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{{Short description|American writer and co-founder of Esalen}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2016}}
'''Michael Murphy''' (born September 3, 1930) is an American writer, co-founder of the [[Esalen Institute]], and a key figure in the [[Human Potential Movement]].

==Life and career==
Michael Murphy was born September 3, 1930, to an Irish father and [[Basques|Basque]] mother in [[Salinas, California]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary |first=R. C. S. |last=Trahair}}{{incomplete citation|date=March 2025}}</ref>

In April 1950, while enrolled in the pre-med program at [[Stanford University]], he mistakenly wandered into a lecture on comparative religions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wood |first=Jim |url=http://www.marinmagazine.com/August-2014/Michael-Murphy/ |title=Michael Murphy |date=July 28, 2014 |website=Marin}}</ref> This lecture so fanned the flame of his interest in the integration of Eastern and Western thought that he enrolled in the class and subsequently began [[meditation]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Murphy |first=Michael |title=An End to Ordinary History: Comments on a Philosophical Novel |year=2011 |publisher=Open Road Media}}</ref>

On January 15, 1951, during seated meditation by Lake Lagunita at Stanford, he experienced what he describes as a "hinge moment", after which he dropped out of the pre-med program with a new vision for the purpose of his life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Michael Murphy Profile |url=http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/1998/janfeb/articles/murphy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504005908/http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/1998/janfeb/articles/murphy.html |archive-date=2006-05-04 |access-date=2025-07-18 |website=www.stanfordalumni.org}}</ref>

He continued with his formal education, earning his B.A. in [[psychology]] in 1952 from Stanford University. After graduation, he was [[conscription|draft]]ed by the US Army and spent two years stationed in [[Puerto Rico]] as a psychologist. He returned to Stanford for two quarters of graduate studies in philosophy before he quit in 1956 to go to India.<ref name=":0" />

===India===
During 1956 and 1957 Murphy practiced meditation for 18 months at the [[Sri Aurobindo Ashram]] in [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]], [[India]].<ref>{{cite book |title=In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports |first1=Michael |last1=Murphy |first2=Rhea A. |last2=White}}{{incomplete citation|date=March 2025}}</ref>

===Founding Esalen===
In 1960, while in residence at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Cultural Integration Fellowship in [[San Francisco]], he met a fellow Stanford University graduate, [[Dick Price]].<ref name="Grogan-2008">{{cite book |title=A Cultural History of the Humanistic Psychology Movement in America |first=Jessica Lynn |last=Grogan |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2008}}{{ISBN?}}</ref> In 1962, they founded [[Esalen Institute]] together in [[Big Sur]], [[California]] on {{convert|127|acre|km2}} of property owned by Murphy's family.<ref name="Grogan-2008" />

In 1972 he retired from actively running Esalen to do more writing. He remains on the board at the institute and continues to be a key contributor to research projects at the Esalen Center for Theory and Research. He presently resides in Mill Valley, California.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Redfield |first1=J. |last2=Murphy |first2=M. |last3=Timbers |first3=S. |year=2002 |title=God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution |publisher=Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam |isbn=978-1585421374}}</ref>

===Further contributions===
In the 1980s he organized Esalen's Soviet-American Exchange Program which served as a unique form of citizen-to-citizen diplomacy. The program initiated the process that led to [[Boris Yeltsin]]'s first visit to the US 1990.<ref>{{cite book |title=On the Edge of the Future: Esalen and the Evolution of American Culture |editor1-first=Jeffrey J. |editor1-last=Kripal |editor2-first=Glenn W. |editor2-last=Shuck |year=2005 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253345561}}</ref>

In 1992 he published ''The Future of the Body'', a massive historical and cross-cultural collection of documentation of various occurrences of extraordinary human functioning such as healing, [[hypnosis]], [[martial arts]], [[yoga|yogic techniques]], [[telepathy]], [[clairvoyance]], and feats of superhuman strength. Rather than presenting such documentation as scientific proof, he presents it as a body of evidence to motivate further investigation.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

He is also an avid golfer and has written two fictional books relating golf and human potential. His 1971 novel, ''[[Golf in the Kingdom]]'', has been in constant publication since its release and has become one of the best selling golf books of all time. In 1992 it spawned The Shivas Irons Society, a 501(c)3 organization to explore the transformational potential of sport, of which Murphy is the co-chairman of the advisory board. He partnered with film producer Mindy Affrime on the feature film adaptation of ''Golf In The Kingdom''. It was directed by Susan Streitfeld and stars [[David O'Hara]], [[Mason Gamble]], [[Malcolm McDowell]] and [[Frances Fisher]]. The complementary one-hour TV documentary, called ''Golfers in the Kingdom'', was directed by [[Ellen Spiro]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

==Works==
*''Golf in the Kingdom'' (fiction) (1971)
*''Jacob Atabet'' (fiction) ([[Jeremy P. Tarcher]]/[[St. Martin's Press]], 1977)
*''The Psychic Side of Sports'' (non-fiction, co-written with Rhea White) (1978)
*''An End to Ordinary History: A Novel'' (fiction) (1982)
*''The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature'' (1992)
*''The Life We Are Given: A Long-Term Program for Realizing the Potential of Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul'' (non-fiction, co-written with [[George Leonard]]) (1995)
*''In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports'' (non-fiction, update to ''The Psychic Side of Sports'', co-written with Rhea White) (1995)
*''The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Research With a Comprehensive Bibliography, 1931-1996'' (non-fiction, 2nd edition) (1997)
*''The Kingdom of Shivas Irons'' (fiction - sequel to ''Golf in the Kingdom'') (1997)
*''God and the Evolving Universe: The Next Step in Personal Evolution'' (non-fiction, co-written with [[James Redfield]] and Sylvia Timbers) (2002)
*''An End to Ordinary History: Comments on a Philosophical Novel'' (non-fiction) (2011)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |url=http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/1998/janfeb/articles/murphy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504005908/http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/1998/janfeb/articles/murphy.html |archive-date=2006-05-04 |title=In Murphy's Kingdom |first=Jackie |last=Krentzman |website=Stanford Magazine |date=January–February 1998}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041024211143/http://www.literati.net/Murphy/ Home Page for Michael Murphy]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010727125231/http://www.esalenctr.org/display/bio.cfm?ID=9 Michael Murphy], brief biography at Esalen Center for Theory & Research

{{Big Sur|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Michael}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American male writers]]
[[Category:American people of Basque descent]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Human Potential Movement]]
[[Category:Integral theory]]
[[Category:People from Big Sur, California]]
[[Category:Writers from California]]

Michael Murphy (author) - Revision history

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