utopian visions (time-life mysteries of the unknown).pdf

8/9/2019 Utopian Visions (Time-Life Mysteries of the Unknown).pdf

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Utopian

Visions


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MYSTERIES

OF THE

UNKNOWN

^Utopian

Visions

By

the

Editors

of

Time-Life

Books

TIME-LIFE

BOOKS,

ALEXANDRIA,

VIRGINIA


8/168


9/168

CONTENTS

Essay

The

Garden of Paradise

6

CHAPTER 1

In Quesf of (he

Ideal

Life

16

Essay

Builders

of

Backyard

Utopias

43

CHAPTER 2

Seeking Eden in America

56

Essay

Dream

City by the Sea

87

CHAPTER 3

Perfecting

(he

Human

Spirit

98

Essay An

Obligation

to Redo Everything

120

CHAPTER

4

Toward a

Planetary

Vision

134

Acknowledgments

154

Bibliography

154

Picture

Credits

156

Index

156


10/168

The

Garden

of

Paradise

Whether

as a

heavenly realm

or an

earthly

Eden,

a

state

of primeval inno-

cence

or

perpetual bliss, the

concept

of

paradise

is

one of the oldest

Utopian

visions.

Each

culture

has depicted

par-

adise its

own

way,

but nearly

all share

an image

of

paradise as

a

garden

of

eternal

spring, wherein

the mortal

be-

comes immortal

and

the human spirit

dwells

in harmony with the

divine.

The

word paradise

is

from the Old

Persian

pairidaeza,

meaning

park or

enclosure.

It

was

on the arid Persian

plateau that

gardens most clearly ac-

quired

religious

significance. The

Per-

sian

garden

was

a

walled

oasis

divided

by

channels of water

a

cosmological

idea

echoed

in

the biblical

Eden.

Sym-

metrically

patterned

by fruit trees,

flowers,

and verdant shrubbery,

it

was

designed

as much

for philosophical

contemplation

as physical

enjoyment.

The

garden

paradises of other

cul-

tures

also

embodied

eternity. The

Koran

says that

the blessed

will

be

brought to

the

Lord

in

gardens

of

delight.

And

the

eternal

abode

of

the

Hindu

gods is

a

land of

flowers,

per-

fumes,

and paths

of gold.

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In the

eighteenth-century

Indi-

an

painting

below,

a gopi,

or

shepherdess, and

her

compan-

ion await the arrival

of

Krishna,

thegod

of

love.

A

symbol

of

the

human soul seeking

union

with

the

Divine

and

thus

paradise,

with its

freedom

from

reincar-

nation

each

gopi

believed

she

alone was

the

god's beloved.

The waiting

women

are

enrap-

tured

by the

beauty

of

spring,

which

signals a time

of

renew-

al,

awakening human hopes

for

spiritual consummation

and

for

release

from

the

earthly

c

birth and rebirth.

In

the Indian painting o

site,

a

richly

attired Krish

arrives

at

full

moon to

pe

his Cosmic

Dance.

While

real

helpers

rain

flowers

f

above,

the

gopisform

a

c

symbolizing

the

marriage

heaven

and earth. The

Bl

God,

as Krishna is also

kn

dances simultaneously

wi

each gopi;

the joining

of

couple represents

the dev

embrace

of

the Divine.


13/168


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* *

Envisioning

paradise as

a har-

monious

land

where

nature is

bountiful,

the

Florentine artist

Sandro

Botticelli

portrayed

the

coming

of

spring in his Primave-

ra

(below),

completed around

1478. The

painting depicts

Zephyrus,

the

West

Wind

(far

right

in the picture), seizing the

veiled

Primavera,

or

Spring,

and

transforming

her

into

Flo-

ra,

the

petal-scattering goddess

of

flowers.

A

melding

of

classi-

cal mythology and Christian

symbolism,

the

artist's eclectic

vision

reflects

the Early

Renais-

sance

philosophy

that a contin-

uous spiritual circuit

joined

all

creation

with

God.

