This lecture was presented in the poetry room, upstairs at City LIghts Bookstore, San Francisco on December 8th, 2013. This presentation includes a lecture on the Beat Generation’s contribution to religious heresy in America and the spiritual underpinnings of the hipster archetype. Additional references are made to the earlier romantic and transcendentalist roots of the Beats; and a panel will discuss the current influence of the Beats in literature, the arts, philosophy, psychology, and alternative approaches to spirituality. After the key presentation, a panel discussed the broader implications of what had been presented. Panelists included Dr. Marc Applebaum, Dr. Kirk Schneider, and Dr. Tony Stigliano.