Philosophy for Life | Blog | Philosophy | Wisdom | Spirituality | Well-being — Philosophy for Life

Michael Murphy on Esalen and the mystical expats

Michael Murphy on Esalen and the mystical expats

Michael Murphy co-founded Esalen, a cross between an adult education college, a research institute, and an ashram, in 1962. It’s had a huge influence on contemporary spirituality, and was the incubator for everything from ecstatic dance to Authentic Relating to holotropic breathwork. Here, Murphy tells me how he was inspired by his friends, Alan Watts, Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley, and how Esalen managed to keep going for 53 years, when so many spiritual experiments went very wrong very quickly.

Uncategorized, Aldous Huxley, Landmark Forum, mysticism, New Age, Perennial Philosophy, Quakers, Spiritual tourism, SpiritualityJules EvansDecember 4, 2019Comment

John and Alice Coltrane's ecstatic perennialism

John and Alice Coltrane's ecstatic perennialism

In The Art of Losing Control, I wrote about spirituality as being like jazz improvisation. You inherit a set of standards from your culture, and from other cultures. And it helps if you really familiarize yourself with one particular tradition. But from there, you can improvise, you can bring different elements into contact with each other, you can find your song, your unique expression of Universal Consciousness.

Perennial Philosophy, Musical therapy, mysticismJules EvansNovember 28, 2019Comment

What psychedelic and Christian communities can learn from each other

What psychedelic and Christian communities can learn from each other

Christians could learn an openness to the messy mystery of spiritual experience and the surprising people who can be chosen by God, while psychonauts could learn how to ground ecstatic experience in community and charitable service.

Aldous Huxley, Christianity, God, PsychedelicsJules EvansNovember 23, 2019Comment

'We've had a century of therapy and things are getting worse' - James Hillman's animist eco-psychology

'We've had a century of therapy and things are getting worse' - James Hillman's animist eco-psychology

In 1992 - almost 30 years ago - James Hillman laid down a stinging critique of therapy culture, arguing it was turning us inwards while the ecology was falling apart. He called for a more revolutionary psychology that challenges our model of the self and re-connects us to the soul of things.

climate change, JungJules EvansNovember 19, 2019Comment

Brexit and the global genetic arms race

Brexit and the global genetic arms race

For Brexit architect Dominic Cummings, the real prize of Brexit is to position the UK as a leader in a global genetics arms race.

Genetics, UK politicsJules EvansNovember 1, 2019Comment

The trauma-activism school of psychotherapy

The trauma-activism school of psychotherapy

There’s a revolutionary shift taking place in UK mental healthcare, from a biomedical to a trauma-informed approach. But every new model has its potential limits and flaws.

Psychiatry, PTSDJules EvansOctober 26, 2019Comment

Mark Ovland, Extinction Rebellion, and the limits of revolutionary mysticism

Mark Ovland, Extinction Rebellion, and the limits of revolutionary mysticism

One of the figures in the controversial Tube protest by Extinction Rebellion is a Buddhist teacher who has embraced a new form of revolutionary Buddhism put forward by Rob Burbea. The blowback from the protest show the limits of this philosophy in practical terms.

Capitalism, climate changeJules EvansOctober 26, 2019Comment

Are we over-medicalizing suffering?

Are we over-medicalizing suffering?

The old religions said life inevitably involves suffering. The new religion of health and well-being says ‘you should be happy and healthy. If you’re not, that’s a disorder. Here’s some CBT or some pills. Now you should be happy and healthy.’

Anti-depressants, Civilization and its D..., Psychiatry, PsychologyJules EvansOctober 26, 2019Comment

Eckhart Tolle, the Forrest Gump of spirituality

Eckhart Tolle, the Forrest Gump of spirituality

His simple, hopeful message - humanity is waking up and you are a part of this great evolution - made more sense in 1999. What does he have to say to 2019? I went to see him speak in London, to find out.