At

right,

a menagerie

of

crea-

tures, including

man

and

wom-

an,

share

a bounteous Garden

of

Eden in this

work

by Flemish

artist

Jan

Brueghel the Elder.

Rendered small and unobtru-

sive,

Adam and Eve recall hu-

mankind's original carefree

and

innocent

state

and

reaffirm

the

biblical

ideal

of

the

fruitful

earthly park planted

by

God.

12


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The peaks

and

valleys

of

para-

dise meld with

a

sublime sweep

into

the

white

light

of

eternity

in British

artist

John

Martin's

1853

painting

titled

The

Plains

of

Heaven. The

landscape il-

lustrates

the Christian

vision

of

paradise

as

it is

described in

the

New

Testament's

book

of

Revelation: a lush and

ethe-

real other world, spirited

with

angels, where

souls

await

the

LastJudgment.

15


20/168

CHAPTER

1

In

Quest

of

the

Ideal

Life

n

Utopia, where every man has a right to

everything, they

all know

care is taken to keep

the public

stores full, no private

man can want

thing;

for

among

them

there

is

no

unequal

distribution,

so

that

no

m

poor, none in necessity; and

though

no man has anything,

yet they

a

rich; for

what can make a man

so

rich

as to lead a serene and cheerfu

free from

anxieties?

So did Thomas

More, the sixteenth-century English

statesman

scribe his version

of

the ideal society and

coin

the

term

that

would f

be

associated with

a

perfect place.

More,

who

would

later

become

chancellor

of

England during

the rule

of

Henry

VIII and

a martyr

f

Catholic church,

wrote

Utopia

in two

parts

during 1515

and

1516.

The

a play

on

the

Greek word

Utopia,

which has

the double

meaning

place

and no place.

It

is

written

in

the

form

of

a

report

by

a

fictitious

Portuguese

Raphael

Hythlodaye

another

Greek pun,

meaning

dispenser of

sense

who is

described as having

made

three

voyages to the

New

with

Italian

explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

The

first half

of the

book consi

a

veiled

critique of

Renaissance England,

while

the second

describes

lodaye's

visit

to the

land

known

as Utopia, an island

off the coast of

S

where,

whose way

of life

provides

not

only the happiest basis for a civ

community,

but

also

one which,

in all human probability,

will

last fore

Thomas

More

was just one of a long line of visionaries who dre

of

an ideal world,

a

heaven on earth

free

from evil and imperfect

Throughout

history, braveand sometimes

foolhardy optimists in

n

every

civilization,

from

ancient

Sumerian

ruler-priests to

Renaissance

losophers

to

twentieth-century social revisionists, have offered

their

versions of this universal dream. Some envisioned a paradise like the

den

of

Eden, where

humans could

live

in eternal

splendor, free

from e

travails.

Others

preferred

to

design

their

own societies, setting out on

Utopian

cities or

nations that boasted

the

perfect

solutions to

humanki

problems. More's Utopia

and

Plato's

Republic are

among the

best-k

examples of these

blueprints

of perfection.


21/168

Many have not been

content

merely to

dream or plan

Utopias.

Rather, they have

boldly

rejected established

and

banded together in their

own

would-be Utopian

Members of a sect led by

Pythagoras, the

Greek

mathematician

and mystic,

lived

ascetic lives within

monastery-like

communities

in

attempt to

achieve

perfection. Later Utopians

with a spir-

bent

would

look

to the past, to

early mystical

sects,

to

their

own

magical

ideas

to

guide

them

in

establish-

their own

paradises

on earth.

