Spiritual Direction
Introduction
Spiritual Direction is has a long and interesting history reaching back to some of the earliest Biblical times. Persons of known spiritual depth have been sought after by young and old alike to assist them on their spiritual journeys. A good over view of this history can be found in an article by Ann Solomon found here. ( https://www.spiritual-life.co.uk/single-post/2015/06/03/the-history-of-spiritual-direction). In short, Spiritual direction is the process in which a seeker after continual spiritual growth connections with a person considered to be more experienced on the spiritual journey towards a relationship with God.
Understanding Self and God
It is generally understood that an evolving understanding of God comes with a growing understanding of ourselves. There is course a divide between psychology and theology. However, they do indeed overlap. A good contemporary Spiritual Director will have at least a basic understanding of human personality and the complexities of self deception, denial, and motivations. Some acquaintance with the importance of dreams is helpful. Great active listening skills are a must.
On the other hand the Spiritual director must also have a long standing understanding of relationships with the divine, types of prayer, humility, personal experience of their own walk with the Lord, and most importantly be in a direction relationship of their own with so,done who helps them with their journey of faith.
Clergy
Most if not all clergy have a spiritual director of some experience. Some denominations require this. Others encourage it. Independent pastors of non aligned congregations will pursue it if they are wise enough to know they need it.
Personal Experience
My own spiritual journey has been guided by a number of different spiritual directors. Changes over the years have occurred for a variety of reasons. Mostly this has been true as I have over the years moved place to place. Some of my directors have been older and as we all must have died. Sometimes, I have felt that I learned all I could from them and it was time to move on.
Here is one piece of advice I learned from o e of my first spiritual directors. Fr. Burt told me, he was a football fan) “spiritual growth is not up the middle. It is an end run.” you might meditate on that for a while, or a life time.
In recent years I have turned to a slightly different kind of relationship. I’ll soon be 75. With age and experience, in all humility, the number of available spiritual directors appropriate for me has dwindled. So now I am in what I call a spiritual friend directive process. In this way we take turns listening and sharing from our separate experiences and knowledge. I suppose this could work for younger persons, but I don’t recommend it.
Small Group
On the other hand an accountability group (usually of same sex) is another aid on the spiritual journey. I have been meeting once a week with the same group for 23 years. We share breakfast and Bible Study and what is going on in our lives. It has been very helpful to all of us through the trials of life.
Find one
You may not know of anyone who is in your area that is known to be a spiritual director. You might speak with your pastor to see if they are willing or could recommend someone. If that doesn’t seem to be a good idea, for whatever reason, just look around for someone older and wiser who you discern to have a positive spiritual life. Then tentatively initiate a conversation on the topic and see if they could help.
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