“The Virtue of Simplicity”
The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

We are currently living is what can be easily called the busiest era of human civilization. The routine that surrounds and pervades our daily lives has never been so complex- so confusing, exasperating, or intimidating as it is now.
What makes us so frantic, anyway? Does it have to be that way? How many of us have taken the time and the courage to examine our deeper reasons for doing, and ask what makes me, or what makes Johnny and Jane run??? Could it be that we, as a culture, have allowed ourselves to get hitched to a treadmill or better yet, be placed on a gerbil wheel without being able to get off? Have each of us created our own feelings of being too busy to truly live- too worn out to enjoy much of anything called the good of living? Is there a different way?
It appears to those who would try to observe us- from political spin doctors to social scientists, from media moguls to contemporary theologians- that our culture, thrive on doing-going-working… Have we become the human form of the Energizer Bunny? Being active is fine, but to the point of exhaustion? No wonder so many people get tired and worn out! Did we have to get sick, as a person or a society before we will learn to slow down, relax, and find more meaning in doing less? Why it is as if our entire population has to find a place to go ….
That we have created a culture of mad-hatters-always rushed, pushing, constantly checking everything from their watches, their voice and e-mail constantly. As a culture, we all suffer from being overly committed to so many tasks, jobs, duties and extra responsibilities, that we can lose track of what else could be considered as defining a full and satisfying life. We have to stop and ask ourselves: Is there any other way?
Are there any other motives, values and outlooks that can constitute a life worth living? Are we so caught up in believing that fulfillment comes from the pressure to do more and more that we have to become robotic to complete it? Are we potentially afraid of standing still? Does any feeling of having spare, empty time threaten you? What about simplicity?
All too often, the word simple is linked with either being simple-minded, being dull or a sense of boredom. Or that being simple and practicing simplicity is someone one is forced to do- because, after all, isn’t complexity what life demands and to reject our cultural standards makes you into a some leftover hippie! My contrasting perspective comes from Thoreau: [That life is not defined or fulfilled by trying to keep pace with your companions, living fully means that you step to a different drummer- the tune of your soul.]
Choosing to be intentionally more simple in our approach to life can contain many lessons, insights and opportunities for wisdom. Simplicity is one of our most neglected virtues.
What is simplicity? It is an attitude that welcomes or invites a deeper consideration of life’s treasures. Simplicity has, as its primary goal the redemption of time. Simplicity ask us to cultivate an improved outlook on your intrinsic value as a human being, not as a human doing… As someone who honors their relationships with enough time and with sufficient attention; to be someone who has also made time for their creative, reflective, spiritual or deeper self- which is a greater step toward wisdom and integrity, especially once we reach mid-life and our mature years.
Choosing or electing simplicity is definitely is not what being a simpleton implies; for a simpleton is someone who follows a series of mindless routines without thinking or perceiving deeply…
Who knows, maybe being so caught up in the confabulated details of our culture is, in its operating realities, an ironic twist, because that pressure contorts us into becoming ethical simpletons… where we make up our minds too quickly, based on empty sound bites and slick media images- never giving ourselves the time to seek out or reflect on the meanings within the messages with depth or completeness…
To voluntarily choose simplicity as a guiding virtue or primary outlook rejects our dizzying cultural pace that works to threaten our harmony, and our tranquillity. Electing simplicity asks us to choose only a few tasks or priorities and then allow those choices to teach you daily, so that you can safely and securely avoid the enticing cultural traps of busyness which robs us of a more balanced perspective.
Simplicity asks us to set a deliberate pace for our lives- a pace, a rhythm, and routine that allows greater self-expression, caring, and dedication. Simplicity remedies the beleaguering intensity of life without accepting any of the opposite-a soul-empting boredom. Thoreau’s admonition to “Simplify, Simplify” and to live more deliberately, is not corny idealism, it is a creative challenge- it is the conscious intention to pay attention to our involvements and to choose our commitments and activities wisely and well.
Another understanding of the virtue of simplicity comes from the opportunity it creates to address those neglected or ignored parts of ourselves and our world. The practice of simplicity opens us up to discovering the gracious in the ordinary; the miraculous in the everyday, the wonder and the beauty found in nature, in a quiet pond, in another person’s face. Ask yourself: Why did I huff and puff to plant roses in my yard if I never have the time to smell them!? Only you can make room for beauty, for nature, art, or music…
4
If you are always “on the go,” you not only risk missing out on what are called the extras of life, you risk missing or ignoring life’s essentials.
Simplicity is a worldwide virtue. From by Buddhist studies and my introduction to the Oriental culture, the insights and depths of simplicity can be learned from the more Zen-like approaches to house holding: from sparse beauty of brush painting to Ikebana or simple flower arranging; to the decor of a singular Bonsai tree that is a graced by elegant stone and smoothly raked sand. Less is more because of the truths that can be found in a life that contains fewer distractions. There, the mind rests; and in the simplicity of design and decor, one can have the relaxing luxury to contemplate the completeness one can find there.
What about simplicity and all the rush and push of your daily responsibilities? If you remain tightly wrapped up in a complex cocoon of work, sleep, food and family, you might never allow yourself to spread the wings of your heart to appreciate any of them fully. Simplicity is an open, fresh and eager attitude that seeks to slow you down and seek to uncomplicate your life. At the same time, simplicity unfolds the roses of life to reveal a depth of opportunity, experience and understanding that offers us true civility- access to more artful ways; craftsmanship; gentility and politeness; and maybe the area most neglected- the need for true intimacy, friendship, or the depth of honest relating- that provides the heartfelt antidote to the unnecessarily tragic questions:

