Esalen Institute

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The '''Esalen Institute''' is a [[Human Potential Movement]] [[think tank]] and center in Big Sur, [[California]], founded in 1962.  They were central to the development of the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and are sometimes cited as a direct forerunner of the [[New Age]] movement. Esalen holds a number of courses, retreats, seminars, encounter groups, and lectures. Many early Esalen courses were of the encounter group sort, and crank [[psychologist]] {{wpl|Fritz Perls||,}} the inventor of Gestalt therapy (a form of encounter group) and who lived at the center from 1964-1969, becoming closely associated with it.

A rather wide range of people associated with later human consciousness movements are Esalen alumni either from teaching there or taking Esalen courses. They include psychologists [[B.F. Skinner]] and Carl Rogers, R.D. Laing, [[Werner Erhard]], [[guru]]s [[Timothy Leary]] and Richard Alpert (early advocates for the therapeutic use of [[LSD]]), [[liberal]] [[Protestant]] theologian Paul Tillich, [[Zen]] teacher [[Alan Watts]], ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' author Ken Kesey, counterculture figures Jerry Rubin and Paul Krassner, [[dolphin]] researcher John C. Lilly, and [[Buckminster Fuller]]. Esalen has also sponsored numerous arts festivals of folk music, poetry, and dance.

==The conspiracy nutters weigh in==
Esalen sometimes turns up in [[conspiracy theories]] about the New Age movement claiming some nebulous ties existed between Esalen and the [[CIA]] or Department of Defense, hence leading to claims the New Age movement is a vast [[CIA]] experiment, such as in the conspiracy theories of [[Texe Marrs]] and [[Lyndon LaRouche]]. Another conspiracy theory, promoted in the book ''Beyond Jonestown: "Sensitivity Training" and the Cult of Mind Control'' by Ed Dieckmann, Jr.<ref>''Beyond Jonestown: "Sensitivity Training" and the Cult of Mind Control'' by Ed Dieckmann, Jr. (1982) Noontide Press. ISBN 0939482029.</ref> puts the Esalen Institute as well as [[Synanon]] and [[Jim Jones]] at the center of a [[Zionism|Zionist]]/[[Communist]] plot masterminded by the American Jewish Committee, the National Education Association, and the [[Anti-Defamation League]] to bring [[Maoist]] criticism/self-criticism sessions and [[North Korean]] POW camp [[brainwashing]] techniques to the [[United States]].

Such conspiracy theories are simply ridiculous, and a distraction from serious analysis of Esalen's teachings and the extent to which they incorporate [[pseudoscience]] and [[woo]].

==Racism and discrimination==
In 2022 and 2023, Esalen was accused by multiple sources of [[racism]] and LGBT [[discrimination]]; according to one employee the problem is with the upper management.<ref>[https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/esalen-institute-racial-slur-lawsuit-17925675.php Black woman sues Esalen Institute in Big Sur over alleged use of video with the N-word] by Andrew Pridgen (Updated May 1, 2023 11:40 a.m.) ''SFGate''.</ref><ref>[https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/big-sur-esalen-institute-faces-racism-allegations-18408758.php 'Gaslit the entire time’: Esalen Institute faces more claims of racism, discrimination] by Andrew Pridgen (Oct 7, 2023) ''SFGate''.</ref>

On faculty member at Esalen, Deborah Egerton, uses the [[Pseudopsychology|pseudo-psychological]] [[enneagram]] to deal with "inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism".<ref>[https://www.esalen.org/podcasts/dr-deborah-egerton-on-using-the-enneagram-for-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-anti-racism Dr. Deborah Egerton on Using the Enneagram for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism] (July 15, 2022) ''Esalen Institute''.</ref> Egerton is not part of the upper management, but her approach might explain something.

==See also==
* [[Humanistic psychology]]
* [[New Games movement]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{stub|New Age|New Age}}
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Think tanks]]

Categories: California, New Age, Racism, Think tanks