Describing Spiritual Direction : Voices from a Living Tradition

Anne Solomon
Mar 20, 2015
10 min read

Updated: Jan 1

Rublev’s Trinity icon, an image of sacred companionship and contemplative presence, expressing the relational heart of spiritual direction. — *A sacred conversation held within the life of God.*

Spiritual direction is often described today in careful, well-established ways — as a contemplative, supportive accompaniment that helps a person attend to God’s presence in their life. These descriptions are not wrong. Yet they are not the whole story. Across Christian history, spiritual direction has been understood, practised, and named in many different ways, shaped by context, temperament, theology, and human need.

Rather than offering a single definition, this page gathers a range of voices from the living tradition of spiritual direction.

Together, they reveal not a rigid model, but a textured landscape — one that includes attentive listening, contemplative presence, soul friendship, inner transformation, and faithful discernment. My hope is that these descriptions will help you sense what kind of spiritual accompaniment might best serve your own journey.

Spiritual Direction as Attentive, Contemplative Listening

At its heart, spiritual direction has always been grounded in attentive presence and contemplative listening. In this understanding, the director’s primary task is not to instruct or advise, but to listen — deeply, prayerfully, and reverently — for the subtle movements of the Holy already present in a person’s life. What matters most is the quality of presence brought to the encounter, and the shared attentiveness to what is stirring beneath the surface of ordinary experience. Many describe this work as unfolding within a protected, sacred space — what some traditions have named a temenos, a field where deeper truth can safely emerge.

The following reflections emphasise spiritual direction as a practice of listening for God, grounded in trust that the Spirit is already at work in the depths of the human soul.

''Spiritual direction is the practice of being present to another person in such a way that the Holy may reveal itself.”

— Kenneth Leech

“Spiritual direction is a contemplative practice that cultivates attentiveness to God’s activity in everyday life.”

—Susan S. Phillips

"We define Christian spiritual direction as help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God's personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship. The focus of this type of spiritual direction is on experience, not ideas, and specifically on religious experience, ie. any experience of the mysterious Other whom we call God."

— William Barry & William Connolly

“The ministry of Spiritual Direction can be understood as the meeting of two or more people whose desire is to prayerfully listen for the movements of the Holy Spirit in all areas of a person’s life (not just in their formal prayer life). It is a three-way relationship: among the true director who is the Holy Spirit (which in Christian tradition is the Spirit of Christ present in and among us), and the human director (who listens for the directions of the Spirit with the directee), and the directee.”

— Tilden Edwards

Celtic Christian artwork symbolising anam cara, the soul-friend tradition of spiritual companionship and sacred listening.

Spiritual Direction as Sacred Relationship and Soul Friendship

Across Christian history, spiritual direction has often been described not primarily as a method, but as a relationship — one marked by trust, reverence, and mutual presence. In the Celtic tradition, this took the form of anam cara, the soul friend: someone with whom the inner life could be shared without fear or pretence, and whose presence helped call the soul into greater truth and freedom.

These descriptions speak of spiritual direction as a deeply relational encounter, where the director becomes a compassionate witness and companion to the unfolding life of another.

"Spiritual direction is essentially companioning someone in his or her spiritual life. Other ways of describing spiritual direction include holy listening, spiritual friendship, sacred journeying."

— Janna Larson

“With the anam cara, you could share your innermost self, your mind and your heart. You are joined in an ancient and eternal way. This belonging awakened and fostered a deep and special companionship. You are understood as you are without mask or pretension. The superficial and functional lies and half-truths of acquaintance fall away. You can be as you really are.”

— John O' Donohue

''The greatest teacher is silence. To come out of interior silence and to practice its radiance, its love, its concern for others, its submission to God's will, its trust in God even in tragic situations is the fruit of living from your inmost centre, from the contemplative space within. The signs of coming from this space are a peace that is rarely upset by events, other people and our reactions to them, and a calm that is a stabilizing force in whatever environment you may be in. God gives us everything we need to be happy in the present moment, no matter what the evidence to the contrary may be. A good spiritual director helps us to sustain that trust."

— Father Thomas Keating

Spiritual Direction as Discernment and Response to God

Stone cloister archway opening onto a simple bench and closed wooden doors, suggesting a quiet threshold, attentive waiting, and a human response to the sacred.

