Psychology & Spirituality 2/2

Welcome to Reflections on the Spiritual Life

Here you will find articles on spiritual direction, psychology and spirituality, contemplative practice, and the deeper movements of the spiritual life. Drawing on decades of experience in psychospiritual work and spiritual accompaniment, these reflections explore themes such as shadow material, struggles in spiritual practice, images of God, dreamwork, and the emotional dynamics that shape the spiritual journey.

Whether you are seeking support in your own inner life or resources for spiritual direction practice,

I hope these writings offer clarity, depth, and encouragement.

Vibrant blues, yellows, greens blend creating a fluid, dynamic feel depicting the swirl of our emotional life and nature.

Spiritual Life and Our Emotions: A Contemplative Way of Being

Having looked at some of the benefits and challenges of our emotions in the spiritual life and journey, we can now explore some practical ancient ways of meditative prayer to facilitate this process. The key is to find, and rest in, a place of undefended awareness where we can open to the divine with intention of heart in the midst of our emotional turmoil; returning again and again to the unconditional divine embrace that offers us this freedom of heart. So, below, I explor

Full moon reflecting on calm water with a starry sky and faint purple glow in the background, creating a serene, mystical atmosphere depicting the interplay of our inner light and darkness on our spiritual journey and pathology.

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

Ornate spiral staircase with intricate yellow and pink patterns, viewed from below. Black wrought iron railing enhances elegance. It is a visual paradox in that it is unclear if it is turning upwards or downwards.

Living With Paradox

In the Christian spiritual tradition, paradox is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be lived. Again and again, the life of faith draws us into tensions that cannot be neatly resolved — between strength and weakness, certainty and unknowing, action and surrender. This article explores why the capacity to live with paradox is not a spiritual failure, but a sign of growing maturity, opening us to a deeper, more spacious way of knowing and being with God. Paradox and the

Close-up of a dictionary page highlighting the word "Psychology" in bold. The page is well-lit, with surrounding text slightly blurred showing the importance of our psychology in the spiritual path.

Spiritual Life and Our Emotions: When Spirituality Avoids Feeling

Spiritual bypassing names a subtle but pervasive tendency within spiritual life: the use of spiritual beliefs or practices to avoid painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs. While often unconscious and well-intentioned, it can quietly undermine growth, wholeness, and genuine transformation. What Is Spiritual Bypassing? The term spiritual bypassing, coined by psychologist John Welwood in 1983, describes the use of spiritual beliefs or practices to avoid eng

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Spiritual Life and Our Emotions: Toward Wholeness and Integration

Transformation of our emotion life remains one of the greatest challenges confronting us on our spiritual path. Emotions and the Spiritual Struggle Indeed, perhaps in exasperation, many historical strands of Christianity relegated feelings to an inferior and suspect status, often seeing them as manifestations of female weakness far less trustworthy and more 'primitive' than 'male' rational powers. Strong feelings needed to be muted for fear of muddying objectivity, with 'dis