To Tell the Sacred Tale:Spiritual Direction and Narrative

Janet K. Ruffing, RSM2009

Stories Orient us, guide us

• Through the available stories in our families, religious tradition, culture, etc.

• Can you identify one or two such stories that help you navigate life? That tell you a new kind of truth you want to hold on to?

Our Stories

It is our storiesour sacred, chaotic, blessed stories,

our awe-drenched, doubting, joyous stories:it is our stories

that are the stonesof God’s language

on the rocky, jagged radiantpath of life.

It is the holy listenerwho helps arrange these stones

into cairnswhich point the way to God’s desire for our lives

andGod’s desire for our every moment.

The cairns, if patiently balanced,uneven though they be,

if patiently balanced,can point the way to heaven.

Heaven, after all,is making God-serving meaning of our stories

on this rocky, jagged, radiantpath of life.

--Jennifer Hoffman

DIRECTEES’ STORIES

• WHAT HAPPENED?

– WHAT STORY AM I LIVING?– WHAT STORY HAVE I FALLEN INTO?– PRAYER = LISTENING TO GOD TELL ME

MY STORY

DIRECTEE’S STORY

• WHAT IT MEANS

– IMPLICATIONS– COMMITMENT– SUBSEQUENT ACTIONS– LIVING IN A CERTAIN WAY

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION AS NARRATIVE PROCESS

1- MANY CULTURES IN THE WORLD ARE STILL ORAL CULTURES OF STORIES, PROVERBS, ETC. THESE TRANSMIT WISDOM.

THEY USE SCRIPTURE SIMILARLY.

2. Post Modern Context

• GREATER NEED TO TELL PERSONAL STORY – Aware of Many Possible Stories

• FRAGMENTATION OF IDENTITY WITH LOSS OF META-NARRATIVES

• MORE MODELS FOR SILENT VOICES– Women– Ethnic Minorities– Hybrid and Multiple Identities, etc.

David Tracy “On Naming the Present”

1. Anti-Moderns• Those who await the return of the traditional and

communal self in some “pure” tradition from the past

2. Moderns• Sense of self as independent, individual agents,

pluralistic-democratic style,myth of science

3. PostModerns• See through myth of progress, violence of 20th

century, and place “hope of the present in otherness and difference”

Who is Naming the Present?

• The “we” of western Europe and North America

• This “we” does not yet include the “other”

• This “other” is often a “projected other” from our own point of view

However, there is no longer a center with margins. There are many centers.

Post Modern, cont.

• GREATER FREEDOM TO CHOOSE AMONG VARIOUS STORIES FROM WHICH TO CREATE ONE’S OWN

• CONFLICT AMONG AVAILABLE STORIES REQUIRES DISCERNMENT OF STORIES

3- SKILL IN SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

• ATTENTION TO NARRATIVE RELATES TO: – CHARACTER, – AGENCY, – MEANING-MAKING

• A WAY INTO WORLD VIEW, SENSE OF SELF

• MOVE BEYOND MICRO SKILLS

• INTERPRETS EVENTS IN A LARGER CONTEXT OF THE LIFE STORY

ORAL SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

• TOLD FROM PRESENT MOMENT• FORMED AND REFORMING• COHERENCE

– IDENTITY OVER TIME

• DISCONTINUITY– SOMETHING DISRUPTS WHICH REQUIRES A

MORE COMPREHENSIVE, COHESIVE, INTEGRAL STORY

• DEGREES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

TELLING THE SACRED TALE

• A Safe Place• To Tell the Story of Self and God• Based on Experiences• Particular/Unique yet Use Available Stories• Created in Dialogue• Affected by Director• Focused on Religious Experience and Its

Implications• Listened into Speech Tentatively over TIME

Effects of Narrative Activity: Nurtures Spiritual Identity

1. Establishes the person’s pervasive attitude toward God and other people.

2. Enables reliving significant experience with greater appreciation for God’s activity in one’s life

3. Engenders an on-going sensitivity to God’s activity

4. Precipitates moral struggle in response

5. Retell key stories until it is integrated

Jack Shea describes the contemporary emergence of revelatory experiences of mystery

1. There is a relationship to the Mystery of life. 2. This Mystery communicates meanings about

the nature of the relationship. 3. This meaning is initially formulated and then

pondered, acted on, rephrased, re-pondered, reacted on, etc.

4. The meaning that is received is related to the conflicts, questions and needs of the people involved.

5. Although there is an enshrined religious vocabulary to talk about the felt perception of these experiences, it is seldom used. This last element is a special characteristic of contemporary revelation‑faith experiences.

OTHER FEATURES

• SELECTIVE EPISODES• PATTERN• CENTRAL METAPHOR OF THE SELF• OFTEN OMITS WHAT DOESN’T FIT• RUPTURES/SURPRISES/NEW

EXPERIENCES HAPPEN• EPISODIC AND SPONTANEOUS• TOLD FROM PRESENT VIEW-POINT• DEVELOPS A NEW PATTERN/ BETTER

METAPHOR• CREATES A MORE ADEQUATE STORY

DISCERNMENT OF STORIES

• GENDER• ETHNICITY• FAMILY • SEXUAL ORIENTATION• GEOGRAPHY/ECOLOGY• DOMINANT CULTURE (ELITE, CONSUMER,

DEMOCRATIC, ETC.)• SUBORDINATE CULTURE (INDIGENOUS, RURAL,

MINORITY)• REGIONAL CULTURE (URBAN/ RURAL/ COASTAL,

ISLAND, MAINLAND)• POPULAR CULTURE (TV, FILM, MEDIA)• ELITE CULTURE (THEATER, LITERARY)• FAITH CULTURE• INTERFAITH • GLOBAL AWARENESS

DISCERNMENT OF STORIES

• CONFLICTS: – SECULAR VS SACRED

• POSTMODERN• MODERN• PRE-MODERN

– SACRED VS SACRED

• REQUIRES AN EDUCATION IN ALTERNATIVE STORIES

REGISTERS OF THE SELF• ECOLOGICAL SELF

– SELF VIS A VIS PHYSICAL SURROUND

• INTERPERSONAL SELF– UNREFLECTIVE CONNECTION WITH ANOTHER PERSON

• EXTENDED SELF– AWARE OF EXISTING BEYOND PRESENT MOMENT. HAS

EXPERIENCES, DOES THINGS

• PRIVATE SELF– AWARE OF FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS UNIQUE TO ONESELF THAT

CANNOT BE KNOWN WITHOUT DISCLOSING

• CONCEPTUAL SELF– SOCIAL ROLES, TRAITS, THEORIES OF BODY-MIND

ULRIC NEISSER

Director’s Response to Directee’s Story

• Eliciting the “unsaid”• Comment on story elements

Focuses on what is “there”• Listens for narratives that reveal a

maturing relationship with God or moving away from God.

• Patience in helping directees tell a subtle story: reverent, attentive, listening

Cont.

• Pays attention to the plot.Where is this story going?

• Relates the narrative to the traditionHow is this a “gospel” story like or

unlike other models of holiness in the tradition?

• Maybe even tell a related story?