What is Spiritual Direction?

Spiritual Direction is, quite simply, setting aside time with a skilled guide to contemplate one’s spiritual journey. Regular consultation with a spiritual teacher is a very ancient practice across the world’s religions. Spiritual Direction is a continuation of this ancient practice, reinvigorated by the modern fields of psychology and comparative religion (Teresa Blythe, Spiritual Direction 101).

It's intriguing to me, though, as a lifelong, second-generation Unitarian Universalist, that folks in my big-tent faith movement are coming late to the practice of spiritual direction. Until very recently, those of us UUs who have participated ourselves have had to go to folks outside of our faith movement for ongoing, one-on-one spiritual guidance. My hunch is that this has to do with the influence of humanism in our faith movement, and perhaps also the fact that many present-day members come to us from other religious traditions where they may have been harmed. There is some longtime (and not unreasonable) discomfort among UUs (and others) with words like “spiritual,” let alone words like “direction.”

So I thought here in my first blog post, it would be helpful for me to translate some terms – for my fellow-UUs, and also for folks coming from other faith traditions, or from none at all – to offer a clearer sense of how I think of and practice spiritual direction. First of all, though I have a deep spiritual practice, my conception of spirit is expansive – both for my own journey and for that of others I accompany. For many, spirit refers to that spark of divinity within us - or to that part of us which connects us to all other beings. That said, I don’t think it’s at all necessary to believe in spirit, as if it were a thing with mass and volume. I think it’s helpful for many to think of it as simply another word for our capacities. Just as the word mind points to our capacity for reason (as opposed to the word brain, for example, which points to actual grey matter inside our heads), spirit points to our capacities in the realm of intuition, where reason, emotion, and bodily sensation overlap and intersect. Many also might hold it as the seat of our joy, or our aliveness. Theologians and spiritual guides have often pointed to the etymology of spirit, which comes from the Latin word for breath – a bodily function which actually, scientifically connects us to all our fellow creatures on Earth, as they share and help sustain and re-supply our airspace.

The word direction is similarly fraught for many people - probably because it feels like someone other than the client is doing the directing, making the choices. But direction is, for good and ill, the word that has been handed down to us over decades for this practice. It has become the term of recognition for a person credentialed in the field, which is important to many searching for a skilled guide – though other words, like accompaniment or companioning or guidance, are coming to see more common use. When I use the word direction, I do so in part so that folks seeking me will understand me as trained (I am certified and commissioned, having undergone two years of supervised training and practice through Meadville Lombard Theological School's leadership institute) – but I also use it in reference to my client and their experience. In other words, they are seeking a direction, a path forward – their spiritual true north, so to speak. Though I bring considerable skill and discernment to the conversation, the great majority of what I do in a session is listen. It is the client’s own sense of their journey that’s front and center – their understanding of it thus far, and their unfolding realization of it in our practice together. They will find their own direction, in concert with their sense of the sacred and true.

In my own life, spiritual direction with a trained guide has helped me through some hard transitions. It helped me weather the pandemic, face my own spiritual burnout, and ground me in practices that replenished my capacity to serve as a religious professional. It helped me through a very tough career transition, working to sustain and deepen my healing from past and present trauma. And in the sea of political and cultural turmoil we have all been facing, it helps me to confront my fears and act in concert with my own deeply held values. It helps guide me toward the wisdom within me, and the wisdom of ages available to me – and most of all, it helps me to cultivate the quality of attention that enables me to look for and find these.

To make an appointment for your initial free consultation with Mary Shelden, use the contact form here: www.earthlygoodness.one/contact/