The human heart is open to many emotions: it might be love or fear, hatred or uncertainty, suspicion or compassion.  These emotions can significantly shape my life and the decisions I make; they can be powerful and easy to understand; but sometimes they can be subtle and difficult to assess.

Emotions can be influenced by my body: my health can affect the way I react – e.g. if my blood-sugar is low, I might get short-tempered or tired.  And my body has thirsts and desires and these I can accept or deny – e.g. a marathon runner feels tired, but refuses to rest – denying the demands of the body in order to win the race.

But beyond the physical and the psychological, I can also can be prompted and stimulated by the movements that happen in my soul – the inspirations that touch something deep in the core of my being. They can hold me, motivate me, intrigue me or (at times) make me cower away. These flashes of inspiration can come from within – born of my memories, my knowledge, my experience - but they can also come from outside, because my soul is open to the infinite.

Christians believe that it is from this place-beyond-myself that the Holy Spirit flows into my life – touching, cajoling, consoling and challenging my very soul. The Holy Spirit ebbs back-&-forth through my heart; it tries to remove blockages, to liberate, to inspire, and rouse me to do good things – indeed: to do great things.

But it is also from this outer realm that other spirits, not of God, infiltrate my soul. These spirits seek to diminish, slash, confuse and destroy, and (to use a phrase of St Ignatius of Loyola) they are ‘the enemy of our human nature’. These spirits occasionally flaunt their credentials of evil because they know I am distracted and attracted by their offer of something tantalising and tempting; but sometimes these spirits come in heavy camouflage – like an Angel of Darkness disguised as an Angel of Light – and they can be very dangerous because they appear to be good and trustworthy and I might start to rely on them.

As you can imagine, it is essential therefore that we can differentiate between the good & bad spirits, because, if I make decisions based on the influence of the bad spirit, this will increase the darkness, confusions and sinfulness in my life and in the world around us; but if my decisions are stimulated by the good spirit, the world will continue to be redeemed.

Thus our task is to discern the spirits to see which are from God and which are not. It is in refining this ‘discernment of spirits’ that St Ignatius of Loyola came to realise that we have within our reach the key to unlock  the relationship with God, and reveal the true meaning of life.

Discernment of Spirits

Knowing the motions of the soul

The Discernment of Spirits is all about growing in spiritual self-knowledge, learning how to defend yourself from the bad and grow towards the good. It is a way of interpreting what St Ignatius referred to as ‘the motions of the soul’, and of determining which of these come from God. Discover more...

Making good decisions

Making big life decisions with God

In his spirituality, St Ignatius created principles for decision making that have helped guide millions to make the right choice at the crossroads of their lives. This spiritual process for making decisions is often referred to as ‘discernment’, which means listening for the voice of God. Discover more...