139 - Companions on the Inner Way: The Art of Spiritual Guidance

Companions on the Inner Way:
The Art of Spiritual Guidance
By Morton T. Kelsey
New York, Crossroad, 1983. 222 pp. $17.50; $8.95 (paper).

This is a very personal book. In it the author provides ample portions of his autobiography, his bibliography, and his taxonomy. All three sources are aimed at expounding what it means to be a companion on the inner way. Kelsey is well qualified to address this topic. He is surely one of the most prolific spiritual writers today. The topics of his previous books reappear like old friends in this work: dreams, types of spiritual experience, caring-sharing, journeys and their shadow sides, criticism of exclusivist positions, carefully drawn distinctions.

Throughout, it is Kelsey who is the medium for what he has to say. His own experience and the people (including many famous ones) who fill

140 - Companions on the Inner Way: The Art of Spiritual Guidance

intimidating but it is sobering-and discussion. At times it feels like a memoir in the making, but it is a valuable memoir for the glimpses it provides into one man's spiritual journey (chapter 1). At this level the reader becomes a companion to Kelsey as the author narrates where he has been and what he has learned.

What he has learned is scattered through his other books and Kelsey is consistently directing the reader to those works. For those unacquainted, it is a helpful guide to his bibliography. For those who are acquainted, it is a reminder without being repetitious. like hearing good stories one more time. In short, there are no great surprises, no new revelations, no radical twists waiting for Kelseyites in this book.

There is, however, the fruit of his many years' experience conveniently itemized: nine characteristics of Eastern spirituality and nine characteristics of Western spirituality with fourteen implications of Western spirituality in chapter 2; thirty-three types of religious experience in chapter 6; ten reasons for keeping a journal in chapter 7; ten guidelines for transference in spiritual direction in chapter 8. Out of all this comes a thick description of the challenge and complexity of giving spiritual guidance. The impact is not his experience keep popping into the respectful of the responsibility one assumes as a companion on the inner way.

On the whole, the book is not exactly about the art of spiritual guidance, as the subtitle says, at least not in the sense of explaining the practical steps involved in being a companion. The chapter that comes closest to this deals with the personal journal as a sacrament of the inner journey (chapter 7). But this chapter concentrates on what a journal is, how to write one, what to write about but not really on how to use it to accompany someone else. Rather Kelsey clarifies what is involved on a spiritual journey, how much diversity lies out there (and in there), what dangers exist, what temperament is called for.

Kelsey repeatedly attests that we all need companions on our inner way; he doesn't really indicate how to be such a companion. He does give a challenging and comprehensive description of what the inner way is, and from that description it is easy to see why companions are needed. As an apologia and autobiographical account of his own journey, Kelsey's book is very inviting-and very easy to accompany.

Robert L. Kinast
Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C.