How do we discern a decision? 4: Discern the “spirits.”
When we speak of making an Ignatian discernment, people often think of the careful and methodical process of noticing different interior movements—the discernment of “spirits,” which we can but needn’t necessarily take literally. As we’ve seen, this is only one piece. First, we need the right disposition and foundation, and even then, the discernment of spirits isn’t always the most appropriate method. But it does represent in many ways the heart and soul of Ignatian discernment.
This is in part because, while Ignatius’ full framework for the discernment of spirits comprises no less than 22 “rules” (or principles), it’s built primarily around four fundamental Ignatian concepts with enduring relevance:
The True Spirit
The False Spirit
Consolation
Desolation
Review: Three “times” of discernment.
If the discernment of spirits is just one possible method in an Ignatian discernment, why might it be the “heart and soul”?
Let’s remember that the first time of discernment Ignatius outlines is that rare case when something is blindingly obvious and beyond doubting. One could say that’s a case where there’s simply a strong, uncontested movement of the True Spirit toward their decision, filling them with consolation (we’ll define these terms below).
If this isn’t the experience, it’s likely because there are other movements and dynamics at play, pushing and pulling our thoughts and desires. This is the second time of discernment, where we need to discern these “spirits”—but not only here.
Because in the third time of discernment, when we feel no interior movements to discern and are recommended to reason out choices, our goal isn’t simply to come to a rational decision but to elicit the interior movements that guide us. That is, as we write out a pros/cons list or once we imagine looking back at our decision from our death bed, we want to notice what we’re feeling, what we’re experiencing.
This is finally true of the conformation or disconfirmation we seek in offering our tentative decision to God. In a word, everything comes back to this mode of discernment—discernment of spirits.
Introducing terms.
Ignatius suggests that at the bottom of all things, there are two basic kinds of forces acting on us interiorly (true and false spirits), and these will often influence two basic experiences in us (consolation and desolation).
True and false spirits.
There can be little doubt that Ignatius had in mind the Holy Spirit and that which he called “the enemy of our human nature” as the primary authors of interior movements. Yet we need neither deny these concepts nor limit ourselves to directly attributing them to personal forces. For Ignatius’ purposes these forces are really known and understood by their affect on us. We can attribute that affect to biblical spirits or also to a host of psychological dynamics—whether we call these parts or selves or scripts or simply truths vs. deceits.
That said, the True Spirit pricks at us when we’re headed down a bad path and inspires, encourages and comforts us when we’re headed down a good one.
Contrariwise, the False Spirit generally pricks at us, troubles our peace and feeds into faulty reasoning when we’re on a good path. But it soothes our troubled conscience and distracts it with pleasures when we’re on a bad one.
Consolation and desolation.
These two types of movers (understood by how we experience them) create two types of movements (understood by how we experience them).
Consolation is most simply understood as the increase in us of faith, hope and love—but Ignatius importantly points out that this is “towards heavenly things.” We can have hope in a selfish end being realized, and we can find our love increased in a disorderly or unbalanced way for something in particular. But in consolation, we’re ultimately moved toward God.
It’s also vital to realize that this spiritual consolation doesn’t always feel good. It’s not the same as peace or feeling soothed. Consolation can be experienced in difficult and even painful times when we find ourselves unaccountably drawn toward God in the dark, without seeing, without understanding, without liking it.
Desolation is the counter movement. It’s a diminishment or dissipation of faith, hope and love. It’s often experienced as disquiet, dryness, darkened thoughts or despair—not to be confused with clinical depression—but above all a disorientation. The image of desolation I’ve always found helpful is when I’ve gotten knocked over by a wave and caught by an undertow, unable to find “up.” When confusion like this enters our discernment, we’re under the pull of desolation.
The big picture: Putting the pieces together.
True consolation is an effect of the good spirit, guiding us toward our created purpose identified in our principle and foundation—another way we can think of it, it’s the experience of our thoughts and desires resonating harmoniously with God’s good desires for us placed within us. On the other side, desolation tends to show us the hand of a “false spirit” bending us out of alignment with the direction we’ll flourish in.
In his 22 guiding principles of discernment, Ignatius essentially fleshes out how we can experience and respond to these in certain situations, plus other nuances—but the big picture for us to see and the forest not lose sight of for the trees is this: In our discernment, we want to notice and lean into where we’re experiencing consolation, and we want to notice and learn from where we’re experience desolation.
