What Is Spiritual Direction? Sacred Space for Your Most Important Questions
- Jeff Mansfield
- Aug 19
- 2 min read
In a recent episode of The Gospel of Direct Experience, fellow Spiritual Director Michael Ellick and I went deep into the practice of spiritual direction—what it is, why it matters, and how it works.
Instead of giving you just the full episode, I’ve pulled out three moments that help answer the question...
"What is Spiritual Direction?"
Spiritual Direction is a process in which we (1) create sacred space together (2) to discover the most important questions of your life (3) and to find answers within you.
You can listen to the full clips or just read the highlights below. If you want to hear the whole conversation, it's embedded below or you can listen here.
1. Creating Sacred Space Together...
I share the story of a young man navigating the leap from high school to college, and how spiritual direction helped him find courage and clarity:
“And we have just had a couple of these spirit-filled sessions where it's like—I don't know. It's not me. And it's not just him. But it's the dynamic between the two of us. Something is coming in and moving between us and showing both of us things that neither of us knew before. And part of it is just opening up space for that to happen, for the spirit to come in.”
2. To Discover the Most Important Questions of Your Life
After a wide-ranging conversation, I offer my own distilled definition of what spiritual direction really is.
“Spiritual Direction is a process of deep sharing, deep listening, and deep reflecting in which the directee and the director combine all of their resources to create a space between them and within the directee for the most important questions of human existence to reside and resound: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? What do I value? What do I stand up for? What will I never stand for? Where do I fight? What will I sacrifice for? The questions that, in some sense, are always being answered because they can never have a final answer.”
3. And To Find Answers Within You...
I share a little about my "evocative" approach to Spiritual Direction. The answer is in YOU, not in me, my training, or expertise.
“I am going to be there for you. I'm going to be your companion. I'm going to to journey with you. And then there's also—for me, anyway—a level of agreement of like, I'm going to get out of the way. I'm not gonna make it about me. There is an answer. And I believe the answer is in you. I believe God knows the answer, and I want to be a part of a process in which God tells you. I don't want God to tell me to tell you. I want God to tell you.”
Full Episode
If you want the whole conversation, here’s the full episode:
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