Maybe it was a good thing I brought up The Esalen Institute this weekend when visiting with family. There was a whole nudist colony thing that I didn't really catch from the Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice flick and even the Esalen website it self. I heard some cool stories and I think I'm still interested in going, but it's the transcendentalist attitude that I think I'm most attracted to, next to the fact that Ginsberg, Baez and Kerouac all went there to stew and ponder thoughts, life, just being.
The definition of a Transcendentalist was hard for me to understand at first. But the cut and dry of it is, to better your self, mind body and soul therefore you better society being apart of it. Another aspect of it is, "despite some remaining Euro-chauvinism in thinking that people with British and German backgrounds were more suited for freedom than others (see some of Theodore Parker's writings, for instance, for this sentiment), also believed that at the level of the human soul, all people had access to divine inspiration and sought and loved freedom and knowledge and truth."- Jone Johnson Lewis. Transcendentalist were huge supporters of anti slavery laws and Women's liberation. Down for the people!
Esalen is a definite commune with some strong roots and wonderful beliefs. It is defiantly not a spa you can pop in a get a massage at will. It is an actual institute that puts tons of importance in "human potential" and the unimportance of clothes and inhibitions. Joking about the clothes part...buuut not really. This has been Stevie Stills, and I support this message.
http://www.esalen.org/
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