SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGIES

by Charles -- Ed. Tart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 1975

On the positive side this develops through its multiplicity of perspectives the thesis that various religious disciplines, including some discovered along with drugs by the counterculture, offer sophisticated spiritual psychologies to fill the void at the heart of orthodox, Western churches. Negatively, Tart's subject looks more interesting than what he says about it. His three introductory essays argue, tediously, that the spiritual dimension of existence is susceptible to scientific investigation, provided academic psychology transcends its materialistic bias and myriad empirical assumptions. The subsequent essays, mostly by articulate adepts rather than scholars--on Zen Buddhism, Buddha, Yoga, Gurdjieff, Arica, Sufism, Christian Mysticism, Western Magic-amply outline the sort of material on which Tart would base his science of the spiritual. But the upshot is an informative textbook that, for all its skillful psychic cartography, misses precisely what it aims to catch--the spiritual experience of the great disciplines.

Pub Date: Aug. 6, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION