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.

David's Desk, Current Issue

#57 A Retrospective

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 ©2011 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.

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A RETROSPECTIVE

            A couple of years ago I badly sprained my hands by typing too long and too much.  The result was a combination of weakened fingers, tennis elbow and carpal tunnel that took several months to heal before I could effectively use my hands again.  I’ve been very careful since then not to repeat this situation.  However, lately, working on my book projects, I’ve noticed familiar sensations of pain and strain arising in my fingers. The immediate result is that I won’t be writing a new David’s Desk this month as I take a break from typing to ensure my hands heal and don’t flare up once again.

            Instead with your indulgence, I’m repeating a David’s Desk from over four years ago on spirituality in everyday life.  Looking it over, I think it’s as appropriate now as it was then.  For many of you it will be brand new, and for those who remember it, I hope it will be a welcome trip down memory lane.  And hopefully by this time next month, my hands will be strong and whole once more and all will be well.

SPIRITUALITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE

 At a lecture recently, I was asked “What is the use of spirituality in everyday life?  How can it help us address the problems of the world?  We need action, not meditation.”

This is not an unusual question. I imagine most, if not all, spiritual teachers are asked it from time to time.  Nor is it an unfair question.  We are a practical species, after all, and we want to know not only how things work but how they will work for us and what benefit we will derive.  And while the question as stated perpetuates a common misunderstanding that spirituality is other-worldly (and that meditation is what spirituality is all about), it carries a genuine caring of the questioner for the wellbeing of others and the world. 

It also expresses the perplexity of a person raised in an industrial, technological, strongly materialistic culture faced with problems such as climate change, nuclear proliferation, the widening of the economic and social disparity between rich and poor nations, and terrorism that are themselves the by-products of such a culture and which are resistant to purely industrial, technological, or materialistic solutions. 

The times we are in create stress, and we naturally want to relieve that stress, preferably as soon as possible, which means a desire for quick fixes.  Like a magical spell, the speed of technological processes has entranced us and turned us into impatient, short-term thinkers who want our solutions and gratifications now.  Consider the irritation we may feel if our computers take thirty seconds to access a website instead of five.  And when it comes to spirituality, if I can’t learn it and do it after a weekend course, then what use is it?

But spirituality has never been about short-term experiences or solutions.  It is part of the “long wave” of human experience and growth.  It some ways it’s not even about solutions but about the process of arriving at solutions, about how we think, how we feel, how we see, how we engage.
It is common to say that spirituality is about being rather than about doing.  But this is a largely artificial and rhetorical distinction.  When I act, I act from my being, and that I can act at all is because I have beingness.  But we can also say that we come into being through our actions, that being itself is an action. 

I think of incarnation as an ongoing act of will in relationship and engagement with the world.  So, spirituality is as much about doing as it is about being.  Indeed, I would say that spirituality and spiritual practice are about uniting the apparent dichotomies of being and doing into a unity, a wholeness of active presence.

Imagine a group of people in a room engaging in a craft project.  Some are knitting, some are crocheting, some are doing needlepoint, and some are sewing.  Each of these is a separate and distinct art requiring specific skills; they are different ways of doing.  But all of them require and use hand and eye coordination and the fine motor skills of finger work.  If I am “all thumbs,” it doesn’t matter which craft I’m doing, the results will be mediocre at best.  I may even fail completely.  With practice, though, I can master the coordination and muscle movements necessary to skillfully manipulate the knitting needles or the crochet hook or the needle and thread.  As I do, I can concentrate more and more on the pattern I’m trying to create—the sweater, the picture, the dress, the quilt—and less and less on just getting my fingers to do the right thing.

In this example, spirituality should be seen not as a technique, such as knitting or sewing, but as the skill of hand-eye coordination and the fine motor skills that make all these arts and crafts possible. In other words, spirituality is metaphorically the underlying skill that enables the doing of these crafts, not the crafts themselves.  Spirituality is the equivalent of good coordination.  It is the ability of my fingers to do the right thing in the moment.  It is the “muscle knowing” of the appropriate action that honors the stitch or the knit I’m making, the larger pattern I’m working with, the spirit of the craft itself, and the joy I have in participating in this craft.

What does this mean in our everyday world?  Well, think about those qualities or actions that we call “spiritual.”  What might they have in common?  Think about love, compassion, caring, forgiveness, peacefulness, integrity, coherency.  What do they do?  Think of them in terms of “I/hand” coordination, that is, how I blend, connect, and engage with my world.  Being loving or compassionate doesn’t make me otherworldly. Rather it gives me the “fine motor skills” of human relationship that can enhance communication, cooperation, understanding, effectiveness.  Any of the spiritual qualities enable me to “stitch” or “knit” the human fabric together more closely. And if I have cultivated an inner peace, I’m more able to focus on the larger patterns of humanity and the sacred, on the wholeness of things around me and the wholeness of the world, rather than focusing on the fumbling of my fingers as I try to master a particular technique.

It could be said we face so many planetary problems precisely because we have become “all thumbs” where the world, where nature, and where our fellow human beings are concerned.  We are not coordinated.  We are dropping stitches, losing threads, missing connections, and breaking patterns all over the place.  We are fumbling through life. 

Spiritual practice and techniques, from meditation and prayer to ritual and reflection, are our finger exercises to develop the skills of coordination. Love coordinates.  Peacefulness coordinates.  Compassion and forgiveness coordinate.  They are the fine motor skills of good human relationships.  Attunement to nature coordinates and is the fine motor skill of good environmental relationships.  Yes, a person can get lost in just doing the finger exercises and never picking up a needle and thread.  But simply trying to act—to sew more, knit more, crochet more—without being more coordinated is not going to solve the problem.  It’s only going to give us more of the tangle we already have.

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Announcing " View from the Borderlands"

As of June, 2011, Lorian is offering a quarterly subscription service, the View from the Borderlands.

View from the Borderlands includes the following benefits:

• View from the Borderlands, a quarterly sharing David Spangler's perceptions of the subtle worlds, mailed 4 times a year at the equinoxes and solstices.
• Two “Webinars”a year, one in the spring, one in the fall, where David Spangler will be available to discuss material from the quarterly and answer questions.
• A week-long online Forum with David Spangler in the winter allowing a more lengthy and in-depth opportunity for discussion and interaction with interested subscribers.

Click here for further information from David Spangler about the View from the Borderlands along with samples of the kind of material it will contain.

The cost for the subscription is $100.00 annually. 

Click the Subscribe button on the left to sign up for the Quarterly.

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A Lecture on The Christ

This presentation of The Christ by David Spangler, was recorded via Skype in December, 2011 by David to an audience at Findhorm in Scotland. In it he describes his understanding of the Christ, as it has evolved over the years. David first wrote about the Christ in his book, Reflections on the Christ, in 1977. Although the essential concepts around David's understandings as described in the book have not changed, there have been refinements and deepening into that body of work.

 

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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.
Click here to download the rest of the article.

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.
Click here to download the rest of the article.

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.
Click here to download the rest of the article

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?
Click here to download the rest of the article.

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.
Click here to download the rest of the article.

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
Click here to download the rest of the article.

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