Manifestation is the act of bringing something into existence
or the fact of its emergence into the world. Manifestation can
occur through ordinary or extraordinary ("miraculous")
means.
Co-incarnation is the mutually evocative and co-creative
dynamic of reality -- the way things evoke and shape each other,
providing contexts, motivators, resources, history and meaning
to each other.
David Spangler suggests that our universe is essentially co-incarnational.
He notes that quantum physicists speak of matter and energy in
terms of fields of probability. What we see as reality is a manifestation
of fields of probability drawing each other towards 100% probability,
at which point they co-incarnate as "real" phenomena.
Co-incarnational manifestation, then, is the way the universe
unfolds, the generative dynamic that brings everything into being.
It is a vital process underlying universal
intelligence. It provides a way for us to consciously join
The Universal Dance,
and evoke the things we need even as the world evokes what it
needs from us.
That's the best I can do right now to summarize this highly intuitive
field. Here is a more detailed writeup I did in January 1998 immediately
after reading David Spangler's book Everyday Miracles.
* * * *
I have always responded negatively to the popular New Age idea
that the universe and Spirit exist to give us prosperity. The
fact that the world is in such a state of suffering -- generated
in no small part by such alienated, privileged attitudes -- makes
those ideas almost repugnant to me.
But the work of David Spangler is different. I found Spangler
saying things that have been cornerstones of my own work on co-intelligence
for years, that I've heard no one else address. One of my hottest
inquiries has been into what sort of co-intelligent spiritual
practice could help us actually experience the co-creativity involved
in every situation and moment. This concern is so central to Spangler's
own spiritual practice that his rituals and reflections constitute
a very coherent answer to my inquiry. The fact that I will have
to rework it considerably to fit my own sensibilities does not
contradict Spangler's approach: He encourages readers to do exactly
that. His sensitivity to human diversity -- and the ramifications
of that diversity -- are refreshing.
While most people would call his overall approach New Age, I see
him tapping the best of the New Age while deftly avoiding the
pitfalls that have most troubled me about many New Age proponents.
For example:
-- Spangler advocates looking at how whatever we're doing impacts
the ecological and human systems in which we're involved.
-- He fully acknowledges the dark side of life and our humanity;
he has none of that saccharine "sweetness and light."
-- He validates individuality and rationality even as he validates
unity and intuition.
-- He doesn't say "you create your own reality" so much
as "we all co-create our shared reality."
Among the most delightful surprises for me was to find him describing
in detail five of the six components
of wholeness I articulated several years ago -- a model I
considered revolutionary. He explicitly includes in his approach
unity, diversity, relationship, uniqueness and interiority. He
implicitly includes context and, of course, I think it would strengthen
his model to make it explicit. But I have come to see my own model
as seriously incomplete in the face of his. Lately I've been wondering
if I should add to my model "possibility" and "manifestation"
as dynamic dimensions of wholeness. "Possibility," in
this sense, includes fields of probability and what quantum physicist
David Bohm calls "the implicate order" out of which
phenomena arise. The word "manifestation" here refers
to all emergent particularity (the specific forms of which are
always emergent) -- what Bohm called "the explicate
order" -- i.e., the observable reality which "unfolds"
from the invisible implicate order. Adding these two elements
to the model will ultimately help me explain why combining unity
and diversity (or uniqueness and relationship, or interiority
and context) generates new possibilities without deteriorating
the health of the systems involved.
But the personal point I want to make here is that I am quite
captivated by the implications and potential of David Spangler's
approach. I recommend his book Everyday Miracles very
highly. It has not only given me a promising tool to address thorny
problems in my own life (by manifesting improved conditions),
it has finally pointed me in directions that clarify the sort
of spirituality and metaphysics that have long been implicit in
everything I do. As well as providing more grist for the mill
of my co-intelligence work.
One thing I hope to manifest with David Spangler is some
insight into how the insights he's outlined could be applied at
the level of social systems -- communities and societies. I already
see some great potential synergies with things like open
space and future search
conferences.
But here's some more of his ideas that so excite me.
David Spangler defines manifestation as "the art of fashioning
a co-creative, synchronistic, and mutually supportive relationship
between the inner creative energies of a person's own mind and
spirit and their counterpart within the larger world in order
to bring a new and desirable situation into being." His approach
recognizes and facilitates manifestation as acquisition and
creation and invocation -- by both ordinary and
extraordinary (seemingly miraculous) means.
