Who is David Spangler?
Since 1964 David Spangler has been an author and teacher of spirituality. He began his career at nineteen as the keynote speaker at a national conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on "Youth and the New Age." The success of that talk led to other invitations, and a year later he left college, where he was studying molecular biology, and under guidance from inner sources, moved to Los Angeles where he became a featured speaker at the Fellowship of Universal Guidance.
This led to further invitations from other groups, and in 1966 he moved to Redwood City on the San Francisco peninsula where he taught classes and lectured on spirituality, the Western Esoteric Tradition, and practical mysticism.
In 1970 he visited the Findhorn Foundation community in Northern Scotland where he was invited to become its co-director and to be a teacher-in-residence. He lived and worked in the community until 1973, becoming the founder of its educational program.
Along with several friends and colleagues from Findhorn, he returned to the United States in 1973, and in 1974 he joined with them to create the Lorian Association, a non-profit spiritual educational foundation, which remains to this day the organization for which he works. In 1984, the Lorian Association moved to Issaquah, Washington where it is today.
In the years following his return from Scotland, David has developed and taught classes at a number of institutions, including the University of Wisconsin, Seattle University, Bastyr University, and the California Institute of Integral Studies. Also, since 1974 he has been a Fellow of the Lindisfarne Association—an association of scientists, artists, philosophers, economists, and spiritual leaders working at the cutting edge of scientific and cultural transformation.
His current work involves developing and teaching a spiritual practice called Incarnational Spirituality. His books include Emergence; The Call; Everyday Miracles; Parent as Mystic, Mystic as Parent; Blessing: The Art and the Practice; The Story Tree; Manifestation: Creating the Life You Love; and The Incarnation Card Deck.
David is happily married to Julia Manchester whom he met at Findhorn in 1971. They have four children ranging in age from twenty-five to fourteen. He considers being a parent his primary spiritual practice.
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David's Desk, Current Issue
#38 – God's Two Feed
David's Desk is my opportunity to share thoughts and tools for the spiritual journey. These letters are my personal insights and opinions and do not necessarily reflect the sentiments or thoughts of any other person in Lorian or of Lorian as a whole. If you wish to share this letter with others, please feel free to do so; however the material is ©2010 by 
David Spangler. If you no longer wish to receive these letters please let us know at info@Lorian.org.
Previous issues of "David's Desk" are available here. You also can now buy a volume of twelve of of David's Desk essays, entitled The Flame of Incarnation.
I have been enjoying watching the World Cup the past two weeks. Not only have many of the games been thrilling in themselves with the fate of teams decided literally in the last few seconds of play, but they are wonderful in opening a window on the many different faces of humanity. It truly is a world event. Watching the games, I have on several occasions found myself aware of a global network of subtle energies linking up all the millions of spectators around the planet. During this time, there have been moments as well when I have glimpsed some of the great national angels and devas using this shared focus of human consciousness to assist their continuing efforts to weave a deeper sense of connection and wholeness within our human family.
Recently we had a friend over for dinner who works for a company that has clients and suppliers around the world. As he was sitting in my living room, he pulled out his phone and said, “Right now it’s 7 AM in India. In another hour I’ll call one of our suppliers and check on the status of an order for a client here in Seattle. In our company, business is conducted twenty-four hours a day thanks to this little gadget,” he said, waving his smartphone.
With the growth of communications technologies that allow human beings to be in touch with each other virtually any place in the world, the old mantra from the Eighties to “think globally and act locally” is being transformed to thinking and acting globally. Planetary awareness is thrust upon us whether we want it or not, more frequently than not these days through unwelcome developments such as the world economic collapse in 2008 that show just how linked and interdependent we all are. It’s as if some planetary McDonald’s has taken the problems we face as a species and supersized them to world size.
But in the midst of this globalization of concern and attention, it’s important to recognize that effects are local. It’s the flash flood that damages my community that concerns me as abnormal rainfalls swell the local rivers even though the cause is a general warming of the planet’s atmosphere which increases the moisture in the air. The more planetary the problems become, the more important the response and resilience of specific localities become by contrast.
It’s this idea of locality that I want to affirm this month, though in a spiritual context. And here there is an interesting irony. Although we rail against the kind of bigness of institutions that led to both our current economic woes and the lack of competent local oversight that caused the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, we don’t think twice when we think about bigness in spirituality. We value such notions as universality, oneness, non-locality, and spaciousness. We want to “go beyond” the “limited personal self” and expand into vast cosmic realms of being. We want our spirit to be as big, as huge, as expansive as possible. BP, Exxon, and Goldman-Sachs would like their companies to be as big as possible as well.
I know this is an unfair comparison. There’s a world of difference between a large business and a large heart or an expanded consciousness. We really do want to develop a planetary awareness, one that can see the world as a whole system and care for its wellbeing as well as our own. But I wish to make the point that in our spiritual life we can become enthralled with images of universality and vastness—the transcendental and the transpersonal—and in the process forget that spirituality is as much local as non-local.