“if only I knew that was the way you felt…
Or I did not realize how much it meant to you …”.

Lastly, simplicity and sincerity, humility and authenticity are closely linked. In the various translations of The Bible and similarly throughout the texts of all the great Scriptures and traditions East and West, the authors will often use them interchangeably. When we read such poetry and allow time for its inspiration, we can contrast their message with the complex materialism and frenetic superficial concerns of our culture. As I see it, adopting an attitude or an approach that emphasizes simplicity will be an important step in our personal growth or in our spiritual development….
We can take a much deserved satisfaction in fostering and ascribing to our simple, questioning faith. We recognize that in its simplicity, we find its worth, and find its depth, for we are free to choose what we want to believe in, and how we use our time, and how we are to live. … We attest to the possibility that one can live a noble, useful, and compassionate life without any restrictive or complex creeds, doctrines or dogmas.
As Elaine St. James has recently written in her book about Living The Simple Life:

[People today are realizing that they have given up too much in the effort to have it all. The primary objective of most of them is to have more time for their own life dreams or for the people that they love, and for doing those things they really want to do.
[Simplicity] is about deciding what is important to us, and gracefully letting go of the things that aren’t. When you start slowing down, cutting back, creating time-real time for yourself- the important things become obvious. Once you simplify your life, you begin… you do your best work; and You can start… to live your best life…
6
So, if your life appears to you to be too busy, too strained, too hectic-then try simplicity! Reduce your workload in every superfluous or unnecessary way you can, but do not sacrifice your time for personal growth, for living out your values, or for committing to those essential activities you truly need to pursue. Simplicity as a virtue recommends that you seek to get more out of less in life, and stop adding additional burdens to your day. When you can, wherever you can, choose simplicity over complexity… Let no one or no demand in life take the gift to be simple from you, it is truly a path towards greater fulfillment and a more lasting, resilient sense of joy. So BE IT.

