Low-Residency Spiritual Guidance M.A.: What is Spiritual Guidance?
Spiritual guidance explores the spiritual aspects of being human. Spiritual guidance helps us awaken to our sense of meaning and purpose in our lives and develop a deeper relationship with the divine. It is a process of accompanying people on their spiritual journey, based on the understanding that spirit lives within the hearts of each of us and within all creation.
Spiritual Guidance helps clients renew their sense of the sacred. In spiritual guidance clients examine their relationship with the divine, with others and with their own deep Self. Through compassionate listening and insightful questioning, a spiritual guide provides clients an opportunity to view all aspects of their lives from a spiritual perspective and find deeper intimacy with the divine and with their spiritual Self.
- An Interfaith Approach to Spiritual Guidance
- Who Are Spiritual Guides?
- How Does Spiritual Guidance Differ from Counseling?
- What is the ITP Approach to Spiritual Guidance?
- Who Might Benefit from Spiritual Guidance?
An Interfaith Approach to Spiritual Guidance
Spiritual guidance has occurred historically in almost every cultural and spiritual tradition and it is often described in the language of a particular tradition. Our approach to spiritual guidance at ITP is an interfaith approach in which we explore the spiritual insights of many traditions and honor the wisdom of all faiths.
One man explained his decision to seek spiritual guidance, "The whole meaning question loomed larger and larger. I wanted to dive deeper into my soul."
Who Are Spiritual Guides?
The hallmarks of a spiritual guide are empathy, wisdom, kindliness and compassion. A spiritual guide is a "soul friend," a sacred listener who is deeply caring, receptive and non-judgmental. This special role has been present in all cultures and religions.
According to Celtic spiritual tradition, the soul shines all around the body like a luminous cloud. When you are very open—appreciative and trusting—with another person, your two souls flow together. This deeply felt bond with another person means you have found your anam cara, or "soul friend. " Your anam cara always beholds your light and beauty, and accepts you for who you truly are. In Celtic spirituality, the anam cara friendship awakens the fullness and mystery of your life. You are joined in an ancient and eternal union with humanity that cuts across all barriers of time, convention, philosophy, and definition. When you are blessed with an anam cara, the Irish believe, you have arrived at that most sacred place: home.
John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. 1998
How Does Spiritual Guidance Differ from Counseling?
Spiritual guides employ many of the skills and insights of counselors and psychotherapists. Both therapy and spiritual guidance deal with issues related to work, relationships, and other areas of daily life. However, the intentions of the two approaches are different.
The primary focus in counseling is generally seeking healthy solutions in problem areas in one's life. The counselor or therapist uses therapeutic skills to help the client resolve issues that are causing pain and suffering and to move to new levels of understanding and functioning that support growth in their lives.
Spiritual guidance centers on deepening clients' relationship with the mystery we call God or Spirit and examining how this mystery is present in their lives, including their pain and struggles. While problem solving may take place in a spiritual guidance session, it is not the primary focus; rather, the focus is on being together in the unknowing and the mystery of Life. In spiritual guidance the true healer is grace.
Noted psychologist Carl Rogers described as follows the core of the work of the spiritual guide and the transpersonal counselor:
I find that when I am closest to my inner intuitive self, when I am somehow in touch with the unknown in me then whatever I do seems full of healing. Then simply my presence is releasing and helpful to the other. When I can relax and be close to the transcendental core of me it seems that my inner spirit has reached out and touched the inner spirit of the other. Our relationship transcends itself and becomes a part of something larger.
C. Rogers, A Way of Being.1980
What is the ITP Approach to Spiritual Guidance?
- An interfaith understanding of spirituality and spiritual guidance
- A transpersonal, psycho-spiritual psychology perspective
- A holistic view of spiritual development (body, mind, soul and spirit)
- An emphasis on spiritual guidance both as a calling and a profession
Who Might Benefit from Spiritual Guidance?
- Those in any religious or spiritual tradition who are interested in deepening their spiritual life
- People who are unaffiliated with any formal tradition who wish to explore their own spirituality without the trappings of religion or dogma
- Someone experiencing spiritual difficulty or a dark night of the soul
- Individuals or families suffering from grief, loss or other life challenges
- Those seeking "more" out of life, beyond material success and comfort
- Seniors who want to share their sacred life stories
- Young people searching for meaning in their lives
The fact is that the approach to the numinous is the real therapy and inasmuch as you attain to the numinous experience you are released from the curse of pathology.
C. G. Jung, Letters, 1973
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