Criticism
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 can't afford to experience their "full human potential". Some think that this is a regression of progress away from true spiritual growth.
Read more about this topic: Esalen Institute
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world—though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“Homoeopathy is insignificant as an art of healing, but of great value as criticism on the hygeia or medical practice of the time.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“People try so hard to believe in leaders now, pitifully hard. But we no sooner get a popular reformer or politician or soldier or writer or philosopher—a Roosevelt, a Tolstoy, a Wood, a Shaw, a Nietzsche, than the cross-currents of criticism wash him away. My Lord, no man can stand prominence these days. It’s the surest path to obscurity. People get sick of hearing the same name over and over.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)