Dr. Jeffrey Kripal
Esalen, the New Age, and the Mystical Body of the American
Counter Culture
The Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, was founded
in 1962 and has since been at the center of the American
counter culture movement, American appropriations of Hindu,
Buddhist and Taoist ideas and practices, the human potential
movement, Soviet-American relations, alternative medicine
and a whole spectrum of mystical movements and Asian contemplative
practices that often go under the general rubric of "the
New Age." Dr. Kripal seeks a student associate to help
him research the prehistories and histories of Esalen, check
sources and references, order books and articles, organize
research and archival material, and perform administrative
tasks for a major history of Esalen that he is finishing
this year for the University of Chicago Press. No previous
exposure to Esalen is necessary, although a familiarity
with the New Age and/or the critical study of religion would
be most welcome. Moreover, the Century Scholar is encouraged
to take Dr. Kripal’s “The Enlightenment of the
Body” course this fall, since it will focus precisely
on this same history and Dr. Kripal’s working manuscript.
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