On The Edge Of The Future

by Kripal, Jeffrey John

• ISBN13: 9780253217592
• ISBN10: 0253217598
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

The renowned Esalen Institute, founded in 1962 by Stanford graduates MichaelMurphy and Richard Price, was created as a place "where the body canmanifest the glories of the spirit." It offered guests a heady mixture of worldmythology, hypnosis and psychic research, spiritual healing, sport mysticism,and Tantric eroticism. Among the notables who have spent time at the Instituteare Abraham Maslow, Timothy Leary, Paul Tillich, Carlos Castaneda, B. F.Skinner, and former California governor Jerry Brown.Despite its cultural significance, remarkably little has been written aboutEsalen itself. In On the Edge of the Future: Esalen and the Evolution ofAmerican Culture, 11 original essays, plus an afterword by co-founderMurphy, examine the Institute's roots, the place of its beliefs in Americanreligious history, and its influence. This lively volume will fascinate anyoneinterested in the history of American religion as well as those who regard thisremarkable place as the epicenter of the human potential movement.The contributors are Catherine L. Albanese, Erik Erickson, Robert Fuller,Marion S. Goldman, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Don Hanlon Johnson, Jeffrey J.Kripal, Timothy Miller, Michael Murphy, Glenn W. Shuck, Ann Taves, andGordon Wheeler.Jeffrey J. Kripal is J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religious Studies andChair of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University. He lives inHouston, Texas.Glenn W. Shuck is visiting professor of religion at Williams College. He livesin Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Author Biography

Jeffrey J. Kripal is J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University. He lives in Houston, Texas.

Glenn W. Shuck is visiting professor of religion at Williams College. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCING ESALEN
Jeffrey J. Kripal and Glenn W. Shuck
1. HUMAN POTENTIAL BEFORE ESALEN
An Experiment in Anachronism	17	(28)
Wouter J. Hanegraaff
2. SACRED (AND SECULAR) SELF-FASHIONING
Esalen and the American Transformation of Yoga	45	(35)
Catherine L. Albanese
3. NOTES ON THE PREHISTORY OF THE HUMAN POTENTIAL MOVEMENT
The Vedanta Society and Gerald Heard's Trabuco College	80	(19)
Timothy Miller
4. READING AUROBINDO FROM STANFORD TO PONDICHERRY
Michael Murphy and the Tantric Transmission (1950-1957)	99	(33)
Jeffrey J. Kripal
5. THE ONLY WAYOUTIS IN
The Life of Richard Price	132	(33)
Barclay James Erickson
6. SPIRIT AND SHADOW
Esalen and the Gestalt Model	165	(32)
Gordon Wheeler
7. ESALEN AND THE CULTURAL BOUNDARIES OF METALANGUAGE	197	(27)
Robert C. Fuller
8. MICHAEL MURPHY AND THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SUPERNORMAL HUMAN ATTRIBUTES	224	(26)
Ann Taves
9. FROM SARX TO SOMA
Esalen's Role in Recovering the Body for Spiritual Development	250	(18)
Don Hanlon Johnson
10. SATAN'S HOT SPRINGS
Esalen in the Popular Evangelical Imagination	268	(37)
Glenn W. Shuck
11. ESALEN INSTITUTE, ESSENCE FAITHS, AND THE RELIGIOUS MARKETPLACE	286	(19)
Marion S. Goldman
AFTERWORD	305	(8)
Michael Murphy
CONTRIBUTORS	313	(4)
INDEX	317