What is Spiritual Direction?
Simply put Spiritual Direction is finding and supporting your personal direction in life.
The Conference of Spiritual Directors Australia defines SD as the thoughtful and contemplative approach to life that opens personal awareness. Personal meaning and a sense of direction comes from this awareness.
Spiritual Directors International is a global body that also supports a professional approach to supporting people in their self defined spiritual life. These professional bodies provide a forum for the emerging consensus around service ethics, non-sectarian capacity, respecting diverse cultural and spiritual values, and the secular western standards that influence the field.
Unique at this time in history the practice of Spiritual Direction appears to honour a wider view of philosophy and to perhaps speak to an emerging secular theology that necessarily includes religious, athiest, ethical, moral, and/or social layers of meaning. As an integral practice the field is kin to the parallel fields of spirituality studies, religious studies, philosophy, cultural studies, and human ecology.
As a personal process people seek a Spiritual Director to walk along side in the focus on self discovery and self development. As a holistic and person centred method the role of the director is to accompany and listen with the directee. The directee is very much in the driver’s seat. The director is simply close by to perhaps see another view that a passenger in the car often sees along the road of life.
An ancient and a very modern practice spiritual direction is a vital way that people nurture their life and work.
