Spiritual Guidance in the Context of Thumotics

For many, spiritual guidance is the act of talking with another person in order to help them deal with a religious, spiritual, existential, philosophical, ethical, or axiological concern.

In such instances, spiritual guidance  would be about helping them resolve their concern and feel better emotionally. It would include establishing rapport, being therapeutically present, active listening, suspending judgment, asking questions, verbal validation of thoughts, feelings and actions, verbal normalizing, asking questions, perhaps quoting or alluding to sacred or other writings, and perhaps praying with the person. It might also include making recommendations to take certain actions.

In the context of Thumotics, spiritual or spirt-related guidance is altogether different. In the context of Thumotics, spirit-related guidance is the act of leading someone from one condition of spirit to another that is better for her or his current situation. 

In order to help lead the person's spirit to a different condition, the thumotherapist attends to the person's spirit with the intention of assessing its condition in the person's current circumstances, determining in collaboration with the person what a more effective condition of spirit would be, and helping to guide the person to that improved condition of spirit.

For example, if the other person was overly spirited, hyperthumotic, for their current situation, the act of leading her to a calmer condition of spirit is spiritual guidance. It is guidance of her spirit to a calmer condition that is more appropriate for her current situation.

Guiding someone who is hyperthumotic to a calmer condition of spirit might involve physical interventions. For example, the thumotherapist might use a form of energy therapy, like Reiki or Healing Touch, that might help the person relax physically. Guiding the person in a type of breath work that slows the metabolism could be helpful. Essential oils and music could also be used to help guide the person's spirit to a calmer condition.

In addition to physical interventions, the thumotherapist might also use verbal/ cognitive interventions. For example, guided imagery might help guide the person's spirit to a calmer condition. Helping the person to see and interpret his or her current situation from a different perspective might also be helpful.

However, helping the hyperthumotic person calm down in a session is not enough. The person needs to learn how to self-calm. So, the thumotherapist would also spend some time teaching the person how to calm his or her own spirit and give them specific practices to work on for the next session.

Spirit Essentials, Part 5: How to Provide Spiritual Guidance

If you came to this post expecting clear directions on how to provide spiritual guidance you might be disappointed. This post doesn't give a "how to" on spiritual guidance. 

This post teaches you what you need to do to develop your own ability to provide spiritual guidance.

Bottom line: experiment and learn from the results.

Be a true and dedicated thumonaut. Explore spirit. Learn about spirit. Figure out what affects spirit.

As in previous explorations, start with yourself.

Learn what calms your spirit. Learn what excites your spirit.

What expands your spirit and what contracts it?

What warms your spirit and what cools it?

What weakens your spirit and what strengtens it?

When your spirit is wounded or broken, what heals it?

As you experiment, keep a "no failures, only feedback" attitude. Keep a beginner's mind, open, full of wonder, and eager to learn.

Share what you learn. Share it with me. I'm eager to know what you're discovering in your explorations as a thumonaut. Let's share our stories and compare our notes.

Spirit Essentials, Part 4: Spiritual Guidance

Up to this point you have formed your working definition, description, and image of spirit. You have experienced your own spirit and that of others directly for yourself. You have named different conditions of your own spirit and that of others. Now it is time for the next step. 

The next step is far more challenging than the first three combined. It is far more challenging because it involves more than attending to spirits. It involves interacting with and influencing your own spirit and that of others. More specifically, it involves developing your ability to guide either your own or another's spirit from one condition to another. In other words, the next step is about developing you skill of spiritual guidance.

For many, spiritual guidance is the act of talking with another person in order to help them deal with a religious, spiritual, existential, philosophical, ethical, or axiological concern.

For example, someone might be concerned about what to believe, wanting to deepen their intimacy with their Higher Power, expand their consciousness, strengthen their faith, or develop their spirituality. They might be concerned about a doubt, going through a transition, or making sense of their own or a loved one's suffering. 

In such instances, spiritual guidance is often about helping them resolve their concern and feel better emotionally. It includes establishing rapport, being therapeutically present, active listening, suspending judgment, asking open-ended questions, verbal validation of thoughts, feelings and actions, verbal normalizing, perhaps quoting or alluding to sacred or other writings, and perhaps praying with the person or engaging in some other kind of ritual. It might also include making recommendations to take certain actions.

However, in the context of what we're doing, spiritual or spirt-related guidance is altogether different. In this context, spirit-related guidance is the act of leading someone to a condition of spirit that is better in her or his current situation. 

In order to help lead the person's spirit to a different condition, the spiritual guide co-attends to the person's spirit with the intention of-

1. Assessing its condition in the person's current circumstances

2. Determining, in collaboration with the person, what a better or more effective 

            condition of spirit would be

3. Helping to guide the person to that improved condition of spirit.

For example, if the other person is overly spirited for her current situation, spiritual guidance would involve the act of leading her to a calmer condition of spirit that is more appropriate in her current situation. 

If the person was under-spirited for his current circumstances, spiritual guidance would involve the act of leading him to a more spirited condition of spirit that is more appropriate in his current  situation.

