Low was also a professional juggler and a wirewalker for two different small circuses and a traveling stage show for three years.

By Len Lear

David Low is definitely high up in the firmament of spiritual, intellectual and talented multi-taskers in the Chestnut Hill area. Low, 62, who has been an adjunct professor at many area colleges and universities such as Chestnut Hill College, Rowan, Rutgers-Camden, La Salle and Holy Family, is also the author of the recently published “Universal Spiritual Philosophy and Practice: An Informal Textbook for Discerning Seekers.”

Low, who lives with his wife, Marsha Goluboff Low, in Flourtown and has an office at Summit Presbyterian Church in Mt. Airy, will be teaching “Buddhist Philosophy and Ethics” for Mt. Airy Learning Tree on Wednesdays, Feb. 8 and 15, 7 to 9 p.m., at Summit Presbyterian Church.

According to the course description, “In recent decades especially, Buddhism has gained more and more appeal as a kind of alternative (or supplement) to the Judeo-Christian background so many of us acquired as we grew up.”

“Except for powerful mythic material,” Low told us, “I stopped reading fiction about 25 years ago in connection with the spiritual quest. In the category of spiritual reading, the 800-page abridged version of the Hindu epic 'Mahabharata,' the longest book in the world (the original is over 3,500 pages) by Kamala Subramunyiam, would be the best.”

Low was “a skinny, asthmatic, disaffected and nerdy ADD kid” born in Providence, RI, although from ages 2-5 he lived in Ambler. As an adult, he was a full-time spiritual seeker in Hindu-related ashrams for six years, travelled extensively in India, Mexico and South America; got married and (jointly) decided not to have children.

He earned a BS in Zoology and Anthropology from Duke U. in 1977, an MS in Community Counseling at Georgia State University in 1986 and a PhD in Religious Studies at Temple U. in 1998. But this spiritual seeker was not only juggling college courses and exams; he was also a professional juggler and a (low, slack) wirewalker for two different small circuses and a traveling stage show for three years after college, all over the country and throughout Southern Canada.  And he was a substance abuse counselor in Atlanta, GA, and in Philly at two rehab centers from1998 to 2005.

Regarding his show business experiences, Low said, “On one level I knew I wouldn’t stay on the road as a performer more than a few years. In variety-act show business, it’s very difficult to make a living without either being one of the very best and being willing to travel frequently. I quit counseling because I wanted (finally) to teach religious studies courses.”

Low also wrote a novel mostly during his time in show business, titled “Boomerang Psychosis,” usually on a spiral notebook, sitting in the cab of a truck that he drove. It was a wilderness test-of-manhood story, patterned after James Dickey’s iconic “Deliverance.” An agent did like it and sent it to 14 publishing houses but without any takers. He rewrote it as a screenplay “but never really marketed it.”

According to Low, “Universal Spiritual Philosophy and Practice...” is a kind of self-help textbook, which is meant to be stimulating and fun to read: 48 pictures, word balloons with snappy observations on every page, all within 200 pages.

“To me, what’s unique is that is says a lot of basic but profound things in a brief, entertaining way while also being reasonably encyclopedic. Aside from covering a lot of territory, the main thing I try to do is contrast 'shallow' orthodox spirituality with 'deeper,' mystical spirituality, to show the advantages of the latter. The closest thing to it is Ram Dass’ 'Journey of Awakening,' but that book assumes a liberal, New Age orientation on the part of the reader, which mine doesn’t (I hope).”

What was the hardest thing Low ever had to do? “I would say rappelling off a 150-foot cliff at age 17 or fighting back against a bully at age 10 and still losing, but as an adult … it would have to be admitting that getting married would be a good thing for me to do instead of continuing to live the life of a single spiritual seeker on a classic celibate path (although informally, as I never took formal vows).”

If Low could spend time with anyone on earth, it would most likely be “with some serious, lifelong spiritually minded UFO devotees who’ve written books, believe in Atlantis, etc., whose world I would love to enter as a kind of (respectful) anthropologist. In more worldly terms, it would be cool to get President Obama a little drunk and have him talk extensively about all the things he didn’t have to guts to try to do to change things and why.”

For more information about Low's MALT course, call 215-843-6333. His book is available on amazon.com, number 978-0996784917. More information at www.davidlowmsphd.com