Two thousand

years after

Pythagoras's

time,

countless

saw the discovery

of

America as a new

beginning,

opportunity to

return

to an

Eden-like

existence. Reli-

Utopians

established model societies in America

that

the

chance to

attain

spiritual perfection. Others

to forge in

the

New

World

Utopian

communities or-

on radical

intellectual notions. The twentieth century,

has produced its share of Utopian

visionaries

includ-

those

who believe they

live

in a

New

Age and who

hold

Utopia

exists

within

oneself.

By

developing

the

spiritual

of human consciousness, they

con-

people

can

live together

harmoni-

and

create

a

global

Utopia.

The urge

to

carve out a

bit

heaven

on earth

has usually

strongest in

times

of

and

upheaval. For

the catalyst

was

the

of

his

beloved Ath-

to mighty Sparta;

More,

it

was

signs

the

coming Refor-

4

9t

mation; for many

who

decided to immigrate to

America

was

religious

persecution in their homelands;

for

so

twentieth-century Americans, it has been war, poverty, a

racial

injustice. The quest for Utopia

shows no sign of

ab

ing.

Those

who study

the

subject

estimate

that in

the Unit

States

alone

there are

presently

no fewer than

3,000

int

tional communities

that is, groups that purposely band

gether

in

an organized

effort

to

achieve

some

mutual

agreed

goals or

ideals.

The

definition

of

Utopia

seems to be as

varied

as

groups

that have

sought it.

For most, however, Utopia

perfection,

and perfection in this sense is usually defined

harmony within oneself

and with

others.

But Utopias

also

concerned with how

people should

live addressi

such

issues

as

religion, work, equality,

sexual

mores,

fa

ly,

property, and authority.

How

the

various communiti

deal with

those

issues

covers

a

wide

range

of possibiliti

Some

see the

ideal

society as one of

material

prosperi

others

want to be free of

material trappings.

Utopian

visi

aries

may

aspire

to

a

totally

natural

life,

or they

may

e

brace

modern technology

as fundamental

their

communities. Some

advocate

pe

sonal property,

but most

espou

communal

sharing, with equ

access

to

all

goods and

equ

status

between

all people.

y

No

matter what

fo

it

takes,

the Utopian

sion

is always

with

As Oscar

Wilde

wrot

A

map

of

the

wor

that does not

inclu


22/168

Utopia

is

not

worth even

glancing

at,

for

it

leaves out

the

one

country at

which

Humanity

is

always

landing.

And

when

Humanity

lands

there, it

looks

out, and

see-

ing

a

better

country,

sets sail.

Progress is the

realiza-

tion

of Utopias.

While

the word

Utopia

was not used

in the context of

an

ideal

society

until

the Renaissance, the concept

of

a

place

free

from suffering,

where the inhabitants

are

immortal

and

forever

young,

is

as

old

as

humankind

itself.

Every

cul-

ture

has had

its

paradise

myths, as

scholars

call

them, and

the

paradise

myths of

the past

have

piled

one on another in

the

minds

of modern

humankind, inspiring the

secular

Western

world's

vision

of Utopia.

Many of these

myths

describe

an

immemorial

golden

age

where

humans lived without fear or want. The

Chey-

enne Indians,

for instance,

spoke

of a

time

gone

by

when

men

and women

cavorted naked

and

unashamed amid

fields

of

plenty.

Other peoples have envisioned

paradise

as

a part

of

the

universe

yet

unseen,

a

place that

promises a

happy

existence as a

reward

after

death.

In

all

of these

myths,

paradise

is a place of innocence, free from conflicts.

It

is

also

eternal

or,

if lost

for

the moment,

destined

to re-

turn

in

the future.

The

Garden

of Eden

in the Old

Testament's book

of

Genesis,

whose

images

have

become

part

of

the conscious-

ness of

Western

civilization, may

be the best-known exam-

ple

of paradise,

but

it

is by

no means the

earliest recorded

description.

That

distinction

belongs to

the paradise myth of

the

Sumerians,

the

remarkable

people

who

occupied

the

Tigris-Euphrates valley

from about 4000

BC

to

2000

BC.

