Charles T. Tart
Charles T. ("Charley") Tart (April 29, 1937 – March 5, 2025) was an American psychologist and parapsychologist known for his psychological work on the nature of consciousness (particularly altered states of consciousness), as one of the founders of the field of
transpersonal psychology, and for his research in parapsychology.
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via Regina Ochoa, October 23, 2025
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"Nothing has prepared me for the excitement I would experience when I stepped into this surrounding. This is an incredible laboratory of unending learning. WOW is the only word that comes to mind. WOW."
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I am still Charley Tart.
And yet, as we write, you are experiencing my physical essence—the body that once was—as that of a 25-year-old lying on the green. And yet, I am so very different. I am here with you, appearing as I was at a time when I was energized, excited about life, and curious about what is out there. Anyone can read about me, my studies, my scientific papers, and the results and findings. However, though those years shaped who I became and how I sought answers to the near-impossible questions of parapsychology and the paranormal, nothing has prepared me for the excitement I would experience when I stepped into this surrounding. This is an incredible laboratory of unending learning. WOW is the only word that comes to mind. WOW.
I finally understand why so many of our students who were willing to go the extra mile for me and let us study their minds, their dreams, and their conscious elements of thought, had such a difficult time describing what, where, and who they experienced when they were in an 'altered' state. All who traveled into the superconscious existence of a greater reality, induced through medications, herbs, shamanic rituals, and meditations, returned to their body starry-eyed. This place is amazing, and I am only on the first floor. I'm not ready to zip up to the second or higher, as I am still exploring what I have encountered.
I have guides, and my wife steps close whenever I think, "Judy would love this," or "I can't wait to tell Judy about this or that." I want to tell my mentors, the teachers, professors, and my students. Many are here already.
I have already stepped into the 'great beyond', but that was too much too soon. Judy reminded me that this will always be here when I am ready to explore. There are guides at every corner. I call them guides, as that is how they appear to me; I am comfortable with the docents in khaki pants and blue polos, clipboard in hand, showing me the way. They are always nearby for my questions. I am in the perfect classroom, or would I call this a social structure created by like-minded individuals?
I haven't figured this one out yet. I see others like me experiencing their youth with vigor and questions about life beyond the physical. We are all students here, and maybe, eventually, I will be a docent for those who follow. Another unanswered pondering.
I have come to recognize the familiarity of my thinking, and that I am unlike everyone; I am an individual consciousness with a particular mind, memory, and structure. But here I am without a physical vessel to hold these elements of life. Life without the body—I know this concept, I understood it—that I would continue after my body parted from my energetic soul. Yet, the experience of this existence is quite extraordinary. I am continually amused at our naive thought structure when we have had our souls compromised within a physical body.
Here, I am in the womb again. But a womb of such promising, life-giving energy that I do not want to emerge—not yet; I am still gaining strength to navigate the environment of my existence. WOW. How does one evaluate and compare when one has no idea what is ahead, out there, in this real world—the Greater Reality?
The Greater Reality, my new world term, I learned from Frances Vaughan. She tells me this is how her guides have shared this place with her. For some, this is the Bardo - a place in between our lives where we go after we let our bodies go; others refer to this as the Summerland, and I can see that, for if that is the case then their projections of what life is like is that it is filled with love, angels, guardians, and is forever a time when Spring gives way to Summer. The day of perfect weather, skies of aqua blue, and oceans bringing salty air onto the land. I use a different term; it is still my connection to life on Earth. I see it as the office—a perfect space where I can meander and ask the universe whatever I wish.
I do not go to work; my office is like stepping onto a train platform, where all the locomotives enter a nearby roundhouse, and when they emerge, I have the chance to board any train bound for any destination to explore the unknown. It is strange, the signage here is like reading symbols, and I watch as they change for each traveler, so they can interpret them. I am not alone on the platform, as this mode of travel is quite popular for many. I am told there are those who never leave the train, and others move on, building their existence on the experiences they have here.
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We still have choices, options which allow growth and understanding. For some, they have arrived at this space in between with their Earthly fears and doubts, other weighted thoughts, and until they can let them go, or process them, they are unable to move forward, or upward. Like the metro line, the bullet trains are on higher platforms, while the old steam locomotives are on the lower ground level. So, when I get to this platform, I ask myself: have I learned all I need to? Have I seen what my eyes needed to take in? Has my heart and mind felt compassion at this point, this juncture, this station?
So why don't I just think about what I want to experience or explore? I can do that, and did a bit of it initially, as that is the most common way to realize our new surroundings and our abilities at this level of entry. However, I am using this mode of travel to understand how my mind projects the necessity of the passage of time and space. I assume this is a way for me to get used to this new experience.
You know, I am really happy here—more than happy. I know that I can go anywhere (within my limited thoughts and understanding) and discover, fill in the blanks to the many questions I sought answers for when I was in a body. I have been told that I can move up to the next level anytime I wish, that I am 'ready' for the scene which awaits me, and that I have been there many times before. But there is still so much here I want to reacquaint myself with, and I want to remember why I went to Earth in the first place. What exactly was the choice, and have I accomplished what I set out to achieve for my soul? I am enjoying the discovery of this answer, too.
I look forward to sitting down again with you and answering your questions. I will do my best to answer them, and if I do not know, I will find someone who does.
Until we connect again,
Your friend, may I call you that?
Charley.
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