Downloaded from PSINET - By Steve Woodward

."Spiritual Aspects of the Psychic"
.Charles Tart, Ph.D.
.
.   Contrasted with Mishlove's stance, Tart suggested we should be more
interested in the implications of psi than the its application.  We should be
involved in "who might I be."  Tart stated that we are in a continual process
of identifying who we are.  In terms of science or scientism and our process of
identification, "we have figured out everything."  Tart stated that according
to science, everything is precisely and exactly produced by immutable physical
laws.  Mental events correlate with electro-chemical events.  However, Tart
points out that people have subjective experiences that indicate that
consciousness is more than a brain process.  This has important implications,
according to Tart, in that if there is something other than the physical body
(such as a soul), we should work for things that have long term benefits for
the soul.  This is contrasted with the scienticism view that we are isolated in
our existence and there is little relationship between our activity and someone
else's.
.
.   Tart stated that one problem that we constantly encounter is that people
keep on having spiritual and psychic experiences and go to people who represent
scientistic knowledge and get invalidated.  However, there is a growing body of
evidence that people (on a mass scale) are aware of and have experienced
various types of psi phenomena, regardless of the stance of science in general.
He stated that in one gallup poll, 67% of those surveyed believed in life after
death, 23% believed in reincarnation, and 24% believed that they had made
contact with the dead.
.
.   Tart mentioned that we can reconcile our existence in a scientific culture
by the fact that over 700 well done studies have been completed that indicate
the existence of ESP and PK.  "Anyone who doesn't accept the reality of these
phenomena is ignorant or fearful."  Laboratory research is not enough.  Tart
believes that we should get out of sterile laboratories and more closely
examine our spiritual identity by studying such phenomena as out-of-body
experiences and near-death experiences.  We need massive studies on what people
experience.  One interesting point by Tart was that inducing near-death
experiences were major parts of mystery religions.  We now do this artificially
by resuscitation techniques.  It is estimated that approximately 30 million
people have had a close brush with death and 10-15 million have had a
near-death experience.
.
.   Tart closed by reiterating the point that, "We have in our times what I
consider a desparate need for some kind of spiritual identity.  A lot of
contemporary problems of the world can be traced to the predominance of this
scientific view."