End to Ordinary History
Page 28
A new generation of political leaders, either here or in the Soviet Union, could end this adventure of the spirit. But we can be hopeful. Sometime in the next few years, Darwin Fall may write a book about these matters. With their Soviet friends, he says, he and Jacob Atabet are finding unexpected vistas beyond the labyrinths of ordinary history.
San Francisco, 1982
A Biography of Michael Murphy
Michael Murphy (b. 1930), cofounder of the Esalen Institute, has been called the father of the human potential movement, one of the most influential movements in twentieth-century American culture. Murphy has written four novels, as well as works of nonfiction, exploring how individuals can use their capabilities to the fullest and transform their lives.
Murphy, born in Salinas, California, attended Stanford University as a pre-med student. As a sophomore he wandered into a class on comparative religions, stayed for the lecture, and left the room a changed man. Murphy dropped his pre-med courses and began a study of psychology, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1952. After completing his degree he spent two years in the army before returning to Stanford for graduate work in philosophy. In 1956 Murphy left California for India, spending eighteen months practicing meditation at Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
By 1962 Murphy was back in California and working with fellow Stanford graduate Richard Price to establish his vision for a community that would help people reach their full potentials. Using land owned by Murphy’s family, the two men founded the Esalen Institute, a retreat center that today hosts ten thousand visitors per year. The institute became a cultural touchstone, introducing ideas for personal growth and alternative healing and serving as a lecture base for luminaries such as Aldous Huxley and Fritz Perls.
In 1972 Murphy published his first novel, Golf in the Kingdom, about the strange, mysterious power that he (as the novel’s protagonist) experiences when meeting a mystical Scottish golf pro named Shivas Irons. The book became an instant classic and has sold more than 750,000 copies in the decades since its release. The book has recently been adapted into a movie starring Malcolm McDowell and Mason Gamble. Murphy followed this success with the novels Jacob Atabet (1977), An End to Ordinary History (1982), and The Kingdom of Shivas Irons (1997), the sequel to his bestseller. His nonfiction works include The Future of the Body (1993), In the Zone (1995), The Life We Are Given (1996), and God and the Evolving Universe (2002).
Murphy lives in Sausalito, California.
John Murphy, Michael Murphy’s great-great-grandfather. John Murphy was a captain in Washington’s army during the American revolution. This is the first Murphy the family has been able to trace.
John A. Murphy, Michael Murphy’s father. John Murphy was in his early twenties here. He was an attorney, also studying at Stanford.
The first staff at Esalen Institute, photographed when it opened in 1962. Murphy, at the far right, co-founded Esalen with fellow Stanford graduate Richard Price, second from left. At one point, Hunter S. Thompson served as security guard to the Institute; he was often seen standing outside with a rifle.
Dulce Murphy, James Hickman, Vlail Kaznacheev, Michael Murphy, and Larissa Zilenskaya at Esalen Institute. During the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, Michael and his wife, Dulce, launched a series of Soviet-American citizen diplomacy gatherings at Esalen. Through their programming, they sponsored Boris Yeltsin’s first trip to the United States, in 1989. Yeltsin cited the trip as a transformative experience, witnessing firsthand the contrast between the prosperity of the U.S. and the poverty of Soviet Communism.
Esalen Institute cofounders Murphy and Price in the late 1980s, sitting on the terrace of the convention center. Murphy and Price met as students at Stanford University. Soon after, they introduced Americans to some of the major hallmarks of self-help and personal growth: meditation, encounter groups, tai chi. In an interview with a Stanford alumni publication, Murphy once said, “Esalen had a catalytic role. We invented a new social form. I see Esalen as a meme, a cultural gene that was passed on.”
Michael Murphy and his son, Mackenzie. This photograph appeared in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine in 1987, alongside an interview with Murphy.
Murphy at age fifty-three. In his forties and fifties, Murphy became a very competitive runner. In 1983, he placed third in the National Senior Championships for his age group.
Murphy with his wife, Dulce, and son, Mackenzie, at Esalen. Murphy and his wife travel to Esalen at least six times during the year to attend various conferences and gatherings. Dulce Murphy is the founder and executive director of Track II, a nonprofit organization that successfully bridges and bolsters citizen diplomacy between Russia and the United States.
Murphy with Zentatsu Richard Baker. Baker is the founder of the Creston Mountain Zen Center in California, Colorado, and Germany. He is also the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha.
Murphy with Anindita N. Balslev. Balslev has made major contributions to cross-cultural studies and dialogues around Indian philosophy and religion.
Murphy taking in the view of the Pacific Ocean. The Institute extends over twenty-seven acres of the Big Sur coast, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise above the Pacific Ocean. The Institute is also famous for its cliffside natural hot springs. Esalen offers around five hundred workshops each year across a wide range of topics relating to human capacity and self-growth.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1982 by Michael Murphy
cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
978-1-4532-1883-9
This edition published in 2011 by Open Road Integrated Media
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