Customer Reviews

The Call

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read many book on spirituality, but this one talked to me like no other. David Spangler has captured the complex subject of life through some simple and enlightening viewpoints. The Call is a book for anyone looking for the present moment or should I say, "becoming aware" of the present moment.

Everyone at one point in their live has posed the question of the meaning of existence. What is my purpose here on earth, what am I to do are just a few of the many questions that have escaped from our lips. In this slim volume David Spangler enables us to deal with that still small voice that nudges us into unknown territory. The name we give that voice is "The Call" which is active throughout our lives. Spangler shares with us his own personal experiences in both accepting the call and defining its meaning. He shows us that in both the spiritual and scientific world, humanity is part of the whole. We are to live, give and grow in this world of ours as we accept our call in life. We, ourselves are walking answers to the call. This text lays out the differences between a call and a summons and how they work in our lives. We are also given insight concerning issues of power and integrity. In essence calls are all around us but we must pay attention. Calls are also not one shot deals but are processes that work themselves through us in the course of a lifetime. The Call is a beautiful book which points one onto his or her spiritual journey. By all means listen to your call and respond. The Call will enable you on your quest. It is a much needed resource in your spiritual library.

I loved this book. I recently decided to reread it when I was inbetween jobs, and it gave me some very good ideas about how to move forward in a positive direction. I heard David is coming out with an update to this book, published by Lorian Association.

I've known Spangler's work for years. I've known him previously as being a guru-type personage attached to the wonderful spiritual centre of Findhorn, Scotland. I read several of his books many years ago, but couldn't tell you what I concretely got out of them.

In this little book Spangler discusses getting, or not getting, a call to tell us what we're supposed to do on this Earth.

He relates how he was "called" away from his university studies at the age of 20, much against his will. He doesn't specify what exactly he was called to do except generally work on his spiritual development. He tells how a spirit being whom he called John came to work with him. John led him to do psychic readings for people, which he at first was vehemently opposed to. Here he experienced that the one question asked by most people was "What is my calling?" He understood that a person's calling was simply to be him- or herself, how to be his/her essence - love. The primal background call is to love oneself, to love others, and to love the "sacred". That is, our basic mission is to manifest the Spirit of the Beloved in our life. Only rarely did John say to someone that he was here to do something specific. What the Earth needs is "more compassion, more gentleness and sweetness, more caring, more love, more valuing of one another".

He recounts an Arthurian story about Sir Gawain and his wife Ragnall, illustrating that an important example of loving behaviour is "giving back power and honouring the integrity of another - valuing who the other is".

Our call is also individuality and to "integrate our individuality into the community, into communion with humanity - to contribute, to cocreate, and to serve".

The flipside of every call or summons is transformation of the one summoned. The hero and the shaman "do not remain untouched by their quests" - their transformations are part of the gifts they bring back.

First and foremost, we must practise mindfulness and answer the little calls or summonses that are in front of us in our everyday life, We thus prepare the ground for a bigger call.

We are always called - if we were not loved, we wouldn't be here on Earth. We must have times of silence where we need to listen - it is then we will hear the primal call, what Spangler terms "the Big Bang of love". We create our own calling, moment by moment. "If we want to hear the big call, we cannot ignore the little ones."

This is a "quiet", simple book, which calls us back to ourselves, gives us grounding and reminds us of the importance of love, of receiving that love in our everyday lives and transmitting it to all our fellow human beings, the animals, plants, the Earth and everything there is. An inspiring book, highly recommended!

David Spangler (born 1945) is an American spiritual philosopher, channel, and self-described "practical mystic," who founded the education program at Findhorn in northern Scotland. He has written many books that were highly influential within the New Age movement, such as Reflections on the Christ, Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, A Pilgrim in Aquarius, The Laws of Manifestation: A Consciousness Classic, etc.

Here are some quotations from the book (page numbers refer to the 1996 120-page "uncorrected proof" edition):

"I suppose the reason that episode in the film about Peter Marshall A Man Called Peter [VHS] affected me so deeply was that a part of me was anticipating my own calling and was undergoing a preparation of soul for when it would occur." (Pg. 7)
"I went to class as usual, but nothing the instructor said made sense. It was like I had had a lobotomy. I watched my grades plummet ... and I thought, 'I don't think I'm supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be somewhere else.' So I left the university.' At which point my mind turned back on again." (Pg. 11)
"Now, I have been aware of spirit beings and the existence of non-physical dimensions all my life, though I never thought much about it until, as a teenager, I began to meet others who had similar experiences. What surprised me was that one of these beings had specifically sought me out and said that we were going to work together. I called this being 'John,' because I liked that name. It captured for me the essence of a loving spirit, and this being was, if nothing else, profoundly loving." (Pg. 31)
"...people started coming to me for readings... It was an eye-opening experience for me to see how willing people were to give their power away to me because they felt I could access another dimension of life. With no justification other than that I could speak with a spirit being, they were willing to turn me into an expert and surrender their free will to me and to John, asking that we make important choices for them." (Pg. 33-34)
"For John, every person's calling was to heighten and clarify the background call so that it came into the foreground of his or her life." (Pg. 36-37)
"What is it that we would need to do if we were living in the New Age? We'd still have to eat. We'd still have to cook. We'd still have children to raise, marriages to nourish, values to express. What really is so different about the New Age? Basically, we'd have to do the same things, express the same lovingkindness, embody the same integrity, and take care of one another and our world in the New Age as we do now. So what is stopping us from doing this now instead of waiting for some event or prophecy to give us permission to be what we already are? I think it would better to assume that whatever the great event is that all these groups are awaiting it has already taken place, and we are already in the New Age." (Pg. 43-44)
"What happens if I never get a call? Well, that doesn't happen. We are always called. I hope I am making that clear." (Pg. 105)