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Spiritual Direction Paradigm


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About Theological Thinking In Spiritual Direction
        Whenever I personally experience or witness this skill being used well, I realize that its users deal quite adequately with many of the different aspects of the model. They use Theological Thinking primarily as a way of making their judgements internally. A perceptive directee would hardly notice this skill because it is internal to the guide. On the other hand, some spiritual directors use this skill quite noticeably in their conversations with their directees.(24) When this skill is possessed by a spiritual director in more than an intuitive way, it seems to foster the more explicit use of our spiritual direction model.

        Theological Thinking is a way of thinking used by those spiritual directors who have appropriated their theological training and education so well that they consciously employ the concepts and language of theological discourse in their ministry of spiritual direction.(25) Often they perceive and understand issues of human experience from a theological viewpoint in preference to other viewpoints. In spiritual direction, they have developed the discipline of perceiving the implied theological principles behind the experiences of their directees and of using these principles in the discerning activity.

Internal Use Of Theological Thinking
        Instead of thinking about a directee's need to accept herself either in a generalized fashion or in a more psychological mode, they perceive the issue more from a theological viewpoint such as:

If we could enter into the mind of such a spiritual director who possesses this skill of using Theological Thinking, we might overhear bits of conversations he holds within himself concerning the issues to which some of his directees may need to attend in order to cooperate with the graces emerging in their interior experiences. You might hear musings such as the following:
  • "Jean seems to assume that if she were to admit that she is a sinner, this admission would make her worthless."
  • "Susan assumes that it is necessary to fix herself up before she can allow herself to be an instrument of God's designs for others."
  • "Roberta is so fearful. She still needs to be touched by the love of Jesus to get past her terror."
  • "Melinda feels only what she should feel. Her life with God is contractual."
  • "Marta believes that God has a pre-fixed will like a blueprint design and all she has to do is to discover what is already out there. Her image of God's will and of human responsibility are behind her hesitancy."
  • "Beverly went into Counterfeit Consolation and then into a kind of confusion and spent several days being upset. Nothing could account for her being upset except her prayer. She is the kind of person who is always desirous of doing something significant for God. She is so authentically generous. However in the decision-making process this past week, she mistakenly chose one alternative because she took for granted that the harder thing would necessarily be the more significant thing in God's eyes. That type of piety is bad theology." Thus you would notice that such a spiritual director listens, interprets, thinks about, judges and names, in specifically theological terms, what is taking place in his directees in all the different settings of spiritual direction whether inside or outside the Exercises journey.
    •  These examples are an attempt to illustrate the meaning of Theological Thinking and how it is used internally by a spiritual director, within himself, as a vehicle for his own reflection upon his directees' experiences, for his own understanding in the making of discerning judgements.

    External Use Of Theological Thinking
            Other spiritual directors use this skill quite evidently in their spiritual direction conversations with their directees. If we were privileged to be present at some of the spiritual direction sessions in which a spiritual director used his Theological Thinking in an explicit manner with some of the above directees, we might observe something like the following:
    (In returning to some of the previous examples, I assume that there is only one spiritual director (Sean) who is accompanying the different directees. Let me also employ the following code:
    -- TT shows a use Theological Thinking as an internal, mental framework only;
    -- PL shows the use of Psychological Literacy;
    -- ME shows the use of the Methodology of the Exercises;
    -- ETT shows the use of Theological Thinking as an external instrument in the conversation that takes place in the spiritual direction session.)

    -- Sean accompanies Jean -- The setting is a weekly spiritual direction session during the notation-[19] Exercises journey. Sean has been exploring with Jean what the trigger was for her Desolation (ME) and has been listening to and "tracking" the feelings of anxiety and guilt that she was experiencing (PL). From many clues during the last session and this present one, Sean perceives that Jean probably has an underlying false belief that sin makes her worthless (TT). At some point Sean says, "Jean, you have recognized that this experience you are having is a form of Desolation (ME) and you have told me how guilty you feel when you react in such a way (PL). What is so bad about admitting that you are a sinner? What would this admission do to you?" As they discuss this at some length, Sean perceives that this intervention has been valuable (ETT).... At a later time toward the end of the session, he encourages Jean to make some Repetitions in the next prayer exercises by returning to the place in the same scripture text where the Desolation began to occur (ME). He reminds her to bring the fruits of their theological conversation (ETT) into the Repetitions and Colloquies (ME).

