David Karchere, a spiritual teacher and author, shares his transformative journey in an exclusive interview with MysticMag.
His book, Becoming a Sun: Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence for a Happy, Fulfilling Life, is a deeply personal exploration of emotional intelligence and inner awakening. Inspired by his own struggles and revelations, Karchere emphasizes that the answers we seek are already within us—we just need to unlock them.
Through poetry, storytelling, and insightful teachings, he guides readers toward greater self-awareness, spiritual intelligence, and a more fulfilling life.
What inspired you to write *Becoming a Sun: Emotional and Spiritual Intelligence for a Happy, Fulfilling Life*, and what core message do you hope readers take away from it?
As a sixteen-year-old, I felt desperate about my own life and the future of the world. I knew I didn’t want to be part of what I saw around me. I didn’t have any answers for that world, or for myself. So, I was losing hope.
Finally, I met someone who told me that what I was looking for was within me. But I had to let it out. And he said that the answer to the issues faced by humanity lies within us all. We just have to access them.
This set me on a lifelong learning journey. What was that answer within me and all people?
The issues of today have morphed. But still, there is war, environmental degradation, and a bizarre value system. And just plain old ignorance. The stress on the human psyche is showing up all over the place, with a world epidemic of loneliness, and a loss of a sense of self for many people as they drown in a virtual world.
Here is what my path of personal discovery has led me to—the realization that enlightened emotional intelligence unlocks all doors. And without that, the most important doors in life remain shut.
This is not only about a more successful career, or an improved ability to cope with other people. It gives us access to the answers within ourselves.
Real emotional intelligence brings greater levels of wellness, personal peace, and creative flow in life. It brings joy and empowerment. It opens the possibility of spiritual intelligence—genuine awareness of the most essential realities of life. And yes, it opens up greater flow with other people and higher levels of accomplishment in life.
I’ve learned that gaining emotional intelligence is a journey. In fact, our whole life will teach it to us if we let it. But by the nature of the subject, it is not just intellectual learning. It is a *heart learning.
My book is about this learning journey. That’s why it is a book of poetry and stories, as well as diagrams and explanations. It takes the reader on a good ride through the process by which we learn such things.
I’ve learned that life is a journey to grace. It doesn’t always seem like it. But it is if you are ready to take the ride. My book is that journey in miniature. What I hope for the reader is that they renew their commitment to the journey as they read and enjoy it.
Another way to say it is that our life journey is about becoming a sun. The warmth, light, and creative fire on the inside are in the process of radiating through us on the outside. You have to let it out, or it will burn you up. Letting it out is knowing grace.
My book traces that journey. Here’s what my friend, Barbara Marx Hubbard, said about it when she was still with us:
“David Karchere’s Becoming a Sun is a sun; it literally shone through my heart the moment I began to read it. It is the sun of light, love, and the radiance of Source glowing through each of us. With this book, we are able to feel the sun within us. It is always true, but often so hard to remember. I consider the poems within it to be vital gifts to all who are emerging today, guiding our world toward greater love and oneness.”
And here is what one reader said about their experience of the book:
“The words he writes are not just elegantly written. Yes, he is an awesome writer. However, within his words, I had the profound opportunity to look within myself. I was blessed to read how his trials and tribulations were very real and very disheartening at times. It created a window for me to look deeply at all of my own wounds.
I consider this book life-changing. It’s not a “one read and I’m done.” It is way more than that. And I am so glad that I have his book to go back to and read again. It’s been amazing as it has only drawn me deeper into my authentic self.”
Can you explain the concept of Primal Spirituality and how it influences your teachings and workshops?
The word primal, in this context, simply means first. So *Primal Spirituality* is the spirituality we were born with. I defy anyone to look at the face of a newborn baby and say they are not spiritual. They were born that way—you can see the kiss of heaven on their cheeks. You were too. Their education and growth in this world are not going to make them more spiritual. In fact, it might even cloud what is intrinsic to who they are.
The best case scenario is that the baby grows in wisdom and strength and in their ability to express and embody who they are in the world. They are not becoming *more spiritual.* They are simply learning to live their spirituality and to create in the world, which is our birthright as human beings.
Primal Spirituality is also the underlying inspiration behind the initiators of all the great faith traditions and spiritual paths, which didn’t begin as teachings, doctrine, or dogma. They began as a profound experience that woke up the founder of that faith or spiritual path. The founding leaders attempted to share their experiences with the people around them. In doing so, what they brought became a teaching and tradition. But the original purpose was simply to share an experience of what is already intrinsic to us all.
These were some of the most hopeful people the world has ever witnessed. We need that same hope for our world today.
Primal Spirituality recognizes that the map of the Divine is in our flesh. The divine template is all over us. We are made in the image and likeness of the Divine.
So many people don’t have their eyes on it. They are trying to manage their human experience as best they can. But they don’t see all the magic in them that is trying to come together and express the profound love that is inside them. They don’t see all the facets of their own human makeup that are trying to synergize and spark creation in their life experience.
The teaching of Primal Spirituality assists people to get eyes on their own human experience. Because it is hard to be masterful about something you can’t see. And our culture does a good job of teaching shame, which prevents people from seeing and appreciating themselves.
