Spiritual Life and Our Shadow
Carl Jung , a 19th century Swiss psychoanalyst whose work bridges the gap between psychology and spirituality, understood our Shadow to be where we hide all the bits of ourselves we think are shameful or primitive . It is that aspect of our nature that is cast into the unconscious and held there in the dark to protect our conscious life from what we feel may be unacceptable, either to ourselves or to others. This reflection draws on many years of working with people in spiri
Contemporary Trends in Spiritual Direction: Reflections at a Time of Emergence
Today, around the world and across traditions, the ancient spiritual practice of meeting regularly with a spiritual director is growing and developing. What follows are six observations offered as reflections rather than predictions. These reflections were written in the early 2010s, drawing on conversations and articles published at the time in Presence, the journal of Spiritual Directors International, and in conference conversations among those involved in training spirit
Spiritual Pathology: How Inner Wounds Can Distort the Spiritual Life
Spirituality is often assumed to be inherently life-giving and benign. Yet, like every dimension of human experience, it is shaped by our inner world — including our unresolved wounds, fears, and unconscious patterns. This article explores how spiritual life itself can become distorted, not because spirituality is false, but because it is taken up into the very places within us that most need healing. Spiritual pathology describes how we can distort and undermine our spiritua
