Human Potential Movement - Wikipedia, the free ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human...

Human Potential Movement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement took as its premise the belief that through the development of "human potential", humans can experience an exceptional quality of life lled with happiness, creativity, and fulllment. As a corollary, those who begin to unleash this assumed potential often nd themselves directing their actions within society towards assisting others to release their potential. Adherents believe that the net eect of individuals cultivating their potential will bring about positive social change at large.

Contents
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Roots Authors and essayists Notable proponents See also Notes References Further reading

Roots
The movement has its conceptual roots in existentialism and humanism. Its emergence is linked to humanistic psychology. Some commentators consider the HPM synonymous with humanistic psychology. The movement is strongly inuenced by Abraham Maslow's theory of self-actualization as the supreme expression of a human's life. In the middle of the 1960s, George Leonard did research across the United States on the subject of human potential for the magazine, Look. In his research he interviewed 37 psychiatrists, brain researchers, and philosophers on the subject of human potential. He found that "Not one of them said we were using more than [1] 10% of our capacity." Which has been disproven by the Ten percent of brain myth. During the course of this research Leonard met Michael Murphy, the founder of the nascent Esalen Institute, that at the time was running educational programs for adults on the topic of "human potentialities. Leonard and Murphy became close friends and together put forth the idea that there should be a
1 of 4 2014-01-10 12:02

Human Potential Movement - Wikipedia, the free ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human...

human potential movement.[2]

Authors and essayists

Abraham Maslow published his concept of a hierarchy of needs in a paper in 1943 . He described that as peoples basic survival needs are met so their desire to grow in mental and emotional dimensions increases. He also coined the term Metamotivation to describe the motivation of people who go beyond the scope of the basic needs and strive for constant betterment. Michael Murphy and Dick Price founded the Esalen Institute in 1962, primarily as a center for the study and development of human potential, and some people continue to regard Esalen as the geographical center of the movement today. In 1964, Virginia Satir became Esalen's rst Director of Training, which required her to oversee the Human Potential Development Program. At the time, Satir was [3] well established as an author, trainer and consultant. Twenty years later, Satir actively encouraged therapists to shift their focus to relationship education to help clients discover "more joy, more reality, more connectedness, more [4] accomplishment and more opportunities for people to grow."

"Were at a crossroads, an important crossroads of how we view people. Thats why its possible now for all the dierent kind of therapies to go into education, education for being more fully human, using what we know as a pathology is only something that tells us that something is wrong and then allows us to move towards how we can use this to develop round people. Im fortunate in being one of the people who pushed my way through to know that people are really round. Thats what it means to me to look at people as people who have potential that can be realized, as people who can have dreams and have their dreams work out. What people bring to me in the guise of problems are their ways of living that keep them hampered and pathologically oriented. What were doing now is seeing how education allows us to move toward more joy, more reality, more connectedness, more accomplishment and more [4] opportunities for people to grow." Virginia Satir

Aldous Huxley gave lectures on the "Human Potential" at Esalen in the early 1960s. His writings and lectures "on the mystical dimensions of psychedelics and on what he called the perennial philosophy were foundational. Moreover, his call

2 of 4

2014-01-10 12:02

Human Potential Movement - Wikipedia, the free ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human...

for an institution that could teach the 'nonverbal humanities' and the development of the 'human potentialities' functioned as the working mission statement of early [5] Esalen. Christopher Lasch notes the impact of the human potential movement via the therapeutic sector: "The new therapies spawned by the human potential movement, according to Peter Marin, teach that "the individual will is all powerful [6] and totally determines one's fate"; thus they intensify the "isolation of the self." George Leonard, a magazine writer and editor who conducted research for an article on human potential, became an important early inuence on Esalen. Leonard claims that he coined the phrase "Human Potential Movement" during a brainstorming session with Murphy, and popularized it in his 1972 book The Transformation: A Guide to the Inevitable Changes in Mankind. Leonard worked closely with the Esalen Institute afterwards, and in 2005 served as its president.

Notable proponents
William James (18421910), an early proponent Fritz Perls (18931970) Aldous Huxley (18941963) Carl Rogers (19021987) Viktor Frankl (19051997) Viola Spolin (1906-1994) Joshua Loth Liebman (19071948) Abraham Maslow (19081970) Alan Watts (19151973) Virginia Satir (1916-1988) Harvey Jackins (19161999) Alexander Everett (19212005) George Leonard (19232010) Stan Dale (19292007) Michael Murphy (b. 1930) Werner Erhard (b. 1935) Marilyn Ferguson (19382008) William Schutz (19252002) Jean Houston (b. 1937) Fernando Flores (b. 1943) Anthony Robbins (b. 1960)

See also
Personal development

Notes
1. ^ Author quoting George Leonard in Quantum Integral Medicine: Towards a New Science of Healing and Human Potential, by Michael Wayne 2. ^ Wayne, Michael. Quantum Integral Medicine: Towards a New Science of Healing and Human Potential.

3 of 4

2014-01-10 12:02

Human Potential Movement - Wikipedia, the free ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human...

3. ^ Woolf, Linda. "Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Society" (http://www2.webster.edu/~woolm/satir2.html). Webster University. Retrieved November 28, 2012. 4. ^ a b Kripal, Jerey (February 21, 2011). [http://fatherhoodchannel.com/2011/02 /21/revolutions-of-a-lifetime-at-home-and-abroad-084/ 5. ^ {cite book "Esalen America and the Religion of No Religion"]. Fatherhood Channel. University of Chicago Press.excerpt (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago /453699.html). 6. ^ Lasch, Christopher (1979). The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations. New York: Norton. p. 9. ISBN 0393011771. Quoting Marin, Peter (October 1975). "The New Narcissism". Harper's. p. 48.

References
Salerno, Steve (2005). SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless. New York: Random House. ISBN 1400054095.

Further reading
Bendeck Sotillos, Samuel "Prometheus and Narcissus in the Shadows of the Human Potential Movement" AHP Perspective, December 2012/January 2013, pp. 612. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org /w/index.php?title=Human_Potential_Movement&oldid=589846053" Categories: Human Potential Movement Personal development Humanism This page was last modied on 8 January 2014 at 23:44. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.

4 of 4

2014-01-10 12:02