https://theologicalreference.on.worldcat.org/search/detail/1227321043?queryString=Christian%20Contemplation%3A%20Theological%20Foundations%20and%20Contemporary%20Practice%2C&clusterResults=true&groupVariantRecords=false&stickyFacetsChecked=true&idDetect=true
- page 20 - body and spirit -- invisible and visible.
- page 20 - discernment depends on prophecy, wisdom interpretation....
- page 20 - the meaning of discernment...
- page 21 - the one manifests as the many but the many needs to remember that they are the one.
- page 21 - the human soul section was suuuuper relatable. Use that in my paper on how discernment manifests as spiritual gifts and how that comes from the soul - which is divinity within us. I mentioned this before in my last paper but Plotinus's view on spirituality as in this book helps provide an easier way to word it.
- page 21 to 22 - Plotinus basically walks you through how shamanic journeying works as a means of discernment...
- pg 26 the disordered attachments = societal conditioning, distractions, addictions, or anything that gets in the way of true authenticity - because authenticity, happiness, and lover are how people reconnect with God.
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- “Spiritual direction” or companionship in the Christian tradition can be understood as a search or quest for an authentic, unitary “self” in which those dimensions of subjectivity commonly read as “inner” (thought, emotion, feeling, imagination, my sense of body) and “outer” (practices, body in public space, public action and so on) are ever more ordered into the “likeness of Christ”. Prayer, discernment and attentiveness to God, worship, practices of study and reading are among the ways the body — ordered along the axis of inner and outer — is conformed to Christ." - Rachel Mann's essay in Queering Spiritual Direction 215
---- in laymens terms: spiritual direction, then, can be seen as a process of trying to align those two — helping someone live in a way where their inner life and their outward actions reflect each other and Christ’s example.
- "It’s important to acknowledge, from the outset, that some classic understandings of the praxis of spiritual direction, understood as the accompanied process of conforming one’s inner and outer life into the likeness of Christ, have a prima facie fit with some understandings of transgender identity. While it is easy to parody the call to “become one’s true self” in God as self-indulgent narcissism (a kind of Christian navel-gazing), at the heart of a serious wrestling with the invitation to be and become our true selves is a paradox or mystery; for the vocation of being our selves is a vocation of movement from the self we have to lose into the gift of the self we are to receive. This notion is perhaps most succinctly encapsulated in one of Jesus’ most profound, troubling and frustrating statements: “Those who seek to save their lives will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”" - Queering 216
---- laymen's terms: Christian spiritual direction and transgender experience can sound similar. Both talk about “becoming your true self.” Of course, that phrase can sound self-centered or “touchy-feely” to some — like it’s just about personal fulfillment. But she says that, at its best, this spiritual journey isn’t about ego at all. It’s about transformation. In Christianity, becoming your true self means letting go of your old self and receiving the self that God gives you. As Jesus said, “Those who try to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” That’s a paradox: to truly find yourself, you have to let go of the self you think you are.
For most of my life, I’ve been driven by a deep, insatiable hunger for God that has never actually gone away. I am not satisfied with simply knowing the breadth of God, but I want to continually experience the very depths of God. - unforming pg 1
- On Panentheism & interreligious views on God: "Spirituality, however, is not static and fixed. Far from it. The spiritual life is always transforming. In this way,\ spirituality should reflect a multiplicity of layered human experiences of God. Our collective soul as a church will atrophy if one culture or tradition holds the power and control over what is taught and practiced in the church." - Our unforming pg 2
- Spirituality, the divine-human relationship, starts with an ache. Our souls ache each time we recognize that there is something missing in our experiences of the sacred... Whereas theology attempts to figure out and articulate what we know about God, spirituality refers to what we experience of God. This means that spirituality takes all our human experiences seriously, because we need to bring our full selves in order to meet with God." - Our unforming of 3
- "Spiritual formation, then, refers to the transformation that happens in us as we encounter God again and again and again. Spiritual formation includes all the practical ways we try to clear the clutter in our souls in order to meet with God and hear from God. Because the term spiritual formation can be deceptive, implying that we only need to engage with spiritual things, I like to think of spiritual formation as human formation. We live in a world that constantly devalues and distorts our humanness." our unforming pg 4
- As a spiritual director, my role is to create a physical space that models the soul space. I set the room and create a space for my directees to sit with the divine Creator. Sometimes I light a candle to represent the presence of Spirit in the room, but it is always up to the directee to come into the space with their sacred self. I have the privilege and honor of being invited into their intimate soul space to listen to and with them. Together, we wait patiently as we lis- ten for how the Spirit may be moving through each season of life. We also listen for how my directee is becoming more fully their sacred self." unbecoming 5-6
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"Parker: The soul is like a wild animal in that it is very resourceful and very shy. You can’t crash into the forest and shout for it. The safe place is where the soul can come out." - Parker Palmer Podcast
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Quaker Pamphlet:
- "I use the word God. For me as aQuaker and a Buddhist, God is a Spirit of Oneness: the Light or Seed Within All Things; the Energy if Compassion, Love, Understanding, and Peace. - 2
- Spiritual Discernment... is a practice of recognizing and understanding Gods call in your life. ... In discernment you ask yourself: "Is this God?" And then you listen. Discernment is the practice of being attentive, being reflective, and being loving in order to determine what is truly from God. In personal discernment about your own life, you call to mind where God has shapoed your life, including where yuour feelings and emotions have been most engaged, and notice emerging patterns that bring you closer to God. - pg 5
- Disernment is not a tool that you pull out of a bag for convenient use. it arises from faithfulness, unfolding over time, as you cultivate your own inner spiritual landscape and relationship with God. - 6
- It takes disciplined reflection to know the difference between a sense of leading and your "own contributions of thought and imagination." Thoughts, emotions, reactions are all useful in weighing choices that align with Spirit-led ways.- 7
- the belief in... "Light and Seed refer to the reality for Friends of God's presence within us for our own healing and wholeness and for the healing and wholeness of others and the world.
- ... it is important to recognize and understand how attachment to expectations, hopes, assumptions, impulses, and underlying family patterns shape our sense of leading. However a "discipline of faithfulness frees us from deep attachment to the outcomes of our leading and allowing ourselves to be so attached can itself make us less sensitive to guidance". -- we get in our own ways. My biggest hurdle right now in my current discernment process.
- The whole section of Key Words. pg 12-
Works Cited so Far
Brown, Valerie. Coming to Light: Cultivating Spiritual Discernment through the Quaker Clearness Committee. Pendle Hill Pamphlet 446. Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 2017
Lee, Cindy S. “Introduction.” In Our Unforming: De-Westernizing Spiritual Formation, 1–14. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022.
Mann, Rachel. “‘Queering’ Spiritual Direction: Towards a Trans*- Literary Praxis.” Theology & Sexuality 20, no. 3 (2014): 214–24. https://doi.org/10.1179/1355835815Z.00000000051.
Nguyen, Joseph H. “Spiritual Discernment in the Contemplative Life.” In Christian Contemplation: Theological Foundations and Contemporary Practice, 19–30. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2020.
Palmer, Parker, and Cortney Martin. “The Inner Life of Rebellion.” On Being with Krista Tippett. Originally aired January 8, 2015. Updated September 22, 2016. Podcast audio.
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