University, co-author with Sandra Blakeslee - Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D., evolution biologist, futurist, speaker, and author - Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution

Masami Saionji, Chairperson of Byakko Shinko Kai, The World Peace Prayer Society, The Goi Peace Foundation, author – The Golden Key to Happiness, You Are the Universe, and Vision for the 21st Century

Allan Savory, winner of the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, President and Co Founder of the Savory Institute

Marilyn Schlitz, PhD., President and CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and author - Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.

Henry Stapp, physicist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, author - Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics

Timothy P. Shriver, Ph.D., Chairman & CEO of Special Olympics

Ian Somerhalder, actor, humanitarian, environmentalist, Ian Somerhalder Foundation

Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D., Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Director, and author - Decoding Darkness: The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease.

Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director, The Buckminster Fuller Institute

Jim Tucker, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia Health System, author - Life Before Life: Children's Memories of Previous Lives

Alexander Tsiaras, Founder and CEO of TheVisualMD.com

Deepak Chopra, MD

Everything will be examined from the perspectives of both sages and scientists, with a view to finding common ground. I will be moderator for the symposium.

Come and be enlightened about your emerging future. At the end of the symposium, we will summarize the current understanding of the issues that deeply affect all of us at the core of our being. The proceedings will be published by the Chopra Foundation in various media for distribution to academicians, scientists, and others throughout the world. National media has also been invited to attend. We aim to propel scientific investigation and research in the areas of consciousness.

The Foundation is requesting a gift of $1,995 (in which $1,000 is tax deductible) for general participation. Your contribution will be used for collaborative research on the realization of consciousness, support of other charitable work, and underwrite the program costs. Your participation is valued because of your influence in society and because it's my belief you are deeply interested in these deeper issues of our existence, and will use your circle of influence to spread this message of "advaita".

Accommodations are available at The La Costa Resort and Spa. For reservations, please call (800) 854-5000. When making your reservation, please mention "THE CHOPRA FOUNDATION SAGES AND SCIENTISTS SYMPOSIUM" to get the special rate: $169.00 per night, excluding Resort fees and taxes (Based on availability). In addition to the specified room rates, there will be an Automatic Daily Resort charge of $10, plus California Tourism Assessment Fee (which is currently 0.13%) per room, per night, plus applicable taxes, which are currently 10%.



Space is limited so please RSVP as soon as possible if you intend to come.

Phone: Carolyn Rangel at 760-494-1600
Online: www.choprafoundation.org
Email: foundation@chopra.com

As I personally find myself in the autumn of my life, I find myself facing my own mortality with great awe and a deep reverence for the mystery of existence. It's my sincere hope that as we share our sense of wonder, our common understanding will further our insights into the nature of compassion, love, healing and the bond of Being that we all share.

It is my sincere hope that you will join us as a participant and audience member in this exciting event. We will have a unique opportunity to see where the future of science is going.

With warmest regards,

Deepak