Consciousness, Enlightenment, Gurus, mysticism, New Age, Spirituality, Spiritual emergencyJules EvansOctober 4, 2019Comment

Want to boost your well-being? Don't go to university

Want to boost your well-being? Don't go to university

Amid all the debate about the student mental health crisis, one idea is never put forward by the academic experts.

Don’t go to university.

It’s taboo to challenge the idea that a university degree is the right choice for everyone.

What if it isn’t?

Academia, Adult education, Wellbeing classesJules EvansSeptember 27, 2019Comment

We dream we are separate, lonely individuals. It's time to wake up.

We dream we are separate, lonely individuals. It's time to wake up.

In Oregon, there is a honey fungus that is four miles wide and possibly 8000 years old. It appears in our reality as small white mushrooms.

Altered states, Buddhism, Contemplation, Dreams, EnlightenmentJules EvansSeptember 14, 2019Comment

Dude, where's my paradigm shift?

Dude, where's my paradigm shift?

People have been heralding the arrival of a new paradigm, in which consciousness is paramount, for over 140 years. So why hasn’t it arrived? I asked some leading thinkers in the world of transpersonal psychology.

Civilization and its D..., Consciousness, meditation, SpiritualityJules EvansAugust 15, 2019Comment

Emergency first-aid kit for difficult times

Emergency first-aid kit for difficult times

If you’re in one of those moments where it feels like gravity has increased and the universe is taking a dump on you, here are my three best techniques for getting yourself through difficult times.

Buddhism, Civilization and its D..., climate change, depressionJules EvansAugust 2, 2019Comment

A kestrel for a knave

A kestrel for a knave

Three friends emerged from a consultation with a celebrity Glasontonbury shaman with remarkably similar predictions for their future. Were their destinies bizarrely intertwined? I went to find out.

Altered states, Spiritual tourism, Spirituality, New Age, GurusJules EvansJuly 26, 2019Comment

Our best hope for multiculturalism? Tinder

Our best hope for multiculturalism? Tinder

Most social media technology has made us more polarised, despite the best intentions of their liberal employees. The exceptions are online dating apps. Despite the low motives of founders and users, they’ve accidentally led to a marked rise in inter-racial romances.

Sex, Dating, RacismJules EvansJuly 19, 2019Comment

The pathology of psychiatry

The pathology of psychiatry

Nathan Filer’s excellent new book, The Heartland, humbly points out the flaws in psychiatry’s definition and treatment of schizophrenia. But it still shares psychiatry’s habitual contempt for spirituality.

Schizophrenia, Psychiatry, Wisdom, Spiritual emergencyJules EvansJuly 12, 2019Comment

Believing you're in a dream, or dead

Believing you're in a dream, or dead

A common feature both of psychedelic experiences and of spiritual emergencies is the sense that you’re in a dream, or dead. I had that experience myself, for several days after an ayahuasca retreat. We can learn to navigate these scary ego-death experiences using some basic techniques.

Spiritual emergencyJules EvansJuly 5, 2019Comment

A magic theatre of pain and purgation

A magic theatre of pain and purgation

This is an excerpt from my new Amazon Kindle Single - Holiday From the Self: An Accidental Ayahuasca Adventure. It’s about a nine-day ayahuasca retreat I attended in the Amazon in October 2017, and the strange two weeks that followed.

Altered statesJules EvansJune 29, 2019 Comment

A mountain of shit

A mountain of shit

Trauma begets trauma, and it builds up through the generations like a mountain of shit. Can we shovel it away…or use it as compost?

Anti-depressants, Anxiety, resilience, Psychiatry, PTSD, ReligionJules EvansJune 14, 2019 Comment

Should we have children?

Should we have children?

Do we have the right to bring children into what could be a pretty unpleasant historical situation?

