Esalen

A feature documentary on Esalen Institute based on Jeff Kripal’s book, “Esalen, the Religion of No Religion.”  The film will focus on a dozen characters as their lives conjunct in a 50th Anniversary event/celebration that will that will have a major concert and will showcase Esalen’s current activities, especially Public Diplomacy initiatives and the cutting edge work of Esalen’s Center for Theory and Research.  The film will also chronicle Esalen’s extraordinary history and touch on the many great characters that have taught there – Aldous Huxley, Henry Miller, Fritz Perls, Will Schultz, Abraham Maslow, Eric Erickson, Ram Dass, Ida Rolf, Joseph Campbell, Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, and John Cleese among them.  Particular emphasis will be placed on Esalen’s unofficial  but extremely successful pioneering diplomatic initiative with the Soviets, which was a significant factor in ending the cold war.

*A full treatment will be forthcoming.