Esalen, Scientology and Charles Manson
“It became apparent that no one would shout sacrilege if I wanted to mix together Zen Buddhism and Scientology.” - Chaos and Creativity at Esalen Institute, The Human Potential Papers by John Heider, longtime member of the Esalen family
“Today, at 4:30 pm central time, Jim Gottstein of PsychRights goes to a pre-trial hearing for Ex rel Watson v. King-Vassel, a case which he explains could help to establish that the off-label prescribing of psychiatric drugs to kids for non-verifiable medical conditions – such as behavioral difficulties – is Medicaid fraud.” – Faith Rhyne
Faith Rhyne at last year’s Esalen conference on alternative perspectives on psychosis.
Esalen was founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price in 1962. Murphy and Price had been running seminars at the resort beginning in 1962, with speakers gathered through an expanding network of contacts, beginning with Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley, George Bateson, Gerald Heard, and others (individuals who have come to lead seminars at Esalen at one time or another include Carlos Castaneda, Dutch psychic Peter Hurkos, Ira Einhorn, Rollo May, Jack Sarfatti, John Lilly, Terrance McKenna, Ian Wickramasekera, and Charles Tart. Werner Erhard was also close with Michael Murphy and Esalen). Their goal was to explore work in the humanities and sciences, in order to fully realize what Aldous Huxley had called the “human potentialities.”
Esalen, which was the leading West Coast New Age psychological experimentation center, testing a wide array of mind-control methods, many involving the use of psychotropic drugs. Cultist mass murderer Charles Manson spent Aug. 5, 1969 at Esalen, just four days before he unleashed the “Helter Skelter” murder spree. Manson and members of his family played an impromptu concert at Esalen.
Over the years, Esalen Institute has been the subject of criticism. Generally, the Human Potential Movement has been criticized for espousing an ethic that the inner-self should be freely expressed in order to reach one’s true potential. Some people have seen this ethic as an aspect of Esalen’s culture. The historian Christopher Lasch claimed that humanistic techniques encourage narcissistic, spiritual materialistic or self-obsessive thoughts and behaviors. These criticisms were examined in a 2002 BBC television series, called The Century of the Self, which included video segments recorded at Esalen. In 1990 a graffiti artist spray painted, ‘Jive shit for rich white folk’ on the entrance to Esalen, highlighting class and race issues. This implied that Esalen courses are too expensive and poor people cannot afford to experience their “full human potential.”
Esalen’s ‘Scientific’ Study of ‘Paranormal’ Capacities
1999-2000: two invitational conferences on “Subtle Energies and the Uncharted Realms of Mind,” brought into collaboration researchers studying telepathy, precognition, subtle energies, martial arts, lucid dreaming, remote viewing, and distant mental healing. Participants: Ralph Abraham, John Ackerman, Barbara Brennen, Kathy Dalton, Bernard Grad, Wayne Jonas, Mary Ellen Klee, Roger Jahnke, Stephen Laberge, George Leonard, Fred Luskin, Roger Nelson, Dean Radin, Beverly Rubik, Helmut Schmidt, Marilyn Schlitz, Russell Targ, Roeland Van Wijk, and Garret Yount.
1993-1998: conference series on “Direct Mental and Healing Interactions,” which then became “Distant Mental Influences on Living Systems,” convened by Marilyn Schlitz and co-sponsored with the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Participants: William Braud, Sharon Thom, Richard Bierman, Dean Radin, Stephen Braude, Deborah Delanoy, RobertMorris, Bruce Pomeranz, Helmut Schmidt, Richard Wiseman, Dennis Stillings, Elisabeth Targ, Fr. Sean O’Laoire, Ellen Levine, and Garret Yount.
1982: sponsored a four-week interdisciplinary training program on “Paranormal Intelligence: Explorations of the Limits of Human Capacities.” Its focus areas included: 1) Paranormal experience and abilities 2) Modern parapsychological research 3) Psychosis: Disease or spiritual emergency? and 4) New approaches to self-exploration. Leaders: Christina and Stanislav Grof, Fritjof Capra, Rupert Sheldrake, Russell Targ.
1981-1987: seven invitational conferences on “Psychic Research.” Participants: Charles Tart, Russell Targ, Keith Harary, Helmut Schmidt, Daniel Benor, Herbert Benson, William Braud, Marilyn Schlitz, Jacob Zighelboim, Alyce Green, Elmer Green, Stephan Schwartz, Rand DeMattei, Janet Quinn, Bernard Grad, Charles Spence, Ed Brame, Nancy Lunney, Michael Murphy, David Deamer, Bruce Pomeranz, and Lynn Trainor. As a result of the first meeting on Time and Psi, the Parapsychological Association held a symposium on the subject with many of the same participants, providing the nucleus for a ninety-minute BBC television program, “The Case of ESP.”
1983-1984: two invitational conferences on the “Scientific Investigation of Subtle Energies” convened by George Leonard. Participants: Fred Lorenz, Charles Tart, Chris Cullander, Tod Mikuriya, Julian Isaacs, Bernard Grad, and Tim Scully.
1976: Michael Murphy inaugurated The Transformation Project to systematically study extraordinary bodily transformations that occur in religious practice, mind-assisted healing, biofeedback, sensory isolation, sports, psychotherapy, erotic experience, physical therapy, hypnosis, and other activities.
See also: Medicaid Expert Not Necessary in Doctor’s Whistleblower Suit
“Sep. 3, 2013 – A Sheboygan doctor who says a child psychiatrist caused unlawful Medicaid reimbursements through off-label prescriptions can press on with his whistleblower suit under the federal False Claims Act, a federal appeals court has ruled.
“Dr. Toby Watson filed a lawsuit against Dr. Jennifer King-Vassel, claiming she knowingly wrote off-label prescriptions to a minor patient who received Medicaid assistance. Off-label prescriptions, commonly and legally prescribed by physicians, are written for purposes not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Doctors can write off-label prescriptions once a drug has FDA-approval for one use, but the doctor finds it useful for another purpose. Whether such off-label prescriptions are medically reasonable is generally a question for medical malpractice suits.
…
“The panel’s opinion did not end without scolding Watson and his trial counsel, noting that the district court imposed sanctions on both of them.
“The panel said they “dragged blameless parties into court unnecessarily” and suggested that Watson obtained the minor patient’s medical records by fraud.
“That is, Watson caused the medical records to be released to the minor patient’s mother for purposes of further treatment, but Watson used them for litigation. “Despite ruling in Watson’s favor today, we hope that the district court’s sanctions will dissuade professionals from stooping to such unsavory tactics in the future,” wrote Judge Kanne.