Civilization and its D..., climate changeJules EvansJune 7, 2019 Comment

The vale of ambiguity

The vale of ambiguity

We’re in the vale of ambiguity. Things are not clear in this dimension. That’s part of the agony and excitement. It’s like the early stage of a romance, when it’s not clear if it’s a serious relationship or not, or is it perhaps the relationship…or is it just a rush?

Buddhism, Dreams, meditation, mysticism, Mythology, Spiritual emergencyJules EvansMay 31, 2019 Comment

Epic fail?

Epic fail?

The finale of Game of Thones has been attacked by a flock of angry nerds, while the Avengers climax left them in a warm post-coital glow. But here’s why the GOT finale is actually a lot more interesting for our times.

movies, climate changeJules EvansMay 22, 2019 Comment

How to be whole

How to be whole

Can education help us to become more well-rounded, integrated, wise and whole people? This was the project explored both by Aldous Huxley, and by his ancestors - Thomas Huxley and Matthew Arnold - in their famous dispute over the role of sciences and the humanities in education.

Aldous Huxley, Academia, Adult education, Spirituality, Spiritual exercises, therapeutic philosophyJules EvansMay 17, 2019 Comment

Rowan Williams: Mental health, mysticism and spirituality

Rowan Williams: Mental health, mysticism and spirituality

Rowan Williams on the role that mysticism and spirituality can play in helping us confront the systematic unreality of our economic and cultural system.

Christianity, Capitalism, climate change, mysticism, Spirituality, CBTJules EvansMay 9, 2019 Comments

Ten defusion techniques for unhooking your mind

Ten defusion techniques for unhooking your mind

We’re constantly getting hooked by our thoughts, beliefs and feelings, getting lost in the drama. But luckily, there’s a host of defusion techniques we can use to defuse, from ACT, CBT, Stoicism, Buddhism and many other therapeutic traditions. Here are 10 of my favourite.

Buddhism, CBT, Contemplation, meditation, Psychology, self-help, StoicismJules EvansMay 3, 2019 Comments

Is Extinction Rebellion self-indulgent therapy?

Is Extinction Rebellion self-indulgent therapy?

You could accuse XR of being a form of therapy for the middle-classes. Like a cancer support group in the middle of Oxford Circus. But the cancer is not terminal yet. This is an alarm bell, a scream.

resilience, Civilization and its D..., climate changeJules EvansApril 26, 2019 Comments

Are anti-depressants an expensive form of faith healing?

Are anti-depressants an expensive form of faith healing?

The National Health Service in the UK released figures last month showing it gave out 71 million prescriptions for anti-depressants in England last year, which is double the figure from a decade ago. Seven million adults (14% of the adult population) are now on anti-depressants, as well as 300,000 children. Anti-depressants cost the NHS around £9 billion a year, which is a large chunk of its £125 billion annual budget.

Anti-depressantsJules EvansApril 7, 2019 Comment

Trans identity and moral panic: a reader responds

Trans identity and moral panic: a reader responds

In response to my last post, ‘Is there a trans bubble?’, a trans queer person called Kate, who is a regular reader, got in touch to say that she disagreed with some of my points. Here’s Kate’s response, followed by some questions from me and answers from her.

UK politics, WisdomJules EvansApril 6, 2019Comment

The invention of the future

The invention of the future

I met a futurist the other day. A traveller from a future land. We both gave keynotes at a conference on education. I sat next to him at dinner afterwards and asked him a bit about the futurism business, including what he charged for talks (I’m shameless). He shrugged. ’10, maybe 15’. ‘Pounds?’ ‘No…thousands’.

Aldous Huxley, Civilization and its D..., climate changeJules EvansMarch 28, 2019Comment

Is there a trans bubble?

Is there a trans bubble?

A friend of mine told me recently that in a relative's class of 25 children, five of them are officially identified as trans. That means 20% of the children are on their way to hormone therapy and gender re-assignment.

