I have been intellectually impressed for years with G. I. Gurdjieff’s claim that we have three distinct types of “intelligence,” namely our intellectual mind, what we usually think of as intelligence, our emotional mind, and our bodily-instinctive mind. I say intellectually impressed, because for many years this was primarily a set of ideas for me, [...]
Continue reading about Emotional Intelligence versus Emotional Seizures
Dr. Charles Tart Mindfulness Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 5, Part 5 of 18 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: Now once in a while, the transpersonal does get through to us. So one way to grow is to hope to have an overwhelming transpersonal experience that [...]
Continue reading about Inviting Spirit by Reducing the Noise
At my San Diego Rigpa Fellowship retreat last week, lama Sogyal Rinpoche, in teaching about the nature of the unenlightened, ordinary mind (sem in Tibetan), mentioned how perception can be distorted, especially by strong emotions like anger. Naturally if you can’t perceive the world accurately, you’re going to do things that will have unintended and [...]
I wrote the following (do they still call it blank verse, or has poetry changed since I was in high school a zillion years ago?) while on a 10-day retreat last week with Sogyal Rinpoche, the Tibetan lama who wrote the best-selling Tibetan Book of Living and Dying a few years ago. My wife and [...]
A colleague of mine was inspired hearing about the Brian Green show (Nova: The Fabric of the Cosmos) this week on the universe, especially the parts about “dark matter” and “dark energy.” He tended to see it as validating religion. I’m all for validating or reinforcing the best aspects of religion and spirituality – after [...]
Continue reading about Do Mysteries in Science Point Us to God?
A colleague of mine, Jim Tucker, M.D., psychiatrist at the University of Virginia, wrote this excellent review of reincarnation. Tucker is one of the far too few scientists in the world actually looking at evidence for reincarnation, mainly studying young children who spontaneously recall another life. With his permission, I am circulating it. Charles T. [...]
For many years I’ve been taking Buddhist teachings from Tibetan Lama Sogyal Rinpoche. I don’t call myself a “Buddhist,” or an any kind of “ist,” as I think about and try to practice various teachings from many paths and perspectives. I do find Buddhism appealing as it’s so psychological in its emphases, and Sogyal Rinpoche [...]
Continue reading about Enlightenment, Buddhism, Learning, Speculating
I’ve been having a discussion with some spiritual people working toward a “trans-traditional spirituality,” and we’ve been talking about miracles. Do they discourage even trying to develop a science, even a partial science, of spirituality, or can we fit them in somehow. Since one of my main scientific interests, parapsychology, is about “miracles,” this is [...]
Continue reading about Miracles, Science, and “My Religion is Truer than Yours!”
There is a beautiful film in the works, scheduled to come out next February, about activities centered around Esalen Institute for building bridges between science and spirituality. I just got the info on it this morning from the producer, and it’s reproduced below. Feel free to pass it on. I found watching this trailer very [...]
All of you know one of my main goals in life is to help genuine science and genuine spirituality interact in ways so each helps the other. An interesting aspect arose in discussion with colleagues recently, that I wrote my friend Shinzen Young, meditation teacher, about. Some of you might find this interesting, it’s about [...]
Continue reading about Sutta to the Kalamas: Mind Opening or Mind-Manipulating?