The American Soul Rush: Esalen and the Rise of Spiritual Privilege

by Marion Goldman

Overview

Yoga. Humanistic Psychology. Meditation. Holistic Healing. These practices are commonplace today. Yet before the early 1960s they were atypical options for most people outside of the upper class or small groups of educated spiritual seekers.

Esalen Institute, a retreat for spiritual and personal growth in Big Sur, California, played a pioneering role in popularizing quests for self-transformation and personalized spirituality. This “soul rush” spread quickly throughout the United States as the Institute made ordinary people aware of hundreds of ways to select, combine, and revise their beliefs about the sacred and to explore diverse mystical experiences. Millions of Americans now identify themselves as spiritual, not religious, because Esalen paved the way for them to explore spirituality without affiliating with established denominations

The American Soul Rush explores the concept of spiritual privilege and Esalen’s foundational influence on the growth and spread of diverse spiritual practices that affirm individuals’ self-worth and possibilities for positive personal change. The book also describes the people, narratives, and relationships at the Institute that produced persistent, almost accidental inequalities in order to illuminate the ways that gender is central to religion and spirituality in most contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814732908
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	01/01/2012
Series:	Qualitative Studies in Religion , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	219
Sales rank:	250,885
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Marion Goldman is Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Oregon. Her many books include Passionate Journeys: Why Successful Women Joined a Cult.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Esalen, the Soul Rush, and Spiritual Privilege 1 Esalen’s Wellspring: Foundational Doctrines  2 Esalen’s Reach: A Brief History  3 Spiritual Privilege and Personal Transformation 4 Living Privilege: Four Esalen Men  5 Gender at Esalen  6. Esalen’s Legacies  Conclusion: New Beginnings Appendix 1: Experiential Exercises: When Words Fail Appendix 2: The Walter Truett Anderson Collection References  Index About the Author 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Goldman's study is the first book to take a hard look at how issues of social class and male chauvinism have influenced the governance and direction of this seminal institution....Goldman's greatest contribution in The American Soul Rush is to remind us that it is not a coincidence that wealthy enclaves like Marin County have become meccas for seekers interested in Buddhist meditation and other techniques designed to foster 'higher consciousness.'" -San Francisco Chronicle,

"Goldman's greatest contribution in The American Soul Rush is to remind us that it is not a coincidence that wealthy enclaves like Marin County have become meccas for seekers interested in Buddhist meditation and other techniques designed to foster "higher consciousness."-Don Latten,SF Gate

"This book is a useful introduction to these issues and to the work of Walter Truett Anderson, who created archival resources on which Goldman depends...Recommended [for] lower-division undergraduates and above, [and] general readers."-CHOICE,

"Goldman conducted in-depth interviews with former Esalen participants and founders..." -Publishers Weekly,

“Finally, a reliable, insightful, and very entertaining revelation of goings on at the front of California spirituality."-Rodney Stark, Co-Director, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University

Editorial Reviews

Esalen Institute, a retreat center in Big Sur, Calif., instigated a “soul rush” that popularized spiritual practices like yoga and meditation for mainstream Americans, argues Goldman (Passionate Journeys), a professor of sociology and religious studies at the University of Oregon. What she defines as “spiritual privilege” meant that ordinary people in the 1960s began to encounter spirituality in myriad forms because of an increasingly diverse religious marketplace and economic prosperity. Students, seekers, psychologists and bishops wandered through Esalen, disseminating its ideas of self-fulfillment. Despite Esalen’s beliefs that individual spiritual growth was a corollary of social change, it remained a bastion of male privilege with men in leadership positions indulging their sexual fantasies as part of encounter groups and with women working as massage therapists. Goldman conducted in-depth interviews with former Esalen participants and founders, and more of their stories outside of the four men she profiles would have enlivened these gender dynamics and the somewhat dry exposition. Other Esalen perspectives could also have complicated her contention that Esalen succeeded because people wanted “mystical moments, not just old doctrine and dry ritual.” (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Sure to become a standard work on the evolution of Esalen and the spiritual counterculture of North America in the decades following World War II. Goldman demonstrates clearly the influence of Esalen and its participants far beyond Big Sur. -"

Douglas Cowan

"Based on careful and thorough research of archival files, oral accounts, legal and financial records, and unpublished manuscripts, newspaper and magazine articles, field notes, and scholarly writing, American Soul Rushis an important addition to the Qualitative Studies in Religion series as well as our understanding of Esalen specifically....For students of American religion and culture as well as unaffiliated spiritual seekers curious about their contemporary roots, Goldman's book is a must read."

