Dick Price co-founder of the Esalen Institute
Richard Price co-founder with Michael Murphy of the Esalen Institute. This is a graphite on paper sketch by me of Dick from a Joyce Lyke photo. Dick loved to hike and explore the inner and outer reaches of wilderness. He was a gifted practitioner of what he called Gestalt Practice, a one-of-a-kind human being, and a great friend. When I did a recent search of the internet and found few images of him, I decided maybe it was time to change that... although I imagine that Dick would have been please to have no images of himself on the internet as he liked to keep a low profile. Seems appropriate to have one image of Dick on this site as he was the co-founder of Esalen.
A sensitive drawing from a beautiful photo. What a great guy! He saved my bacon. For years I thought of him as the only sane man in a totally crazy world (which was, admittedly, kind of ironic). He was my touch-stone. I love Dick. Of course, he's got that big grin on his face because he's looking at Chris!
Many thanks. -j
Absolutely stunning. Thank you for this.
I never personally knew Dick. He was before my time. But I always felt somehow touched by his work and his life through all of the people whose lives he had changed -- lives he had saved -- at Esalen.
Thank you.
---Albert
I remember doing Gestalt groups with Dick. He was amazing...his approach had a profound effect on my life. He embodied the essence of the work. I will never forget the image of him just sitting, listening and being with what was unfolding. Never in the way...very present...yet very powerful. Nothing got past him. Even when it seemed as though he was a million miles away, he was right there, connecting with the person who was in process. Very Zen, very shamanic, and very much the heart and soul of Esalen.
Blessings,
Victoria
What a beautiful sketch Steve!! Trancendent! If you're up for selling a print, i would LOVE to have one.
I, too, loved Dick. I did a piece of work with him on probably the strangest issue of my past. I had never trusted anyone else to do this nor have I ever worked that issue with anyone since. The content of the work was quite mystical and I remain grateful for Dick's sincere belief and interest in my work. He approached me afterwards for more information and asked me to follow up with him. I was in the midst of recording a cassette tape to send Dick as my follow up (I was living in Florida at the time) when I learned of his death. I cried for days. Although Esalen remains an absolutely incredible place of healing, I have always felt the most profound "heart of Esalen" departed when Dick left. I keep a picture of him, me & my last group with him (the last catalog group before his death) on my bedroom dresser. I miss him still today. What an incredibly healing ripple effect on the planet he created!! Thank you Dick!! And thank you Steve for the memories and feelings your sketch brought up for me.
Beautiful art of a beautful person, thanks a lot for it. So much we don't know of each other. Steve is a great artist. Wonder what other talents you have we don't know about.
I did love the energy flow I felt in Steve's wilderness workshop. I regret three things. 1. That I didn't walk to the top of some mountain. 2. That I didn't go for a walk one day during the workshop but stayed and enjoyed Esalen (and missed the strange aborted Cow-stuff -- alien's ufo's?) (I use to read a lot of comic books and Science Fiction and always had a vivid imagination). And 3. (I'll save that one for in person someday, hopefully).
Regarding Richard Price: The brief moments I was in his presence were cherished. Here I am happy I went to one Gestalt Practice but sad that I didn't actually speak (that's a first) though I did give undivided attention to all who were there and did work. I think I was a work scholar there for the first or second time.
When I heard of his passing I was very upset and disturbed. I asked an intuitive friend from Esalen about it and he said to me Richard Price was able to sit up where he was found in the forest area. Which means to me he was able to exit consciously. That a white rock hit him (medium size). Knowing that we are the immortal Soul and have a body always helps me accept the loss of friends and family. Later in a Parapsycholgy/Psi sensing class there I drew a pattern on a chalk board when a session ended and imagined afterward that Richard Price was still present.
http://www.geocities.com/ninthnebula10/graphic-illusion-4.htm
That picture almost brings tears to me, and certainly feelings of sadness and nostalgia. Dick was such a great guy. I always considered him the heart and soul of Esalen, without whom the place would never have been possible. He gave so much, particularly in the early days of the sixties and the terrible chaos, craziness and tragedy of the early seventies. I spoke to him first in 1965 and last shortly before his death, at the baths. He told me was just "rusticating" and had a marvelous calm and happiness he did not know in the early days. I was happy for him. He will always be bigger than life.
about the intuitive friend saying that Dick was "able to sit up where he was found in the forest area" - not really the case.
I believe it was almost instantaneous and he was not found sitting. I almost would not bother to mention but I have heard so many - very well intentioned - versions of the story surrounding his death that tend to deify (i.e.: that he was in sitting meditation when the rock hit him in the third eye, etc.)
While hiking and being in the canyon were certainly 'walking meditations' for him, he was very aware of his surroundings (to which I imagine Steve can attest) when back there and the placement of his body strongly suggested that he was moving to avoid the rock - which seems far more in character to me.
The reason I mention this is that Dick was very cautionary about gurus in general (and skeptical of the devotee relationship - which is different from a master/apprentice sort of relationship) and always seemed very uncomfortable (to me, at least) with people trying to make him into one. He was uncomfortable with the term "therapist" in that (probably among other things - Chris could speak to this better than me) it implied someone somehow greater than oneself being responsible for 'fixing' the somehow lower and less self-responsible individual - rather people were free to sit "in practice" together at Esalen. The whole guru thing is a quantum leap beyond that. I don't so much want to be a myth-buster as I feel Dick would not like being a myth. Admittedly, that he was killed at "the source" does add to the legend quality - and does seem fitting.
I personally love the letter he wrote to Time magazine about the Rajneesh experience (it's in "the Upstart Spring".)
I do agree with Buzz. Dick seemed much more settled and happy in the period before his death.
thanks steven