Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology,
Lecture 4, Part 16 of 19 parts. To start class from beginning, click here.
Student: What if that would test for enlightenment.
CTT: Pardon?
Student: What about a test to measure enlightenment?
CTT: Yes. What about it?
Student: Is there anything like that available for people?
(Laughter)
Is it possible to create something like that?
CTT: Well I know of one test created by the wife of a friend of mine, and that is if you want to know if somebody’s enlightened, you ask their spouse.
(Laughter)
That’s a tough test. I don’t think many people would rate as enlightened that way.
(Laughter)
Student: That’s like (name unclear) was supposedly enlightened; and could levitate and move objects by his will, do all this fancy stuff. And his wife didn’t think he was enlightened.
CTT: Who?
Student: (answer unclear).
CTT: Yeah.
Student: His wife didn’t know for years and years and years, and she used to nag him and admonish him. And then one day she was admonishing him about something and he just disappeared. (Snaps fingers) (Laughter) And then she was like well –
CTT: Was this enlightenment or just avoiding confrontation?
Student: Yeah. (Laughter)
CTT: You know, it would be wonderful if some day we had a test of enlightenment. We don’t have anything near that. And enlightenment traditions would claim that we probably never would because it’s not something that can be inferred from the kinds of things we could ask on tests. But who knows, you know?
One of the things we have to remember about Transpersonal Psychology is this is a very young field. It’s what, 30, 35 years at most since some people got serious about the idea of let’s take spiritual realities seriously, but then apply scholarly and scientific methods to try to find out what does work and what doesn’t work and what’s just a cultural relic and what’s really applicable and so forth. And we don’t know much yet.
We’ve borrowed from all sorts of traditions.
I don’t think I told you folks yet, but usually I welcome the new first-year students and tell them we are going to teach them all sorts of really vital spiritually important truths — and at least 50 percent of what we teach is bullshit and we, the faculty, don’t know which 50 percent!
(Laughter)
When I’m in a more transpersonal mood, I call it unicorn shit rather than bullshit. 😉
(Laughter)
We’ve borrowed an awful lot from a whole variety of spiritual traditions, and we think that it has value for at least some people, but we don’t have much discriminating wisdom yet. You guys are all in the experimental group and there is no control group.
(Laughter)
“What about a test to measure enlightenment?”
Different practices might have different definitions of enlightenment, so before you can have a test to measure enlightenment you have to specify what you mean by enlightenment.
After you decide which school’s form of enlightenment you want a test for, you should probably check to see if that form of practice already has a test.
Some Zen Buddhists consider kensho to be a form of awakening. It is possible to do a brain scan to see if someone is in that state.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web3/Farrenkopf.html
“The sensation of “the absorption of the self into something larger” can be attributed to the decrease in activity of the posterior, superior parietal lobe (Newberg 7). A lack of stimulation of the left lobe would result in an individual’s loss of the sense of self. Because his physical boundaries would no longer be defined, he would feel connected with his surroundings. A lack of stimulation of the right lobe would bolster the individual’s feeling of unity with the world as the brain would no longer be creating the perception of a physical space. We have found a correlation between the subjective descriptions of meditators and brain function.”
“I don’t think I told you folks yet, but usually I welcome the new first-year students and tell them we are going to teach them all sorts of really vital spiritually important truths — and at least 50 percent of what we teach is bullshit and we, the faculty, don’t know which 50 percent!”
Heh.
It sounds like transpersonal psychology is a “fertile” field of inquiry.
This is exciting research, but I see it as a start, not as any kind of final answer. Offhand, I can think of two ways to be at one with the universe. One is to have your internal brain processes which draw a clear boundary between you and the outside – very useful in everyday life – temporarily stop working. You might say this produces an illusion of being one with all. The other way is to ask are there real consequences of losing your boundaries? Will a feeling of greatly increased contact with the universe activate your psi capacities in a demonstrable way? No research on that, but it would be very interesting…..
I also suspect there may be a variety of different accomplishments all lumped together under the term “enlightenment.” An analogy. Kindergartners being impressed that someone has a doctoral degree. Wow! But a degree in what field? We have to get a lot more “educated” ourselves to even ask these kinds of questions.
“One is to have your internal brain processes which draw a clear boundary between you and the outside – very useful in everyday life – temporarily stop working. You might say this produces an illusion of being one with all.”
Most people think it is natural and obvious to consider their skin and everything inside it to be themselves and everything outside their skin to be separate from themselves. However natural and logical this seems, it is an opinion we hold only because of the activity of the posterior superior parietal lobe.
To say oneness is an illusion is an opinion. One might have the equally valid opinion that separateness is an illusion – that the brain creates the illusion of separation. Either way it is an opinion.
One way to explain the link between the brain and consciousness is to suppose the brain produces consciousness. Another explanation is to suppose the brain filters consciousness. When you turn off the posterior superior parietal lobe you may be turning off the production of a sense of separation – however doesn’t that imply there is a preexisting sense of oneness? By producing a sense of separation the brain prevents consciousness of that preexisting sense of oneness.
Where does that preexisting sense of oneness come from? Does it come from a consciousness that is produced by the brain or a consciousness separate from the brain?
In the Zen tradition, kensho is believed to be an experience of the truth that oneness is real and that separateness is an illusion.
When I experienced kensho I just thought part of my brain shut down. I eventually found that scientific research supported my supposition. At the time, I didn’t think I was having a paranormal experience.
However, a Zen master would have a lot more experience at this than I did so I am not convinced my materialistic interpretation is right.
In particular, there isn’t any guaranteed way to tell if you are having a paranormal experience or not. Once you have the experience it isn’t paranormal any more. People who never experience psi may not understand what it is like. They may assume there is some kind of distinct mystical flavor. That isn’t necessarily so.
For example, when I took classes in mediumship at a spiritualist church, the spirit communications I experienced seemed ordinary not mystical. The information was mostly visual. I would see something in my minds eye like hynogogic imagery. It wasn’t a new sensation or experience. I would occasionally perceive a smell or a sound as if it was outside myself as though others could percieve them as well. There were no new sensations – just familiar sensations in a different context – sensation which conveyed information that I didn’t previously know but usually my classmates recognized this information as identifying deceased relatives.
Experiencing oneness can be shown to occur when part of the brain shuts down, but that doesn’t mean it is an illusion and doesn’t mean the materialistic explanation is correct.