Experiencing the Divine in your life.

Spiritual direction is about helping a person directly with his or her experience of the Divine. (We use this term as a bit of a catch-all for that which readers relate to: this can be Spirit, God, Jesus, Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Allah, Mahavir, G_d, El Shaddai, Spirit guide, Angel, Patron Saint, Mother Mary, the Earth Mother, Gaia, Durge, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, the Magdalene … for there are as many names and forms of the Divine as there are people on Earth. So we use the catch-all term “the Divine” in order that we might be inclusive and not have anyone feeling left out.)

Spiritual direction addresses your spiritual relationship with the Divine, on your personal spiritual path. It seeks to engage in that relationship and go into dialogue with that Divine who seeks to be in a personal relationship with you.

So, spiritual direction is directly concerned with a person’s actual experiences of the relationship with the Divine, and establishes the spiritual dimension of experience. For it is said, we are not just human beings; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Getting down to tacks, spiritual direction is help given by one believer to another, enabling that person to pay attention to the personal communication of the Divine.

We will step aside for a moment and clarify some assumptions:

• You and I exist in a sacred, divine environment. We are never outside this environment.
• In that divine environment, the channels of communication are always open. There is never a moment when we cannot connect to the Divine.
• The Divine is always giving, always sharing its love with you. There are no conditions for this love.
• This love is available to all, for all live and move and have their being in this divine environment.
• There is never any moment when the Divine is not giving itself, not communicating with you.
• You can access this experience, this Divine communication – whenever, wherever you need it. It is always available.
• This love is always available. There is no judgement, there is no punishment from the Divine. The Divine is pure love.
• The Divine never asks you to punish yourself for some transgression. All that is asked is that you turn to your Divine with love. Love shall beget love.

We were saying that spiritual direction is help given by one believer to another; it enables that person to pay attention to the personal communication of the Divine. It helps that believer ro respond to that personal communication, to grow in intimacy and to live out the consequences of that relationship.

The focus is on experience of the Divine, not ideas. We look for and listen to the spiritual dimension of experience. This can be any experience that evokes the presence of the Divine, in formal prayer or meditation, or outside of these time set aside for prayer, contemplation and meditation. The Divine self-communication is not limited to times of prayer.