When you are able to guide your own spirit and that of others from one condition to another more appropriate one, you are well on your way toward mastering how to care for your own spirit and that of others. You're on your way to mastering spiritual guidance.

Spirit Essentials, Part 3: Naming Different Conditions of Spirit

Perhaps you experience spirit as changing rather than always staying the same. If so, it can be helpful to name the different conditions of spirit we experience and perceive.

Again, start with your own spirit. Attend to it. Take note of how it changes and name the different conditions into which it changes.

Are you more spirited at some times than at others?

Are you less spirited at some times than at others?

Are there times when your spirit seems contracted within you or expanded beyond the boundary of your skin?

Does your spirit take on different hues? Is it darker or brighter at times?

Do you ever feel that your spirit is spent?

Are there times when it feels exceptionally strong?

Has you ever been wounded in your spirit?

Has your spirit ever been broken?

Take note of the above and any other conditions of your own spirit that you notice.

After you spend some time attending to the different conditions of your own spirit, spend some time attending to the differences in the spirits of others.

Include in your observations more than other humans with whom you relate. Include animals, plants, rocks, and all of the other things that you found to be spirited in the previous exercises in Part 2.

Create your initial list of all of the conditions of spirit that you identified and named. Also, if needed after naming different conditions of spirit, revise your definition of spirit.

You have become a well-informed thumonaut.

Spirit Essentials, Part 2: Become More Aware of Spirit

Defining spirit is only a beginning. There's more, much more. It is essential to become more aware of spirit. To experience it.

Start with your own spirit. Attend to it. How would you describe your spirit right now?

Where is it?

Does it have a color? Does it have a temperature? A size?

Is it always the same or does it change? If it changes, how?

Next, attend to the spirit of others. How would you describe the spirits of your family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, pets or other animals?

What about plants? Are they spirited? If so, how? What are their spirits like?

What about the earth, mountains, forests, valleys, rocks, the wind, rivers and streams, waterfalls, fire, the sun, moon, planets and stars? Are they spirited or not? If so how?

What about groups of people like schools, sports teams, bands, military units, mobs, towns, cities, states, and nations? Do groups of people have their own group spirit?

Consider the seasons of the year, days, times, and events.

Do the seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall have their own spirit? Describe them.

Do different days have different spirits? What about holidays? What is the "holiday spirit?"

What is the "spirit of the times"?

Do events have their own spirit? Elections, inaugurations, births, celebrations, riots, initiations, vacations, making love, having sex, giving birth, hiking, dancing, and dying.

Revisit your definition of spirit. Revise it as necessary to take into account the new things you learn as you continue to explore spirit.

Now you're no longer a rookie thumonaut. You're becoming experienced.

Spirit Essentials, Part 1: Define Spirit for Yourself

It is essential to have a definition of spirit.

I recommend that you develop your own definitions, descriptions, and images of spirit rather than borrow them from someone else.

First, answer this question for yourself: What is spirit? Write your current understanding of what spirt is. It doesn't have to be your final word or even polished. It's a place to begin. Your answer will probably change over time as you learn more about spirit.

Second, imagine spirit. How does spirit sound, look, smell, feel, and taste? What is it like? What images come to mind? Is it always the same or does it change? What happens when something or someone who was spirited no longer is? 

Third, do some reading on the meaning of the word "spirit". Start with a few dictionaries. Explore the meanings of words that contain spirit. Explore, for example, the meanings of aspire, conspire, dispirit, expire, inspire, transpire, and esprit de corps. 

Study the etymology of the word. Find out if there are equivalents in other languages. 

Study related words like soul, mind, energy, and consciousness. Are these different words for the same thing or do these words refer to different things?

Next, rewrite your definition of spirit in light of what you have learned so far. Again, understand that as you learn more your definitions, descriptions, and images will change.

Now you are a thumonaut, an explorer of spirit.

Nurturing Euthumia, Well-Spiritedness

Euthumia is characterized by general healthiness, freedom, the ability to provide for ourselves, being productive, and living a relatively harmonious life with others. 

My current opinion is that most of us are naturally euthumic. 

However, just as maintaining our physical health is an ongoing process, so is maintaining the health and well-being of our spirit. 

Euthumia is not a constant state we strive to attain and then enjoy. Throughout our lives we face constant challenges to our basic, natural euthumic condition. Even so, we can develop the following practices that nurture the wellness of our spirit:

Mindfulness of spirit: being intentional about paying attention to our spirit and its condition.

Assessing the condition of our spirit: evaluating our spirit in terms of the three general categories of euthumia, athumia, and dysthumia and the more specific conditions in these general categories.

Choosing whether or not we want to change the condition of our spirit.

Knowing what to do to regulate our spirit: knowing what lifts, calms, strengthens, softens, collects, opens, expands, or otherwise regulates our spirit.

Regulating our spirit: actually putting our know-how into action.

Future posts will go into more detail about these practices that help us regulate our spirt.