A human writes:

My husband visited Esalen on 2004. He wanted to show me how beautiful and special it was on a recent trip to Big Sur — especially the organic gardening and food, as I am a chef. When my husband and I arrived this July (2012) we were greeted by a very rude “guard” who was barely going to let us turn around in the circle drive to get out. (We are both in our 50′s and definitely not threatening.) How can one possibly get a feel for a place of peace and personal enrichment they may want to join and support when greeted by hostility and suspicion? How about a pleasant exchange and a possible arrangement for a visit? We have been reading about the “resort company mentality” that Esalen seems to be moving toward, we are very sorry that Esalen may be losing its original mission and purpose for the gentle people among us. Perhaps your group can save the Institute, and restore its original spirit — but what about reincarnation and rebirth for another 50 years? Blessed be.

Three months before the event described above, Esalen fired the manager of its front gate, Eric Erickson, a veteran resident of the Institute and former student of Dick Price.

A human writes:

The discord is not pleasing to the spirits of the land. I spent some time here very recently, and felt fear coming out and through many of the staff and “leaders.” As stewards of any space where the veil is thinner, and where the Source of creation is at your fingertips, then the priorities should be as follows:

1. Continue to maintain the free flow of honest and open dialogue. Do not allow fear to stifle your clear and heartfelt feelings.

2. staff: Connect the significance of the work you are doing to the rest of the community in a holistic way. You cannot influence those driven by budgets and cents without identifying the tangible connections between your outcomes and the enrichment of the tribe.

3. Mgmt: The egos must cease, because gratitude, not attitude, will mark your acceptance by this land. Those that walk those special paths and ways with heads high and eyes fixed should seek solace in the cities of the South.

4. Esalen will thrive with a flatter organizational structure with more interdepartmental collaboration (i.e. shadowing, comprehensive team building workshops). The diversity of intentions could be the salvation of the space, but is currently divisive.

5. Science and Magick are one and the same. Esalen must never forget that it is a place of healing, or magic, or connections and of immense power. Allot space for practitioners of Light Work and Healing and the strength and vitality of the rest of your endeavors will return seven-fold.

6. Continue to develop the land and grow in bounty. Seek financial gain in the fruits of your labors, not in squeezing those called for all that you can. The gods help those that help themselves, and organizations that continue to seek new revenue streams and demonstrate staff and management contributions to fundraising efforts are more likely to be helped by outside donors.

7. Treat one another kindly. Smile. Engage. Be good to anyone that crosses your path, not just the VIPs and beautiful ones. Every person I met in my time at Esalen was dynamic, deep and endearing.

A human writes:

Several years ago I participated in extensive committee work to plan Esalen’s future. As the process unfolded it was at times difficult and explosive, pitting long term Esalen community members against Management and their newly hired professionals who were unfamiliar with Esalen’s unique style of participation. As matters got more time consuming and polarized, a string of consultants and group leaders were brought in to save Esalen from itself. The hope was to restore good will, insure community participation, and create a shared vision by everyone high and low.

What emerged from these unresolved struggles was the new Esalen, redefined, reorganized, rebranded and deeply troubled.

Esalen had gone from “the me to the we” on to “the us against them.” A series of growing administrative blunders, clumsy layoffs, claims and counter claims, denials and harsh reactions have created an unprecedented contentiously litigious negative mood. The scandalous antics employed by all eventually provoked critical attention from local and national media as well as internet activity that won’t go away. It is a truly an embarrassing turn for Esalen as it approached its fiftieth anniversary.

The new streamlined version of Esalen has long time staff and faculty fleeing in despair or being laid off impersonally. As a result, a circle of honor meets daily to pray for fair treatment and reinstatements. Dramatic measures from those community members who feel sympathy for people dismissed, unheard and marginalized.

I have spent decades leading workshops and Work Scholar Programs, Esalen counted on me and I counted on Esalen. In the current management effort to fix things, I lost a great deal of my work. No warning or discussion. “It’s nothing personal, get used to it,” was suggested to me by an Esalen Board member.

I have witnessed other decisions that left loyal, capable people reeling and helpless and feeling bitter. Many long term staff and faculty that gave the place its quirky, lovable character have been let go or severely marginalized. For the last few years I’ve watched a growing silence and inertia emerge in the community fueled by fear and resignation. People were losing their faith and enthusiasm in community participation with mandatory meetings as the antidote. It isn’t the Esalen I once knew.

The leaked stunningly low grade management evaluations followed by the resignation of distinguished board and faculty people as a protest to the blind-sided firings by redefinition was enough to break my heart. If I’d gotten evaluations like those of the management, it could easily have been my finish as a teacher. I’d been punished for far less an offense, with no amends to be made.

The dog and pony show mentality of keeping up appearances to raise funds and the condescending spin doctoring I heard about untimely deaths, catastrophic fires, compliance and other hair raising financial and litigiously agonizing matters troubled me deeply. It was a time ripe for honesty and real courage to reach out and level to face the challenging troubles together. But management was in over its head and didn’t show up.