“Living An Enchanted Life”
The Reverend Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

When you hear the word, enchantment, what comes to mind?
A fairy tale, maybe a favorite production from Disney, or a magical spell … or could it be that enchantment refers to something inner, deeper… an often unexpressed delight- a feeling that invites you to linger and to savor, to long for, and to wistfully wonder… maybe enchantment is the word we can use to describe what it means to recapture that sense of truly living, living a more soulful, & in that sense, magical life…
Now to be sure, it might be considered bizarre and strange in and of itself for a Unitarian-Universalist to wax poetic and ponder mystical and magical terms such as enchantment…. but a case can be made for how it can be approached and understood…
I have come across this powerful entrancing concept of enchantment at various times during my own spiritual and personal quest. This spellbinding word seems to have tracked along my personal journeys through psychology, philosophy. spirituality and metaphysics. As I understand it, let me state it clearly, enchantment or the capacity to become enchanted IS an answer for the seeking heart. …
In recent memory, the enticing concept of being or becoming enchanted relates to many of the questions and connections we humans seem to need or desire. In trying to summarize the many ways this is possible, I will choose three from my life’s soulful excursions that span from the universal and global to those that are profoundly personal and intimate.
As Thomas More, Jungian analyst, musician and former monk writes in his book on The Re-Enchantement Of Life, “our souls have a distinct need for regular excursions into enchantment. What food is for the body, what thought is for the mind, enchantment is for our souls.”
2
Brian Swimme is a cosmologist whose scientific and inspirational writings focus on the origins of the universe.
He has been most closely connected to the international movement called Creation Spirituality. In explaining the physics of deep space, he naturally leads us into the consideration of the vastness of our own possibilities- moving from physics to metaphysics, pondering the laws and the causes of the Cosmos, he directs our questions toward an expanded, inclusive sense of the Divine, where the universe abides by its own self-sustaining holy laws- Laws that some of us would deem to be part of the grand and elegant design of an all wise, all compassionate Creator/Creatrix God whose laws and principles operate both within and beyond ordinary human comprehension.
In and through the process that Thomas More recommends as a necessary translation of science into awe and wonder, Brian Swimme introduces us to our capacity for enchantment with the larger world of nature and the life under the heavens.
In his first book, The Universe Is A Green Dragon, and in his preface to the more complete Universe Story, Swimme moves from a scholarly treatise to an emphasis on our human need for enchantment as a way to revitalize our vigilance for ecological justice, and to graciously accept our place in the universe as a treasure- as a gift that advocates and strengthens our human need for enchantment- to fall in love with the universe, the earth, with life! This feeling, that we are cared for and connected to the universe is a timeless way humanity can and has expressed the awe and wonder of life.
Q: Have you ever thought of it in that way?

3
The next time you have an opportunity to go out at night, look up into that starry sky and take a few moments to look around at the majesty, the mystery and the meaning of all that vast, inspiring beauty that you can see …
Q: Ask yourself, when were you last enchanted by a star?
When was it that you gave thanks for your place in the Cosmos?

Knowing that the universe is the largest scale of life we can grasp or even try to understand, when was it that you first realized that all the elements, all the air, dust, liquid, and space that makes up the galaxies is also a part of you- that you, too are made of star stuff???
Furthermore, when was it that you first knew that there was some kind of connection here, that both you and the universe are a marvel and a wonder, a moral lesson, and can be a heartfelt comfort for one another– That both you and the universe are a part of a cosmic design where the ultimate and the intimate are reflected and connected- and that we are privileged to partake in the grace of it all– that’s enchantment!

