Science as Spiritual Path with Charles T. Tart

Charles T. Tart, PhD, is emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, as well as the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. He is a past-president of the Parapsychological Association. He has published over 100 scientific papers in parapsychology. He is editor of several anthologies including Altered States of Consciousness, Transpersonal Psychologies, Mind at Large, and Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality. Books that he has authored include Psi: Scientific Studies in the Psychic Realm, States of Consciousness, The End of Materialism, Learning to Use Extrasensory Perception, On Being Stoned, Waking Up: Overcoming the Obstacles to Human Potential, and Open Mind – Discriminating Mind.

Here he suggests that science and spirituality need not be considered totally separate approaches to life that have nothing to do with each other. He points out that, within the realm of spiritual thought, there are many ideas that could be subject to tests and refinements or improvements. Spiritual ideas need not be taken only in a dogmatic fashion. In fact, the Buddha taught this notion. Not only can science contribute to our understanding of spiritual realms, but the discipline of self-observation can contribute greatly to scientific practice – especially in psychology and the social sciences.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is past-vice-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and is the recipient of the Pathfinder Award from that association for his contributions to the study of consciousness. He is past-president of the Intuition Network.

(Recorded on November 10, 2016)