Another long-standing stream within the tradition understands spiritual direction as a practice of discernment — helping a person attend to God’s invitations, movements, and calls within the concrete realities of daily life. Here the emphasis is on noticing, naming, and responding to how God is encountered in prayer, experience, relationships, and inner stirrings.

The voices gathered below reflect this orientation toward spiritual direction as a shared attentiveness to divine communication and a gentle support in responding faithfully to it.

''Spiritual direction is, in reality, nothing more than a way of leading us to see and obey the real Director — the Holy Spirit hidden in the depths of our soul."

— Thomas Merton

''The spiritual director serves as a companion and witness, someone who helps you (sometimes with questions, sometimes just by listening) to discern the divine where you might have missed it and to integrate that awareness into your daily life.’'

— Rabbi Jacob Staub

''Spiritual direction is the contemplative practice of helping another person or group to awaken to the mystery called God in all of life, and to respond to that discovery in a growing relationship of freedom and commitment.’'

— James Keegan SJ

"What exactly do spiritual directors do? The simple and most direct answer I can give is that they help others attend to God's presence and revelation and prepare to respond to him. In other words, they help people attune themselves to God."

— David Benner

“Spiritual direction is not about self-exploration for its own sake, but about attentiveness to the living God acting in the depths of human experience.”

— Michael Ramsey

Spiritual Direction as Inner Freedom and Transformation

Ancient wooden shutter with a circular, mandala-like pattern carved into the wood, evoking inner transformation and spiritual unfolding.

Some writers emphasise spiritual direction as a process that helps bring a person into deeper inner freedom — freeing them from unconscious patterns, compulsions, or self-deceptions that limit their capacity to live fully and truthfully. In this view, spiritual direction reaches beneath the surface of roles, habits, and appearances, toward the deeper truth of who a person is becoming in God. Some contemporary approaches also attend explicitly to the psychological dimensions of the spiritual journey, recognising how unconscious dynamics shape faith, prayer, and images of God. I explore this further in my work on depth-oriented accompaniment.

These reflections point to spiritual direction as a space where transformation unfolds, not through effort or control, but through honest encounter and surrender to the Spirit’s work within.

"The whole purpose of spiritual direction is to penetrate beneath the surface of a person’s life, to get behind the façade of conventional gestures and attitudes which one presents to the world, and to bring out one’s inner spiritual freedom, one’s inmost truth, which is what [Christians] call the likeness of Christ in one’s soul. This is an entirely supernatural (spiritual) thing, for the work of rescuing the inner person from automatism belongs first of all to the Holy Spirit."

— Thomas Merton

“The task of the spiritual guide is not to impose an ideal but to help free the person to become who they already are in God.”

— Gerald May

''….giving attention to the roots which are of equal if not more value than the fruits. Attending to hidden places of rootlessness and anxiety in order to seek wholeness.''

— Angela Ashwin

“Spiritual direction requires an awareness of the unconscious, because the false self can disguise itself as devotion.”

—Thomas Keating

“The pastor—or director—must know enough about the inner life to avoid confusing neurosis with holiness.”

—Eugene Peterson

“Spiritual direction stands at the meeting point of theology and psychology, prayer and personality, grace and growth.”

—Kenneth Leech

Spiritual Direction as Attending to Soul and Wholeness

Within a broader understanding of the human person, spiritual direction has also been seen as a practice concerned not only with belief or behaviour, but with the soul — the inner life where emotions, desires, wounds, imagination, and longing are held. This approach recognises that spiritual growth is inseparable from psychological and emotional reality, and that healing and transformation often occur together.

The following descriptions reflect an understanding of spiritual direction that honours the whole person and seeks wholeness rather than spiritual performance.

Stone labyrinth laid into the floor, symbolising a contemplative path of integration, return, and spiritual wholeness.

''Spiritual guidance is being present in the moment, seeing and honouring the sacred mystery of the soul of another. It is witnessing this mystery and reflecting it back in word, prayer, thought, presence, and action. Spiritual guidance is modelling a deep relationship with the Divine and standing in faith and love with the other as that relationship unfolds. Spiritual guidance is a journey of deep healing and an affirmation of Holiness (wholeness), the Sacred, and the Mystery of all of life."

— Carol A. Fournier

''The spiritual director is concerned with the whole person, for the spiritual life is not just the life of the mind, or of the affections, or of the ‘summit of the soul’ – it is the life of the whole person.''