In-

deed,

linguists

believe

that

the

Hebrews

borrowed

the

word

eden

(meaning

fertile

plain )

from

the Sumerians.

Sumerians were noted for their developments

in agri-

culture,

trade,

art,

architecture,

and especially literature.

Modern

archaeologists

have found

more

than 5,000 tablets

and

other fragments of

objects inscribed with Sumerian

lit-

erary and

religious works.

One

tablet

has proved

particularly

fascinating. It told

of

the

land

of Dil-

mun, a

magical

place

where man

had no

rival.

The tablet began: The

land

of Dilmun is pure . . . / It

is

a

clean

place,

it

is

a

place

most

bright

. . .

/

In Dil-

mun the raven utters no cry, / The

kite

utters not the

cry of the kite, /

The

lion

kills

not, / The wolf kill

not the lamb,

/

Unknown is the

kid-killing

dog, /

Un

known is

the

grain-devouring boar . . . /

The sick-eye

man says not, I am sick-eyed, /

The

old woman

sa

not,

I

am

old.

The legend

of

Dilmun describes

a land that suff

violence

from neither wind nor

rain,

whose fields

eternally green and

fruitful,

a place

where pure waters

the

earth

spring

forth. The

idyllic Dilmun is peopled

immortal

gods

and

goddesses

who

are

free

from

toil

immune

to

the

ravages of age

and

disease. Yet

those

dwell in

Dilmun

are not

immune to

temptation.

Accor

to

the

Sumerian

legend, the

mother

goddess

Ninhu

caused

eight

plants to grow among

Dilmun's

fertile f

which

she

forbade the immortals

to eat.

However, Enk

god

of

fresh

water,

cannot resist

sampling

the

plants.

stricken

with a

fatal

illness

after

eating

them.

Althoug

18


23/168

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a,

created

by**

8

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left)

and

man

Thomas

More

J

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in

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debate

whether

More

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or

whether

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The

author

too

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r^

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and

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51/168

Colorful Walls

(o

Shui

Qui f

he

World

When

Eddie

Owens Martin

was

living

in

New

York in

1 935,

the fortuneteller

claimed a voice

from the spirit world

informed

him

that

he

was

to be

the

start of

something new. You'll call

yourself

St.

EOM,

the

voice

instruct-

ed, pronouncing Martin's

acronym

as

ohm, and you'll

be

a Pasaquoyan

the

first

one

in

the

world.

But not

until

years later

did

the

Georgia-born Martin

figure

out

what a

Pasaquoyan

wasone

who

brings the

past and the future togetherand

it

was 1957 before

he

began

to

fulfill

his

mysterious

calling.

That

year

he

l

moved back

to

Georgia and began

V transforming the house and land

his

mother had left

him

in Buena

Vista

into the

fortress

he

named Pasaquan.

St. EOM, as Martin

thenceforth

called himself, said he

built

Pasaquan

as

a monument

to

all the primitive

peoples

in

the

world.

Indeed,

its

style

reflects

his

intentions:

The

colorful

designs

look

Indian, African,

or

Orien-

tal.

But more

than anything,

the dense-

ly decorated walls and buildings (below

and

lower inset) served

as a

refuge

for

its

eccentric

creator. After

I got these

walls put

up, then

I

felt I had

the

world

shut

out,

Martin

remarked before his

death in

1986.

Here

I

can be in my

own world . . .

and

wherever

I

look,

I

see

something

beautiful.

MP*.

-W

i

f

K

t'

V\-

.


52/168

The

Reverend

Howard

Finster

(right) claims

that this could

be an

eternal

planet

if

all the

people

actually come to

God.

He

views

his

art

which

in-

cludes

Paradise

Garden

(be-

low)

and the World's

Folk

Art

Church

(lower inset)

as a

means to

spread

this message.


