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CONTEXTS & CULTURES

let go of my story I am still nothing. I am, then, a noth- self with God. The time has arrived to begin to talk
ing whom I do not know, an unknown nothing. about the Divine within who defines our being—who,
as theologian Paul Tillich argued many years ago, is the
Signs of Being Ready very ground of our being. One day, after a year of spiri-
Timing is important: If we prematurely begin to dis- tual direction, a traumatized spiritual seeker said to me,
engage identity from story, traumatized spiritual seekers “I begin to have a sense of something bigger than me,
may experience the process as dishonoring the story. something that has my best interests at heart and is also
The work of moving beyond story should not begin for within me.” She wasn’t prepared yet to label that “some-
traumatized spiritual directees until they have done any thing” God or Divine Energy or the Holy One, but she
needed psychological work with a good trauma therapist. had begun the journey into the presence of the Divine.
Generally over time, though, when the story has been She was close to the German mystic Meister Eckhart’s
told and retold, when they have articulated insights, awareness: “The seed of God is in us” (28).
when they have processed the memories with a good A third sign is when the traumatized spiritual seeker
trauma therapist if necessary, when they have wrestled articulates boredom with her story. I have a spiritual
with forgiveness, with suffering, with evil, and especial- directee, who after years of trauma work in psychother-
ly when they have come to some sense that the Divine apy and spiritual direction, said to me one day, “I’m so
(however that is defined) harbors goodwill toward tired of this story!” That was a signal to me to invite her
them, our traumatized spiritual seekers will be ready to movement away from her identification with story as the
release. They and we will know the time is right. There ground of her being.
are several signs of readiness a discerning spiritual direc- Moving through these preparative tasks calls forth
tor will notice. skills of deep and compassionate listening, exploring
An early indication occurs when the spiritual directee with our spiritual directees who or what they discern
tells her story again and again and again, and the internal about the Divine, much patience, prayer, and more
sense of the spiritual director is that the story doesn’t patience. The process is one of journeying yet again
move the spiritual directee toward God or healing but is with the spiritual directee through the deep, strong
simply spinning. Remember that spinning early in trau- spiritual issues that are residual effects of trauma: issues
ma work can indicate a need for further trauma therapy. of image of Godself, of theodicy, of how God does or
Spinning also, however, can intimate to the spiritual does not work in the world, of God’s presence or not in
director to begin exploring with the traumatized spiritual the world—especially at the moment of the trauma—of
seeker what it might take suffering, of sin and evil,
to lay the story down. of forgiveness. The fabric
Perhaps the time has come Signs of Being Ready of our spiritual directees’
to suggest, ever so gently, • Story spins without moving experiences ground the
that she or he is more than • Spiritual directee articulates positive experience questions themselves. They
personal narrative. If the with Divine in present are truly visceral and exis-
spiritual directee responds • Spiritual seeker expresses boredom with story ■ tential issues, held in the
positively, then the pro- very cells of their bodies.
cess of moving beyond These are not merely aca-
begins. If there is no response or the response is negative, demic debate points for our spiritual seekers who have
it isn’t yet time. had traumatic experiences.
A second indication of being ready to move happens At some point, our traumatized spiritual directees
when the spiritual seeker begins to talk about positive signal to us they are ready to disengage their identity from
experiences with the Divine. These are not experiences of their trauma story. The cue may happen after going to a
the intellect or even of feeling, although they may begin conference on mindfulness or living in the present. It may
there, but of gestalt—of a connection within the whole happen after they have read a book about the true self or

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