pat loughery

I’ve been dong some reading on spiritual direction to prepare for an upcoming adventure with a friend, and I wanted to share some of what I’ve found.

The next two quotes are good words on spiritual direction from a uniquely Christian perspective, from SDI World.

The whole purpose of spiritual direction is to penetrate beneath the surface of a person’s life, to get behind the façade of conventional gestures and attitudes which one presents to the world, and to bring out one’s inner spiritual freedom, one’s inmost truth, which is what [Christians] call the likeness of Christ in one’s soul. This is an entirely supernatural (spiritual) thing, for the work of rescuing the inner person from automatism belongs first of all to the Holy Spirit. (Thomas Merton)

And another statement:

Spiritual direction is the process of helping every believer realize her or his own soul freedom and to help everyone accept the responsibility of developing a relationship to God through Jesus Christ while in community. Some spiritual guidance practices that strengthen that relationship include spoken and extemporaneous prayer in formal and informal worship; participation in challenging learning communities; dialogue on scripture, faith practice, and mission; personal study and interpretation of scripture; silence, meditation and use of the labyrinth in some associated churches. (Rev. Catherine Fransson, Seattle First Baptist Church, American Baptist)

My friend Dwight Friesen wrote an excellent blog entry on spiritual direction, of which this is an excerpt:

Spiritual direction is not the same as therapy or counseling. While at first glance counseling and spiritual direction may seem similar, It is important to recognize some of the distinctions.

1. Spiritual Direction assumes relative emotional and psychological health whereas therapy assumes issues to be worked through.

2. Spiritual Directors will share from their own life experience and sojourn whereas Counselors guard against such disclose.

3. In Spiritual Direction the goal is to learn to dance with God, hearing God’s voice and seeing God’s activity in the directee’s life whereas the goal of therapy is to regain health so as to function productively as a member of society.

4. Most Spiritual Directors are not not licensed and trained counselors, nor do they claim to be therapists. Though at times, I will work with a person who is seeing a counselor while they are seeking spiritual direction.

I’ve written a few other thoughts on spiritual direction on this blog.

For the past months, I’ve received spiritual direction and have also been blessed to find a soul-friend in the Celtic style. I highly recommend these practices and hope you can find someone to help you on your journey also.