Podcast Episodes
Michael Murphy (Part 1) – The Human Potential Movement Then & Now: 60 Years at the Leading Edge of Transformative Practice, Research & Action
Ep. 58 (Part 1 of 3) | Michael Murphy, author, co-founder of the world-famous Esalen Institute, and pioneer of the Human Potential Movement starting in the 60s, talks about Esalen’s latest adventures in research, our current crisis of belief, and the anchoring question that has guided Esalen (and Mike) all along: how best to serve? Mike relates a wealth of intimate experience, knowledge, and wisdom covering his decades of living at the leading edge of transformative practice and the realization of human potential. He describes the developmental process of transformative practices such as somatics and psychedelics, now circling around after a period of purgation, and the need to include the mystical and ecstatic in meditation and mindfulness research in order to better understand what’s going on.
On a personal note, Mike shares about practicing agnosticism, his respect and admiration for the quality of wonder, and about the magic of reading subtle cues and being increasingly in tune with “the algorithms of his heart.” Friendly, relaxed, and humorous, Mike is one of the world’s leading lights on self-transformation. Recorded on February 16, 2022.
Susanne Cook-Greuter – Nature as Teacher: Finding Beauty, Wisdom, and Self in Everything
Ep. 57 | Adult psychology pioneer and ego development expert Susanne Cook-Greuter introduces us to her favorite wisdom teacher: Nature. Susanne explains how Integral Theory’s 3-2-1 Process can be practiced with elements in nature to gain greater insight into the teachings of nature—evolution, cycles of life and death, the transience of life, the beauty that is everywhere—and to experience oneness with all. She notes that indigenous wisdom is based on deep connection with nature, and speaks of ubuntu, the concept of a shared humanity that reveals an entirely different understanding of self than what we have in the West.
Susanne’s is a uniquely valuable perspective, informed and inspired by her many years at the cutting edge of what we know about adult psychological growth and development, and from being an integralist from the beginning of Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory project and a beloved elder in the worldwide Integral community today. Susanne explains that people at every stage of development have gifts to give that we need to pay attention to, and that individuals at later stages of development are not necessarily more virtuous because of it. Recorded November 15, 2021.