53/168

Sacred

Ait in

a

Homemade Paradise

God sent

me here

to be

a

man of

visions,

evangelical

preacher and

self-taught artist

Howard

Finster once

remarked,

and to

tell the

world

about

my visions

through

my

sacred art and

my

garden.

In

the

early

1960s,

Finster

began transforming the two acres be-

hind

his house in

Pennville,

Georgia,

into

a

surreal

scene of

makeshift mon-

uments,

bottle

houses, and cement

hills encrusted

with

mirrors and

reli-

gious

sculptures.

A

hand-lettered sign

in

what

is

now

popularly

called

Para-

dise Garden

explains its

creator's goal:

I

built this

park

of

broken

pieces

to

try

to

mend

a

broken

world.

After some fifteen years of

working

on this backyard Eden,

Finster

had a

vision

instructing

him to create a

num-

ber of

paintings he

calls sacred art.

A

few

years

later, he built the World's

Folk

Art Church near the

garden

to

serve as a sort of

holy

art gallery.

Its

purpose,

said

Finster,

was

to

reveal

the truth

of

God,

the truth of mankind

and

his

discoveries,

the truth of the

present, and the truth of the

future.


54/168

-

p;;^

V

Raymond Isidore

(left)

decorated

every

conceiv- I

able object in his

house, >L

from

flowerpots

to

the

furniture

(inset,

below),

\7.

with pieces

of

broken

glass

and

crockery.

The

locals dubbed him

le

pique-assiette

French

erand

his

creation La

Maison Picassiette.

i it

w

m

>M

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6 v

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V

i

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s-fc'&jp

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t V

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4

v.

IT

,v-

A Glittering Mosaic

of

Broken

Glass

We discard

so

many things that could

be

used

to create

life

and

happiness,

Raymond

Isidore

once

said.

He

was

himself, however,

a

striking

exception

to

this observation. From 1938 until

his

death in

1964,

the French cemetery

caretaker,

a resident of Chartres,

col-

lected

ceramic

and

glass

fragments

from

dumps, roadsides,

and

his

ac-

quaintances

and used them to

create

the fantastic

mosaics

that

eventually

covered

every

inch of his

house

and

garden

(right).

Reportedly

inspired

by

God, nature,

and the

great

cathedral in his town,

Isidore embedded

both the interior and

exterior

walls of

his

home

with

scenes

from

the Bible,

models

of

Chartres

and

other

cathedrals, and various

images

he

found

pleasing.

Isidore believed

he

was

guided

by

a

divine spirit,

although

he

also admitted that he

created

the

monument

to

suit

his own

tastes, so

that he

could live

in

his

own

element.

His

jewel-like house and

garden,

he

said,

were

a dream

come true.

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us Mi

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56/168

Obsessed

with

light and

reflec-

tions,

Clarence Schmidt illu-

minated

his

home

with

strings

of

bulbs and

tinsel-wrapped wires

(above). In the gardens,

A

he

built shrines to his

heroes.

One series hon-

ored

U.S. presidents,

including

George

Washington

(lower

inset);

others

featured photos

of

Schmidt

himself.

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57/168

An

Incredible Edific

Made

from

Junk

Visionary artist Clarence Schmidt

on

described

the phantasmagorical

hom

stead

he

created

on

a

mountainside

in Woodstock,

New

York, as a hal-

lowed undertaking

that

would brin

peace

and happiness to this vilely

mixed

up and

war

torn

world.

Around

1948,

Schmidt, a plasterer

trade, began

enlarging his mountain

cabin.

He

soon became obsessed

by

the

project,

devoting

all his time and

energy to

it.

Some twenty

years

later

the cabin and

a

large tree nearby ha

been

completely

swallowed

by a

thir

five-room,

seven-story tinderbox

of

mansion

made from

discarded

junk

scrap

wood,

tar, and glass.