    -- Sean accompanies Melinda -- During a weekend program geared to teaching participants how to pray with scripture, Sean discovers that, in prayer, Melinda feels only what she should feel and that she cannot allow herself to be more passive in prayer in order to let her real feelings surface. Her relationship with God is almost contractual (TT). No doubt there may be many causes for this, such as the fear that she had as a younger girl of expressing her real feelings before her older abusive brothers (PL). For several reasons, time being one of them, Sean decides on an intervention that is more of a Theological-Thinking intervention. In the course of their dialogue within the session, Sean says: "It seems to me that you have been expressing yourself in prayer according to some contract. You seem to say the right things and to feel the right feelings in order that God will be pleased with you...."

    Notation [22] of the Exercises suggests another way by which a spiritual director, with this developed skill, can use Theological Thinking. It is to engage a directee quite obviously in a reflective dialogue concerning her operative theology concerning such-and-such. Below is an example:

    -- Sean accompanies Beverly -- During the last third of the Second Week in the notation-[19] Exercises journey, Beverly went into Counterfeit Consolation and then into a kind of confusion during which she spent several days being upset. Nothing could account for her being upset except what was happening in her prayer (ME).

            She has always been the kind of person who needs to make sure that what she is doing is significant (PL). Over the years, this has been transformed into a desire to do something significant for God. She has grown in spiritual maturity and is authentically generous. Earlier in the Exercises journey, Sean recognized Beverly's need for the Second Set of Guidelines for Discerning (ME).

            In the decision-making process this past week, she mistakenly chose one alternative because she took for granted that it would be more in keeping with God designs. It was also the harder thing. She took for granted that the harder thing was more significant (TT). In the course of their dialogue, Sean says: "Beverly, I heard you say that you chose the harder of those two alternatives because you wanted to choose what would be more significant. What makes you think that the harder alternative is the more pleasing or more significant one in God's eyes?"

            So a dialogue proceeds about whether it makes good theological sense that the harder thing is the better thing and about what carrying the cross means. Their dialogue even moves towards talking about our role in redemption (ETT). In the course of the session, Sean helps Beverly uncover the Temptation Under the Guise of Light [332] and helps her make note of this for the future [333] (ME).

            Except for the faith perspective, this is a bit like cognitive therapy during which a therapist might engage a client in examining his/her thinking to ascertain whether certain lines of thinking lead to destructive self-talk which, in turn, lead to unwholesome emotions.

    Evaluative Comments About Theological Thinking
            There are times when a spiritual director might use this Theological Thinking in even more obvious ways than I have suggested in the above examples. When he does it effectively, how does it further a directee's interior spiritual experience when, on the surface of things, it seems to be heavily cognitive and superficially affective? I think it works in this way. The spiritual director engages his directee in a discussion on some theological point relevant to the directee's experience. Through this discussion, the directee's experience is further engaged, and then, later, through the directee's own prayer, the very process of the directee's spiritual experience is advanced. These further observations may be in order:

    Competency Requires Critical Reflection
            From observation, it seems to me, there are competent spiritual guides who do not possess the skill of Theological Thinking in such a definite mode. They make use of their life of faith with its inherent theological principles. Their theology is often more intuitive, arising from a generalized sense of the faith or from a deep-felt knowledge of the scriptures. However, it would seem to me, these spiritual guides do have the ability to reflect critically upon their directees' experiences and even if this skill is not obvious to their directees or to their colleagues who may be more theologically articulate, it is present internally in their practice of discernment.

            Reflection itself is a natural human process by which one thinks about and judges some object or event. Critical reflection is the same natural human process but with a more disciplined focus which involves an analysis of the different aspects of its subject and an evaluation of their significance in the light of other relevant frameworks of understanding. Critical reflection, like the natural process of reflection itself, admits of many different levels of sophistication. In fact, the purpose of education in most fields is to develop the skills of attending, describing, delineating, differentiating, evaluating, understanding and judging, all of which are aspects of critical reflection. My point is that theology is not the only relevant framework in which a spiritual director has learned to reflect critically.

    Some material for your study, reflection, discussion .....
            What kinds of education, other than theological, would help a potential spiritual guide develop the skills of attending, describing, delineating, differentiating, evaluating, understanding and judging, that may be required to:

    1. Recognize that the directee's experiences are always different from his own even though the directee may be using the same words that he used about his own experience?
    2. Determine that a directee's good feelings are not the same as Consolation or that her bad feelings are not the same as Desolation?
    3. Help a directee isolate a key issue from among a confusing set of lesser issues?
    4. Help a directee differentiate the Afterglow from the moment she received the Consolation Without Cause?
    5. Respond to a directee who makes this statement: "I find myself walking and talking with Jesus in my Gospel Contemplations. I appreciate what is happening but I can't tell whether it is really Jesus talking with me or whether it is just my imagination."
            After having done the above reflection, perhaps you will come to the following inference: If a spiritual guide does not have the ability to use Theological Thinking internally or externally in the definite mode described, it is essential for him to have some skill in critical reflection pertaining to his own spiritual experiences and those of his directees. Let me now return to the discussion about making the three designated perspectives (*) of our spiritual direction model (Figure 24) more explicit.

