Comments for Charles T. Tart http://blog.paradigm-sys.com Home Page and Blog Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:53:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Dr. Charles T. Tart http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20862 Dr. Charles T. Tart Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:53:43 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20862 >So my experience as a nonprofessional having discussions with other nonprofessionals is that philosophical beliefs do affect one’s assumptions, but the issue is materialism vs survival not atheism vs theism.<

Take my word for it, scientific parapsychologists almost never mention things like God or survival, but stick close to well-controlled laboratory experiments. I have an advantage of thinking of myself primarily as a Transpersonal Psychologist, not only an experimental parapsychologist, so thinking about what things mean to people is allowed….For better or worse.

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Dr. Charles T. Tart http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20861 Dr. Charles T. Tart Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:51:15 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20861 >more like discrete nodes of some larger consciousness, deciding to be, or not. Fractal Fragments of god, trying to fit themselves back into the puzzle of themselves.<

Nice way to think about it!

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Dr. Charles T. Tart http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20860 Dr. Charles T. Tart Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:49:59 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20860 One of my students, now a PhD, Craig Schlarb, did his dissertation on kids who have powerful mystical experiences – and who usually are badly punished for it! ;-(

This results in a great loss of personal power, which may have lifelong effects unless the person works to take their own experience back.

The dissertation, titled something like the Repression of the Bright Shadow, may be available via interlibrary loan from ITP (now Sofia University).

I understand this kind of thing as much as I disapprove of it. Life is tough, you find some set of beliefs that make it easier (My Religion!) and then you are threatened by anyone who questions the absolute truth of it……

]]> Comment on About by Dr. Charles T. Tart http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/about-dr-tart/comment-page-1/#comment-20859 Dr. Charles T. Tart Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:44:48 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?page_id=73#comment-20859 I’ve long been aware how much of our bodies (and minds?) is “colonists,” whose ancestors moved in long ago. I sometimes think of myself as an empire, filled with many different cultures, races, entities, etc. The “soldiers” at my frontiers, e.g., are constantly fighting off raids by the barbarian in order to preserve the smooth functioning of the empire.

What I have to be careful of in this analogy is getting too caught up in my nominal position as Emperor. Many of my subjects humor me in this, some probably see it as a necessary role for somebody, others as a harmless lunatic – who can be harmful if not controlled.

Meanwhile “I” do what I can to be a good person and make the world a little better place, and try to remember that most of the empire (and other empires) functions in ways that have little to do with my hopes and fears and ambitions….

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Dr. Charles T. Tart http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20858 Dr. Charles T. Tart Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:39:10 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20858 >Do you consider yourself to be a scientist?<

That’s one of my main aims in life, but I’m many other things too….

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Dr. Charles T. Tart http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20857 Dr. Charles T. Tart Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:37:59 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20857 >The distinction between spiritual and physical is, I think, just as arbitrary as any other distinction that we implement.<

I think a big problem here too is that to many people, “scientific” means lawful, potentially predictable, perhaps controllable, while “spiritual” means a god or gods you can’t possibly understand who just change things in non-understandable ways every once in a while. Who wants the latter kind of universe? I like to believe that the “spiritual” has laws of its own that we can at least partially discover and understand….but that also may be unpredictable, just like I know some friends very well, but sometimes can’t understand why they do what they do. The more we make this conscious, the better. The more we can distinguish between what we want and what is, the better….

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Beau http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20844 Beau Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:41:47 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20844 Excellent article. I agree that there is quite a bit of disagreement when it comes to reconciling beliefs and ideas about God/gods with scientific facts or personal experience. Even when employing rationality and the scientific method, we’re always going to be influenced by our own beliefs (or lack thereof) and the certainty with which we adhere to them. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the distinction between the spiritual realm of experience and the quantifiable physical one. How do we distinguish between the two? The laws of physics worked before people understood them, maybe things that people see as “spiritual” or separate from the scientific world are in a similar status: simply not yet understood, or can only be understood in a different way. The distinction between spiritual and physical is, I think, just as arbitrary as any other distinction that we implement. I guess an open, inquiring mind is the most important thing we can hope for in researching the universe.

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Lenny http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20815 Lenny Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:25:51 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20815 I am curious about something. Do you condsider yourself to be a scientist?