The courses on Primal Spirituality that I and my friends teach present these ideas. Beyond that, they are experiential. Participants get the opportunity to feel, see, and know the map of the Divine within themselves. The result is a deep understanding for a person of what is primal for them.
As the spiritual director at Sunrise Ranch, how do you integrate the principles of regenerative culture into the community’s daily practices?
Sunrise Ranch is based on the understanding that the root of culture is consciousness—how people think and feel. So this community promotes regenerative conscious awareness, which leads to spiritual regeneration. This has been at the heart of the Sunrise Ranch philosophy since its founding in 1945. It is in the mission statement in our articles of incorporation.
Regenerative consciousness and spirituality lead to regenerative culture. When the pioneers who founded Sunrise Ranch bought this property, it was a barren dryland farm. They brought massive quantities of organic nutrients to the soil, including truckload after truckload of manure. They employed enlightened agricultural methods that allowed the soil to become healthy for living things.
Today, Sunrise Ranch operates five large greenhouses and an outdoor fruit and vegetable garden. It stewards one of the first permaculture gardens in Colorado.
The ethos of Sunrise Ranch reflects the value we place on regenerative consciousness and spirituality. People who are part of this community practice mindfulness in their moment-by-moment living. This includes a heart-connected way of being with other people and the natural world and an intentional way of acting in work and play.
The Sunrise Ranch community gathers regularly for periods of intensified awareness of the essences of life that are most important to us. These are often profound experiences of the heart, accompanied by new visions of self and others. Many of these gatherings are available online to our global community.
Sunrise Ranch engages in the energy medicine practice of Attunement, which is rooted in our consciousness practice. Attunement sessions are available in person in Colorado or remotely around the world.
These things are the essential building blocks of regenerative culture.
Could you share an example of how the Sunrise Ranch Internship program has impacted participants’ personal development?
Sunrise Ranch has offered residential internship programs in this spiritual community since 1952. These have always been unique opportunities for participants to be in the safe surroundings of this beautiful place and the programs Sunrise Ranch offers.
The combined impact of high-level educational programming and life experience as a visiting member of this community is renewing and life-changing. Participants report feeling deep levels of Attunement with the source of wisdom and love within themselves. And they feel empowered to connect with others and to share the experience of Attunement.
Here is some of the feedback we have received recently on participants’ experiences in their own words:
– I experienced a deep healing from a past incident that will allow me to live a much happier, more fulfilled life going forward.
– I feel like I learned the linchpin of life—what I should have learned and known all along. I feel stronger, clearer, and empowered to be in this world and in service to the Divine.
– Anyone longing to bring greater blessing and understanding to their world would find this course so enriching. The course materials are beautifully designed to bring you to new levels of awareness. The closeness and deep sharing that it inspired between participants was wonderful. The facilitators were masterful.
– I feel integrated, empowered, and activated. It has given me the confidence and comfort to be in my own skin.
– …a life-changing practical program that helps you understand how separation happens and how to fix it.
– This program profoundly helped open and heal my heart and gave me very great hope for the future. This is what humanity needs—intimate deep connection opportunities and for us to have the opportunities to let God flow through us to each other so we can see ourselves more and feel valued and connected. The world doesn’t need more separation. It is killing us. We need deep loving connections.
– This has been one of my favorite workshops ever due to the tremendous opening of the heart and the authenticity that poured forth from everyone to everyone.
– This program is what the world needs to heal and awaken into a knowing of the blessing that each person actually is. I am so moved and touched.
– A profound shift in consciousness…
– The beauty and blessing of this program was the way it so gently rocked our fragile souls through a journey of self-searching and compassion for others.
How does your work with Emissaries of Divine Light contribute to global spiritual awakening and transformation?
It is so hard to know the answer to a question about the global impact of the spiritual awakening and transformation of humankind. How would you measure it?
Here is what we do know. By the very nature of who and what we are as human beings, we are both uniquely individual and part of one species and one body of humanity. We are connected, and what one person experiences reverberates at some level throughout humankind. The more intense and profound the experience, the greater the reverberation.
The science behind this is becoming more and more developed, from the work of the HeartMath Institute to the writings on morphic fields by Rupert Sheldrake, to the work being done by Lynne McTaggart, author of *The Field.*
Renowned 20th-century anthropologist, Margaret Mead, put it this way:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
With these things in mind, friends and I, through the network of people around the world known as Emissaries of Divine Light, engage in a wide range of programs that bring profound experiences of spiritual awakening and transformation. Some of these programs are offered in person at Sunrise Ranch and other centers around the world. And some are available globally online. We charge for some of these programs. Many are available on a donation basis.
Here are a few of the programs we offer.
– Attunement Practitioner Training
– Becoming a Sun Workshops
– Primal Spirituality courses
– Small Groups of the *Creative Field Project* that meet online monthly to build a field of energetic support for personal and collective transformation
– Attunement services online that foster a collective harmonization with the creative spiritual powers that are the source of our well-being and empowerment
The reverberation coming from the collective activity of conscious people is growing stronger and stronger. This is the answer the world is looking for. It has been latent within the body of humankind. Now it is coming out. The ideas behind it are circling the globe. The vibration of it is filling the air. The collective heartbeat of humanity is growing stronger and louder, and all of us who are awakening are a part of it.
The world needs this awakening. Let’s bring it!
Find out more at: www.davidkarchere.com and www.sunriseranch.org