I make this point out of years of experience working with individuals and teaching classes in spirituality. One of the most common desires I encounter in students is the heartfelt wish to make a difference in the world. But the world in which they’d like this difference to take place is the large world of humanity and nature; in reaching for that scale of activity they may overlook the smaller, everyday, local world they actually inhabit moment by moment. Bigness trumps smallness in their awareness and expectations.
This attitude, though, can undermine the actual power and influence we do have. Yes, I may be able to influence in some manner energy fields and events at a distance from me; this is the premise of subtle activism, and it’s based on the fact that where subtle energies are concerned, everything is connected. But this influence is not guaranteed. On the other hand, at every moment, my personal energy field is touching and interacting with the world immediately around me. This may or may not make any difference a thousand miles away, but it surely makes a difference in my local environment.
I think of this as the practice of God’s Two Feet. These feet are not the ambulatory kind but the kind you find on a ruler. Two feet is roughly arm’s length. Imagine yourself surrounded by a sphere of energy an arm’s length away from you. This is your most intimate energy locality, your personal space. You can fill this volume with spiritual energies, with love, joy, compassion, caring, and when you do, it becomes a grail holding sacredness that you bring into contact with the world. This is the art of blessing.
My non-physical mentor and colleague, whom I called John, once said that in every relationship, in every encounter between us and anything or anyone in our environment, there was the power and the possibility for “God to erupt.” Sacredness and blessing could emerge in that space between us. That’s why I think of it as “God’s Two Feet,” the area of local interaction where our spirituality can truly make a difference and the spirit of God can manifest. But for this to happen, I need to be mindful of this intimate locality. If my mind is always on the transpersonal, the transcendental, the global, the cosmic, then these two feet may become invisible and unused as my eyes, my heart, and my thoughts reach beyond them for the universal. I need to refocus, to look closer to hand, indeed to look at my hands and their power to touch with love and blessing. I need to look to the power of my voice, the power in my seeing, the power in my immediacy and specificity as a means of making the infinite finite in the here and now. I want to pay attention to what happens in this place, not in all places.
Here is a simple exercise I often give my classes. Attune to a felt sense of love within yourself. Then imagine and feel this love flowing from this place into your arms and down into your hands and fingers. Imagine it collecting and radiating around your fingers. Whatever you touch, do so in the spirit of this lovingness, as if you are touching the most valuable, precious, and loved thing in the world. In that touch, in that specific moment, in that encounter, either spirit flows or it doesn’t. This is where you make the difference, and if love truly does spring from your fingers, then who knows how far that difference, that blessing, may radiate.
Of course, we don’t go through our day touching everything or everyone. But imagine instead this loving, blessing energy flowing into and filling a sphere of energy surrounding you at arm’s length or just a little further out. This sphere does touch everything; it engages with the subtle energies of the environment around you, and it, too, like your fingers, can convey the power and intent of your goodwill, your love, your kindness, and your presence of blessing.
In short, you mobilize God’s Two Feet. You make the sacred present in this space around you, reflecting its presence in your heart and mind. And as you do, you may find that these two feet do indeed provide the way for the world to move forward in meeting and healing the global challenges that lie before us.
From J.M. about David's Desk: "David, I always look forward to your monthly pieces, and always feel a lifting in my heart/soul on those days when I see the subject line in my email box. I have enjoyed all of them, often pondering on them for days or weeks or more afterwards."
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David's Other Articles
A Mystic Looks at Inner Citizenship
Part 1,The Soul of America
The United States of America is like a wondrous play. What we see of it on stage is compelling, dramatic, inspiring, and powerful: its vast landscapes, its abundant farmlands, its towering cities, its network of roads and town and villages, and its millions of people. This is the outer America, the visible America. But there is a part we don’t ordinarily see as well, an invisible part behind the scenes. If it were a play, this would be all that takes place back stage, including the writing, the directing, the financing, the organization, and the stagecraft that makes the play possible. This is the inner America.
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A Mystic Looks at Inner Citizenship,
Part 2, Inner Citizenship
We usually associate citizenship with the civic and political part of our lives. It may consist for most of us of such activities as voting, paying our taxes, fulfilling civic duties that may come our way such as serving on a jury, and obeying the laws of the land. With a bit more effort, it can include running for public office and serving as a public servant. It may for some of us include protesting what we see as injustice and faulty laws, campaigning for those who have been disenfranchised in some manner, fighting for causes, and championing issues in a public forum.
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A Mystic Looks at Inner Citizenship,
Part 3, An Anatomy of the Soul of America
Outer citizenship is usually conceived as operating primarily within our civic and political life. Inner citizenship is not so restricted to any particular domain. Whatever enhances the quality of life (both inner and outer) in our country is an act of inner citizenship. Being a nourishing and empowering father or mother is inner citizenship at work. Creating a garden that brings beauty to your neighborhood and good energies to the invisible lives that are part of the land and part of the inner realm of plants is inner citizenship at work. In a holistic spiritual vision, the land and the creatures who live upon it are also citizens with us, all contributing to the greater holism that is America.