Inside,

strings

of Christmas-tree

lights

illuminated

a maze of passage

ways and rooms encrusted with mir-

rors

and a

dazzling collection

of cas

off

items

including

women's

shoes,

coffeepots, and artificial

flowers. The

gardens

around

the

house

echoed

it

contents:

Sculptures fashioned

from

other

people's rubbish were

placed

among

the trees and shrubs, hundre

of whose limbs

and

branches were

wrapped

in foil

to

reflect light.

The

reclusive

artist

dubbed the

ori

nal

cabin

at the heart

of

his chaotic

creation

his

Inner

Sanctum,

where

h

lived

what

he

called a

ritually clois-

tered

holy

existence, dedicated

to

building

a

new world all

tenderly

wrapped

up with

mountainous

harm

ny and everlasting

peace.

Unfortu-

nately

perhaps inevitably Schmidt'

highly

combustible

dreamland

caugh

fire

and

burned

to the ground in

196

he died

ten years

later.


58/168

Robert

Tatin

and his

wife,

Lise-

ron,

show

off

a grinning

sculp-

ture

he

called

The

Beast

Tamer

(right).

Most

of

his

images

which

have

been compared

to

Aztec,

Assyrian,

Mayan,

and

Inca

art

are

deliberately

sym-

bolic:

The

dragon

inset at

lower

right,

according

to

Tatin, repre-

sents

evil,

ego,

selfishness,

and

the

other

trials

one

must

over-

come

to

attain

redemption.

.

gap

-

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Europe

was

I

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etweenl9l0

and^9

by

\

ravaged

by

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any

artists

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turmoil-

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actuate,

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in

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the

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art

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1914

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shaken

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138/168

CHAPTER

4

Toward

a

Planetary

Vision

he

German

soldier was

a kid about

1

6,

his hair strung

out in the

bushe

alive.

The

30-caliber

bullets

had scooped out

his

chest and 1

saw

his

He

was

gray

with

shock, going

fast.

He

stared

up

at

me

a

mournful

boy's face.

He

asked:

'Why

did

you

shoot?

1

wanted to

surrender.'

Leo

Litwak

was a

U.S.

Army medic

on that spring

day in

1945,

war

in

Europe neared

its

end.

His

outfit

had

taken a German

village

w

resistance, and Litwak

was

contemplating

the

happy prospect

of h

himself from

cellars filled

with sausages and

wine

when he

heard

rifle

followed

by

shouts

of

Aid

man Running

over

to

some

bushes,

found

the young German, mortally wounded by GIs

who said he had

to answer their

demand

for surrender.

Litwak

shrugged

off the

death. That was war;

war

was hell. A

twenty-two years, the grim scene

lay submerged,

seemingly

forgotten,

subconscious

mind.

Yet during those

years,

he

was

nagged

by

a

sp

emptiness,

an inexplicable

numbness,

as

he called it. Then, in

1967,

employed

as

an

associate

professor of English

at San Francisco

Stat

lege, Litwak was commissioned

by

the New York Times

Magazine

to

wr

article

about

California's Esalen Institute,

which

was

achieving

a c

fame

among

groups

exploring the outer

edges

of

human

potential.

To

research

his

subject,

Litwak enrolled

in

a

five-day

workshop,

at

first

failed

to engage him.

A

fat lady in leotards directed

us

absurd,

he

wrote.

We

touched our

noses with

our tongues. We ju

We ran.

We

clutched one another,

made faces

at

one another.

But

after

his

initial disdain, Litwak

became

engrossed as he m

through

exercises

in

sensory

awareness,

fantasy

experiments,

and

ps

drama in

which

participants act out the details

of their most deeply h

secrets.

For Litwak, the

cathartic

climax came

when he

was

instructed

down, close

his

eyes,

and imagine

that

he was a

tiny

self entering

m

body.

In the

course of

that trip, he

suddenly

saw a heart sheathed in

hung with

blood

vessels.

With a

start he

recognized

it as the heart

slain

German

soldier.

