The International Center for Integrative Studies (ICIS), incorporated in 1962, is a not-for-profit organization that works to co-create a common consciousness as a seedbed for new visions of positive futures for humanity and the planet.

ICIS creates intentional networks for people whose concerns and commitments draw them together in a common bond of shared holistic and spiritual values. ICIS has programs and collaborative activities that advance and demonstrate new ways of approaching societal and world concerns. The interplay among theory, visions and concrete applications enhances this work.

ICIS' programs identify, synthesize and disseminate leading edge thinking - recognizing that real change occurs in all cultures and nations when a critical mass of integrative thought is reached.

History

ICIS was founded in 1962 by Erling A. Thunberg to help address the challenges and concerns of many scholars and scientists at the end of the 1950s regarding the future. These concerns included the recognition that tremendous changes were taking place at an accelerating rate in the world - in technology, values and culture. Rapid industrial growth, changing political structures and increasing influence of mass communication were having a major impact on how humankind perceived itself, resulting in rapid fluctuations in attitudes and social customs. With this also came a major increase of information with growing specialization and fragmentation of knowledge. It became clear to many of the leading thinkers of the time that integration of knowledge and understanding was critical. Erling Thunberg's contacts and discussions with some of the most outstanding scholars and scientists of the 1950s and early 1960s influenced his decision to establish a new organization to address the challenges in new ways. His vision for ICIS included:

• ICIS would focus on the future and be concerned with furthering a deeper understanding of the social, cultural and psychological dynamics of the individual and of society. It would advance interdisciplinary communication and cooperation among the humanities, the behavioral, social and life sciences.
• ICIS would focus on the totality of humanity - standing for building understanding of the whole person out of the best provided by each of the disciplines and fields of human expression.
• ICIS would act as a catalyst for change - aiming to have an impact on the quality of relationships and values, mirroring the best that culture and science from past civilizations had provided while developing new modalities for the future that affirmed interrelatedness and wholeness in humanity.
• ICIS would give special attention to the significance of the existential, social, political and spiritual crises confronting humanity at the time - focusing attention on the implications of new images of the individual.
• ICIS, above all, would stand for the integrative approach to the future. By drawing on the best from different disciplines, cultures and ways of thinking, ICIS would seek to counter the fragmentation typical of “modern” life. As a community of persons uniting work and living, ICIS would manifest its commitment to an integrative way of life.

While specific program emphases and priorities have changed since ICIS' founding, it continues to work to co-create a common consciousness to kindle new visions of positive futures for humanity and the planet.

About the Founder

Erling A. Thunberg was the Founder of ICIS, the International Center for Integrative Studies, and later the guiding spirit for the ICIS project, The Door, a comprehensive multi-service center for young people in New York City.

The group that worked with him in the initial stage of translating his vision into program elements and organizational structure included E. Alice Beard, Lamar Carter, George A. Christie, Donald F. Keys and Janis A. Roze.

Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1932, of Swedish and Scottish decent, he immigrated to the United States in 1965 and lived and worked in New York City until his death in 1976. He had a deep interest in the transformative processes that bring each person and humanity as a whole to the full expression of human potential. ICIS became the instrument for the multidisciplinary exploration of the constructive, dynamic, integrative and creative aspects and expressions in humanity. The Door became a model for demonstrating integrative concepts and the positive effects of a caring human community in the real world of human service delivery.

For more information on Erling Thunberg, go to his web site.