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Setting the Record Straight: An Open Letter from Michael Murphy

Originally posted on sciy.org by Rich Carlson on Sat 22 Nov 2008 09:51 AM PST  

Dear Rich Carlson-

Rumors that I asked Jeff Kripal to write a "Freudian" study of Sri Aurobindo are completely false, and Kripal has no intentions to do so.  But I am indeed deeply fascinated (and indebted) to Sri Aurobindo, who remains the chief inspiration for my life work.  I discovered his writings in 1950, at Stanford University, as a 19-year old undergraduate and  would not have started the Esalen Institute without his inspiration.

Lately, I have been newly inspired by Peter Heehs's magnifcent Aurobindo biography  and by the historic scholarship conducted by Heehs and Richard Hartz at the Aurobindo Ashram Archives. Their work on Aurobindo's extraordinary Record of Yoga will one day help revolutionize psychology and transformative practice, and Heehs's book is bringing new awareness of Sri Aurobindo to countless people worldwide.  I hope that the book's detractors will eventually come to appreciate the good it is doing for the very cause they celebrate.

Peter Heehs and Richard Hartz are expanding the frontiers of Aurobindo scholarship with the courage and dedication that Aurobindo embodied and recommended to us all.

Michael Murphy

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