At

that moment, Litwak

felt

a

freedom,

a pure

and

shining joy h


139/168

never experienced before.

I wailed for

that

German

boy

who had

never

mattered

to

me, he

recalled, and

I heaved

up

my numbness. I

started

to feel again and

discovered

what I'd

missed.

I felt

wide

open, lightened,

ready

to meet

others simply and

directly.

Leo Litwak

is one

of thousands

who

testify

to psycho-

logical

enrichment

at Esalen, where even the

scenery lends

enchantment. In

the rugged

Big

Sur

country,

where wild

boars and mountain lions still

roam,

Esalen's

more than

100

acres nest

on a

cliff nearly 100 feet

above the pounding

waters of the

Pacific.

Rustic cabins

nestle

beside a

redwood

lodge,

hot sulfur

springs gush from

the

mountainside, a

bountiful garden grows atop a

3,000-year-old compost

heap

created

by

the now-extinct

Esalen Indians,

and a cylindrical

community

tent, designed along

traditional

Mongolian

lines,

is

called

the Big Yurt.

To

the wildness of Big Sur in 1962

came

Michael

Mur-

phy and

Richard Price, both

thirty years old,

both from well-

to-do

families, and

both (although

they

had not known

each

other

at

the

time) former

psychology majors

at Stanford.

There

Murphy had

developed an in

terest

in

Eastern

philosophy; after

graduation and

a

stint in the ar-

my,

he

took himself

to

India,

to

a

religious community called

the

Sri

Aurobindo Ashram,

where he

meditated for eight

hours

a day. A

year and

a

half

later,

Murphy returned to the

United

States, worked two

days

a

week

at

such

jobs as

bellhopping,

and contin-

ued his

contemplations.

His path eventually led

him to

Francisco's

eccentric North

Beach district,

to

which Ric

Price

had

also gravitated

after serving in the air f

and doing

graduate

work

at

Harvard. The

two bec

friends, and

between them,

the idea

of

the Esalen

Inst

gradually

emerged.

We

didn't

have

a

blue-print,

Mur

later recalled.

The

whole idea

was

exploration

into

sciousness in generaland the notion

to

support a diver

of approaches.

Murphy's

grandmother

was

persuaded to proff

long-term

lease

on

property she

owned in Big

Sur.

And

most overnight,

Esalen

became a 1960s bazaar

for

eclectic,

the

esoteric,

and the

experimental. It offered

rums,

seminars,

and workshops

on

Gestalt awaren

training,

somatic disciplines,

psychotherapy,

the

mel

Eastern philosophy

and

Western science, mysticism,

shamanism. In

so-called

encounter

groups, men

wres

one another to

work

out their

hostilities,

and

all sort

people stripped

to

expunge

their

inhibitions. In Esal

soothing

hot-spring

baths, mixed

groups of

nude men

women contemplated

the

cosm

It

was

a

heady

time.

We

thou

we

were astronauts

of in

space,

Murphy said la

about

to break

through

new realms

of

consciousne

We wanted

to put

man on

psychic moon.

Inevitably,

Esalen

came

a

target

for

cri

who

saw

it

as

a

to

of psychobabble

an


140/168

136


141/168

for group gropings.

But

Esalen

survived

and has

with

the

times.

Richard

Price

was

killed

in

1985

by

falling

boulder,

and

Michael

Murphy

long

ago gave

up

direction

of

the

institute.

He

does, however,

re-

its

chairman,

and

he

has

helped

steer his

brainchild

what has

been

called

new-wave

citizen diplomacy.

As a

concrete

and

political counterpart to its marrying

Eastern

and

Western

philosophies, Esalen

in

1980

initiat-

a

Soviet-American

exchange

program designed to

ope]

between

individuals and

organization:

the two

superpowers.

Esalen

arrang

utopian visions (time-life mysteries of the unknown).pdf

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