In part 4, Jeffrey Kripal and Host Michael Lerner explore Jeffrey’s remarkable history of Esalen in Esalen—The American Religion of No Religion. This astonishing cultural history of the famed retreat and conference center in Big Sur provides a panoramic insight of West Coast counter-culture over the past half century.  No one serious about understanding our times should miss it. You can find more information on his website jeffreyjkripal.com.

Join us along the wild coast of California, for an afternoon of dialogue, community, and ritual with author and soul activist, Francis Weller, and host of the All There Is podcast and CNN commentator, Anderson Cooper. This event was held live in September 2025 as a conversation and community grief ritual.

In part 3 of this series, Host Michael Lerner talks with author Jeffrey Kripal about his book Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism and Reflexivity in the Study of Mysticism. Roads continues and expands Kripal’s exploration of homoerotics themes in world religion.  It focuses on the inner lives of five great scholars of religion and their own engagement with the homoerotic themes in the saints and traditions they studied.  Kripal also continues his own autobiographical experience with five “secret talks” interspersed with his five case studies.

Join us for a special concert of original sacred music to free your imagination and open your heart to the celestial sounds of the Celtic harp. Christine Tulis shares songs inspired by the poetry of Rumi, other mystical saints, and her personal inner experiences. 

In part 2 of this series, Host Michael Lerner talks with author and professor Jeffrey Kripal about his book Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna. This was a revised version of his PhD dissertation at the University of Chicago. It was greeted with acclaim in the West and with vitriol by Hindu fundamentalists. It begins Kripal’s long study of homoerotic themes in world religions.