I have had cause to reflect recently on looking the other way down the lens of this dialogue between our psychology and spirituality, to reflect on a relatively new 20th - 21st century phenomenon of how we can also unhelpfully reduce our spirituality to our psychology. We now live in a very 'psychologised' world where this paradigm can too dominate our perspective.

'Spiritual directors and gurus have always been listeners, but the language to which they listen is the 'forgotten language' of myths and dreams and symbols, the language of fundamental human experience,' Kenneth Leach in Soul Friend. From ancient times, people of all religions have shown reverence for dreams and sought to understand their meaning. In the Christian tradition there is a particularly long history of respecting and working with dreams. Apart from well-known exa

Soul is the most common translation of the Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word psyche . The biblical meanings of these concepts are richly varied. In the Old Testament, for example, the meanings of nephesh range from life, the inner person (particularly thoughts, feelings and passions), to the whole person, including the body. Similarly, in the New Testament, psyche carries such meaning as the totality of the person, physical life, mind and heart. Here, soul is presente

In my earlier article on The Spiritual Life and our Shadow, I describe the Jungian under-standing of how we learn, from early childhood, to suppress aspects of ourselves deemed unacceptable to our culture and context. They remain in our ​ unconscious and can dramatically influence our daily lives in unseen ways. As we grow up, we receive both subtle and overt messages (from our family, care-givers, peer group, school, religious community, wider society and so on) that cer

Many people following a spiritual life are often mystified by the fact that when they are most troubled and in need of quiet prayer, they are least likely to find the space for it. There can always seem to be reasons why there isn't time, we have other pressing obligations or we simply forget. And even when we do pray there may be inner resistances to focusing on the very areas of our lives that are most troubling to us. Here, I highlight some of the psychological defenses

Spiritual pathology describes how we can distort and undermine our spiritual path and its practices, because of our own deep unresolved inner emotional wounds and issues. I have written in ' Spiritual Life and the Shadow ' how part of our unconscious self - the Shadow - can influence us in often unrecognised ways. We can take this a step further to understand how it can also influence the way we view and distort our chosen spiritual path and its practice; the delusions we ca

I've been staying a stone's throw from Barbara Hepworth's studio and museum in St Ives. So, before the crowds arrive each morning, I slip alone into her extraordinary garden - a captivating blend of sculpture and exotic planting. Her working spaces lie undisturbed as if she has just popped out for a moment to fetch milk for morning tea, or perhaps in her case a packet of cigarettes. The early morning light in St Ives is clear and full of promise, with a hint of the as yet unk

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

Transformation of our emotion life remains one of the greatest challenges confronting us on our spiritual path. 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 'dispassion' being seen as somehow super

My intention is to write a series of blog articles drawing on my work in the interface of spiritual direction and psychology, and from my own experience in following a spiritual path and supporting others in theirs. My aim is to help with key issues often faced, but perhaps less often spoken about, in the spiritual life. My hope is that something here may help... may speak to you, and offer some insight and support wherever it is you find yourself. The spiritual life is at h