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CONTEXTS & CULTURES

arise not from our soul, but our ego. in the finiteness of our life and of our self. But, to quote
I have found truth in the saying “God’s ways are not Annie Dillard again, the way is more often a “blackened
our ways.” Our ways, or at least my way, has to do with vagabondage” and a “feckless prospecting in the dark”
moving in a straight line from point A to point B. My (Dillard, 70). In our dealings with seekers, spiritual
ways do not allow for detours or wrong turns, and cer- directors must be patient companions, for the journey
tainly not for getting lost. But because our life is God’s itself yields the treasure that is sought. We must also be
business, the lessons we really need to learn, humility for radically compassionate since there will always be what
instance, usually come as a result of what may feel like appear to us as setbacks: times when a person feels more
failure. This is why spiritual directors need to invite those in the dark than when she or he began the search. And
they serve to have a sense of humor about the many ways because there is healing in humor and lightheartedness,
we can get in own way, and to practice the art of detach- it is important to embody both, as intensity can get in
ment—holding gently their goals and ideals. the way of recognizing the presence of the Presence we
And because, in the spiritual life, what’s in the way seek. ■
is the way, it is essential that we encourage our spiri-
tual directees to be lighthearted enough to honor the References
unexpected and unwanted. Our greatest teachers are the Dillard, Annie. For the Time Being. New York: Vintage
people and the circumstances that we wish were not a Books, 1999.
part of our life. Many seekers are convinced that they Nouwen, Henri. The Wounded Healer. Garden City,
would move farther and faster on their way if some things NY: Doubleday, 1972.
and people would get out of their way. When encoun- Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters to a Young Poet. Translated
tering this attitude, spiritual directors would do well to by Stephen Mitchell. New York: Modern Library,
embody and to communicate the wisdom of Sufi mystic 2001.
Jalaluddin Rumi who, in his poem “The Guest House,” Rumi, Jalaluddin. The Essential Rumi. Translated by
encourages us to welcome uninvited guests and to “meet Coleman Barks, with John Moyne. New York:
them at the door laughing” (Rumi, 109). Harper Collins, 1996.
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Divine Milieu: An
Conclusion Essay on the Interior Life, New York: Harper & Row,
The spiritual journey can be exhilarating, especially 1960.
when we sense that the infinite Truth we seek is incarnate

Why did you think that only whiteness was pure?
Do you remember the night you floated backwards Black as your closed mouth.
Down the dark river? The stars floated at your arm- Friend, you know this place.
pits, It is that most familiar place, hidden from you
Pooled at the corners of your eyes. Except in dreams.
Every night you float backwards down this river. It is the underside of your childhood quilt
Friend, the way back is the way in Turned down for sleep, the sweet dark crease
And the way in is the secret to cheating death. In your white, just-laundered soul.
The Buddha asks, Show me your face Why did you think that only whiteness was pure?
Before you were born. This place is the dark of one million light bulbs
At the edge of your river, there is a door. All gone out at once, one million memories of light.
When you enter,
The room is the black of a night wet with rain, Alexandra Martin

58 Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction