The Academic Home for the Rigorous Study of Consciousness & Reality
We find ourselves in a multidimensional universe full of mystery, intelligence, and wonder. Integral Noetic Sciences invites the next generation of scholar-practitioners, researchers, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators to explore the edges of the known — and to help discover new pearls of wisdom for a world urgently in need of a larger vision of Reality and its relationship to consciousness, in its human and more-than-human expressions.
CIHS offers the only accredited degrees in the Noetic Sciences. The Integral Noetic Sciences Department is thus a one-of-a-kind academic home for the rigorous study of consciousness, anomalous experience, subtle energy, esoteric traditions, and the relationship between mind, matter, spirit, and reality.
The INS Department weaves together integral theory, consciousness studies, philosophy of science, anomalous experience, subtle energy research, contemplative and esoteric traditions, and innovative mixed methods to ask questions that most academic programs leave at the margins: What happens after we die? Are we alone in the universe? Do animals and plants participate in forms of consciousness or culture? Is matter derivative of consciousness? Is magic real? What is the relationship between science, spirit, and the mystery of existence?
At CIHS, these questions are not treated as curiosities. They are approached as serious areas of inquiry requiring rigor, humility, imagination, and multiple ways of knowing.
The INS Approach
Integral. Noetic. Scientific.
The INS Department is dedicated to the rigorous study of the relationship between consciousness and reality through integral mixed methods research, with a special focus on anomalous and noetic experience. As the name suggests, the department is organized around three interwoven perspectives: integral, noetic, and scientific.
Integral Perspectives
INS draws on integrative metatheories and big-picture frameworks, including Ken Wilber’s integral theory, Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism, Edgar Morin’s complex thought, Karen Barad’s posthumanist philosophy, Sri Aurobindo’s integral yoga, Hiroshi Motoyama’s East-West subtle energy science, and emerging schools of metamodernism. These perspectives help students work across disciplines, methods, maps, and worldviews while holding complex questions in their full depth.
Noetic Perspectives
INS explores consciousness studies, philosophy of mind, plant and animal consciousness, ecosomatics and ecopsychology, parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, anomalous experience, phenomenology, contemplative science, esoteric and magical traditions, psychedelics, neurophenomenology, cognitive science, shamanic traditions, and post-autonomous ego development. Students and faculty also engage first-person inquiry through contemplative, somatic, and esoteric practices, creating a grounded space where direct experience can inform serious scholarship.
Scientific Perspectives
INS emphasizes integral mixed methods that combine first-person, second-person, and third-person approaches to inquiry. The department supports the development of new methodologies informed by feminist, Indigenous, post-materialist, ecological, posthumanist, transpersonal, anomalous, esoteric, and subtle energy approaches. Students also engage philosophy of science, ontological turns in contemporary thought, quantum models of reality and consciousness, and feminist and postcolonial critiques of science.
Together, these three perspectives create a transdisciplinary educational space for students seeking to expand knowledge, transform consciousness, and participate in the emergence of a larger vision of reality.
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Degree Pathways
Study Integral Noetic Sciences at the master’s or doctoral level.
The Integral Noetic Sciences Department offers graduate pathways for students seeking rigorous study, research, and scholarly formation at the frontiers of consciousness, reality, anomalous experience, subtle energy, and noetic inquiry.
M.A. in Integral Noetic Sciences
A research-based master’s program for students beginning graduate-level inquiry into consciousness, philosophy of mind, contemplative and esoteric traditions, anomalous realities, wisdom design, and subtle energy studies.
Explore the M.A. →Ph.D. in Integral Noetic Sciences
An advanced doctoral program for students pursuing original research, field-building scholarship, and deep inquiry into consciousness, reality, science, spirituality, anomalous experience, and noetic phenomena.
Explore the Ph.D. →INS Department in Action
Research, centers, and field-building.
INS students are connected to CIHS research platforms and initiatives that support serious inquiry into consciousness, anomalous and noetic experience, integrative metatheories, subtle energy, and more.
Program Leadership
Meet the Directors.
Concentrations
Students in the M.A. or Ph.D. in Integral Noetic Sciences may pursue the general curriculum or declare an optional concentration. INS currently offers Concentrations in Anomalous Studies, Parapsychology, Psychedelics, Consciousness & Transformation, UAP & Consciousness Studies, and Wisdom Design, as well as Individually Designed Concentrations.