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fyi. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 12:14:59 -0500 From: Dr. Kelly James Clark <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Religion, Mysticism, and Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Colloquium on the Moral Implications of Mysticism in the World Religions 17-18 May 2003, Princeton University http://www.princeton.edu/~wildberg/mysticism.html Conference Rationale Ever since William James delivered exactly one hundred years ago an open-minded, sensitive and wide-ranging phenomenology of the experiential (as opposed to doctrinal) aspects of religion, it has become increasingly clear that the phenomena of religious experience, and of mysticism in particular, can and ought to be made the object of unprejudiced academic inquiry. James shows in more compelling ways than previous writers that mystical experiences play an important part of the history of human consciousness, that they have momentous effects on human lives and transform the way in which mystics perceive, think about and relate to their social and natural environment. Mysticism has not only speculative and experiential dimensions, but also profoundly ethical ones, and not just on the level of the individual. However, the precise relationship between mysticism and moral belief or practice, and especially the way in which mysticism has served historically as a foundation for moral conduct, has received comparatively little academic attention and remains, to some extent, uncharted territory. The colloquium to take place in Princeton in May 2003 brings together scholars of mysticism and ethics in the various world religions in order to explore, critically and co-operatively, the many implications of mysticism for moral conduct. --- end forwarded text