FEARS OF THE PARANORMAL IN OURSELVES AND OUR COLLEAGUES: RECOGNIZING THEM, DEALING WITH THEM

Ostensibly objective scientists frequently show quite irrational and unethical behavior when presented with data about psi (psychic phenomena), the paranormal, subtle energies, and the like. Observations and some research suggests that, in addition to ignorance, semi-consciousness and unacknowledged fears of psi affect their thought and behaviors. Even researchers who advocate the importance of psi sometimes show similar distorted behavior, especially when effect size goes beyond statistically-significant-but-practically-trivial effects and become strong. Such unrecognized and unacknowledged resistance can sabotage both research and application. The researcher is not independent of the research in these areas. This paper focuses on recognizing and dealing with these widespread ambivalences and fears about psi phenomena

TOWARD AN EVIDENCE-BASED SPIRITUALITY: SOME GLIMPSES OF AN EVOLVING VISION

In my recent book The End of Materialism: How Evidence of the Paranormal is Bringing Science and Spirit Together, I have argued that great psychological damage is done by a scientistic mindset of Dismissive Materialism, which automatically condemns all spirituality as stupid and neurotic, and that consideration of actual scientific evidence shows that it is reasonable to be both scientific and spiritual in one’s orientation to life. My focus now is on how we can begin to develop an evidence-based (or at least evidence-enriched) spirituality for the twenty-first century. Such a spirituality should be practically effective in enriching people’s lives as well as consistent with current and evolving scientific knowledge. After a brief review of the scientific evidence showing that humans sometimes possess the kinds of qualities we would expect in a spiritual being, I then discuss the nature of knowledge acquisition and refinement, showing its compatibility with essential science. Next, I sketch eight examples of possible research directions for building knowledge for an evidence-based spirituality, and briefly discuss irrational levels of resistance to such an enterprise

Mindlessness and Mindfulness in Daytime and Nighttime Dreaming

I have been interested in dreams since I was a young child and discovered for myself that I could become lucid in nightmares and so cure myself of them. Professionally, I was fascinated by lucid dreams when almost no scientists knew that they were "real." Lucid dreamersm, of course, knew they were real, and usually did not need any support forom scientific authorities for the fact that their experience was what it was! I say "usually," as we must not underestimate the power of authority to sometimes talk us out of the reality of our own experience

ENLIGHTENMENT AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH: Reflections from the Bottom Up

A tendency to all-or-none thinking, you're either enlightened or you're not at all enlightened, confuses our understanding of possible aspects of spiritual growth. These ordinary state reflections begin with the difficulties of defining enlightenment, showing how it is dearer to consider endarkenment and work away from that all too common condition. Using the author's model that ordinary (and altered states) of consciousness are biological-psychological virtual realities, analogous with compurer-generated virtual realities, various continuous dimensions of enlightenment can be considered. The primary nvo discussed herein are the available (altered) states ofconsciousness dimension--what ASCs can a person access that are appropriate to various situations?-and the within states dimension of intelligence-given you are in ASC N, how effectively, in how relatively enlightened a way, are you using it? A tool analogy clarifies this line of thinking, where the various tools available are analogous to the available states dimension and the skill in using individual tools is analogous to the within states dimension. The importance of individual differences is stressed, for a person might be relatively enlightened within one particular stare, e.g., bur not have useful ASCs available, or a person might have access to many ASCs but function neurotically in all of them. As a reminder that this kind of reasoning can only take us SO far, even if a llseful distance (relative enlightenment within ordinary consciollsness), a case of Cosmic Consciousness is briefly described and suggestions for research are put foward

What Do We Mean By Lucidity?

John Wren-Lewis fascinating article (1985), reinforcing the discussions George Gillespie and I have been having (Gillespie, 1983; Tart, 1984), demonstrates much we need to clarity the term “lucid.” It raises many other vital issues, but space limitations preclude my commenting on them here

Multiple personality, altered states and virtual reality: the world simulation process approach

p. 222-233A new technological model of consciousness is that of computer-generated virtual reality. By wearing goggles containing color TV sets and earphones, a computer can control a person's main sensory input, coordinating it with actual body movements tracked by sensors, giving the "traveler" a virtual body that can interact with virtual objects. More than one person can enter the same virtual reality and interact with other travelers there. Given psychological identification, a virtual reality can quickly become an almost total reality. Developing applications, such as those in architecture, are discussed. Contemporary neurology and psychology show that we already live in one or more internal virtual realities, generated by neurological and psychological processes. Stable patterns, stabilized systems of these internal virtual realities, constitute states of consciousness, our ordinary personality, and multiple personalities. Computer-generated virtual realities offer intriguing possibilities for developing diagnostic, inductive, psychotherapeutic and training techniques that can extend and supplement current ones

JNDS, Volume 25, Number 4

Editor's abstract and note: In this commentary, Charles Tart critiques Keith Augustine's deconstruction of Pam Reynolds's near-death experience (NDE) while undergoing cerebral aneurysm surgery using the hypothermic cardiac arrest ("standstill") procedure. However, after drafting this initial response to Augustine's paper, family medical problems prevented Tart from researching and polishing his comments as thoroughly as he would have wished. He has approved our publication of this commentary but regrets taht it is not up to his usual standard

Virtual realities and virtual mistakes: a comment on Tart

p. 214-21