Altered states, Civilization and its D...Jules EvansMarch 22, 2019 Comments

Aldous Huxley on why we need ecstatic dance

Aldous Huxley on why we need ecstatic dance

If you like this, come and hear me talk on Huxley's life and ideas, at the Bristol Psychedelic Society on April 3 (tickets here) or the London Psychedelic Society on April 16 (tickets here).

Aldous Huxley, Altered statesJules EvansMarch 21, 2019Comment

England and psychological inflexibility

England and psychological inflexibility

This weekend gave us an extraordinary rugby story. Not Wales winning the Grand Slam – although well done to them – but what happened when England played Scotland.

CBTJules EvansMarch 18, 2019 Comments

Enough

Enough

The closest I’ve come to enlightenment was the two minutes when I was lying in a bloody heap on Valsfjell Mountain in Norway. This was back in February 2001. While skiing down a steep slope, I crashed through a fence, flew off a cliff, and landed with a thump, breaking my leg and several vertebrae.

Civilization and its D..., climate change, happiness, Wisdom, PsychedelicsJules EvansMarch 7, 2019 Comments

The making and breaking of the counter culture

The making and breaking of the counter culture

Last week I came across a small book called The Making of a Counter Culture, written in 1969 by an American historian called Theodore Roszak. I loved it. Roszak was the first to coin the phrase ‘the counterculture’.

Academia, Adult education, Aldous Huxley, Altered states, Community philosophy, Contemplation, Ecstasy, Perennial Philosophy, Spirituality, Wellbeing classes, Wisdom, PsychedelicsJules EvansFebruary 28, 2019 Comments

The politics of transcendence and the war on drugs

The politics of transcendence and the war on drugs

Aldous Huxley thought western societies needed to become more open to ego-transcendence. We need to find ways to be less stuck in our egos, less stuck in consumerism and materialism, and more conscious, loving and open to other beings. We need to wake up to our potential and our power.

Aldous Huxley, Altered states, Anti-depressants, Consciousness, PsychedelicsJules EvansFebruary 22, 2019 Comments

It could be worse...

It could be worse...

This is about quite a dark subject: the Soviet gulags. I don't recommend reading this essay if you suffer from clinical depression. If you're just somewhat got down by global politics, I do recommend you read this, to realize that things can be a lot worse, and to appreciate what we have going for us.

Extremist politics, Marxism, resilience, SpiritualityJules EvansFebruary 8, 2019 Comments

It's behind you!

It's behind you!

A surprise visitor appears after a minute of this interview at Lowlands festival.

Comic reliefJules EvansFebruary 4, 2019Comment

The death (and rebirth) of the author

The death (and rebirth) of the author

Times are tough for creative professionals.

A survey by the UK Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ACLS) found that the average income for a professional author is £10,500. It’s fallen by 42% since 2005.

Adult education, WorkJules EvansJanuary 25, 2019Comment

Ecstatic experiences and the trap of specialness

Ecstatic experiences and the trap of specialness

Here's a conversation between me and David Fuller of Rebel Wisdom, about ecstatic experiences, spiritual pride and the trap of feeling special.

Ecstasy, God, The Shadow, PsychedelicsJules EvansJanuary 21, 2019Comment

Culture war profiteering

Culture war profiteering

Another bomb has gone off in the culture wars. Gillette, the razor manufacturer, has sparked outrage – OUTRAGE! – with its advert suggesting men can and should do better.

Extremist politics, MasculinityJules EvansJanuary 18, 2019 Comments

The Talented Mr Huxley

The Talented Mr Huxley

As you may know, I’m researching a book about Aldous Huxley and his friends Alan Watts, Christopher Isherwood and Gerald Heard, and how these four posh Brits moved to California and helped to invent the modern culture of ‘spiritual but not religious’.

Academia, Adult education, Altered states, Civilization and its D..., Ecstasy, meditation, mysticism, Spiritual exercises, Wisdom, PsychedelicsJules EvansJanuary 11, 2019 Comment