]]> Comment on About by Darius Hober http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/about-dr-tart/comment-page-1/#comment-20795 Darius Hober Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:01:55 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?page_id=73#comment-20795 Dear Dr. Tart,
I am working on my degree in Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia and have a question that maybe you can help or guide me with in relation to the human experience.
The human body is roughly composed of 100 trillion cells, with 90% of these cells being Non-Human (bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites)!!(See Buckman’s “Human Wildlife”) With 90% of the organic matrix composing a human body consisting of non-human lifeforms and consciousness-where is this factored into the human experience? There are current studies demonstrating intestinal flora affecting moods and brain parasites from cats (t.ghondi) affecting thinking for example. Has anyone to your knowledge factored this into what it means to be human?
This could easily result in a major shift in understanding and explain more of why we (ego) do not seem to be in control of ship! Quick analogy; Imagine someone being on a diet and having a craving for donuts. Most psychological considerations would position this as “personal sabotage” or possibly see this desire as a comfort food if the dieter was having a rough day. Never is it offered that the bacteria in the gut need the yeast that is in the donut and put forth the “desire” for donut into the field.
If possible, I would like some guidance or discourse concering this proposition.
With Love
Darius

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by Charles Wesley Orton http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20785 Charles Wesley Orton Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:19:31 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20785 Good evening, Mr. Tart:
“The End of Materialism” should have been written years ago by someone, and I’m glad you finally took on the job. It’s a very good book with an important message.

I cite the book on my website as among the Top 10 books for a “spirituality” searcher to read, as well as putting a link to your website on it.

I’ve also taken the liberty of quoting from “The End of Materialism” in my forthcoming book “The Back Stairway to Heaven: Notes of a Spiritual Anarchist.” I sent an early version of the manuscript to Robert Forman, and he seemed to like at least some parts of it to one degree or another. He gave me some good suggestions that I’ve since incorporated. (I mention this to you only because you include The Forge in your resources section of your website.)

The book is the result of my searches into what, why, and how I had a mystical experience when I was 13, nearly 50 years ago, now. I was a fundamentalist Christian at the time and, rather than pull me closer to Christianity, the experience pulled me away from it. It wasn’t the Christian “God” that touched me.

(My account of this experience is on my website.)

If you’d like to see the chapters in which I include excerpts from “The End of Materialism,” I’d be happy to send them to you by either e-mail or snail mail. If you’d like to read the entire book when it’s done (in a week or so), I’ll do that too.

Again, thank you for your work and publications. You’ve made a big difference in this great big field of “What is it?”

Charles Wesley Orton

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by dave95694.wordpress.com/ http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20781 dave95694.wordpress.com/ Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:08:58 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20781 My notion of god is the same as for truth.

He/she/it is not one discernible thing, but the combination of all possibility, and occurrence AND what hasn’t occurred or been imagined possible.

Thus imperceptible to us (both god and truth) as it is larger than the context we function in as human, or even as consciousness.

We are a subset of god. Any thing is a subset of truth and every thing has some relative truth if observed from the right point.

This of course leads to the notion that we are not isolated individuals, but more like discrete nodes of some larger consciousness, deciding to be, or not. Fractal Fragments of god, trying to fit themselves back into the puzzle of themselves.

:)

]]> Comment on Atheism, Spirituality and Parapsychology by anonymous http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/atheism-spirituality-and-parapsychology/comment-page-1/#comment-20777 anonymous Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:00:44 +0000 http://blog.paradigm-sys.com/?p=1020#comment-20777 My cultural indoctrination is totally different from yours. In my world, being an atheist is normal and believing in God is ridiculed.

I have no idea what professional parapsychologists think but, it seems to me that within parapsychology the important issue is not so much belief in God as it is belief in survival after death. Materialists have a very different conception of psi that non materialists. Materialists look for psi as a function of the brain, by some quantum entanglement or something like that. Non-materialists generally consider psi to be the senses of the spirit leaking through a hole in the brain-filter.

So my experience as a nonprofessional having discussions with other nonprofessionals is that philosophical beliefs do affect one’s assumptions, but the issue is materialism vs survival not atheism vs theism.

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