    On Using The Spiritual Exercises Explicitly
            The first three sections of this manual contain many examples about the more explicit use of the Exercises while guiding another on the Exercises journey. These sections also include illustrations about this more explicit use of the Exercises in other settings of spiritual direction.(28) Section IV explores various connections between the explicit use of the Exercises and other settings of ongoing spiritual direction. The scenarios with Jean, Melinda, and Beverly above also illustrate the explicit use of the Exercises in spiritual direction. Therefore, I will handle only briefly the following question: In the setting of ongoing spiritual direction, if a spiritual guide were to use the Exercises more explicitly, what features would you notice?

            In the questionnaire earlier in this chapter, the questions numbering six through nine represent the kind of questions that a guide might ask. I am taking for granted that many such themes might be introduced indirectly, not with direct questions. I used the question format there for the sake of clarity. In fact, most of the time, if you were a "fly on the wall," you would not notice much difference between such a spiritual director and one who does not use the Exercises at all!

            However if you were to stay on that wall long enough, and if you were to reflect critically upon the various aspects of the way he was guiding his directee, you would notice that he:
    a)        Usually attends to his directee's specific interior experiences of prayer that actually took place within specific times of prayer. For example, if he were meeting with his directee only once a month, in addition to listening to her general experiences of her relationship with God in both life and prayer, he might expect her to tell him more specifically about three different prayer periods from the past month.(29) Spiritual directors from a more implicit approach or from other traditions of spirituality may invite their directees to talk in general about their relationship with God, but they would seldom invite their directees to talk specifically about their experiences from actual prayer times.

    b)         Suggests prayer methods and reflective skills from Exercises whenever they might be helpful. For example: Gospel Contemplation, Review, Repetition, Awareness Examen, etc. (Consult Chapter 31)

    c)        Explicitly uses, whenever relevant, the Guidelines for Discerning Spirits and their terminologies [313]-[336].

    d)        Frequently helps a directee, who has made the Exercises journey, to identify some of the events of her life experiences in terms of the content of the Exercises. He might ask something like:

  • "In what ways does the event we have been talking about involve the Two Standards?" [136]-[147] or
  • "In what ways might our Triune God regard that episode?" "How is your experience with your dying friend an expression of the Grace you prayed for during passion and death of Jesus in the Exercises journey?" e)       Often discusses with his directee what grace she is needing at this time in her life; and, in the light of this discussion, together come up with some suggestions for praying with scripture to dispose her for this grace f)        Discusses with his directee her operative theology g)        Makes use of some of the dynamics and methods of the Exercises for discerning choices h)        Primarily deals with those issues of life that surface within the directee's experiences of prayer.


    • i)        Stresses the humanity of Jesus, the centrality of the cross, the importance of conscious decision-making, and the value of human activity and responsibility in companionship with God j)        Applies a key principle enunciated by Ignatius in the P & F to the Exercises themselves; namely, created things are to be used inasmuch as they help us to praise, reverence and serve God, and not used insofar as they hinder us from that goal

    One final comment: When a spiritual director uses the Exercises according to a more explicit mode in an appropriate manner, automatically he is also using other aspects of the spiritual direction model -- gospel values, theological insight, and faith -- in a more explicit mode.

    Some material for your study, reflection, discussion .....

    1. In the last statement, the qualification -- "in an appropriate manner" -- was made. Why?
    2. Using examples, explain why the explicit use of the Exercises in various spiritual direction settings even outside the Exercises journey automatically makes explicit the gospel, theological and faith dimensions of the model of spiritual direction.
    On Using Social Analysis
            In the presence of so much pluralism even in what seems to be a worldview common to both director and directee, it is important to recognize how our personal experiences are a product not only of the interface between our unique personal histories and our immediate situations but also of both obvious and not-so-obvious-underlying structures that make us feel the way we do. Here are some examples of how our own personal feelings and experiences are products of the systems in which we live:
  • The disappointment and sadness a mother felt when she was not remembered on Mother's Day by her out-of-town daughter even though her daughter was with her a week and a half earlier;
  • Feelings and experiences behind such expressions as,"I really have to learn to feel good about myself!" ... "I have to stop living up to other people's expectations!" .... "I did this for me!" ... "I need a safe place to worship";
  • The fatigue of the principal of a small school when she is faced with writing and sending reports and surveys to an impersonal bureaucracy;
  • The frustration of a church worker who experiences many of his initiatives frustrated by the pastor-in-charge;
  • The feelings of failure of the unemployed male in a down-sized economy;
  • The anger and guilt of the single or divorced person who is no longer invited to parties;
  • The experiences of being put down for being a right-brained person in an institution that fosters left-brained activity.
    •         During the process of spiritual direction, such issues as these sometimes surface. Frequently these issues are dealt with only in a psychotherapeutic/faith context in which both director and directee automatically use their psychological literacy to understand the experience and then seek further guidance within the faith context. Often directees are brought to the point of thinking that they themselves have been totally responsible for their experience. However, in many instances, it is the system with its underlying structures that influence the situation and the consequent human reaction which is brought to the spiritual direction setting. Analysis of such influencing structures may help one understand a present experience which can then be brought, through mutual reflection, into the faith context. "The truth will set you free."

            As an example of this, let us take the scenario of an organist-choir master in a large, church-related, private school. Let us call him Jim. He is filled with anger and frustration over an experience of being verbally put down, dismissed, and trivialized by the principal. In this scenario, he has just told the spiritual director of this event. They spend the major part of this session on it.

            Over the past two years, the spiritual director has become very familiar with Jim's background and now he explores the experience with Jim in the light of that knowledge. Indeed he can help Jim come to some deeper appreciation of that experience in terms of Jim's personal history. Jim was an adopted child who moved from one foster home to another. In their previous sessions together, the spiritual director helped Jim come to terms with his past, express his feelings, and develop strategies in dealing with his exaggerated need to seek approval along with his overly enthusiastic approach to belong.

            However, if this spiritual director were to help Jim analyze the value structures of the educational institution to which he belongs and its attitudes towards music and art, they might discover together that, despite the school's professed theoretical support for Jim's work, there is, in practice, no support. Jim might begin to acknowledge that his job has very little value in the system in which he works and lives. He was, indeed, put down and devalued. His reactions and perceptions were quite accurate. They are not a skewed product of his past, but they are a faithful reflection of the present social structure in which he finds himself!

    What Is Social Analysis?
            Social analysis originated in the Latin American context when ordinary and disempowered people needed methods to gain power in oppressive situations. Social analysis is done as a facilitated group process to understand the social situation more completely in order to make important decisions for group action. Social analysis helps to surface and get insight into the data of the situation before decisions can be made about it.

            When doing social analysis in such a group, everyone asks questions concerning the life situation that contributes to the continuing oppression or disempowerment that the community is experiencing. One question leads to another. Every person in the group, from the simplest peasant to the more educated leader, helps to uncover the underlying causes and structures through questions such as in the following simple social-analysis format.(30)

    Steps For Social Analysis

    Description Of The Situation With Its Different Aspects

    1. Can you describe the situation?
    2. What is humanizing/dehumanizing about it?
    3. Who suffers?
    4. Who gains?
    Explore Together Why Things Are This Way
    5. What is the history of the situation?
    6. Who benefit(s) from this situation? Who exercise(s) power and how is this power exercised? Who are in the in-group and who are the marginalizeded?
    7. What role does money play in this situation?
    8. What structure(s) support(s) the situation? What symbols or slogans make it right to keep the situation as it is?
    9. What traditions and ways of thinking lie behind the particular difficulty encountered in this situation?
    10. How does the wider culture with the economic system contribute to the situation?
    11. What rules, roles, policies, mind-sets, and assumptions produce and reinforce the situation?
    Explore Together What Can Or Should Be Done
    12. Is there a gap between the situation as it is and the situation as it ought to be?
    13. If this situation remains, what will be the consequences for us? For others?
    14. How would the situation be affected if we were to take another stance?
            In the previous scenario with Jim, some of these same social-analysis questions could be employed by his spiritual director to help Jim deal with his situation in a Christian manner. Through the heightened awareness of the social and consequent mental structures involved in his situation, little by little Jim could be led to accept more of the truth of his situation. Later through a kind of reflection suggested below, he would be encouraged to reframe his experience in terms of its multi-dimensions and his faith. Through this approach, his own personal experience of the situation and his own anger are validated so that he can begin to deal with his situation in a Christian way. Not to acknowledge these structures is to begin with a lie which could devalue him even more.

    Some material for your study, reflection, discussion .....

    1. If you were Jim's spiritual director and if you wanted to help him understand his experiences of being devalued in more than a psychological way, which of the social-analysis questions above might be appropriate to use?

    2. In what ways can social analysis be helpful for the work of spiritual direction in our present culture?

    On Using Theological Reflection
             Theological reflection is an extended form of critical reflection. It helps us think clearly about our human experiences and the situations in which they take place so that we can come to a deeper understanding of them from the meaning-of-life and/or theological perspectives. Through this reflection, the underlying structures discovered from the social analysis above, along with many other perspectives (e.g., psychological, philosophical, scriptural, etc.), are connected with gospel values and Christian faith. Since we can no longer depend on a more objective and fixed worldview, and since we are faced with such pluralistic understandings even among those persons within one, small faith-community, we need an instrument to help us develop a mutually acceptable and more consensual way to think about our world. By attending to the data of our wider environment through such reflection upon our experiences, we can come to make good decisions which respect the signs of God's Spirit at work in our private and public worlds. Through such theological reflection or serious conversation between a director and directee, a balance is reached among all the aspects of the spiritual direction context.(31)

            Theological reflection became a developed skill in many theological centres by the late 1970s when teachers of theology, who had reached a more developmental worldview, began to appreciate how their specialty had to be connected to human experience and, therefore, to other fields of knowledge in order to make their theological theory credible and relevant. Like social analysis, it is intended for a group setting. To do this reflection with a group, various facilitators created different formats which included steps similar to those suggested in the following outline.(32)

    Steps For Theological Reflection

    Attend To The Data

    1. Listen to and explore the experience.
    2. What is the data behind the experience?
    Understand The Data
    3. How do you understand the experience from a social-analysis(33) perspective?
    4. What are the gospel values imbedded in the experience?
    5. What is the operative theology implicit in this experience? How does it fit/not fit with the theology to which you give assent?
    6. How does it resonate with scripture, doctrine, history of the church, ritual practices?
    Judge The Data
    7. What conclusions do you draw from all of this?
    8. What image or symbol or gospel story would help you to understand these conclusions?
    Decision-making
    9. How might you think/act in new ways about this?
            Depending on the sophistication of the directee, adaptations of this format can be relevant in the one-on-one setting of spiritual direction. For example, through a serious conversation that deals with some of these questions, Jim might be led, at some point(34) after some social analysis, to grow in appreciation of some of the following truths:
  • The principal who trivialized Jim is as much a victim of the social system as Jim is in spite of the privileged position.
  • God may be inviting Jim to help himself become free enough to work in the system as it is; but Jim needs the grace to appreciate the value of his own work even though he knows that it is not appreciated by his peers.
  • "Blessed are they who suffer for the sake of justice."
  • "Take up your cross and follow me."
  •  His margination in the institution is a form of solidarity with many marginated people in the world. Jim could learn to offer experiences of this nature as a way of intercessory prayer for others.
    •         I have generated the above list to demonstrate, in theory, the kind of awarenesses that might emerge for Jim if his spiritual director were to use some adapted theological-reflection questions to engage in a serious conversation with him. However, it could be that such a reflection at this point in Jim's life may not be helpful at all. Jim may still need to deal with the issues on a more psychological level, and such a discussion could end up being merely a cognitive exercise. Nevertheless, this might be just the kind of exercise to help Jim to transcend the morass of the past in terms of a broader perspective and to escape from his need to measure up to the value system of others.

            In any case, some process like this can always be meaningful. By using such an approach, the tendency to pietism in our spirituality can be replaced by more solid critical thinking. The existentialist stress on the self can be balanced by the reality of dependence on grace. Psychologism is corrected by the empowerment of the directee to act. Through this "objectifying conversation," based on experience and remaining connected with it, the self is no longer considered as an object to be fixed up before a person can make a difference in the wider world.

    Some material for your study, reflection, discussion .....

    1. With other spiritual directors, spend some time role-playing some scenarios based on Jim's experiences:
    -- Act 1 - the actual event between Jim and the principal;

    -- Act 2 - the initial, spiritual direction session in which the psychotherapeutic model in a faith context is used;
    -- Act 3 - a follow-up spiritual direction session in which some form of critical or theological reflection is used.
    Discuss.

    2. In what ways would the use of some critical or theological reflection help or not help a spiritual director preserve his proper horizon?

