After reviewing six different videos from the Spiritual Direction International (SDI) Youtube channel1 I am comfortable in saying that spiritual direction is about the journey of spiritual growth. If someone finds themselves in one spiritual place, then that simply means they are in that spot currently and there is somewhere else to go. Furthermore the difference between a person who engages in spiritual direction and a person who does not ultimately comes down to intentionality. One can choose to address their spiritual life or they can be subject to the systems and circumstances in which they find themselves. It is likely many would read this definition as too broad and leaving room for interpretation by the person hearing it, but that simply confirms the essence of the of spiritual direction, which will depends greatly on the participants of any one relationship between director and directee.
Spiritual direction from the perspective of a directee is participating in the growth of themselves to grow closer to their spiritual being. The journey of spiritual growh is a journey of transitions and moments of being uncomfortable. In his video on the SDI channel, Ron Rolheiser, OMI says “See, very simply, the first part is about getting life together, the second part is about giving your life away, then the third part is about giving your death away.”(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2009) This type of “progress” through the stages of the spiritual life may prove useful for some people, as it provides a more linear path towards “enlightenment” of the spiritual nature.
The various speakers shared a similar idea of hearing things new, or rather, seeing things in a new light as a result of deepening their understandings of themselves, the world around them, and the Divine. Richard Rohr calls it “shadow work”(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2021), Parker Palmer references find the way back to true north,(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2015) and Larry J. Morris offers perhaps one of more unique views of the watched videos by saying we must engage in “queerness” to break from the binaries that many people hold onto, limiting our imagination.(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2024)
This last view would certainly be a practice that would require deep trust in both the director and directee to understand the intention behind the practices versus the initial balk at hearing the word queer. To further quote him, Morris says:
I invite folks who are not afraid to enter into just uncomfortableness in their practice, and trying to figure out what is next. And I think sometimes we can be so comfortable with being comfortable in what we know that our practice isn’t working the way that we want it to, or we know that our own spiritual life is not working the way that we want to, but in order to get to the next phase, or the next experience, there has to be some kind of transgression around what’s normalized for us(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2024)
This line of thinking is compelling for a couple of reasons. First, it takes a “hot button” topic in the church and invites people into a different view of the world using the strengths of a different worldview to stretch the imagination. Second, it creates a place of struggle which allows a person to have the opportunity to grow or retreat to a safe place. This is in particular what Fr. Richar Rohr can help us with when he talks about doing shadow work.(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2021) If one does not address the deepest parts of their souls, the unexplored-uninhabitable places of our consciousness, then how can a person even begin to allow the surrender of those parts of soul to Holy Spirit?
The various presenters, despite their backgrounds, all appeared to have the same goals of connecting deeper with themselves, with humanity, and creation. The discussion between Fr. Richar Rohr (Fransiscan Priest) and Rev. Seifu Anil Singh-Molares (Zen Buddhist Priest), if viewed from the outside, appears to be of same spiritual journey. The journey of spiritual direction, no matter the beginning, is one of shedding the confines of the very things that confine us from understanding the divine.
Another thing that appears to connect each of the presenters is coming under the teaching of someone who themselves are on a journey of deepening their spiritual lives. For example, Parker Palmer speaks about reading Thomas Merton for the first time and because of that experience, stepped into the world of a spiritual direction.(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2015). He further goes on to explain how he encourages the next generation after him to carry on the work of spiritual directing so that others may too explore growing closer to God. Rev. Mary Earle also speaks of how she direct others by saying “I have several directees who are also directors, and so in a very one-to-one focused kind of way, from time to time, we will explore issues that they’re experiencing in their own practice.”(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2009b) Or in other words, the journey of spiritual direction and learning is not a journey of completion, but of further guidance and guiding. Through the interaction as directees, they learn to be better directors, and vice versa.
One of the most important jobs of a spiritual directer is helping directees tune their ear to God. Tuning an ear to God is a holy task, and once one starts to do that, they’ll notice God’s direction in every interaction. It may be less signposts to guide your next steps and more of an inner peace that helps to know how to act in the very moment you find yourself in. God is directing us all of the time, one simply needs to try and be open to that direction. That can be done through carefully crafted questions, poignant insights, or as Fr. Richard Rohr says, holding up a spiritual mirror to a directee is one of the most important things a director can do.(SDI - The Home of Spiritual Companionship 2021). And if a director can hold up a mirror to someone else with out being the accuser (Satan), the depths to which a person can reach in their spiritual walk towards God are infinite.