Ken Daigle on Play, Faith, and Unapologetic Manifestation

Jan 14

Kristine Michie - Playfull Podcast Interview -Ken Daigle

Ken Daigle on Play, Faith, and Unapologetic Manifestation

In this episode of The PlayFull Podcast, Kristine Michie speaks with spiritual leader, author, and Unity San Francisco Senior Minister Ken Daigle about how play, faith, vulnerability, and imagination drive personal transformation and social change. Drawing from Ken’s journey through Catholicism, queerness, theater, HIV diagnosis, recovery, and ministry, the conversation explores play as a sacred practice that invites discomfort, dialogue, and moral imagination. Together, they reflect on interfaith connection, polarization, unapologetic desire, and the courage to imagine lives and systems rooted in possibility.

Key Takeaways:

Play is not escapism but a practice of stepping into discomfort. Growth and reconciliation emerge when people meet the unknown with curiosity instead of fear.
Faith expands beyond dogma into meaning-making. Interfaith engagement reveals diverse traditions as part of a shared sacred whole.
Polarization feeds on projection and dehumanization. Spiritual practice calls for self-examination and recognizing the divine in those seen as “other.”
Authentic leadership requires emotional range. Joy, grief, humor, and vulnerability all belong in spaces of healing and justice.
Unapologetic manifestation reframes desire as communal. When people fully express themselves, abundance expands rather than competes.
Imagination precedes systems change. New futures emerge when people can envision what does not yet exist.

"Unapologetic manifestation is to know that when we achieve our goals, when we achieve our heart’s desire, that it actually lifts the whole world." — Ken Daigle

"If you keep the idea to yourself, it stays just here, but when we share it, it refines it and grows it." — Ken Daigle

"Stop negotiating with your limitations and start partnering with possibilities." — Ken Daigle

More about Ken Daigle:

Ken Daigle is a visionary thought leader, author, teacher, and spiritual leader devoted to exploring the human journey and its capacity for transformation. His path began in professional theater, moving from New Orleans to New York City in 1980, where he built a successful career as a dancer.

Raised Catholic, Ken left the church after coming out as gay, later returning to spirituality through New Thought following the HIV diagnosis of a close friend. In 1988, Ken was diagnosed as HIV-positive himself. During this time, he studied spiritual healing with Marianne Williamson and pursued his artistic dreams, performing in the Broadway revival and national tour of Fiddler on the Roof under legendary director and choreographer Jerome Robbins.

While in recovery and overcoming addiction, Ken felt called to deepen his spiritual life. He returned to structured practice within the Unity Church, eventually attending ministerial school in Kansas City and becoming an ordained reverend. Today, he serves as Senior Minister of Unity San Francisco.

Ken is also the creator of Absolute Abundance, a transformational course taught in spiritual communities across North America for more than a decade. Through his Five Steps framework and his book Unapologetic Manifestation, Ken empowers people to turn desire into meaningful, grounded change and build lives they love.

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