Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Parent as Mystic, Mystic as Parent
David Spangler
Riverhead Books 01/99 Hardcover $21.95
ISBN: 1-57322-106-6

David Spangler lives in Seattle with his wife and four children. The author of The Call sees parenting as a high and holy calling. Using illustrative material from his experiences of child rearing, Spangler unfolds the ways in which mysticism animates his activities. "A parent is like a mystic dedicated to fostering the unfolding of the world through the instrument of a family. Like a mystic, a parent must attune to what is not yet visible, to what is seeking to emerge, in order to weave that spirit into the flesh and bone and behavior of children who as adults will delight in and contribute to the world at large."

The parent as mystic is one who fosters life in all of its variety and potential; one who is a teacher about time; one who incarnates the spiritual practices of love, listening, imagination, and connectedness with the world; and one who honors in children their otherness and their abilities to enlighten us. This is not a how-to book but rather a testament to the importance of discovering the sacred in the midst of family life. Spangler at one point writes, "God is a lap," meaning that the essence of divine and human caring is the same — love.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat