Our Next Big Question Webinar:
Mystical Moments in Management: An MSR Flamekeepers Big Question Open Forum Webinar for Sharing Lived Spiritual Experiences
Wednesday, November 5, 2025, 9:00 -10:30 AM Pacific Time
Facilitated by Mohammed Raei and Jerry Biberman
Dear Colleagues,
The Flamekeepers of the MSR Division of the Academy of Management invite you to a groundbreaking online gathering that opens a space for sharing the deeply personal, often ineffable, and profoundly transformative experiences that have shaped our inner lives and professional paths.
Since its founding in the early 1990s, MSR has provided a home for inquiry into spirituality, faith, and meaning in management and organization studies. Yet many of us have carried mystical, transcendent, or altered-state experiences quietly—whether due to stigma, academic caution, or lack of spaces where such stories feel welcome.
This event seeks to change that.
Join us for an intimate and courageous online conversation where MSR members and guests can share personal experiences—such as moments of divine connection, Kundalini awakenings, nondual awareness, spontaneous insight, or other spiritual openings. This is not a panel or lecture, but a collective space of listening, resonance, and authenticity. All experiences, regardless of tradition or vocabulary, are welcome.
Why now?
As conversations around consciousness, inner development, and transformation expand in both scholarship and practice, it is time for MSR to more fully include the direct experiences that often motivate our inquiry, shape our teaching, and inform our leadership.
Who is this for?
Scholars, practitioners, students, and anyone in the MSR community who has had spiritual or mystical experiences they have struggled to share—or who simply wish to witness others doing so. No experience is too small or too “out there.”
Webinar design:
The webinar will begin with a brief framing by the facilitators, followed by open space for 3–5 minute personal sharings from participants. Small-group reflection circles for deeper connection will then be followed by group summaries and closing reflections.
Date/Time:
Wednesday, Nov 5, 2025 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting URL:
Meeting ID: 848 1989 1690
Passcode: 642332
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Sponsored by: MSR Flamekeepers Committee
Flamekeepers of MSR
Honoring our roots. Illuminating the path. Kindling connection.
Who We Are
The Flamekeepers are a circle of committed MSR members—founders, long-time stewards, and newer voices—who nurture the spiritual heart of the Management, Spirituality, and Religion Division. The Flamekepers consist of the original founding members of MSR and those MSR members who have contributed to the ongoing spiritual and organizational growth and development of MSR from an interest group to a thriving division.
Our Purpose
We hold space for reflection, discernment, and deep relational connection, sustaining MSR’s vision and values. We serve MSR by supporting the soul of our community, encouraging emerging leadership, and helping our Division stay true to its deeper mission. For one another, we foster caring relationships among those who have walked and continue to walk MSR’s path.
What We Do
- Offer spiritual grounding and thoughtful counsel to MSR leadership
- Mentor new leaders aligned with MSR’s values
- Support key initiatives such as the Promising Dissertation Award, Best Paper Award, Big Question Webinars, and travel grants
- Tend to MSR’s history and steward its archives
- Lead meditation sessions and care for the Silence Room at AOM as a space for renewal and rest
Why It Matters
We help keep MSR rooted in purpose, open in spirit, and strong in connection. As Flamekeepers, we tend the inner life of our Division so it can flourish in service to MSR’s vision, its members and the broader world.