Author: Amiras, Mira Z.

Source: Social Analysis, Volume 52, Number 1, Spring 2008 , pp. 127-143(17)

Abstract:

This article explores the experimental work of Michael Murphy, co-founder of the Esalen Institute, and George Leonard, who is on the Board of Directors of Esalen. Leonard was the first to coin the term 'human potential movement', using it to describe the work that Esalen promoted beginning in the 1960s. In the 1990s, Murphy and Leonard devised an experiment in what they called Integral Transformative Practice (ITP): methods of achieving the extraordinary through meticulous body/mind practices not tied to a specific spiritual path. A key question raised by participants during the experiment was whether it was necessary to believe in order to achieve. This article explores what did and did not correlate to 'success' both within the original experiment and in the past 10 years of subsequent experimentation.

Keywords: ESALEN; EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE; INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATIVE PRACTICE; METANORMAL; STRANGENESS CURVE

DOI: 10.3167/sa.2008.520108

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