What is Spiritual Direction Anyway?
When I tell people I am a spiritual director, they often ask me what is meant by that? You can find various definitions of it, but they all contain the idea that spiritual direction is a practice with the involvement of a director, a directee in the presence of God. The director is a guide to assist the directee to listen to God’s Spirit especially through the use of questions that help the directee to notice the movement of the Spirit in life’s experience. The purpose of spiritual direction is to help the directee grow in intimacy with God with a continuous life transformation.
The director’s work it to point the directee to God rather than give solutions or direction to solve problems. Thomas Hart in The Art of Christian Listening notes the use of probing questions to point the directee toward God’s movement and voice: “Where is God in all this? Where in your life do you encounter Him most powerfully? What do you think He is moving or calling you to? How would you want to grow spiritually through the routine of your work, the conflicts and joys of your living situation, the important relationships of your life, your temptations, your feelings about yourself?”
In my many years in ministry, I have been involved in much pastoral counseling. Spiritual direction is not pastoral counseling. That does not mean that the director is not pastoral in approach. In my practice of direction, I pray for the directee not only between sessions, but also during the sessions that I might, too, attend to God’s presence as I listen to the directee. I ask for guidance in the questions I need to ask or when silence, a prayer, a poem or piece of music is needed.
In sessions with my own spiritual director, I am stunned at times, when her questions make me realize what I have been telling her without even recognizing it. By very intentional listening, she leads me to see what I was not seeing myself. Dr. Paul Tournier, a Swiss physician, counselor and author, wrote: “No one can develop freely in this world and find a full life without feeling understood by at least one person.” A spiritual director is at least one person who can fulfill this role. Dr. Tournier has been called the most famous physician of the 20 th century.