Another encounter with the word and the ideal of enchantment came to me from my studies in depth psychology. From those insights, I came to realize the importance of stories and dreams, the value found from awakening the imagination and from the contemplative consideration of the mythopoetic dimensions of our lives.
In what has now become a classic text, the psychoanalyst Bruno Bettleheim described the importance of myths, legends, folk stories and dreams in his book, The Uses Of Enchantment.
In those pages, he describes how humanity’s myths, can be used to unlock and reveal the workings of our own human nature.
4
Through his discourse, Bettleheim points to how myths and metaphors from the world’s great literature, Scripture, and
poetry, are the best way we humans have for approximating the truth– for truth is not necessarily factual nor is it logical- Instead, the truths of our being, and the realities of humankind contain within them a faith-filled, trusting dimension- a depth which has a romantic and transcendent quality within them that enchants us- that lures, tricks, inspires, and cajoles us into the truth and the soulful lesson its story line might contain.
Life is a mystery. Myths, legends and our dreams hold within themselves a key that unlocks the hidden and the previously unknown. This process of how a myth is told, how it engages you, how it grabs your attention and focuses in on its possibilities, can dynamically touch our emotions. This touch, when we embrace it, makes our enchantment with the characters, the tradition, and the lessons, an important part of our path toward greater self- discovery and toward a more complete sense of healing and wholeness. That is one of the principal reasons why I have reinvested in the stories associated with the larger, more mystical and inclusive Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage; the Myths of Arthur, the stories in Shakespeare, inspirational poetry… these have helped me to learn, discover, understand and grow… both personally and professionally…
A third way the idea and the ideal of enchantment comes to us in our appraisal of human motivations and desires. How we decide to do anything, how we focus our wills, and develop sufficient motivation, can all tie into our understanding of enchantment.

5
For this approach, we are advised by Thomas More that “[the goal of life is becoming a person who is deeply and securely grounded in their delight; for one who possesses a rich imagination may be more desirable than another who is being more politically savvy, or well informed. ...
That living with a sense of passion and vision, or becoming a person who possessing a zest for life, despite all its various imbalances, idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies, might be better off than limiting or constraining your sense of self to being a high functioning, well-organized robot.]”

In my delvings into spiritual teachings, I will briefly extract a short portion from a complete theory of consciousness that centers on Sufi and Tibetan teachings. This theory contains some insights on the nature of enchantment. It states that enchantment as a kind of holy curiousity, is necessary to trap the human ego into growth and change. Enchantment is an excellent motivator for any needed or necessary transformation; that enchantment can be seen as the positive, sincere expression of interest or desire in someone, something, some ideal or higher principle.
In that way, it operates as a balance point or polar dynamic opposite of addiction, because of how it invites growth and engagement- the enlargement of one’s world, one’s heart, and the courage to pursue involvement with others. When we are enchanted, by someone, something, an ideal or a transcendent hope, we invest ourselves in them; dedicating time, energy, focus and interest towards the ideal or the goal it or they represent. Such a state could be called infatuation, but that is just the short-lived expression of the earnest of a heart-centered caring that you wish to cultivate or express.

6
We can be sure that it is only infatuation when the demands and the difficulties of intimacy threaten it and easily compromise its ardor or intensity.
This points toward another principle of consciousness that states that time and love are connected- the capacity to give time to someone or something is a measure of its importance, affection, and value to us. Time and love are intimately linked; if one cannot give sufficient time to a person, a cause or an ideal, the passion for it erodes or become frustrated. Similarly, enchantment lives in a person’s heart and mind when there is a willingness to dedicate or devote time and energy, affection and support to whatever is beloved…
Enchantment deliciously invites us to the feast of life- it implores us to take the time to drink it all in, and to open one’s awareness to deliciously savor the wonders and blessings of being alive.
When we are enchanted, we live and love magically– we can easily lose track of time, and flow freely from our hearts.
When our lives can become too routine, mundane, and we can become trapped by efficiency and responsibility- we can negate or devalue that part of us that needs to soar- to be free- to wonder, imagine, to lift and to love… To the degree that we exclude the soul’s need to be inspired, enchanted, we are inviting a premature death or an inertia for our spirits. Instead of locking down, gritting it out, offer yourself the opportunity to become re-enchanted, as a gift… as a confirmation of the treasure you hold within and of the value that can be found in sharing it and expressing it. Then, as I have seen and felt it, life will have a restored and expanded sense of connection and meaning for you. May you and I, may we all learn to live more soulfully- Learn to live in a more enchanted world! Amen: So Be It! Blessed Be!

Peter Russell, a British author and futurist, has a mesmerizing world clock on his website.