Linda Sargent Wood

"Goldman's study is the first book to take a hard look at how issues of social class and male chauvinism have influenced the governance and direction of this seminal institution....Goldman's greatest contribution in The American Soul Rush is to remind us that it is not a coincidence that wealthy enclaves like Marin County have become meccas for seekers interested in Buddhist meditation and other techniques designed to foster 'higher consciousness."

San Francisco Chronicle

"With a particular focus on the exclusion of women and working-class participants, Goldman successfully illuminates the gap between the Esalen ideal and the actuality of spiritual democracy. Resisting the urge to romanticize or caustically dismiss Esalen and its inclusive bricolage spirituality, Goldman has produced a meticulously researched and accessible text that is recommended for classes on American religion, sociology of religion, and new religious movements."

Religious Studies Review

"Finally, a reliable, insightful, and very entertaining revelation of goings on at the front of California spirituality."

Rodney Stark

"This book is a useful introduction to these issues and to the work of Walter Truett Anderson, who created archival resources on which Goldman depends...Recommended [for] lower-division undergraduates and above, [and] general readers."

CHOICE

"Goldman's study is the first book to take a hard look at how issues of social class and male chauvinism have influenced the governance and direction of this seminal institution....Goldman's greatest contribution in The American Soul Rush is to remind us that it is not a coincidence that wealthy enclaves like Marin County have become meccas for seekers interested in Buddhist meditation and other techniques designed to foster 'higher consciousness."

San Francisco Chronicle

"Goldman's greatest contribution in The American Soul Rush is to remind us that it is not a coincidence that wealthy enclaves like Marin County have become meccas for seekers interested in Buddhist meditation and other techniques designed to foster "higher consciousness."-Don Latten, SF Gate

"With a particular focus on the exclusion of women and working-class participants, Goldman successfully illuminates the gap between the Esalen ideal and the actuality of spiritual democracy. Resisting the urge to romanticize or caustically dismiss Esalen and its inclusive bricolage spirituality, Goldman has produced a meticulously researched and accessible text that is recommended for classes on American religion, sociology of religion, and new religious movements.”- Religious Studies Review

"Goldman conducted in-depth interviews with former Esalen participants and founders..." - Publishers Weekly

"Goldman's study is the first book to take a hard look at how issues of social class and male chauvinism have influenced the governance and direction of this seminal institution....Goldman's greatest contribution in The American Soul Rush is to remind us that it is not a coincidence that wealthy enclaves like Marin County have become meccas for seekers interested in Buddhist meditation and other techniques designed to foster 'higher consciousness.'" - San Francisco Chronicle

"Based on careful and thorough research of archival files, oral accounts, legal and financial records, and unpublished manuscripts, newspaper and magazine articles, field notes, and scholarly writing, American Soul Rush is an important addition to the Qualitative Studies in Religion series as well as our understanding of Esalen specifically....For students of American religion and culture as well as unaffiliated spiritual seekers curious about their contemporary roots, Goldman's book is a must read."-Linda Sargent Wood, Nova Religio

“Finally, a reliable, insightful, and very entertaining revelation of goings on at the front of California spirituality."-Rodney Stark, Co-Director, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University

“Sure to become a standard work on the evolution of Esalen and the spiritual counterculture of North America in the decades following World War II. Goldman demonstrates clearly the influence of Esalen and its participants far beyond Big Sur.”-Douglas Cowan, Renison University College, Waterloo, Ontario

"This book is a useful introduction to these issues and to the work of Walter Truett Anderson, who created archival resources on which Goldman depends...Recommended [for] lower-division undergraduates and above, [and] general readers."- CHOICE

From the Publisher