Customer Reviews

Mind Science: Meditation Training for Practical People

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This excellent meditation guide book is written in the form of a one-day seminar that Charles Tart conducted for the University of Arizona's "Toward a Science of Consciousness" meeting in Tucson in 1998. While there are many books written on the subject of what meditation is and how to go about meditating, few can match the hands-on feeling of being in a meditation class that this book offers.

Right from the beginning, this book grabbed my attention by describing the differences between scientism (the tendency to consider scientific theories to be "laws") and open-minded, objective science. By pointing out this as well as other common habitual thinking traps we often fall into, Tart's book helps the reader learn to recognize the way we can become aware of our mechanical, habitual thought patterns.

Tart clearly describes concentrative meditation and opening-up meditation (aka "vipassana") techniques in a straightforward manner that is easy enough for beginners to put into immediate practice. I was glad to see that questions and answers that arose in the workshop were included in this book, because they often addressed the same concerns that were going through my mind as I tried out each meditative technique.

As an extra bonus, Tart's book describes the range of states of consciousness we experience, and how we can awaken from the sleep of ordinary consciousness where we are primarily reacting to external stimuli. Tart has a real talent for illuminating the highlights in consciousness research, and sharing some of the most important findings in simple language. Tart's down-to-Earth practicality is his great gift as a writer -- he brings complex issues into clear focus without losing the main ideas along the way.

If you've been waiting until an easy-to-understand yet comprehensive meditation book came along, you're in luck. This is it!

Before reviewing the content of this book, I must state my dislike of meditation books. Through the years I've read a number of such books, both for professional as well as personal reasons, and was generally put off by the "devotional" aspects that many authors attach to meditation techniques.

This is, in my opinion, a "five star" book because Dr. Tart has finally presented a "how to" book that I can recommend to both my patients, co-workers, and friends with no reservations whatsoever. Dr. Tart's book is based on a workshop he facilitated during a conference on consciousness studies and reads very easily. There are questions and answers from the participants that answer the questions many of us have related to these practices. Dr. Tart gives clear instructions on three meditation forms in a conversational style, making what could be difficult material easy to understand.

What really seperates this book from so many others out there is that it lives up to it's title: Meditation Training for Practical People. Dr. Tart clearly knows not only the technique of the three forms of meditation he presents, but shares his own experience of the traps that we can fall into during the practice of same.

In short, although I generally suggest people to learn meditation "mouth to ear" (from another person, not from a book), I can find nothing objectionable in this volume and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to meditate, or even those who already practice and would like some tips on deepening their practice. This is really the only book that comes close to actually being at a "how to" meditation seminar. Again, highly recommended.

My favourite work by Charles Tart (I've read them all) is this book, which describes with wit and candor the one day metaphysical workshop he conducted in November 2000. It includes very simple to understand instructions as well as audience questions and answers. You read this book and feel like you were there!

I got this book thinking that it was primarily a meditation training book for practical, read scientific or logical, people. I found less than 20 out of a little over 200 pages focused on specifically meditation training.

The rest of the book involves Tart's presentations at the one day conference with questions and answers. This is where I should have been more aware of the first two words of the title "mind science". The bulk of the book covers a wide range of consciousness studies. Some of the questions and answers were helpful. I agree that the reader can get the feeling that you were at the tutorial.

I sort of get the feeling of one student who responds to Tart's question "what should we do, more practice or discussion?" - "More drill" was shouted out followed by about 10 more pages of discussion. Charles Tart is a self proclaimed "thoughtaholic" and I thought the book was a bit too long on discussion and no long enough on meditation training. If you are more interested in the discussion you might find this book more interesting.

While not way out there like some books on meditation, he still attempts to convince you that you should believe in an unexplainable spiritual world. I'm an engineer and I just don't buy this. However, the sell is not hard and the vast majority of the book is just guided meditation and mindfulness. It did help me to begin learning the techniques and I therefore recommend it.