What is Spiritual Direction?
Maybe you’ve landed here because you have some idea of what Spiritual Direction is. You’re familiar in some way and are ready to find a companion for moving further into union with God.
Perhaps you’ve heard the title from friends, clergy, or authors/creatives - how a director has impacted their walk with God, and something resonated with a need or a want in your faith that you’d like to entrust a guide with.
Or maybe you have no clue what Spiritual Direction is - maybe you’re curious, maybe you’re wary and seeking understanding, or maybe you landed here by mistake and want to keep reading.
Spiritual Direction is an ancient practice, and though it has been utilized by many faith traditions and schools of philosophy, it has strong roots in Christianity. Most notably, the Catholic tradition has embraced it since early times in following Jesus (who really is a prime example of a great Spiritual Director in his relationship to His disciples). However, Spiritual Direction, while still a lesser-known practice outside of the Catholic tradition, is slowly finding its way into many traditions and denominations.
But you’re probably wondering about what Spiritual Direction is in brass tacks rather than the history.
While there are some broad answers for this, I’ve enjoyed how different Directors and authors have explained what Spiritual Direction is.
To me, Spiritual Direction is two gathering in the presence of The Spirit who is in us and around us to seek wisdom, discernment and, well, direction, for the one who comes seeking it. Though the true director of a session is The Spirit, I believe that it is a cooperation and intermingling of both The Spirit and The Director. In this, the divine and unchanging character of The Spirit combines with the human and unique - also, in formation - character of the director. In a sense, it is an incarnational method of being there for someone - being the presence of Christ for another through flesh, our most comfortable and known method of encounter.
So why would someone come seeking Spiritual Direction? For many (and technically, unlimited) reasons:
Perhaps they find themselves in doubt - of God, of His care or activity in their circumstances, His character.
Or maybe their faith is in a dry season. The Spirit could offer illumination on how God has actually been near, presenting a new way to receive God’s presence and nearness.
Maybe they’re feeling stuck in their relationship with God. They find prayer, reflection and scripture reading to be difficult. A director could tease out who the directee is and how they actually function so that they can find ways to connect to and with God that are compatible with their personality.
These are just a few examples. A director may have areas of focus that they stick to, or they might welcome anything you bring to them (Personally, I work in both modalities). Ultimately, it is their desire to help you to move further into the union with God you were created for by helping you see God more clearly in your life and circumstances.
As I said above, each person’s definition of Spiritual Direction differs, offering a fantastic bit of nuance to the conversation of what it is or how it functions. Below are some great examples that can give you a few angles to consider:
“Spiritual direction is not psychotherapy nor is it an inexpensive substitute, although the disciplines are compatible and frequently share raw material. Spiritual direction is not pastoral counseling, nor is it to be confused with the mutuality of deep friendships, for it is unashamedly hierarchical. Not because the director is somehow "better" or "holier" than the directee, but because, in this covenanted relationship the director has agreed to put himself aside so that his total attention can be focused on the person sitting in the other chair. What a gift to bring to another, the gift of disinterested, loving attention!”
Holy Listening by Margaret Guenther
“Spiritual direction is a kind of discernment about discernment. We explore what has seemed more and less important to us and how we are making choices and acting on our observations. We pay attention to how we interpret our experiences, thoughts, and feelings associated with our relationship with God and how that relationship influences our human relationships.”
Holy Invitations by Jeannette A. Bakke
“Spiritual Direction, the jewel in the crown of soul-care relationships, has been an important part of formal relationships of Christian nurture since the earliest days of the church. Rather than being for a specialized few, it is highly relevant to every Christian who takes the spiritual journey seriously. Rather than being a relationship of authority, it is a form of spiritual friendship. And although it shares some features with counseling and other relationships of care, it is distinct from all of them - serving as more of an alternative to Christian counseling than a component of it.”
Sacred Companions by David G. Benner
“Spiritual direction provides an"address" on the house of your life so that you can be "addressed" by God in prayer. When this happens, your life begins to be transformed in ways you hadn't planned or counted on, for God works in wonderful and surprising ways. The goal of spiritual direction is spiritual formation-the ever-increasing capacity to live a spiritual life from the heart. A spiritual life cannot be formed without discipline, practice, and accountability. There are many spiritual disciplines. Almost anything that regularly asks us to slow down and order our time, desires, and thoughts to counteract selfishness, impulsiveness, or hurried fogginess of mind can be a spiritual discipline.”
Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen
“The ministering person (Director) helps the other to address God directly and to listen to what God has to communicate. The f ocus of this kind of spiritual direction is the relationship itself between God and the person. The person is helped not so much to understand that
relationship better, but to engage in it, to enter into dialogue with God. Spiritual direction of this kind focuses on what happens when a person listens to and responds to a self-communicating God.”
The Practice of Spiritual Direction by William A. Barry and William J. Connolly
“Spiritual direction takes place when two people agree to give their full attention to what God is doing in one (or both) of their lives and seek to respond in faith .... Whether planned or unplanned, three convictions underpin these meetings: (1) God is always doing something: an active grace is shaping this life into a mature salvation; (2) responding to God is not sheer guesswork: the Christian community has acquired wisdom through the centuries that provides guidance; (3) each soul is unique: no wisdom can simply be applied without discerning the particulars of this life, this situation.”
“Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity” by Eugene Peterson