— Thomas Merton

''Spiritual directors have a special role to play by establishing a safe space for you, listening deeply and intently, spiritually, and letting your authentic self shine through. Ideally, we are mirrors that allow you to see yourself more clearly. We strive very hard not to impose our own vision, so as not to distort the image. All of this is meant to allow you to see what is already inside you. You are your own best teacher.”

— Anil Singh-Molares, SDI Executive Director

“The care of the soul requires psychological insight, because the soul speaks in symptoms as well as prayers.”

— Thomas Moore

“The spiritual life is not a life without wounds, but a life in which wounds are no longer obstacles to intimacy with God.”

— Henri Nouwen

“Spiritual accompaniment today must be attentive to trauma, because suffering shapes how people trust, love, and imagine God.”

— Ilia Delio, OSF

“Psychological healing and spiritual transformation are deeply related processes, both concerned with becoming whole.”

—David Benner

Spiritual Direction Across Traditions and Contexts

While rooted in Christian history, spiritual direction has never been confined to a single form, structure, or context. Across centuries and cultures, it has taken many shapes — from desert elders and monastic guides, to contemporary companions working in diverse faith traditions and settings. What unites these expressions is not uniformity of method, but a shared attentiveness to the sacred unfolding of human life.

These reflections situate spiritual direction within a wider historical and inter-traditional landscape, reminding us of its depth, adaptability, and enduring relevance.

Series of ancient stone arches receding into the distance, forming a passageway that suggests continuity, tradition, and spiritual journey across time.

"Spiritual direction is a time-honoured term for a conversation, ordinarily between two persons, in which one person consults another, more spiritually experienced person about the ways in which God may be touching her or his life, directly or indirectly. In our postmodern age, many people dislike the term 'spiritual direction' because it sounds like one person giving directions, or orders, to another. They prefer 'spiritual companionship,' 'tending the holy,' or some other nomenclature. What we call it doesn't make any real difference. The reality remains conversations about life in the light of faith.

Although spiritual direction has had a burst of new life, it is really quite ancient. Across both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures, we find people seeking spiritual counsel. The Queen of Sheba sought out the wisdom of Solomon. Jesus gave us examples in his conversations with Nicodemus, with the woman at the well, in the ongoing formation of Peter and the other disciples. In the early church, people flocked to hermits in the desert for spiritual counsel. Across the centuries we find striking examples in some Irish monks, in some German Benedictine nuns, in Charles de Foucault, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, and others. Today, spiritual directors come from many traditions.''

Marian Cowan, CSJ

''Seeking guidance and direction will not necessarily yield an easy solution or an answer to the inner quest for meaning. Any teacher or director can only be a mirror reflecting a view, or sometimes an arrow pointing beyond itself... To receive spiritual direction is to recognise that God does not solve our problems or answer all our questions, but leads us closer to the mystery of our existence where all questions cease.''

— Henri Nouwen

"Spiritual direction, an ancient ministry of the church, is a relationship in which one person assists another, or others, in attending to God’s presence and call. Spiritual direction has been, and remains, particularly strong within Roman Catholic and Orthodox religious orders, and over the past twenty years Anglican and Protestant traditions have begun to recover it more fully. There is also growing interest in spiritual direction among other faith traditions, such as Judaism and Buddhism.

Throughout Christian history, spiritual direction has traditionally been practiced by ordained clergy alone. In recent years, however, this practice has widened to embrace the spiritual gifts of non-ordained persons as well. Today, spiritual direction is regarded as a ministry open to all, not an order or office reserved for the few."

Presbyterian Church, US

Taken together, these voices reveal that spiritual direction is not a single method or narrowly defined practice, but a spacious and living tradition. Across centuries and contexts, it has taken different shapes — contemplative, relational, pastoral, prophetic, psychological, mystical — according to the needs of the soul and the movements of the Spirit. Rather than asking “What is the correct model of spiritual direction?” we might instead ask “What form of accompaniment best serves this person, at this moment, on their journey?” And, for those seeking to practice spiritual accompaniment, exploration as to what inner work undergirds authentic spiritual direction, of whatever flavour.

Discernment lies not in uniformity, but in attentiveness. Spiritual direction remains, at heart, an art of listening — to God, to the soul, and to the unfolding mystery of a human life.

If you are exploring spiritual direction for yourself, you may wish to read more about how I understand and offer spiritual direction as a listening, relational, and discerning practice.

Arches image by Rev Stan used under Creative Commons licence.