Why Non-Christian Seekers Try Spiritual Direction

A few years ago, Casper ter Kuile sat across from a woman and told her he did not want to pray on his knees. She suggested, instead, that he try standing up, with his hands open, in the position used in the ancient Christian church. In that moment, he says, she handed him a key to understanding “with which I could unlock the tradition.” This type of conversation, in which a seeker—someone who is religiously unaffiliated but who is interested in growing in their relationship with God—comes to someone for guidance in that relationship with God, is a form of spiritual direction. And it is typically Ignatian and Christian. But Mr. ter Kuile does not consider himself Christian at all.