The Luciferic Initiation

Hi, David, how are you? ;-) Here´s a review of your book "Reflections on the Christ", originally posted elsewhere!

This is the 2012 edition of David Spangler's classic "Reflections on the Christ", first published in 1978. The book contains speeches given by Spangler already in 1970-71 at Findhorn, a New Age community in Scotland. Spangler has edited one of his more controversial speeches, "Lucifer, Christ and God" and appended a new article, "A Retrospective on Lucifer, Christ and God". An article called "A letter to the Findhorn Community" has been dropped. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same book as back in 1978.

According to Wiki, Spangler's ideas are inspired by those of Alice Bailey. I never read Bailey (correction: I *tried* to read Bailey - so have you, and we're still not any wiser), but I have read Steiner and Barfield. The similarities between Dave and the Anthroposophists are striking, and I've jokingly called Spangler's message "Anthroposophy with a human face".

According to Spangler, humanity hasn't fallen into matter from a higher and loftier estate we should all aspire to re-enter. Rather, we are supposed to be here. Humans are expressions of Spirit attempting to come to grips with dense matter. We are on an evolutionary journey which takes us down, deeper and deeper into the material world. We are supposed to evolve stable egos and self-conscious personalities. Only in a later stage of evolution do we start moving upwards again, somehow both transcending and incorporating matter (this part of Spangler's message is somewhat unclear). However, our spiritual evolution has gone dangerously wrong, since most of us have forgotten our mission and identify with matter so completely that we no longer believe in the spirit-world. Both the Buddha and Christ came to remedy this situation. Christ was a spirit-entity who overshadowed the human Jesus. When Jesus was crucified, his energy patterns somehow merged with those of the planet Earth (which is a kind of living organism), making it possible for humanity to attain wholeness again and continue its journey. I don't know what Bailey said about these things, but this sure sounds like vintage Steiner.

According to Spangler, the Christ is really a kind of cosmic energy or life force. He is the power behind our spiritual evolution. Lucifer plays a similar role. In Spangler's (controversial) vision, Lucifer isn't entirely evil, but rather a being which challenges man and prods him forward on his evolutionary quest, often by confronting him with his errors, deepest fears and anxieties. At one point, Spangler relates Lucifer to the Jungian Shadow, which must be incorporated rather than suppressed to make humans whole. "Satan" is simply the negative side of Lucifer, which becomes powerful when humans fail to confront their shadows. Satan feeds on the negative or "evil" energy patterns which are really the creations of human beings.

Spangler has often been fingered as the "founder" (sic) of the New Age movement. There is indeed much in this book which any new agey baby boomer can relate too: the Cosmic Christ, the Age of Aquarius, spiritual evolution, a positive view of matter, "evil" simply being misused energy or energy out of place, the idea that suffering is a learning experience, etc. Other ideas sound more occult, such as the talk about Atlantis and Lemuria, or Spangler's belief in the Kumaras, including Sanat Kumara. He is the "higher self" of the Earth, the planet's great "initiator" and somehow its real king and ruler. The "initiation" is a kind of fast-track evolution, in which millions of years of slow and steadfast growth are crammed into a few centuries. It's not entirely clear to me what Sanat Kumara will do, except that he will evolve humanity onto a new level. The whole idea sounds like a New Age version of postmillennialism. At one point, Spangler calls the Findhorn community "the Second Coming"!

The 1978 edition of "Reflections on the Christ" contained the rather unfortunate statement: "Maybe to enter the New Age, we all need to take a Luciferic Initiation". This quote (sometimes in suitably enhanced versions) has been used for good effect by both Christian fundamentalists and anti-New World Order conspiracy theorists. Poor Dave has been cast in the role of the Anti-Christ or worse. Some conspiracy websites claim that he is employed by the United Nations! Imagine that. As already noted, Spangler has responded to the furor by simply expunging all references to the Luciferic Initiation from the 2012 edition. I'm not sure if that helps. Search for "David Spangler Luciferic Initiation" on the web and see what happens...

In contrast to "Subtle Worlds" (reviewed by me elsewhere), this book sounds more dogmatically esoteric. I mean, Lemuria? Sanat Kumara? Please. Still, "Reflections on the Christ" could be of interest to those interested in the more hidden history of the New Age, far away from Carlos Castaneda, Shirley MacLaine or the crystal craze. For that reason, I recommend it to all fearless seekers.

Luciferic Initiation, anyone?