History

Continuum started as an exhibit, the Continuum Exhibit, first on display in 1978 at the LA Museum of Science and Industry, where it was twice extended and broke attendance records.  The exhibit was created by Catherine Dees and Kay Croissant to present evidence indicating that consciousness could exist independent of the physical body and survive death of the physical body.  A Minnesota philanthropist, Hugh Harrison, bought the rights from them and built a $250,000 version which made its way to the Twin Cities.

Continuum Center was founded in 1979 to explore the nature of consciousness, human capacity and the continuity and interconnectedness of life.

In 1981 we started an international speaker series with Macy’s (then Dayton’s) featuring astronaut Edgar Mitchell, futurist Alvin Toffler, author Alex Haley, death and dying expert Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MD, and former First Lady of Egypt, Jehan Sadat.  Since then we have brought in dozens of internationally known physicists, physicians, brain scientists, biologists, biochemists, mathematicians, cosmologists, creativity experts, corporate leaders and Native American, West African, East Indian, Mayan, and Tibetan cultural leaders past speakers.

In 1984 we launched an arm of programming for applications of consciousness research.  Our first project was the two-year Whole Mind Learning Project, a partnership with the Minnesota State Department of Education, the Hubert H Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and US Bank (then First Bank).  WML trained 300 public school teachers, in 16 sites around the state, in the background research and classroom applications of imagery, biofeedback, self-regulation and self-relaxation strategies. Results summary

In 1988 we held our first national conference, Toward the Caring Community: Support, Interconnectedness and Transformative Vision – Business, Medicine and Education exploring new models of health and humanity.  700 people attended the presentation of Gerald Jampolsky, MD, author of Love is Letting Go of Fear, and founder of the Centers for Attitudinal Healing.

In 1991 we launched the Discovery of Self(DoS) project, a partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools, at Harrison Secondary in North Minneapolis, a school for the most seriously emotionally/behaviorally disordered youth. Since then the Discovery of Self program has been field tested in many schools and in a wide range of settings from corporate retreats for leadership development, to working with the boys’ basketball team from North High in Minneapolis. http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/249151451.html. The program has traveled around and outside the country.

Discovery of Self is a premier human capacity development curriculum and we are currently partnering with Urban Institute for Service and Learning which serves as our training base.  We are starting to train trainers, and we have recently designed a measurement tool  for evaluation of the curriculum.

The testimonials certainly speak for the impact of this program, but we realize formal assessment is important. We are measuring for optimism, confidence, connectedness, self-awareness, self-regulation (of mood and physiology), and personal responsibility.  There is so much research on the benefits of optimism – for learning, self-care, and relationships – that by demonstrating an increase in just optimism, the case for positive impact is made.  But there’s more.  Our goal is to have this social/emotional/human development curriculum as much a part of education as math and science. Testimonials – education

In partnership with Jones-Harrison, the longest-running elder care facility in the state of MN (founded in 1888), Continuum Center is recreating and updating the Continuum Exhibit to include the 40 years’ of research since it was first on display.

Coincidentally, after the decision was made to jointly re-incarnate the Continuum Exhibit, we discovered that Hugh Harrison, who bought rights to the exhibit in 1978 and built one designed to travel, is the great, great, great grandson of Jane Harrison, the co-founder of Jones-Harrison in 1888.

With Jones-Harrison, in 2015 we have launched an initiative, a movement, called New Aging Whole Living Meaningful Life. Under that branding, we will be using various vehicles for driving home the messages to change the conversation about what it means to be fully human, and explore the evidence that death and life are a continuum.

In the past four decades there is so much more research that qualifies as consciousness research, coming from fields like quantum physics, neuroscience, biology, biochemistry and information theory.

A new scientific paradigm has been in the making since the dawn of quantum physics and the study of light.  A whole new set of operating assumptions has emerged, far more promising and empowering than the conventional, classical set. We present and operationalize the evidence.

In addition to our ongoing work with DoS:

From a paradigm of optimism and with scientific rigor (though new operating assumptions), we are hosting a Speaker Series, designing a re-tour of the Continuum Exhibit, planning a 2016 Optimism  Tour, and piloting Meaning Matters…all to educate widely about, and create on-the-ground applications of, an expanded understanding of the nature of consciousness and the continuity and interconnectedness of life.

We have had many variations of office and event space in our history, and periods of virtual space and space in collaboration. Currently we are using Pillsbury United Communities, Urban Institute for Service and Learning as our training center, and Jones-Harrison as host of our Meaning Matters Library and resource center.  With this website we are launching our online resource center – which we hope offers a vault of helpful information, and support for others’ quantum leaps of change.

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