The Future of the Body: Explorations into the Further Evolution of Human Nature - Softcover

Murphy, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0874777305 ISBN 13: 9780874777307

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 1993

Synopsis

In the oral and written histories of every culture, there are countless records of men and women who have displayed extraordinary physical, mental, and spiritual capacities. In modern times, those records have been supplemented by scientific studies of exceptional functioning. Are metanormal attributes latent within everyone? What is the evidence that all humanity has unrealized capacities for self-transcendence, that the limits of human growth are not fixed? And are there specific practices that ordinary people can do to develop these abilities? Michael Murphy has studied these questions for over thirty years. In The Future of the Body, he presents evidence for metanormal perception, cognition, movement, vitality, and spiritual development from more than 3,000 sources. Surveying ancient and modern records in medical science, sports, anthropology, the arts, psychical research, comparative religious studies, and dozens of other disciplines, Murphy has created an encyclopedia of exceptional functioning of body, mind, and spirit. He paints a broad and convincing picture of the possibilities of further evolutionary development of human attributes. By studying metanormal abilities under a wide range of conditions, Murphy suggests that we can identify those activities that typically evoke these capacities and assemble them into a coherent program of transformative practice. Such practice, he believes, if embraced by enough people, would constitute a crucial next step in the world's evolutionary adventure.

About this title

Product Description:

Paperback. Pub Date: 1993 Pages: 800 in Publisher: penguin A projection. Of the future of the species documents reports of extraordinary perception. Cognition. Volition. And spiritual Statistics development

Review:

An impressively researched, authoritative, and absolutely mind-boggling survey of "the transformative capacities of human nature." As to be expected from a co-founder of California's Esalen Institute, the emphasis here is very much on mind-body phenomena, with the focus on individuals who apparently have extended the usual reach of human possibility - saints, mystics, psychics, artists, geniuses, etc. Drawing on an astonishing array of eyewitness accounts, scientific studies, biographies, letters, monographs, etc., Murphy rigorously organizes his vast material into three categories: "Possibilities for Extraordinary Life"; "Transformative Practices"; and "Evidence for Human Transformative Capacity." In the last category, for example, he discusses and documents placebo effects, spiritual healing, hypnosis, "somatic" disciplines such as the Alexander Technique and the Feldenkrais Method, yogic powers, the charismas of saints, etc. All this fascinating if sometimes sensational information does serve a purpose, of course - to illuminate the author's "central observations and proposals," e.g., that "the evidence for extraordinary human attributes strongly supports some sort of penentheism....the doctrine that Divinity is both immanent and transcendent to the universe." Whatever one thinks of Murphy's conclusions, even a casual dipping into his text, which will no doubt become a primary source for future mind-body investigation, will reveal a world of inspiring wonders. (Kirkus Reviews) --Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0874777305
• ISBN 13: 9780874777307
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 800