This clock doesn’t tell time, it measures global stress issues, such as population growth, species extinctions, deforestation, and CO2 emissions. I reset the clock, sat down to read the paper, and came back an hour later. What happened in my 60 minutes of leisure time?

1480 hectares of forest were cut down (3660 acres)
690 hectares of new desert were created (1700 acres)
3.1 Million tons of CO2 were emitted
3.5 Million barrels of oil were pumped
3 species went extinct
The world’s population grew by 8,800 people

In autoracing, the term ‘redlining’ refers to the maximum speed an engine and its components can operate at without causing damage to the system. Go over the redline and the damage is usually widespread and severe. Watching the numbers on the world clock continue to grow, can there be any doubt that there is a planetary redline for each of these metrics? We don’t know where the upper limits are, but it goes without saying that our world can not support limitless population, greenhouse gas emissions, desertification, or oil. If we knew these upper limits, and watched as the needle slowly approached the redline, I wonder if we would take the issues more seriously.

On the climate front, the carbon meter currently reads 385 parts per million (ppm). Many of the world’s leading scientists estimate that 450 ppm is our self destruct point. Still others feel that we need to drop back down to 350 ppm, and have already hit the redline — we just don’t know it yet. The number is rising by 2-3 ppm per year, and to get atmospheric CO2 to stop rising, scientists believe that global emissions need to be cut by at least 50%. Whether we are approaching or have passed the limit, we clearly need to take our foot off the accelerator. (You can sign the Care2 petition in support of a strong US climate bill here.)

There is of course a second definition of redlining, which is the practice of denying or increasing the cost of necessary services (health, food, jobs) to residents in defined racially determined areas. Sadly, in an indirect way the world clock also measures this. As the metrics increase, it is many of the poorest in the poorer countries who will be impacted most, exacerbating the differences between ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.

Because of both redline issues, we need to start thinking more holistically about our planet. As Russell says;

“The real crisis we are facing is not an environmental crisis, a population crisis, economic crisis, a social crisis, or a political crisis. It is, at its root, a crisis of consciousness. A crisis is an indication that the old mode of operating is no longer working, and a new approach is required. This is true of a personal crisis, a family crisis or a political crisis. In the case of the environmental the old way that is no longer working is our self-centred materialistic consciousness. It may have worked well in the past, when we needed to provide ourselves with the basic commodities necessary for our individual well-being – but it clearly no longer works today.”

“The forgoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we through their eyes. Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe?” – Ralph W. Emerson

A few years ago, while I was in Minnesota, , I attended at lecture/presentation by Dr. Brian Swimme at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church.

He is a well known cosmologist or an astrophysicist whose special area of study is on the origin of the universe, and ultimately life itself. He was sponsored by the Continuum Center of Minneapolis, an interfaith educational center that focuses on providing information on how science and spirituality, health and education can come together to inform, instruct and enlighten us.

Swimme is a well known person for me, having read his books and watched his video series on cosmic origins and how they impact our human understanding of the universe and our place within it. (The Universe is a Green Dragon, The Universe Story, the Canticle of the Cosmos are among his works) He is a former member of the Institute for Studies in Creation Spirituality which is an inclusive, interfaith approach that has become my personal home base for my understanding of spirituality, ministry, and panentheism.

In his lecture, he made certain observations that might be applied cogently to the nature of human groups as much as it might be applied to clusters of stars and the swirls  of the galaxies. Among his observations were these:

When the efforts of your actions are other than your intentions, then you are ready for transformation …

Small solutions or conservative responses to problem solving are not ultimately helpful; they might be comfortable, expedient, but they are not ultimately transformative….

The universe exists as shimmering disequalibrium- in a constant state of dynamism, alchemy and change- stasis or clinging to the past, trying to avoid growth or change is ultimately useless at best, and often becomes self-destructive. We try in vain to live as if we were in anthropocentric, geocentric world – so that we can feed the illusion of control, and so we can continue to see the earth and its resources in an exploitative self-centered or capitalistic way. Whereas, what we need to claim and affirm is that we live together in a relational universe that is  pneumocentric. That we live in a Spirit-centered cosmos where our awareness of our intimate and ultimate connections form our sustaining relationships, and that it is only through affirming and adopting an outlook of comprehensive compassion that our world and our lives find their purpose and meaning.

