McMoneagle - Mind Trek

by Charles T. Tart, Ph.D.

University of California

Davis, California

and

Institute of Noetic Sciences

Sausalito, California

F or more than thirty years I have studied areas of the human mind that have not always been considered respectable for a psychologist to study. These have included altered states of consciousness such as hypnosis, dreaming, meditation, and drug-induced states, as well as parapsychological phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and out-of-the-body experiences. My studies have convinced me that so-called "ordinary" or "normal" experience is just the tip of the iceberg and that we have possibilities that are not only exciting but which make more sense of the human condition than ordinary knowledge does.

As you might imagine, I have met, sometimes studied, and sometimes befriended some very interesting people: psychics, meditators, healers, spiritual teachers, martial art masters, and Nobel Laureates, to name just part of the range. Some have been quite wise, some a little mad, many a mixture of both.

Joe McMoneagle is one of these very interesting people who have a lot to teach us. He does not fit our culture's stereotype of a "spiritual" person or a "psychic." Indeed, he would probably be embarrassed if anyone pigeon-holed him in one of these categories. Joe is friendly, bluff and frank, and his appearance is muscular, self-assured and tough. When you get him talking about his service in Vietnam, you're glad he is friendly. I can't imagine him wearing robes or turbans, sitting in contorted meditation postures, claiming mysterious "powers," or preaching sermons.

Yet in 1970, Joe McMoneagle "died," was "united with God," and has since learned how to regularly and practically use what might seem like magic to many people.

Like a lot of other modern Westerners to whom this has happened, the result has been not only exquisite happiness but embarrassment, feelings of going crazy, isolation from others, and a shaking of the foundations of life; and, eventually, a greater happiness and feeling of purpose than most of us ever find. Joe is smarter, tougher, and more together than before his experiences started.

What can we make of this?

In my psychological and parapsychological studies of the human mind, I've found that we humans have an overwhelming need for meaning. Just as we need vitamins to maintain bodily health, we need beliefs and experiences that show us that the universe makes sense and that we personally have a part in it. If we don't get enough vitamins, we get deficiency diseases, like scurvy. If we can't find or create enough meaning in our universe, we get psychological deficiency diseases, such as an insatiable greed for material things that we hope (uselessly) will distract us enough so we don't feel the pain of living in a meaningless world.

For most people for most of history, religion provided a framework of meaning. It provided an explanation beyond the individual's limited horizons about why the universe existed (such as God or gods or Universal Love creating and maintaining it), a rationale for the problems of life (the struggle between good and evil, for example, or losing contact with our own higher nature through ignorance and desire), and a set of guidelines for living a meaningful life (morality, duty, and various spiritual development practices). The religious-meaning framework could, to some degree, lift us beyond our isolated individuality and struggles and make us feel part of something greater and worthwhile.