New Thinking • Nov 26, 2024 Charles T. Tart, PhD, is emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis. 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. In this interview, rebooted from 2016, he discusses a number of altered states including marijuana intoxication, dreaming, hypnosis, and out-of-body experiences. He describes his concept of “state specific research” using lucid dreaming as a clear example. An excerpt from the film, Altered States, with actor William Hurt are shown as it refers to Tart and his work. He also reviews the significance of altered states of consciousness for psychology in general as well as for our understanding of spirituality and the soul. He suggests that different states of consciousness are like different tools, each with unique capabilities. 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 also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on November 10, 2016)