Theodore Parker, in the 19th century, saw these cosmological spiritual connection long before the scientific theories were understood. He frames his out look in these words: ”

The fullness of the divine energy flows inexhaustibly into the crystal of the rock, the juices of the plant, the splendor of the stars, the life of Bee and Behemoth.” While this might seem a strange and far afield topic, I find that it is a compelling one. Just as I spoke last week about the status of chaos or crisis in one’s life or in the life of a church as being a dynamic, even gracious one, so too does it parallel the dynamic and gracious work of the cosmos…. And I feel that they mirror themselves accurately.

In short, I believe the future, 2012 and beyond,  will be our dynamic time dedicated to understanding and then transforming the chaos, and emerging from crisis to opportunity- in short, to build a world fit for our evolution and our habitation- a place for our bodies, minds, and spirits to create a communities and a congregations of mutual respect and caring.

What is Spiritual Direction?

Spiritual direction is a learning process of attuned listening….  ( In fact, the first rule of St. Benedict is to listen- Asculta!) Whereby one learns to listen to the interior questions and their intuitive answers. It is a relationship of affirming the true and beholding the good. It is facilitated by working with a director who can alternatively known as your soul friend.

With that person, you walk together- as companions on a spiritual journey of self discovery, grace, and revelation…. It is a sharing in the search for the deep self where we engage our longings, seek to heal our wounds, and discover our wonders.

In this relationship, there is an active, continual, and gracious acknowledgment that we live most fully in a tri-alogue… Adding in a correspondence with a God or Spirit of your knowing and understanding …is to disclose the hidden sacred dimension of life and its many facets.

In that sense, spiritual direction is a covenant of caring for one’s life and for God’s place  and presence within it- it is an appreciation, and appraisal of one’s life story; its struggles, its challenges, its promise and its blessings.

Spiritual direction is the relational process of discovering how and in what ways the Holy (or that which has sacred dimensions and sacred meanings) influences and guides your understanding, your motives, values, and reveals a deeper sense of self.

Classically, spiritual direction especially in the most prevalent Ignatian tradition asks you about the directions God is taking you in your life….  (I prefer the Benedictine model of the “Ores et Labores” model because that adapts well

2

Or more easily to our Western lifestyle….. I prefer to ask where are you taking God?  Into what parts, portions, or facets of your life? These questions also seem to favor adaptation into a Buddhist and Zen style or the Franciscan/Gandian model of service that has parallels itself to the Bahkti and the Karma Yoga paths….)

A Spiritual Director (and one can choose the less hierarchical term, Soul Friend) has a distinctive role to play in your path towards wholeness and holiness….. Or if you are more psychologically oriented, she/he is a peson who can facilitate moving towards self-actualization, individuation,  and the process of becoming an authentic person….

As a resource person, they offer you their insights for your consideration, their discernment for your comprehension, and can actively suggest possible paths and ways toward wholeness/integration in your personal search for meaning…. They will often emphasize spiritual disciplines, devotional reading, and other meditative and physical exercises to try that may refine your attunements to the inner callings of the Spirit; thereby assisting you towards making those stirrings and wonderings ever more present, and more widely accessible.

Who is a Spiritual Director?

Your spiritual director is generally not your pastor or your colleague per se…. She or he is rarely if ever  your confessor- in the sacramental tradition- nor would they properly be your psychotherapist (there is currently much debate over the mixing and blending of these roles- I have come down on the side of keeping them separate and synergistic….)

3

While there may be parallels and important links, especially to a depth psychology such as Jungian analysis, participating in SD is not therapy nor is therapy a substitute for SD.

