A psychologist and philosopher educated at Stanford University, Michael Murphy is a leading expert and teacher in the field, as well as a scholar of the history of religion and shamanism. He has spent his whole life asking one question: are there limits to human potential? It is hard to believe, but after half a century of research he became convinced that there are none — our potential is boundless. He makes this bold case in The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature (1992), a vast collection of documented cases of extraordinary human abilities. After graduating, Murphy went to India, to Pondicherry — a turning point in his life, according to his biographers. He stayed for eighteen months, living and studying in the spiritual community of Sri Aurobindo. Even then, in 1956–1957, the place was famous not only as one of the world's major spiritual centers but also as an experimental laboratory of human evolution, above all through meditative practice.

Life at the ashram inspired Murphy so deeply that when he returned to the US he decided to open a similar research center at home. It was a bold, unusual and highly successful project. Together with Richard (Dick) Price, he founded Esalen in Big Sur, California, in 1962. From the very first day the institute was declared a zone free of politics, moral dogma and social stereotypes. To this day Esalen explores dozens of practices that unlock human potential, taught by world-renowned scientists, spiritual leaders and instructors.

Murphy also played a notable role in recent Russian history: through Esalen's Soviet-American Exchange Program, a pioneering form of citizen diplomacy, he initiated Boris Yeltsin's first visit to the United States. So peacemaking can rightly be added to Murphy's achievements.

Today Murphy remains a key figure in transpersonal psychology. Those lucky enough to have talked with him at his lectures or in interviews say he is strikingly sincere and curious, and an extraordinarily gifted storyteller. Under his influence, many well-known politicians, economists, scientists, businesspeople, performers, artists and ordinary people have taken up practices of personal development such as meditation — some have even made them the center of their lives. The idea that inner self-cultivation has the most powerful influence on a person's life as a whole (and on social success in particular!) is only now beginning to be understood. Yet Murphy was saying this half a century ago. (Text by Nika Makarevich)

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Murphy_(author)