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TRADITION AND LEGACIES

For most of us, becoming comfortable with the tual director is important for meditators and those who
unknowable takes time and courage. As important as practice other forms of contemplative prayer. She said
insights can be, a mature spiritual seeker knows that that seekers need experience in looking at their lives to
becoming comfortable with the unknown and the pro- observe how God is present in them. Sharing the con-
cess of not knowing are equally necessary. To honor that templative journey with a spiritual director helps them
which is of necessity unknowable to humans and to be to be more aware of the subtle ways in which the Spirit
comfortable with a divine source that is too big for us to presents itself in our lives. This is what we as spiritual
comprehend while allowing it to fill us anyway is a truly directors attempt to offer. Lastly, Sister Barbara suggested
courageous path. Jumping into the deep, dark water and that a spiritual director can be helpful by encouraging
finding ourselves in the midst of the unknowable takes one to keep at it when the going gets rough.
a bit of nerve—some might even say foolishness. But as Spiritual direction is useful for those who meditate
Shakespeare knew, it is often the fool that speaks the truth. in more alternative ways as well. A few of my spiritual
Meditation is a way for the truth that is found in directees and I have used art-as-meditation as a form
nothingness or in the unknowable to be experienced and of language to converse with the divine. I begin with a
embraced. Sometimes this happens gradually, and some- specific body-centered meditation ending in a prayer and
times it can cause a sudden spiritual upheaval. However, a request for an image, a color and shape, or movement.
with the help that a spiritual director can provide, medi- Although I most often use acrylic paints on canvas, the
tation is a way to become comfortable with listening in method can be done with pastels on paper or any other
silence and sitting with the silence within yourself until media that is readily available. After the spiritual direc-
you experience only the real, the divine spark within you tion session, the participant has a painting or drawing
that joins you to everything in the universe. that is completely personal. Most work is abstract and
Sister Barbara Hazzard, OSB, founded the Hesed often takes some time for the spiritual directee to fully
Community in Oakland more than thirty years ago. At digest. Painting is part of the conversation between the
the time, the work of John Main, OSB, was beginning to participant and the divine and embodies the conscious-
be accepted, but there was still quite a lot of controversy ness of this particular moment in the relationship. The
among Catholics who felt that meditation was an Eastern artist-spiritual-directee can go back and continue to
form of mysticism that could be dangerous to Christians. absorb insight from the painting indefinitely.
Bede Griffiths, OSB Cam, was transformed by visiting As a spiritual director, when I am using art, I engage
India, where he built an ashram teaching meditation but only in a process of reflection and mirroring with the
remained true to his Christian roots. He was deeply com- spiritual directee. I might say, “I noticed that when you
mitted to the interspiritual relationship of Hinduism and began to use the red over here, you began to smile. Do
Christianity. Over time, research proved that the desert you remember what you were feeling then?” I would not
fathers and mothers of Christianity practiced medita- ever say, “This is too dark; maybe you should add a light-
tion or contemplative prayer, which gave it a Christian er color.” This practice, like spiritual direction in general,
history. As a result, the contemplative practice became is not directed by the spiritual director, but by the divine.
more acceptable in the Roman Catholic Church.. That I have used this spiritual practice in my own life for
said, when Sister Barbara began the Hesed community, almost thirty years. It took me several years to realize that
it was an uphill battle within the local church and in God and I were in conversation when I was painting in
her community. Nevertheless, she prevailed and began this particular way and that I was learning something
what she called an urban monastery, a place where people about my own embodiment of the divine with each expe-
could go amidst their busy lives and be reminded of the rience. Teaching a method like mine to spiritual directees
importance of living in contemplation and community. proves useful both for individuals who are particularly
She believes that spiritual seekers must find some form of visual and also for those who are not. I have done this
deliberate silence in order to listen for the word of God. with artists and math professors with little difference. If
I asked Sister Barbara why she thinks having a spiri- anything, those who do not consider themselves artists

Volume 20 No. 3 • September 2014 15