            No doubt, by this point, you might be asking questions such as: "Why should the work of spiritual direction have so many facets in its paradigm?" ... "If spiritual directors are to attend to the work of the Spirit, should they not limit their focus in the same manner that other professionals do?" .... "In expecting spiritual direction to include so many facets both implicitly (as the mental framework of the trained director), and explicitly (as part of the conversation during spiritual direction sessions), are we not running the risk of losing a professional focus?" ... To answer these queries, let us remember some general historical truths about the evolution of human knowing as it separated itself from the realms of magic, religion and mystery.

    Mystery -- Essential To A Spiritual Director's Horizon
            Originally all knowledge was religious knowledge. The spirit world was believed to be intimately connected to the material world and vice versa. Streams had water spirits and fire had fire spirits and mountains had mountain spirits, etc. All the unknown characteristics of the harsh world were attributed to the control of good and evil spirits. In biblical times, diseases were understood as caused by spiritual influences. Such an intimate connection between religion and all other knowledge continued well into the Middle Ages. Even in the 16th century, thoughts arising in our psyches were believed to be caused by good and evil spirits.

            Primitive cultures had rituals to cooperate with and/or control elements of the cosmos. They had a "magical" way of understanding the cosmos, but we have been discovering that many of them had a profound sense of mystery and respect for life and the universe. An authentic sense of God's presence often existed side by side with a magical framework for dealing with the universe. At times, magic and mystery coalesced in an undifferentiated unity. As culture and society developed more scientific ways of focusing on the world, specific fields of knowledge were differentiated from each other, from religious knowledge, and from the magical worldview. Just read through any university catalogue and note the myriad categories of human knowing!

    From The Scientific Method To Specializations
            As this development took place, only the knowledge based on data-gathering, measurement, and verifiable experimentation was considered scientific, objective, and trustworthy. With this knowledge, we developed a certain control of our environment with all the pluses and minuses of our present point in history. We even tried to apply these same efficient methods to the realm of human behaviour in order to raise the quality of such fields as psychology, sociology, marriage therapy, pastoral counselling, etc. In separating ourselves from a superstitious, magical way of understanding life, we set the stage for losing the realm of mystery.

            As we continued to separate efficiently our observable and measurable world into boxes of understanding, there have been many results:

  • Ultimately the separate boxes have been further fragmented into a multiplicity of more precise and discrete boxes through specializations.
  • We have succumbed to the false belief that the more information or the more discrete units of information which a person possesses, the more one can live wholesomely.
  • In Western civilization, any field of knowledge, such as philosophy, theology, art, etc., that does not use a scientific paradigm, is devalued.
  • Church-related universities, like their secular counterparts, were led into the same bias which stresses that the "really real" is in the conscious, logical mind and, consequently, devalues other modes of knowing that are not scientifically measurable.
  • Until the mid-twentieth century, there still was a thread of sacred rapport to which all North Americans ascribed and which gave us, even with our pluralism, a cohesive way of understanding life. Now, however, at the end of this century, that precious thread which our Western culture once took for granted no longer exists.
    •         Certainly, at the present time, among those of us who help others to sustain or regain the sense of mystery on their life journeys and not lose their souls, there need to be some skilled helpers who integrate the "specializations" in their approach. It is my contention that the work of spiritual direction should do this. Perhaps other fields ought to do this too, but it is obvious that the very work of taking care of the soul should exercise this integrating goal.

            The originating triple circle of the diagram below represents primitive society which understood all knowledge as being one with the realm of magic, religion, and mystery.

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    The smaller circles represent differentiated aspects, specialties of human knowledge. As the smaller circles are separated from the undifferentiated whole of the magical and religious world, they are separated from the realm of mystery. However, it is important for some of these specialties to retain the realm of mystery. This is done by retaining connections with some of the other specialties and not attempting to be absolutely separate from them. It is also done by making explicit use of the relevant technical language developed in various spiritual traditions.

            Spiritual direction can do this if it explicitly uses all the aspects of the paradigm which I suggested earlier. Therefore, when we attempt to use the word "professional" in our writing and thinking about spiritual direction, we ought to be careful not to equate that word with the way it is used by other professions in our culture. If spiritual directors are to be competent in their approach, they must always be "generalists."

    On Professionalising The Generalist
            As suggested earlier, spiritual directors need the same psychological literacy that is possessed by many other professionals in our culture. In Figure 26, the large oval represents the minimum level of psychological literacy needed by all professional helpers in our present culture. Each small circle intersects the oval; the inside portion of each circle indicates the common literacy that spiritual guidance has with other professional helpers. The outside portion of each indicates the literacy unique to the particular helping profession indicated. The +++'s indicate that they have common links with other fields of knowledge.

