Quakers — Philosophy for Life | Blog | Philosophy | Wisdom | Spirituality

Michael Murphy on Esalen and the mystical expats

Michael Murphy co-founded Esalen, a cross between an adult education college, a research institute, and an ashram, in 1962. It’s had a huge influence on contemporary spirituality, and was the incubator for everything from ecstatic dance to Authentic Relating to holotropic breathwork. Here, Murphy tells me how he was inspired by his friends, Alan Watts, Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley, and how Esalen managed to keep going for 53 years, when so many spiritual experiments went very wrong very quickly.

Uncategorized, Aldous Huxley, Landmark Forum, mysticism, New Age, Perennial Philosophy, Quakers, Spiritual tourism, SpiritualityJules EvansDecember 4, 2019Comment

Managing your nervous system

Last week, I saw a good talk on somatic experiencing therapy. I’ve heard about it, and in some ways what I heard was quite obvious, but it was good to have it spelled out.

The Quakers on how to balance inner and outer work

Last week I visited Pendle Hill, a Quaker retreat centre outside Philadelphia, nestled between the gorgeous Quaker liberal arts colleges of Haverford and Swarthmore. I made a sort of mini-pilgrimage there as part of my research into the ‘mystical expats’ – Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood and Alan Watts, four English writers who moved to California in the 1930s and helped invent the ‘spiritual-but-not-religious’ demographic (which is now 25% of the US population).

What Quaker companies can teach us about well-being-at-work

My great-great-great grandfather, a York Quaker called Henry Isaac Rowntree (that's him on the left), set up Rowntree's chocolate company in York in 1862. He was an amiable young man, 'perhaps the only Rowntree with a sense of humour' according to one historian.

Adult education, Advertizing, Business ethics, Capitalism, Catholicism, QuakersJules EvansApril 16, 2014 Comments

The Museum and the Garden

As you know, I’ve been researching the Welsh revival of 1904 and, more broadly, the place of ecstasy in modern culture. On Tuesday, I drove to Cwmbran in the south of Wales, where something called the Welsh Outpouring has broken out. I wondered if the Outpouring was the beginning of a new Welsh revival, so off I went to Cwmbran, like a storm-chaser.

Christianity, Ecstasy, QuakersJules EvansJune 17, 2013 Comments

'Show me the compassionate atheist communities'

Do you know any good poo and wee stories? This is the question that confronts me as I arrive at Windsor Hill Wood, an open-door community run by the writer Tobias Jones and his wife Francesca, in Somerset. They live there with their three children - Benedetta is eight, Grace is five, and Leo is three - and there are five beds for guests.

Alcoholism, Christianity, God, Gurus, Quakers, Religion, scepticismJules EvansJanuary 18, 2013 Comments

PoW: the flourishing university

There are few areas of our society going through such bewildering change at the moment as higher education. It is a difficult and distressing time for academics and students alike. But this upheaval also means we have a rare opportunity not merely to defend the status quo but to experiment with new models of higher education.

Education policy, Positive Psychology, Quakers, well-being measurementsJules EvansDecember 14, 2012 Comments

PoW: Mutual aid in public health: back to the 19th century?

There's a new spirit of self-help and mutual improvement blowing through public health policy. I first felt its breeze in Scotland's national mental health strategy, which was published in August, and which made much of its 'person-centred approach' to mental health in Scotland.

Back to blog

sitemap

© 2020 - Jules Evans. All Rights Reserved.

jules@philosophyforlife.org