Unfortunately, the decision makers with power to inspire and lead were once again inept. They were, by turns, abject, dismissive and unyielding, all with the acquiescence of an Esalen Board that didn’t want to replace an already shaky organizational structure with other professionals. The learning curve was too steep,” we’re leaving it as it is and hoping for the best”. Since money was being earned and legal compliance was being dealt with, Staff morale problems were dismissed as just the same old perennial Esalen grumblings not worthy of consideration.

A defensive leadership strategy claiming the moral high ground was used to disparage any opposition to current policies. Management thought of themselves as Esalen’s responsible adults, dealing with the Community’s childish acting out. This attitude came off as fearful, narrow and mean spirited. It was early Esalen karma revisited when the founders struggled bitterly over purpose, emphasis and direction. Over the years I’d been told in confidence that there never was an intention to create a formal residential community with so much power. The Big Sur Esalen Community was, “collateral damage to a good idea,” the true community was a worldwide phenomenon.

The localized uniquely tribal, spiritual social experiment Esalen has also been, with its oral traditions and its reverence for the land has always had its own culture and practitioners and healers. It has coexisted with the nonprofit organization since the beginning. Informal, instinctive, and intuitional, it subtly and magically informed all of Esalen’s life with zest, originality and Spirit. It drew power from the ancient vision of the hot springs as an indigenous sacred land for healing and transformation.

Grounding myself with patience when I felt wronged, I took time to understand the issues as best I could. Esalen’s powers of survival are being tested. No shame in that struggle, unless you’re forced to shut up about it and pretend everything is all good no matter how troubling.

What will it take to restore the faith lost in Esalen’s ways? Everything necessary to clear the air and reveal the real impact of Esalen’s management. People everywhere who love Esalen have risen to the occasion. Not just locally but as a global community, to insist the Board and Management engage honestly, fairly and humanely, with policies and leadership that is competent and can be trusted.

Surely to survive nowadays Esalen needs to be efficiently streamlined, with a clear chain of command, fiscal soundness, regulatory compliance and a decent well maintained ambiance for its guests. However, sacrificing Spirit and emotional integrity to achieve this end will kill the very thing those measures are meant to support.

For fifty years people have come to Esalen to remember and honor their dreams and feel the courage to stand up for what they believe in. May Esalen continue walking its talk to survive fittingly for the next fifty.

A human writes:

Seems wherever there is a hierarchy of power at the expense of egalitarian community there must inevitably be discontent and dissent — and the reinvented freedom of speech (the leaks phenomenon is a refreshing step towards transparency). We all want to be seen and heard.

As above so below, and the tangled political farce of the moment.

There is much pain here and perhaps bias too. To be fair, I imagine it can’t be easy trying to herd the progressive, free willed, free thinking nature of what historically makes up Esalen and what it stands for — but then again, it would be presumptuous and a misinterpretation of the nature of the beast to try — looking at the big picture, seems the topgun hired managers and CEO’s fall as fast as they arrive. Top dog vs old dog and never the twain shall meet.

And yes, I have been offended by dysfunctional “elements” that hold sway at Esalen but the expectation that it, or they, sustain a higher level of consciousness, solidarity and due diligence, as though separate from the rest of us or the human drama, whilst lovely, was never apparent. But she’s still a darling isn’t she — the idea of Esalen.

I remember my disappointment at being betrayed in a spectacular and remote Thai monastery years ago until I realized that we were all darkly fucked up people attracted to the light, or the promise of light, simply trying to figure out our shit whilst acting out our pain, as above, so below, seeker, servant, CEO.

I have been blessed deeply by my experiences at Esalen, given and received freely, disingenuously dismissed, and felt pain — that of a jilted lover where there is a bitter taste replacing what was once so sweet — yet it was never really faithful or even entirely conscious — certainly never pretending to be an “intentional community” so much as a gestalt of the field of individuals that are present at any given time. Ephemeral. Ever changing. Therein lies the magic of course, even though some of us might try to hold on to shifting ground, or control/contain it’s movement. Yes, probably, Esalen the boutique hotel retreat will survive, but the free spirit of community…?

And after so many years watching the most inane new age twaddle pass as meaningful discourse and education in human potential, along with a direction short of true and wise vision, but lip service and hollow talk — the burgeoning of a mainstream and corporate mindset within the once simply wild and lovely womb of Esalen, has largely swamped the truly alternative, the authentically inspired.

Yet this is constantly being reinvented and reseeded by those who have moved on, isn’t it? even if having been forced to seek new (perhaps more fertile) ground. Those who have been dismissed likely have something to offer the world that will not be diminished by leaving Esalen. There are a handful of names mentioned throughout these discussions who i hold in the highest esteem and who I know will continue to do their work wherever they are to be found — and there are so many worthy places now — Esalen is no longer the lone torch bearer of the movement.

