The conference will begin on the evening of August 24th as we meet for an orientation followed by dinner. Each day that follows, we will have morning plenary sessions followed by lunch. After lunch there will be an afternoon break, allowing participants to enjoy Menla (there is a great pool, wellness services, hiking trails, or a Sanctuary for quiet reflection) or take part in an afternoon activity. Later in the afternoon there will be a choice of workshops to attend followed by dinner, and after dinner we will gather for an evening of culture and celebration. The conference will end after lunch on August 28th.
Sample Schedule:
Monday, August 24th
6:00 Opening Dinner
8:00 Conference Orientation and Welcome
Tuesday, August 25th
9:00-10:00 Three Iroquois Lessons Offered Toward Peace - Freida Jacques
10:00-11:15 Colonial America: Seeds of American Spirituality and Esotericism -
Christopher Bamford
11:15-11:30 Break
11:30-12:30 The All-Seeing Eye in America: Freemasonry's Role in American
History - Jay Kinney
12:30-1:30 Lunch
2:00-4:00 Afternoon visit to Woodstock, NY
4:30-6:30 Afternoon Workshops:
Reading Esoteric Dimensions of American Literature -
Arthur Versluis, Ph.D.
The America Story - Nancy Jewel Poer
The Doctor, The Adept, and the Quest for the Philosophers Stone
- Brian Cotnoir
Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas and the Creation of a Spiritual
Democracy - Bruce Novak, Ph.D.
7:00 Dinner
8:30 The Songs of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger
An Evening of Folk Music performed by Judy Gorman
Wednesday, August 26th
9:00 Announcements
9:10-10:30 The Esoteric American Renaissance - Arthur Versluis, Ph.D.
10:30-11:30 Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Seer of Concord and Father of
Transcendentalism - Richard Geldard, Ph.D.
11:30-11:45 Break
11:45-1:00 Upstate Cauldron - Joscelyn Godwin, Ph.D.
1:00-2:00 Lunch
2:00-4:00 Afternoon visit to the Zen Mountain Monastery
2:30-4:00 Kenneth Rexroth: Poetry and the Mysteries of Spirit, Nature
and Sex - Frank Donnola
4:30-6:30 Afternoon Workshops:
In Blavatsky's Shadow: America's Unsung Mages - Jay Kinney
Immigrants All - Joscelyn Godwin, Ph.D.
Paschal Beverly Randolph: A 19th Century African American
Esotericist - John Patrick Deveney
Transcendentalism, Silence, and Sublimity in American Landscape
Painting 1825-75 - The Spiritual Context - Barbara Novak
7:00 Dinner
8:30 Blessings at the Threshold, Elizabeth Street, New York City, 1905
An Evening of Stories told by Gioia Timpanelli
Thursday, August 27th
8:45 Announcements
9:00-10:00 Dead Women Do Tell Tales - Sally Roesch Wagner, Ph.D.
10:00-11:00 The Spiritual Mission of America - Nancy Jewel Poer
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15-12:30 Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly P. Hall - Louis Sahagun
12:30-1:30 Lunch
2:00-4:00 Afternoon visit to the KTD Monastery
4:30-6:30 Afternoon Workshops:
Sophia and the Mysteries of Community in 19th Century America
- Christopher Bamford
The Spiritual Background of Saul Bellow's Writing - William Hunt
Esoteric Los Angeles - Louis Sahagun
Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our
Nation - Mitch Horowitz
7:00 Dinner
8:30 Wade in the Water
An Evening of Gospel Music performed by Chanda Rule
Friday, August 28th
8:45 Announcements
9:00-10:15 The Legacy of the Black Church and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the
Struggle for the Soul of America - Larry Mamiya, Ph.D.
10:15-11:30 The Pursuit of Real Happiness: The Soul of America and the
BuddhaDharma - Robert Thurman, Ph.D.
11:30 Break
11:45-12:30 Closing Circle
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Bus leaves for the post conference journey
