The Practice Of Spiritual Direction Mobi Download Book
Cara Eavey
The virtues of journal writing and keeping are often extolled by those concerned with creative, professional, personal and spiritual development. It is clear that many people have got a lot from journaling. This is Jennifer Moon (1999: 14-5):
A journal is also a tool for self-discovery, an aid to concentration, a mirror for the soul, a place to generate and capture ideas, a safety valve for the emotions, a training ground for the writer, and a good friend and confidant. (op. cit.)
Last, and certainly not least, making journal writing part of our routine means that we do actually take time out to reflect on what might be happening in our practice and in our lives generally (Rainer 2004).
From this we can see that writing and keeping a journal holds the possibility of deepening our self-understanding, and to making added sense of our lives and what we believe. It can also help us to entertain, contain and channel troubling emotions and gain perspective. We may also develop a greater awareness of daily life; become more alive to what is happening to, and around, us in the daily round. At a practical level, writing and keeping a journal can both help us with administrative tasks (like reporting what happened, when and why) and with the process of setting goals and managing our time and priorities.
A further decision is the form that the journal should initially take. Some people like to begin with the sort of free-writing advocated by Tristine Rainer. Here they just write about what comes into their mind for a certain period of time. This can get things flowing, and bring out thoughts and experiences that were not at the forefront of our minds. Others start by writing an autobiographical piece. However, for those of us starting a learning journal some sort of basic framework is probably useful. A good starting point is to use four basic elements:
In addition, the reflection and exploration that journal writing brings with it can open up new avenues of thought with regard to how we handle different situations or work with particular individuals or groups. There can be an immediate impact. These sorts of pay-off help to keep us journaling in the short term.
Connoisseurship is the art of appreciation. It can be displayed in any realm in which the character, import, or value of objects, situations, and performances id distributed and variable, including educational practice. (Eisner 1998: 63)
Connoisseurship involves the ability to see, not merely to look (Eisner 1998: 6). To do this we have to develop the ability to name and appreciate the different dimensions of situations and experiences, and the way they relate one to another. We have to be able to draw upon, and make use of, a wide array of information. We also have to be able to place our experiences and understandings in a wider context, and connect them with our values and commitments. It is into this context that writing and keeping journals comes. Connoisseurship is something that needs to be worked at.
In the light of this perhaps the most fundamental question we can ask when evaluating writing and keeping journals is whether they have allowed us to develop as connoisseurs and critics. A further question relates to the work we do with different individuals and groups. Has writing and keeping a journal had an impact on the direction that work has taken and on the appropriateness of our actions?
Boud, David et al (eds.) (1985) Reflection. Turning experience into learning, London: Kogan Page. 170 pages. Good collection of readings which examine the nature of reflection. The early chapters make particular use of Dewey and Kolb.
Dowrick, S. (2009). Creative journal writing: The art and heart of reflection. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. 259 pages. Rightly popular book that invites people to explore journal writing. Practical, easy to read and helpful. It includes exercises, stories and sound advice.
Holly, Mary Louise (1989) Writing to Grow. Keeping a personal-professional journal, Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann. One of the best guide to journaling for professional growth. Written initially for teachers it explores reflective writing, understanding experience, gives practical suggestions for writing about experience and examines different dimensions of personal and professional inquiry.
Klug, Ron (2002) How to Keep a Spiritual Journal. A guide to journal keeping for inner growth and personal discovery (rev. edn.), Minneapolis: Augsburg. Now in its fourth edition, this rightly popular book is a good starting point for journaling as a spiritual practice.
Moon, Jennifer (1999) Learning Journals. A handbook for academics, students and professional development, London: Kogan Page. A helpful introduction to learning journals that not only looks at their possibilities and how they may be kept, but also reflects on their use within education and training programmes.
Rainer, Tristine (1978, 2004) The New Diary. How to use a journal for self-guidance and extended creativity, Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher Inc. Reissued with a new introduction in 2004, this book is rightly regarded as a classic. It provides a good introduction to the writing and keeping journals and opens up different approaches.
