Word: esalen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...about this yearning to go up. It tells the story of three boys' attempts to get there: Hal, who tries to go up through his love for a girl named Flo: a character referred to only as "the boy," who attempts to get aloft with the help of Esalen, the California sensitivity institute; and Gagarin himself, who interrupts the narrative occasionally to tell of his attempts to find salvation through his perception and interpretation of the liberation of Harvard last spring. None of the characters quite gets there-but then again, how many people do you know who have made...
Only "the boy" comes close to getting up. It is near the end of his stay at Esalen, and he receives a massage from a beautiful girl who works there. As she lovingly rubs his body, he trips out in feelings of ego-less love. One hopes (and suspects) that he will pass that way again...
...unlikeable character such as Hal certainly could work in a book, but only if the narrator has some distance on him and realizes his absurdity. Gagarin-as we know from the superior Esalen and Harvard portions of the book-has seen "up." Why couldn't he write about Hal from up there...
...church and the Jesuit structures were narrowing areas in which I could express my love." He resented the fact that when he said Mass, "people thought I was doing some kind of magic." After taking a leave from Loyola University of Los Angeles to spend a year at Esalen, Hilsdale says, "I found my value. At least I knew that if I was a sinner, I was a valuable sinner." Hilsdale goes to Mass occasionally, but feels that "Christianity is just one of many symbol systems that point to man's dependence on God." As for Catholicism, he adds: "There...
...Carol and Ted and Alice. A Hollywood comedy about Esalen-inspired liberation in California. The philosophical outlook is solidly middle-class, but the script (by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker) and the performances of Elliot Gould and Dyan Cannon are witty and sometimes surprisingly perceptive...