Transpersonal Psychology 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 describes how the transpersonal psychology movement was a further development by the founders of humanistic psychology. Its focus is on spiritual experiences as understood by many different cultures and traditions – martial arts, meditation, yoga, prayer, and religion. While some have maintained that transpersonal psychologists are merely teaching religion, Tart argues that there is an important difference: they are non-dogmatic and open to all traditions. He expresses his hope that eventually, transpersonal psychologists will gain an understanding of which spiritual disciplines are best suited to particular personality types.

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.

(Recorded on November 10, 2016)