On March 20th, 2016, Professor Jason James Kelly presented a paper at “Being Spiritual but Not Religious: Past, Present, Future(s)” Rockwell Symposium, held at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
While a spate of essays and a few books have appeared concerning the SBNRM this symposium, as part of the ongoing series in the GEM (Gnosticism, Esotericism, Mysticism) program in the Department of Religion at Rice University, seeks a deeper exploration of what characterizes its "present" nature, its "past" determinants and its possible "future(s)." The symposium included presentations from William B. Parsons, Robert Fuller, Linda Mercadante, Leigh E. Schmidt and Jeffrey J. Kripal.
Professor Kelly's paper, “Rogue Mystics: The Ecology of Cosmic Consciousness” examines how the idea of cosmic consciousness developed in the late 19th century in the writings of Walt Whitman, R.M. Bucke and Edward Carpenter. Drawing on key texts of these intellectuals, Kelly suggests that their conception of cosmic consciousness presents an alternative interpretation of spiritual subjectivity that can be characterized as “nondualistic,” “embodied” and “socially-engaged.” Kelly claims that the contemporary understanding of spiritual ecology and the growing role it plays in vitalizing political action within current ecological movements can be traced to this “cosmic” interpretation of spiritual subjectivity outlined by these “rogue mystics.”