Guided Imagery in Spiritual Direction: Recovering a Creative, Ancient Practice
Across religious and psychological traditions, images have long been recognized as carriers of truth, insight, and transformation. Yet in much contemporary spiritual accompaniment the imaginal dimension—once central to Christian prayer and discernment—has often been sidelined or treated with caution. A rediscovery of guided imagery opens a creative and deeply rooted way of engaging the soul, a way that resonates with the ancient Christian imagination as well as with modern de
The Spiritual Journey of Descent
The journey of descent often begins being triggered by an event in life - an inner event or process of the outside world such as job loss, the loss of a relationship, grief or trauma; a crisis that shakes the familiar ground of our ego's reality. As this ground of our ego's sense of self and reality is shaken, we find things begin to fall apart, challenging what we thought of as our sense of reality about ourselves.
Justice in the Eyes of Compassion
Ancient stone carving with ornate cross design, covered in orange lichen. Set against a textured stone wall. Mysterious, ancient vibe suggesting the mystery of the compassion of Christ.
'The Treasures of Darkness'*: Working with the Shadow in Spiritual Direction
In spiritual direction, moments of crisis often bring people face to face with aspects of themselves they would rather not see. This reflection explores the place of the Shadow in the spiritual life, and why engaging honestly with what we repress or deny can become a vital part of spiritual growth and transformation. Drawing on Jungian psychology and long experience in spiritual direction, I reflect on how working with the Shadow can become a source not of shame, but of heali
Psychological Ways We Can Undermine Our Spiritual Transformation
In my earlier article on Struggling with Prayer: A Psychological Perspective , I looked at ways we can unconsciously resist the change prayer can start to bring within us. In this article, I take a wider view to look at ways we can undermine or sabotage our spiritual transformation. It may, at first, seem a strange idea that we can in some unconscious way resist our transformation in Christ, which is what we consciously desire and proclaim. But growth is understanding what w
Knowing God: Wholeness & Self-Knowledge
The spiritual journey has always been understood as a journey of transformation — not only of belief, but of the whole person. Across the Christian tradition, wisdom teachers have recognised that knowing God and knowing ourselves are inseparable movements of the same deepening process. This article reflects on how self-knowledge and wholeness belong at the heart of an authentic spiritual life. Wholeness, Self-Knowledge, and the Spiritual Life In our contemporary world, we und
What is Prayer? Why is it important in the Spiritual Life?
As human beings we have a natural inclination toward the transcendent, and prayer is an expression of that inclination. The impulse to pray precedes theology and belief; 'wherever one finds humans, one finds humans at prayer' .* Thus, it is not a surprise that prayer and prayerful contemplation or meditation, occupy an important place in all faith traditions. What is prayer? People use the terms prayer, contemplation and meditation in different ways. Some think of prayer as
Spiritual Life and Our Emotions Part 3 : Practical Prayer
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
Living With Paradox
Paradox and the Limits of Linear Thinking In our Western world many people suffer from an inability to live with paradox and contradiction. We have largely lost touch with paradoxical, mystical, or contemplative ways of thinking in an education system with its basis in formal laws of logic and linearity, which has an unfortunate tendency to reinforce either/ or dualistic thinking. The startling idea that truth can be multi-layered, unpredictable and contradictory is generally
Spiritual Life and Our Emotions Part 2 - Spiritual Bypassing
Spiritual bypassing, a term coined by psychologist John Welwood in 1983, is the use of spiritual beliefs and practices to avoid dealing with our painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental needs. It is pervasive in our culture - both personally and collectively - where we don't have much tolerance or acquired skill to face our pain, preferring instead a numbing analgesic, particularly if it can be seemingly legitimized by 'higher' spiritual goals and values. The c
