Spiritual Guidance in Spiritually Dead Times
It’s Not You. You’re Not the Problem.
As deeply divided as we may all seem, we’re living in this peculiar moment in human history together. We’re all experiencing:
Emptiness after doom scrolling
Dissatisfaction with consumer culture
Despair over the damage being done to the natural world
Horror over how human beings are treating one another
Hopelessness about anyone coming to save us
Confusion over what to do about it all
No, beloved, you aren’t the problem. The context humankind has built together is not hospitable to human thriving. It’s not an environment particularly conducive to spiritual consciousness, to say nothing of spiritual growth and well-being.
And yet spiritual consciousness and growth are precisely what we need to survive—and even thrive—in this hostile environment. To transcend the crushing overwhelm that so often comes with modern life, we need connection to the Transcendent: the Source of our lives, our meaning, and our purpose.
Traditionally, churches, synagogues, and mosques were the physical places people ventured to experience and reconnect with God and other spiritual sojourners. Others have always gravitated toward the natural world, finding spiritual connection by “touching grass,” as the kids say. Yet in fraught times such as these, even the religious traditions and spiritual practices we once relied upon can begin to feel inadequate or complicated.
That’s where spiritual direction can offer something different.
Spiritual direction offers a space where you, a trained soul care practitioner, and God—or Source, Spirit, or Transcendence—can connect apart from the expectations and complexities of institutionalized religion and the public spaces where deep listening to ourselves (and to God) can be challenging.
I often refer to spiritual direction as a kind of cocoon: a space in which we come in close spiritually, bracket all the outside noise, and reconnect with our truest selves and the God of our understanding. It is a practice of deep listening, spiritual discernment, and sacred attention. It’s private, intimate, and holy.
At a time when life is complex beyond belief, spiritual direction offers something refreshing in its simplicity: a place to listen, to notice, to question, and to reconnect.
Perhaps you’re feeling overwhelmed or spiritually disconnected. Perhaps you’re longing for deeper meaning, seeking spiritual guidance, navigating a faith transition, or wrestling with existential questions that simply aren’t being answered in formal religious environments.
If so, spiritual direction might be the sacred space you’ve been seeking.