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Table of Contents | Introduction | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3
"Recommended as an excellent introduction to meditation... especially valuable for people who are not already on a spiritual path, and who would be put off by spiritual
language or metaphysical assumptions."
--Roger Walsh, Ph.D., author of Essential Spirituality
BOOK SUMMARY
Rich with lucid instructions and practical insights, Mind Science dispels the metaphysical haze that all too often surrounds the subject of meditation. Based on a lively workshop with fellow scientists, Charles Tart shows how the pragmatic and scientifically-inclined among us can bring mindfulness into everyday life without religious baggage -- while clearly explaining its many spiritual and health benefits.
These highly interactive and often witty sessions in front of a skeptical audience anticipate the questions that any practical person might have about meditative mindfulness. If you’ve been looking for a clear teaching on how and why to meditate that is free of sectarian involvement, this is the book for you.
Mind Science is based on a workshop at the country’s leading scientific conference on the study of consciousness, held bi-annually at the University of Arizona at Tucson. Tart’s jovial and wide-ranging style makes Mind Science suitable reading for intelligent lay people with a practical and scientific inclination, as well as the academically- and scientifically-trained students of consciousness and related fields. Mind Science is, in fact, the only current book on meditation by an author who is also a well-respected scientist.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 Charles Tart pioneered the field of consciousness studies decades ago, with his classic bestselling anthology Altered States of Consciousness, still in print 30 years later. Tart is credited with almost single-handedly legitimizing the study of altered states, including
hypnosis, meditation, lucid dreaming and drug-induced states. He himself initiated several lines of research in parapsychology, including ESP and out-of-body experiences. His oeuvre boasts more than 250 articles in leading scientific and professional journals including Science and Nature, and numerous well-known books. His Transpersonal Psychologies (Harper & Row, 1975), for example, became the core text in the then new field of transpersonal psychology.
As one of the world’s foremost authorities on the human mind, Dr. Tart is unique in being tough-minded and rigorous, a creative researcher, and a critic of "New Agey" nostrums, but also open-minded and courageous in researching controversial phenomena of the mind. His lifework has
been to identify important core facts vital to understanding human consciousness by clearly and substantively distinguishing this data from popular misconceptions or religiously-biased beliefs.
Among his many other well-known titles are Waking Up; Open Mind, Discriminating Mind; and Living the Mindful Life. Currently a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, and a core faculty member of the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, Dr. Tart is a rare combination of scientist/laboratory researcher,
serious student of spiritual disciplines, and talented educator.
PRAISE FOR THE WORK OF CHARLES TART
"Tart is the most important writer [on] the scientific study of Expanded consciousness in the world at the moment."
-- Colin Wilson
"One of the world’s leading experts in the field [of] consciousness research."
-- Frances Vaughn
"If all academic scientists had his open and discriminating mind, progress would be
made exponentially."
-- C. Norman Sheely, M.D.
"A pioneer in the integration of ancient wisdom and contemporary science."
-- Roger Walsh
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