MSR Research Colloquium: “The Mystical and Research”
June 12 @ 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Join Debbie and global leaders for a workshop on Crossing the Ontological Gap (aka Threshold Crossings) on Friday, June 12th at 2:45pm. A great way to start the weekend!
NOTE: Debbie’s session is from 2:45 – 3:45 pm ET, Friday, June 12. The MSR Research Colloquium is a free, two-day event spanning June 11-12, 2026.
Register Here
About the Session:
The Formational Set: An Ontological Field Architecture for Researching Leadership Transformation at the Threshold of the Mystical
Friday, June 12 at 2:45 pm
This session introduces the Formational Set (FS), an ontological field architecture for understanding leadership transformation as recursive identity reconstitution rather than skill acquisition or stage progression (Palgrave, 2025).
Drawing on perennial wisdom, systems change theory, and the neuroscience of memory, the FS articulates transformation through five dynamics—Tension, Turning, Threshold, Tending, and Terroir—across nine domains of formation. Particular attention is given to the “ontological gap,” letting go/surrendering… a discontinuous shift from ego-structured identity to relationally embedded being, resonant with descriptions of unitive or mystical experience.
The session explores how such experiences may be studied without reduction, proposing a relational, participatory epistemology that integrates first-person inquiry with emerging empirical pathways (the Formational Set Scale). This work contributes to bridging mystical knowing and management research by offering a framework that holds rigor and ineffability in generative tension, inviting new approaches to leadership formation and the study of consciousness in organizational life.
View Full Program Agenda
About the MSR Research Colloquium
A 36 hour colloquium on mystical and scholarly inquiry, blending research talks, dialogue, and reflective practice.
Hosted by the MSR Research Committee
A 36-hours research colloquium exploring the meeting point of the mystical and scholarly inquiry. Through research talks, methodological dialogues, and structured reflective practice, participants will examine lived experience as research, spiritual transformation, the unconscious and emotional life, and the holistic nature of knowledge and being. The gathering invites rigorous methods alongside contemplative approaches, making space for both critical analysis and inner experience.
