Item Details

USA, Esalen Institute, 1972, Disbound

First, VG

[ESALEN] Small Archive 1972-73 ESALEN INSTITUTE Big Sur & Florida ALAN WATTS Mushrooms

Small archive of three items published by Esalen Institute in 1972 including:

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ESALEN INSTITUTE FLORIDA CONFERENCE NOV. 1972  4 ¼” x 11” flyer folds out to 11” x 17” poster. Conference featured speaker ALAN WATTS on POWER OF POSITIVE NOTHINGNESS and DEMONSTRATION OF A BUDDHIST MEDITATION.

THE ESALEN CATALOG Volume XI, No.2 1973 INCLUDING PROGRAMS WITH THE GESTALT INSTITUTE OF SAN FRANCISCO 8 ¼” x 11”. 40 pages. Includes GESTALT, ANTIOCH COLLEGE PROGRAM, PAUL KRASSNER, WORKSHOP FOR GAY PEOPLE,  TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS,  PSYCHOSYNTHESIS,  ALTERED CONCIOUSNESS, HEADTRIPPING

THE ESALEN CATALOG FALL 1972, VOLUME X, No.4.  11” x 17”. 19 pages. Includes BIG SUR EXPERIENCE, ENCOUNTER GROUPS, ROLFING, ALAN WATTS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION, WOMEN’S LIBERATION,  SACRED MUSHROOMS,  CENTERING, BODY AWARENESS

Esalen, the institute that has long been a world leader in alternative and experiential education and stands today at the center of the human potential movement. Forged in the literary and mythical leanings of the Beat Generation, inspired in the lecture halls of Stanford by radical scholars of comparative religion, the institute was the brainchild of Michael Murphy and Richard Price.

Set against the backdrop of California during the revolutionary 1960s, Esalen began when these  thinkers sought to fuse the spiritual revelations of the East with the scientific revolutions of the West, or to combine the very best elements of Zen Buddhism, Western psychology, and Indian yoga into a decidedly utopian vision that rejected the dogmas of conventional religion. In their religion of no religion, the natural world was just as crucial as the spiritual one, science and faith not only commingled but became staunch allies, and the enlightenment of the body could lead to the full realization of our development as human beings.