A shame certainly, because Esalen is such a potent and magical place, full of promise and possibility, but gentrification is in the mill, and I suspect magic waits for no circus — it’ll just take wing to the next power point of positive focus.

So I give thanks to Esalen and all it has borne me personally — for numerous memorable years, among many wonderful people, in a place of such wild and nurturing beauty, even among the “bad” seeds that were part of that experience, I am richer.

And fare well to the new ex-cons — may the wind be at your back…

A human writes:

Those overpaid stagnants at the top need to leave Esalen ASAP. As the author of May 24 meeting report states, Mac, David, John, Steve, Chris — and I’d add Eric Erickson — would steer Esalen light years ahead from it’s decline of the past 20 years. This is my first post here. I’ve attended and assisted many workshops over the past couple decades and worked at Esalen for time enough to understand the dynamics. Gordon and Nancy Wheeler have stifled creativity more and more and the past few years have really been proving the observations and concerns aware people have been stating for years. Esalen is so personally transformative and precious to many people, and while not all problems will magically disappear, a new leadership and community partnership will be tremendously positive and beneficial. I sure look forward to the day when I can visit (potentially long term) even for a few hours and feel the shift. May it be so! AHO! Many Kudos to Esaleaks people for keeping the flame alive.

A human writes:

Esalen Institute is now a venue for the peculiar ambitions of a detached minority. And it is also a way to observe the trajectory of humanity. The human species is so conflicted, so full of desire, and driven both by an urge for goodness as well as the satisfaction of misguided drives. As a result, we can look through our institutions as a way to begin to see ourselves.

By a process of “restructuring,” which may be reversible, Esalen has been transformed into a brand name for the exploitation of spiritual practice by means of commercial marketing. In order to accomplish this end, the institute has adopted inhumane organizational structures. But how is that different from normal human life? There is a natural movement from aspiration to corruption. Esalen has merely turned the mirror toward a darker patch of the human heart to show us the humanness of inhumanity.

Esalen is now managed by a codependent group of board members and executives who support each other with a set of mutual delusions about their shared ambitions. This has been a way of justifying harmful behavior. But they are not unusual people. They are just like you and me. And I believe that with timely eliminations and additions, they may be able to function in a healthy manner once again, much the way Hewlett Packard was able to right itself after a similar dislocation.

Initially, as a show of personal credit, I want to recognize the community representative, Michael Klein. I feel a certain allegiance to Michael because he is the perfect scapegoat. He is not subject to immediate injury, like Eric, Kathleen or Geno. He is not a voting member of the board, so he isn’t responsible for the injury that has been done. He is held in suspension, between power and powerlessness, where he is tortured by conflicting demands. These conflicts were most apparent at the community meeting that happened on May 24th at Esalen.

This is my personal report about that meeting. It was scheduled at 4pm. The initial rumor was that it would be held in Maslow, but at the last minute it was moved to Porter’s Yurt, because of the anticipated size. It was billed as an open meeting. Staff meetings have been reduced in number. They have taken on a military quality. They are restricted. Attendance is taken. Dissent is repressed. But this meeting was going to be different. The whole community could come and talk. So the meeting room was full. Upwards of a hundred people attended. Porter’s Yurt was overflowing. There were a half dozen or more people standing outside both doors.

I am not going to write a complete or neutral report of the meeting. This is not an instance for neutrality. Management has done something wrong – something that hurt Esalen and the community. It might be possible to rationalize the wrongdoing. But that wouldn’t make it right. At the meeting, a great deal was said, so I will try to cover the main points – the important developments. Let me add that I have had a fair amount of exposure to the issues surrounding Esalen restructuring, so I know what I’m talking about. Read the rest of this entry »

A human writes:

I came to Esalen in 1972, fresh from Yale and the Star Hill Road hippie goat farm. I helped Selig put in the garden. I had group sex in the old baths while tripping on acid. I took a 5 day psycho-something workshop with John Lilly where we dropped LSD twice, which John provided. I was 25. Dick Price Gestalt Workshops and transformations, Sweet Baby James playing in the background. I visited Esalen 20 times before I was 30. Living an hour away, that was easy. I could sleep in my VW Van. Esalen was magic. A beacon to the world. Truly the Human Potential Movement, ecstatically spiritual before the world had heard the words.

I came back to, well, being in a dinner line in 2008 and being criticized by Gordon Wheeler for joking with my wife and a friend in a mildly raucous non-PC way. We came and enjoyed ourselves over the next few years, tourists really, from Montana. At some point in time I got to reading an article by Trisha McEntee in the catalog, introducing herself and her vision to the community and the world. What pure utter unmitigated garbage, I thought, and I haven’t been back since. Good luck. She holds confused and primitive beliefs in the nature of reality. Oh, and that hotel guy on the board of trustees? While I’m not a huge psychic, the future is being mapped out. As with everything else these days from absurd wars to free passes for 2008′s financial criminals, follow the money.