Dealing with Spiritual De's and Dis's!

Disappointment. Discouragement. Dejection. Depression. Despair. De and Dis words aren't very nice!

Is discouragement a feeling? Is depression a psychological state? Or do the De and Dis words have spiritual power as well?

While I am not an expert on St. Ignatius, I am aware that he saw the spiritual life partly as a conflict between the Spirit of God and the Enemy of God, and that the "discernment of spirits" is a critical piece in spiritual growth--who's influencing me now, in what manner and for what purpose? Ignatius uses two different terms to describe the spiritual movements we all experience: desolation and consolation.

He teaches that while it is always the purpose of the Spirit of God to move us deeper into deeper consolation and greater clarity of Spirit expressed in increased faith, hope and love, the spiritual pilgrim experiences spiritual movements in terms of both consolation and desolation. He says that the one follows the other as surely as night follows day and vice versa. Sometimes desolation comes when we are tested by the enemy of ourselves and of God. In desolation he advises that we persevere, wait and pray through the onslaught of de and dis feelings, learning what we can about ourselves, the world and God, and not making major decisions based on the feelings we experience in desolation. In other words, don't just do something, stand there! Don't deny or repress the feelings, pay attention to them and learn from them, but don't necessarily act on them immediately for the assault of the Enemy of ourselves and of God comes cloaked in the de's and dis's of life.

HOWEVER, he also notes that the Enemy, being a shrewd and relentless tactician, can also disguise itself as an "Angel of Light" offering comfort, which is really false comfort, consolation, which is really pseudo-consolation, So the Enemy poses as a wolf in sheep's clothing to distract us with binge shopping or having something go right for a change to avert us from the heart of spiritual growth: faith, hope and love. Think about it! When in your life have you grown most? In good times or hard times? When in your life have you been distracted from doing the right thing by superficial comfort?

ON THE OTHER HAND, Ignatius advises that the Spirit of God is the only power which can bring consolation in the midst of darkness, what he calls consolation without preceding cause. A preceding cause is like winning the lottery, getting a new job, having things go right. This is consolation which may or may not be of the Spirit of God. We should hold these comforts loosely and in prayer. The consolation which comes in the midst of grief, of disappointment, of the de's and dis's of life, however, is most assuredly of God, for the Enemy cannot, according to Ignatius, work this kind of magic.

WHY do I write about these De and Dis things? Because we are deeply affected--and the more sensitive we are to our experiences and feelings, the more susceptible we are to spiritual assault, loss of true selves and alienation from God. A recent article in the Jesuit journal, America, puts it succinctly:

"Discouragement may be a natural human emotion in the face of difficulties, but despair is rightly seen by the great spiritual writers as the antithesis of the Christian message. In 1961 Thomas Merton wrote in his book New Seeds of Contemplation that despair is, ultimately, a form of pride that chooses misery instead of accepting the mysterious designs of God's plans and acknowledging that we are not capable of fulfilling our own destinies by ourselves. Despair places our own limited perspective above God's" America, May 23, 2005

The de's and the dis's come. They are part of our experience. They are feelings, they may be psychological states. And they have spiritual power. May you be aware of the Spirit of God in your days and in your nights, May despair not overpower you. May you grow in the midst of darkness and light in faith, hope and love.

P Moe June 1, 2005