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An Actual Man: Michael Murphy and the Human Potential MovementEdited by Jay Ogilvy
List Price: $19.95
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See other featured books. From the back of the book: His zest, energy, humor, and insight have fired up generations of personal reformers and social reformers who understand the connections between the two. To those who know him by reputation he is merely remarkable; to those who have had the pleasure and privilege of knowing him personally, he is transcendent. - Robert Reich Michael Murphy is not only the cofounder of Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California; he is also the author of the best-selling novel, Golf in the Kingdom, soon to be a major motion picture. Further, he is the author of several non-fiction books: The Future of the Body, and The Life We are Given, among others. But perhaps most important, he is the origin and guiding light of the human potential movement. Since the 1960s, Michael and Esalen have spawned the holistic health movement, the extension of eastern mysticism into American culture, biodynamic gardening, and a welter of other culturally significant trends from somatics and massage to the revisioning of philosophy. This book of essays was put together by 40 authors to honor Michael's 80th birthday. Its authors include such luminaries as Amory Lovins, Robert Reich, Ken Wilber, Riane Eisler, Ken Dychtwald, Mary Catherine Bateson, Robert Bellah, and Sam Keen. As the introduction by editor, Jay Ogilvy, concludes: "We would do a disservice to our subject if we took the following essays as a series of disconnected dots, or as so many thank you notes from forty grateful fans. Taken as a group, taken as a whole, taken holistically, they portray a magnificent vision. Behind the humor, beneath the love, beyond the fun stories of outlaw escapades, there is a philosophy of human existence, a new psychology of hope, and a politics that can carry us beyond enmity. Michael Murphy's vision of our human potential, when seen in full, is nothing short of inspiring. Read all of these essays, beginning to end, and you will be a better person. Convince your friends to read them and we will have a better world."
Book Review
Reflection leads us to contemplate two kinds of paths, Reich continues: the path of personal growth and fulfillment, and the path of public reform and the welfare of the world. "The role of true leadership," he affirms, "is to bridge the two realms, but few leaders manage it." Michael Murphy's particular gift, he goes on, lies in combining both of these quests, in his own life and in the remarkable Institute he co-founded here, nearly fifty years ago, and has been steering at the visionary helm ever since. "His zest, energy, humor, and insight have fired up generations of personal reformers and social reformers," Reich continues &emdash; acknowledging the difficulty of pinning down the secret of Michael's genius, the source of his capacity to charm and inspire so many others over the years. And then comes this: "To those who know him by reputation he is merely remarkable; to those who have had the pleasure and privilege of knowing him personally, he is transcendent." Contributor Sam Keen, a bit more whimsically, argues that Michael Murphy is actually a myth, since it's manifestly impossible for one man to have accomplished so many remarkable things in so many diverse fields. Generations of teachers, conferees, and students have had this transcendent pleasure and privilege. More than a few times I've strolled with Michael on the grounds at Esalen, or sat with him in the lodge, while he quizzed some utter stranger, with utter charm, about his/her experience at Esalen. "Is this your first time here?" he may ask. "What course are you taking? Do you like it? What are you learning from that?" And then after he's gone, the student turns to me, somewhere between perplexed and enthralled, and says, "Who was that man??" And then I get to say, "Don't you know? That was Michael Murphy." What more can we say? Complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman from the Santa Fe Institute offers this: It's his smile, you see. Radiant, penetrating each of us, the room, out to beyond the reaches of Esalen. The smile just captivates us all." Happy Birthday, Michael! A happy day indeed, for us and our world, when you came into it. How much darker, how much duller a place it would be, if you had never opted to be born? Long may you continue to captivate, lead, inspire. Long may you continue to smile.
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"When we or someone we love has a significant birthday—usually ending in a zero—we are drawn to introspection about where we've been and where we're heading...." So begins the essay in this volume by economist and media pundit (and Clinton Cabinet member) Robert Reich, contributor number 17 out of 38 in this remarkable collection of tributes and reflections on the life and accomplishments (so far!) of Esalen Co-Founder Michael Murphy, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Just to scan the roster of culture-shifting names that fill the table of contents of this vivid, deep-ranging collection, is to begin to appreciate the full creative presence of Michael in the emergence of contemporary culture over the past fifty years. Names like George Leonard, Ken Wilber, Riane Eisler, Huston Smith, Ken Dychtwald, Amory Lovins, Stuart Kauffman, Sam Keen, philosopher (and editor of this collection) Jay Ogilvy—the list goes on and on, and could have gone on for many more volumes like this one without any loss of wit, cultural weight, or amazing variety (full disclosure—I'm in there someplace, among the thirty-something others, with some thoughts on integral education as the manifestation of Aurobindo's vision, as translated by Mike into the world at Esalen).