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            With this in mind, it strikes me that there are some common-sense, fairly-evident truths that contextualize the issues around the question of the public qualification of spiritual directors:
  • Being an educated generalist is not being non-professional even though many professionals, who are more scientifically trained, might disagree.
  • As legal minds in our culture attempt to equate the work of spiritual guidance to the work of other professions, they will inevitably exaggerate the psychotherapeutic component and make the educated generalist appear "unprofessional."
  • When academic minds, divorced from an experiential knowledge of spiritual guidance, attempt to equate the work of spiritual direction to the work of other professions, they will probably over-stress the philosophical or theological component and they, also, will make the educated generalist appear "unprofessional."
  • Spiritual directors need to be trained in the common area of psychological literacy in order to appreciate and understand the interior experiences being expressed and to be knowledgeable about their own limits in the use of psychotherapeutic techniques available to all those in the helping professions.
  • Spiritual directors ought to be educated generalists. In addition to their own prayer/faith life and practical training and supervision in the skill of prayer guidance, they ought to be fairly proficient in at least one other field of theoretical or practical knowledge such as theology, psychology, social work, economics, rural anthropology, etc. This probably contradicts the traditional wisdom which purports that spiritual directors need the equivalent of a degree in theology. It also contradicts the present emerging wisdom which purports that spiritual directors need the equivalent of a degree in psychotherapeutic counselling.
    •         Even after appropriate training under supervision, some continuing supervision component will always be necessary for spiritual directors. This can take place in many forms -- personal spiritual direction, peer-peer supervision, one-on-one supervision, peer-group supervision. The purpose of this ongoing formal or informal supervision is to guarantee that a balanced, psychological-literacy component (the large central oval in Figure 26) is present in one's practice. Such ongoing supervision and/or support system help(s) a spiritual director not to project his personal "stuff," conscious or unconscious, upon a directee. This helps to prevent psychological transference and assists a spiritual director in dealing with its occurrence.

            However, I believe that such support systems for spiritual directors usually do not go far enough because they do not handle the aspects represented by the A-segment of the Venn diagram at the beginning of this chapter. To accomplish their support efforts, such systems also need some form of explicit, integrative, critical reflection, such as the theological reflection outlined in the preceding section of this chapter.

    Some material for your study, reflection, discussion .....

    1. Do you agree or disagree with the comments made in the last paragraph?
    2. Particularly for those seeking qualifications, what are some implications from this understanding for:

  • Negotiating salaries and achieving equal status with other professionals in our culture;
  • Protecting themselves against legal harassment and insurance claims so prevalent in our society?
    • 3. In what way would the fear of being sued lead to a stress on the psychological paradigm over a more complete paradigm for spiritual direction?
    4. Below is a case for your reflection and discussion.
    Don Bates' Story
          Don Bates, who is 43 years old, has been coming with his spouse Cheryl to the Emmaus group for the past eight months. Both of them have been faithful members and have grown in their ability to articulate their experiences and to pray from scripture. Don has grown a little faster than Cheryl in being able to recognize some of the more psychological traps that have hindered his responses to God. He has already experienced a great deal of healing in the matter of living up to other people's expectations. He has come to grips with the fact that he is an adult child of an alcoholic. Also he has come to recognize that his seeming "slowness and care" in his work is really a part of his desire to please others and feel secure. He has even begun to recognize these characteristics as a spiritual issue in his life -- something to do with the effects of being sinned against.

            Don works as a manager of a large supermarket. He has experienced many frustrations in his job, though the supermarket staff really appreciate Don as a manager. In fact, the head office has had fewer complaints about Don's store than any other one in the chain. The consumers appreciate how Don seems to put them first, before the need for efficiency and budget cuts. Both he and his staff frequently help people take their groceries to their cars and spend some time asking them about their families. Don has instructed his staff never to encourage people to buy what they don't need. Meanwhile, the gross profit has increased by an average of $90,000 bi-weekly.

            Don's supervisor from head office, who is only 32 years old, has reprimanded Don almost weekly for not measuring up to the efficiency standards set out by the head office. The speed with which groceries are placed on the shelf, priced, and packaged is monitored against a pre-fixed goal per minute. For example, according to the policy from headquarters, a staff person is expected to shelve three large cases of Carnation canned milk every minute and a half.