Containing such direction as is gathered out of the Holy Scriptures, leading and guiding to true happiness, both in this life, and in the life to come: and may be called the Practice of Christianity. Profitable for all such as heartily desire the same: in the which, more particularly true Christians may learn how to lead a godly and comfortable life every day.
This text has been initially updated from EEBO-TCP by Project Puritas (Logan West, David Jonescue, Alex Sarrouf) www.puritansearch.org. Further revision and editing done by Monergism. Copyright Monergism via universal text usage permission from the above.
Richard Rogers (1550-1618) authored Seven Treatises, a seminal work in post-Reformation England. Unlike William Perkins' series of shorter treatises, Rogers compiled his comprehensive handbook on the spiritual life into a single volume, covering everything a reader might need to understand and grow in the Christian faith. The Seven Treatises address the identification of true believers, the Christian's life and conduct, the means of grace, the daily Christian walk, obstacles encountered in the pilgrimage of faith, privileges of believers, and objections readers might have.
Rogers's teaching on the means of grace reflects an early Reformed approach, tailored primarily for laypeople. He categorizes the means of grace into ordinary (commonly practiced) and extraordinary (special occasions) and further divides them into public (used in open assemblies) and private exercises. Public means include ministry of the Word, administration of sacraments, and prayer. Private exercises include watchfulness, meditation, armor of a Christian, experience, company through conference and family-exercise, private prayer, and reading.
The book serves as a counter to the misleading treatises of Papists, offering Christian directions grounded in Rogers's own experience and spiritual practice. It is described as an invaluable resource for Christians seeking guidance in devout living, surpassing the superficial devotion found in Papist writings. Esteemed for its depth and practicality, the book is likened to an "Anatomy of the soul," detailing the Christian life's complexities and providing remedies for spiritual ailments. Commended by contemporaries for its savory style and substantive content, "Seven Treatises" is presented as essential reading for those devoted to their spiritual health, offering profound insights into godliness and the Christian walk.
Chap. 3. That for the leading of a godly life, is required faith in the temporal promises of God, and hearty assent and credit to the commandments also, and threatenings in the word of God, as well as faith to be saved.
Chap. 11. Of certain objections raised from the former doctrine, and answers thereto: as why we should put difference betwixt men: whether the godly may fall reproachfully, and what infirmities they may have.
Chap. 5. Of Satan's hindering the believer from living godly: and how many ways: and namely, by keeping him in a wandering & unsettled course; and also of the remedy against it: and first by occasion of that, how he holdeth back the wicked.
Chap. 13. An example of a covenant made by certain godly brethren, declaring what manifold lets the faithful have in this world (fit to illustrate the former doctrine) contained in the two next chapters following. In this chapter of the first part of it, namely a complaint.
Chap. 9. Of the seventh privilege: concerning the afflictions of the godly: and namely of the first branch of the same: that is, how they may be free from many of those troubles, which do light on and meet with the unreformed.
Chap. 6. Of the doubts and objections, which weak Christians ought to propound until they be satisfied: namely, how they may attain to such direction daily, and answer thereto; and other like, namely that they count it hard, and what such ought to do.
Chap. 9. Of the objection, that Ministers may follow daily direction, but yet not therefore the people, and of such as object, that better counsel is given by the author then he himself will follow: with answer to both; and a larger answer to the first objection in the second chapter.
The practice of spiritual direction assumes a theology of the Holy Spirit, a theology of revelation and of the Church, and a theology of prayer. Seeking God in All Things explores each of these themes as the underpinnings of spiritual direction and examines what makes the Christian religious experience distinctive.
Since not every experience of God bears a Christian imprint, William Reiser, SJ, asks whether and in what way a Christian might be able to assist someone who is not Christian in developing his or her interior life. This question looks beyond suggesting the concrete steps a person might take in initiating, nurturing, and solidifying a way of praying. It looks, rather, toward the fundamental issue of helping others as they discover and deepen their relationship to the mystery of God.
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