This is because, whatever we’ve set out for ourselves as the goal and purpose of our discernment, our much larger goal and purpose is found in making these responses so that we’re continually growing in greater faith, hope and love. Whatever produces greater faith, hope and love in us is what we want to desire, so we follow the source of these consolations to or even beyond the decision we’re discerning.
Caution: Good desolation and false consolation.
There are many nuances to discerning spirits as such, though, and we need to be careful for at least two reasons.
First, desolation doesn’t always mean we’re in a bad direction. We can also experience desolation simply when experiences of consolations cease—for example, when prayer becomes dry or when work we felt called to no longer rewards us with feelings of joy. This can be so that God can teach us not to become attached to these gifts but always look to the giver.
Second, the feeling of consolation doesn’t always come from a true place. Ignatius calls this exception “false consolation” and suggests there can easily be instances where something takes on the appearance of the good—often something that seems pious and holy-sounding that can make us feel super spiritual to contemplate but can actually lead to pride or imbalance. The reminder here is that not everything that sounds or appears good necessarily is.
In action: Discerning movements.
If we’ve entered this method for making our discernment, it’s because we’ve already felt the push and pull of consolation and desolation. So first, we want to be able to try to name what we’ve experienced so far and when; this is valuable data. But if we haven’t already, we can also bring order to this time of discernment with the tools now at hand.
One of the simplest ways to do this is to “imagine forward” or “imagine as if.”
Imagining forward.
Beyond merely thinking about the decision or one of the options, use your imagination to project yourself forward into making that decision for one of the options. Notice how it would feel to decide it, how it would be to begin that path and how you feel envisioning yourself immersed in that future world.
Notice where you felt any interior movements (consolation or desolation). Become curious: What do you suppose it was about that image or consideration or question?
If you notice something particular in your imagining brought desolation or interrupted a flow of consolation, you might take a moment to clear your mind and run an experiment. If while imagining the decision to get married the thought of wedding costs produced anxiety, try holding that piece off to the side for now, try imagining a shoestring-budget wedding instead or try skipping over it to your first year of marriage. If discerning going to grad school, you could see whether imagining similar programs in different states or online yield any different feelings for you.
Talk with God as with a friend about all that you’re noticing, how you feel about it and what you’re curious about. Then, notice how this is for you. Does God alleviate anything that was blocking consolation or produce new consolation? Does this shed any new light on your considerations?
Journal all that you noticed and your reflections on it.
Repeat this process with an alternative you’re discerning between. Notice the differences, become curious about them and bring them into conversation with God.
Imagining as if.
Sometimes it’s difficult to sit still, do this much imaginative work, sift through all the data and feel like any clarity is emerging. That’s when it can be helpful to just put it on the back-burner to simmer. When we “imagine as if,” we pretend to make the decision and go about our day.
To imagine as if, we don’t have to think actively about the decision, but we do need to maintain awareness throughout the day. Whatever ordinary thing we do, we do it “as if” we’re doing it in a world in which I’ve opted for X. For example, if I’m going into the office, I’m going into the office “knowing” in the back of my mind that I’ll be leaving for grad school in the fall; if I go pick up lunch, I go pick up lunch “knowing” I’ll be a grad student in the fall. It’s not that these bear on my decision, but I’m “trying on” a reality to notice, in the midst of my daily life, how does the decision sit with me. How am I receiving consolation or desolation from having “made” the decision.
Of course, we then want to repeat the exercise for the alternative choice. The next day, I go into the office “knowing” I’ll still be going into the office in the fall, etc. For this reason, we want to try to give at least one full day to “try on” each option—if not more—and with a scientific mindset try to make these pretty similar days so that outside variables (one day I’m at work, the other day I’m off having fun on a weekend) don’t skew our findings.
Discerning wisely.
This mode of discerning spirits can yield quick and easy returns with a little reflection, or it can be a slow and methodical process requiring us to tease out a lot of nuances and complex feelings. That’s one major reason it’s prudent to bring someone along with us in our discernment process—wise and trusted friends who know us well and, ideally, a spiritual director thoroughly trained in Ignatian discernment.
A second reason comes also from Ignatius’ 22 guiding principles—namely, that false spirits tend to thrive in the shadows but are exposed when brought to light. In other words, whatever impulse we have not to bring other people into our interior thoughts can often be something in us resisting visibility—because the moment a false reasoning or faulty premise or self-deceit is vocalized to another person, it can lose its power to masquerade as legitimate.
By opening up our discernment process to another person and perspective, we’re both accountable to and blessed by their ability to see in supplement to whatever wisdom and discernment we carry ourselves.