In his 40-year quest for truth and inner peace, Michael Murphy ranges from a Roman Catholic seminary in New York to a Shiva temple in Southern India. He rises to a respected position in an international meditation organization while living a double life in which he explores numerous other teachers and paths. Through it all he struggles with one of the greatest tests (and teachers) on the path of the seeker: living in intimate relationship with another human being. This book is more than a spiritual memoir, however. In writing it Murphy, who has taught writing for a decade, explores a new...

When Michael Murphy lost his faculty position at a Midwest university, the last thing he expected was to be entering the decidedly non-academic realm of psychic communication with animals. But, this is exactly what happens when someone gives his wife a book on the subject, and he finds himself inexplicably drawn halfway across the country to take courses at Spring Farm in upstate New York. At first, Murphy's success at getting messages from the animals is unimpressive, but when the former Writing Instructor decides to use an unusual writing technique in his interactions, he gets a flood of...