            By nature Don is well-liked, affable and easy-going. He does not like to confront his staff members though he recognizes that they are not meeting the supervisory standards. Don basically likes the work. He would like to stay there, but he now feels that he should make way for some younger, more energetic manager and seek employment in a situation of less stress which might involve a decreased income. However, one of the major factors preventing such a change is his need for his present level of income to maintain his mortgage.

            During the sharing part of the Emmaus group meeting on this particular Tuesday evening, when it comes to Don's time, he begins to talk about his frustrations. His voice is quivering and he is almost in tears. The group puts its agenda aside and spends most of the evening helping Don explore his issue. He seems willing to talk to the group enough to uncover the underlying issues. At some point he says, "Every Tuesday night I experience a great deal of energy after these meetings. But within two days, my interior peace is gone. Something must be wrong with me. I can't cope any more." As the meeting progresses, the group discovers that Don receives more cards of appreciation from his customers than any other manager. They also discover that recently the manager of the vegetable department took out his frustrations on Don and accused him of being too slow! The meeting ends with a suggestion that Don discuss this with his spiritual director.

            On the supposition that his spiritual director is a good listener, what would the director listen for and emphasize during the spiritual direction setting:

    a) If he were using only a psychotherapeutic model of spiritual guidance?
    b) If he were using only the societal level of listening?
    c) If he were using the complete paradigm of spiritual direction?
    5. In a class or group setting, you might engage in theological reflection on your reactions to the viewpoints of this chapter.

    Endnotes for this third and last section

    24. This skill of Theological Thinking is very helpful in both the `From-Outside-In' and the `From-Within' approaches to the Exercises discussed and outlined in Chapter 30.

    25. Consult Paul W. Pruyser, The Minister As Diagnostician: Personal Problems in Pastoral Perspective (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), Chapter 5, "Guidelines for Pastoral Diagnosis," for good examples of Theological Thinking as distinct from Psychological Thinking.

    26. It seems to me that, in actual practice, the application of good psychology and good theology and good sociology, and good anything that deals with human behavior crosses many common boundaries.

    27. Traditionally, we have been told that a spiritual director needs to be trained theologically. While this may be true in general, no one seems to spell out clearly how much and what kind of theology is needed to exercise the ministry of spiritual direction competently. Also, we are aware, from observation, that many people who are astute theologically do not have the qualities necessary to become competent spiritual directors. Certainly a spiritual director needs the kind of basic head-and-heart knowledge of Christian faith that would be expected from an educated adult in our culture. But who are the people who have told us? They have usually been people who themselves have studied theology or who have taught in theological institutions. Historically many of these people have been among the ordained clergy. Yet Ignatius of Loyola gave the Exercises long before he studied theology and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.

            Also among the persons who told us is the very significant holy person Teresa of Avila, who found herself helped by learned spiritual directors and harmed by half-learned spiritual directors. Consult The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila (Washington: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976), translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D., p.71.

            And what is the truth behind what they told us?

    28. For example, Chapter 28, "Confirmation And The Process Of Discerning Decisions."

    29.This practice was suggested by Virginia Varley, C.S.J., former staff person and director of Loyola House, Guelph.

    30. The format here is adapted from a version created by John Milan, M.S.W., while on the staff of Loyola House, Guelph, during the 1980s. Kathleen Fischer, Women at the Well: Feminist Perspectives on Spiritual Direction (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1988), gives a simple but good example on the necessity of social analysis on pp.123-126.

    31. Consult Kathleen Fischer, Reclaiming the Connections (London: Sheed and Ward, 1991) to show the many connections that spirituality and spiritual direction have with other fields.

    32. Thank you to Caroline Dawson, IBVM, for help concerning the nature and practice of theological reflection. She has given me many seminal ideas for this section.

    33. I place social analysis within the context of theological reflection. I do this because I am writing this manual for spiritual guides. Elaine Frigo, CSSF, has correctly pointed out that we could also locate theological reflection as part of the process of social analysis leading to the making of decisions as is done in Latin America.

    34. In the wisdom of our general practice in North America, it would seem that the initial sessions in which Jim surfaces his highly charged issue are not the appropriate times to do some theological reflection or social analysis with him. We should be leaving such "heady" activities until after he has dealt with his feelings! However, doesn't this approach presume that the psychological context is the most important one? It could be that this approach limits what we are hearing. There may be times when it is more helpful to engage the "Jims-of-this-world" in a societal or theological context at the outset. Thank you to Elaine Frigo, CSSF, for insightful conversations around this point.

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