He finds visualization, affirmation and positive thinking useful
in some situations, but often problematic. For example:
-- Creating a clear, precise image of what we want
can narrow our options, focusing our attention
on what is familiar and causing us to overlook
manifestations which show up in unexpected forms.
-- Attempting to "program the unconscious"
through the repeating of affirmations can become
mindless instead of mindful, passive instead of
passionate. It can blind us to unexpected
manifestations and channel our intention into
verbalization when images or narratives might
be more appropriate for us or our project.
-- The assertion of positive thinking to dispel doubts
and fears can deprive us of important information,
suppressing aspects of our individual or collective
wholeness (our "shadow") or aspects of reality we
need to understand and deal with.
For Spangler, manifestation is more than using such tools as visualization,
affirmation and positive thinking to focus the mind. There is
"a deeper force at work as well, and it was attunement to
that force that constituted the core of my approach to this inner
art."
"What I set out to find was something like an 'aikido of
desire.' I wanted a way to use the energy of my desires to take
me to a deeper part of my own being that was in touch with the
holistic or spiritual side of the world's being.... I have opted
for a technique in which our desires become potential points of
reflection and invocation.... Manifestation is a way of using
any desire as a starting point for a spiritual journey."
"Of course, there is much more to a spiritual practice than
manifestation.... However, it can be an opportunity, no matter
how trivial the desire, to explore connections, patterns, alignments,
and the flow of both material and spiritual energy through your
life. When you make manifestation a spiritual practice, then the
perspectives it brings overflow into other aspects of your life.
You begin naturally seeing yourself and your world in terms of
interconnected and co-incarnational [mutually evocative and co-creative]
patterns. The reality of the community in which we all live becomes
more apparent. The vision of your incarnation becomes broader,
more ecological, more compassionate. Your attitudes and actions
reflect a larger, more complete humanity." Ultimately, "the
inner art of manifestation" is about being a fully-conscious
"co-creator of our collective cosmos,... [shaping] a reality
that honors and reveals our full nature and that, in co-creative
alignment with the sacred, empowers and nurtures all of life."
This practice involves realizing that we are not only "particular"
bodies or personalities. We are also extended selves -- fields,
systems or patterns that extend out into space and time through
infinite webs of interrelationship that are continually evolving
in complex, chaotic ways. Whatever we want to manifest is already
part of this infinite extended self, or part of its potential
evolution. Chaos and "living system" theories suggest
that small initiatives and powerful visions can shift the evolution
of such systems in desirable ways. Manifestation applies that
insight.
But the whole approach is "co-incarnational" (or, alternatively,
co-intelligent). The object of our manifestation -- what we are
trying to manifest -- is not only part of our extended self; we
are part of its extended self. Whether it is a relationship, an
object, a job, or anything else, when it manifests in our lives,
we manifest in its life -- and we will change each other. Manifestation
is a two-way street; together, we and the object of our manifestation
will co-incarnate each other's next stage of being. This is something
to prepare for -- both for our own sake, and to deepen our understanding
of what we're doing here -- and because that preparation increases
the probability that the manifestation will be successful.
One further insight I'd like to share, which is mostly Spangler's
and partially mine, inspired by him. We are all part of the universe's
endless manifestation of evolving wholeness -- which shows up
as healing, learning, realization, love, etc. In a very real sense,
everything that exists is participating in that universal manifestation
project. Our own healing and spiritual growth, it seems to me
now, involve primarily our intentionally serving and consciously
participating in that project. To the extent we undertake
our personal manifestation projects as part of that larger
will and welfare, our intention is aligned with the larger benign
flow of the universe, and thus increases both the probability
and desirability of the success of those undertakings.
Note: Spirituality plays a gigantic role in my life and work.
And, although I believe that spiritual perspectives and practices
(like Spangler's) that are congruent with the co-intelligent vision
should be available, I don't think they are necessary for the
exercise or development of co-intelligence. One need have no spiritual
sensibility to put on a successful open space conference, to support
students' diverse learning styles, or to constrain the domination
of the media -- all of which are supremely co-intelligent activities.
That said, I find the exercise of co-intelligence a fundamentally
spiritual activity. You figure....
David Spangler, Everyday Miracles: The Inner Art of Manifestation
(Bantam, 1996)