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A Mystic Looks at Inner Citizenship,
Part 4, Working with the Soul of America
In this final part of this series, I want to explore one way out of many that we might work with the Soul of America as described in Part 3.
It begins with a question: Can I embody the Soul of America in myself?
A second, related question is, can I be a means, an ally, through which the spirit and energy of the Soul of America enters the psyche, the personality, and the active life of the United States without distortion?
It is followed by another question: Can I hold to my sovereignty, think for myself (and think holistically), and choose a mindful course of action in the midst of collective pressure to do otherwise?
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Now and Then
The Problem of the Eternal Now
I have always found the teaching or technique of the eternal Now problematic. Like many such ideas, I find it can have unintended consequences. It sounds so sensible and intuitive, the "spiritual" thing to do. Yet, when I practice this state, drawing my attention away form anything having to do with yesterday or tomorrow and being fully focused upon what is happening in the present, I find a diminishing of my creative and spiritual powers. I feel narrowed, not expanded. My soul seems further away to me, less rather than more accessible. The "Eternal Now" disempowers me.
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The Pilgrimage Dimension
What is a pilgrimage? Usually it is thought of as a journey involving time and distance to a holy place or a place of some special significance. Such a journey may require an effort that can be transformative, making the pilgrimage life-changing. This gives a pilgrimage a dimension that makes it more than simply a tourist excursion or a sightseeing trip
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Colleagues
These are a few of the individuals with whom I’ve worked over the years and whose teachings or writings I recommend. Some have also collaborated with Lorian as a whole, but others primarily have a relationship with me. For other recommended and important colleagues, please see Friends of Lorian under Boundaries.
John Michael Greer: John is the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA). He has been active in the alternative spirituality movement for more than 25 years, and is the author of some eighteen books, including The Druidry Handbook (Weiser, 2006) and The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age (New Society, 2008). He is a scholar of the Western Hermetic Tradition. His blog, The Archdruid Report, offers “Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial civilization. I highly recommend it. http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/.
Dr. Brugh Joy: Brugh is an old friend and one of the finest spiritual teachers around, a unique individual who offers classes and training unlike any other I’ve seen. He and I co-sponsored a New Year’s Conference for twenty years at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California. His book Joy’s Way is a classic. You can find his website at http://www.brughjoy.com/.
Catherine MacCoun: Catherine is one of the clearest thinkers and finest writers I know in the area of inner growth, alchemy, and the hermetic tradition. With a background in both Tibetan Buddhist training and Christian Hermeticism, in addition to her own inner contacts and training in the arts of Focusing, she brings a unique sensibility and awareness to spiritual work of all kinds and particularly that of healing.
Her website is at http://www.catherinemaccoun.com/hermeticist/index.html.
Robert Moss: Robert Moss is one of the world’s leading authorities on dreams and dream work. His books are classics in the field. Dreams are one of the ways we access the Second Ecology of the non-physical worlds, and I know no better guide to this process than Robert. We have been friends for a number of years. For further information, see his website at http://www.mossdreams.com/.
Janet Piedilato: Janet is a transpersonal psychologist with an eclectic background that is grounded with a doctorate in biology, tempered with a doctorate in transpersonal psychology, and empowered by years of study as a student of shamanism, herbal therapy, and ancient dream ritual. I have known Janet for years, and she literally straddles the fence between the scientific and the intuitive, the waking and the dream realities. She has her own private practice, facilitates workshops and pilgrimages to sacred sites, is the founder and CEO of Immaginal, and founder/director of Temenos, a sacred teaching space. Her business website is http://www.immaginal.com/.
Arthur Zajonc: Arthur is professor of physics at Amherst College, where he has taught since 1978. He has been visiting professor and research scientist at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, and a Fulbright professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. He is an optical quantum physicist whose research has included studies in parity violation in atoms, the experimental foundations of quantum physics, and the relationship between sciences, the humanities and meditation. He is also a scholar of the Western Hermetic Tradition, a former President of the American Anthroposophical Society, head of its International Esoteric School, President of the Lindisfarne Fellowship, and a participant and scientific coordinator for the Mind and Life dialogue with H.H. the Dalai Lama. His most recent book is Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love. Arthur’s website is http://www.arthurzajonc.org/.
Susan Stanton Rotman: Susan is a gifted intuitive and teacher who guides others in discovering and applying their inner resources. Her background is that of an attorney and mediator, and she brings outstanding skills and integrity to her work with inner contacts. I have always been impressed with her work. As she says in her website, she offers "heart-centered guidance toward self-discovery and transformation for engaged, creative and joyful living." For anyone seeking vision and strategic direction, Susan has a great deal to offer. Her website is at http://www.susanrotman.com
"Thanks, David, for the magnificent teachings and observations you gave us, the amazing exercises you set for us, and for all the varied and profound discussion that all the forum-ites were willing to bring to all of it! Thank you, thank you all.
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" Thank you, David, once again for your amazing thoughts. I just adore the idea of 'Fingerprints of Love.' It really struck a cord with me, you promote love and respect in most of your thoughts, and I really work toward that goal on a daily basis"
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