What makes them different?

Most often, the most distinguishing factor is the agreed on continual reference to or acknowledgment of the sacred at both the start and the end of a session. There is a constant or continual reference to the tri-alogue as alive and operating as a source of motives, values, virtues, and directions for your life…. This acknolwedgement can come in many ways….From a prayer, to a chant, from silence to bells, to a chalice lighting and a devotional reading….

Its value is to engage and welcome the presence of the Holy by one’s sacred intention during the meeting…. Utilizing the symbolic world of ones faith or wisdom tradition, their inspirational sources and resources that they are currently exploring or have found inspiration and solace in their applications in their lives…. In short, spiritual direction occurs and is conducted in a constant atmosphere of sacred intention, reverence, and spiritual intimacy….. Which, by the way is not pious, and can include humor, and discuss topics that might be considered to be religiously taboo!

Because SD presumes a certain level of emotional and mental health, it does not dwell on systems or symptoms- so it doesn’t ordinarily look for cures or even rational explanations…. Instead, SD assumes a wholeness, a wellness, and an integrity that will be further disclosed by God’s grace and the Spirit’s unfoldment. The goal of SD is to allow for and to facilitate a deepening, a ripening, a revealing…. (in the words of the Aramaic Jesus “Twobway Hun”-Blessed are you….)

4

Directors ask: Where is God or the Holy for you? Where in your experience have you felt its presence and effects? How can you learn to allow more of God, the Good that already is, into your live and into your heart?

Oftentimes, we seek out SD because we are currently feeling as if something is missing, lacking, unknown or unfulfilled in our lives….. Spiritual direction teaches us to honor those longings, those yearnings– that your hunger and thirst are not emotions of lack or frustration, but act as  a gracious impulse within you, as an inpelling, and sometimes a compelling invitation to go more deeply, and to know oneself, one’s soul, or God more fully.  (From a classical Christian view point we desire to become more integrated, more Christ like- which has, for me, the best definition in the early Church leader, St. Iraeneus, who said that ‘[the Christ became human so that humans could become more Christ like... And to be more Christ like is to be more fully human and more fully alive!"]

Not everyone who can act effectively as a spiritual facilitator for you has to be a trained professional…. But a professional will have the best capacity of staying with you, walking with you over time, experience, circumstance, and revelation and provide you with a sustained relationship or companionship…… (children, pets, nature and various mystics and misfits can provide you with insights!)

Classically, and for that matter, charismatically, one cannot be trained to be a spiritual director unless they are first inner-directed… That is, unless they first receive the charisms and the gift of the Spirit as a significant part of their vocational call…. They are given the gift of discernment which they will use in guiding and assisting others along the spiritual path…..

5

Being well educated is not a protection or an assurance that you will receive good quality of care…. it is however, a reliable measure that they will be able to understand or comprehend the many descriptive languages and various paths one might pursue…. From that place, there is an extended period of training or refining- a skill based awareness one can receive that attunes and refines that spiritual gift…..

Your spiritual director need not be of your own faith tradition….. And most often in the USA, they come from a sacramental tradition that recognizes spiritual gifts and spiritual disciplines such as the Episcopal, the Orthodox, and the various kinds of Catholic traditions….. The main point here is that you feel respected…  that the stirrings of your heart can be heard, and that an essential relationship can be formed between you.

Some Mechanics and Practical Considerations:

Usually, SD is conducted on a 1X a month basis…. If it is a particularly crucial time in a person’s life, it could occur more often…..

The cost is variable….. It will range from a good will donation to a regular sliding scale fee. If this is a part of a director’s livelihood, then they will set a fee…. I will often use this standard of measure: I will charge half of what you would pay for a psychologist appointment…..

Some styles of direction are gentle, patience, and offer much forbearance…. Others are more directive, and many directors supplement their work by offering their clients selected and directed readings, meditations, and other body/mind/spirit disciplines, and might recommend weekend or extended sessions and intensive workshops……     Any questions?????