A Personal Journey ( Part I )

As I wrote in my first and only published book to date (1997)........." My introduction to 'spirituality' took place at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky in 1979. Professor E. Glenn Hinson was teaching a course entitled, 'The Classics of Christian Devotion.' I found myself studying something I knew little about--Christian Devotion. I was vaguely famiiar with Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Francis, but I knew little about their works and certainly did not know that their writings were 'devotional classics.' I also did not know that several of these writers had produced spiritual autobiographies......... Daily quite time was the normative devotional practice in the small, Southern Baptist Church in which I grew up. Quiet time consisted of spending a few quiet moments reflecting on your life, reading scripture, and closing with a prayer. Once I went off to college( 1972-75), I started reading self help books as part of my devotional practice. I found myself not only trying to deepen my relationship with God and others, but also to understand myself. At that time I was considering a career as a marriage and family therapist, but having served in several summer youth minister positions, I decided to take a position as an associate pastor for youth. Positive experiences in that role led to my going to seminary(1976-79).......... The practice of reading as a means of personal and spiritual growth continued while in seminary and into my first full time pastoral position as an associate pastor. I also started a spiritual journal during that time. Readings in spirituality led me to the writings of Morton Kelsey, John Sanford, and the psychoanalyst Carl Jung. These writers spoke of knowing God through dreams and other experiences of the unconscious mind. I began to record my dreams in my journal. Soon those dreams and other thoughts that whispered from my soul began to speak to me from my own unconscious. But opening up my unconscious was not something I needed to do on my own. I soon learned that I had made the mistake of trying to walk alone on this deeper personal growth journey. I had not heeded the warnings of Morton Kelsey and others, that we cannot make this journey alone--that we need guidance and direction along the way.......... So I sought help from someone who I knew was familiar with the power of the unconscious mind (1983.) I tried to find a "spiritual director," but in the small town I was living in no such person existed. The person I did find was a psychoanalyst. He had been trained in the Karen Horney Tradition of Interpersonal Psychoanalysis but he was also quite familiar with the Freudian Tradition. I knew he was Jewish and would understand my faith journey as well. Six months later I moved into a position as a pastor........ As I settled into service as a pastor(1983-95), I again sought out a psychoanalyst. He was a more mainstream Contemporary Freudian analyst, but was also trained in Self Psychology. During those years I completed a Doctor of Ministry degree on the interface of spirituality and psychology. I also discovered many new authors that were extremely helpful: Karen Horney, Paul Tillich, Hans Kung, Rollo May, Erich Fromm, Gerald May, Soren Kierkegaard, Charles Hartshorne, Charles Darwin, Ludwig Feurbach, and Sigmund Freud."........... Following this experience in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, I found myself providing more and more counseling to the members of my congregation. It was then that I began to contemplate a major shift in my career. Though I was the pastor of a fairly liberal Baptist Church, I grew weary of the Fundamentaist agenda that was growing stronger in the denomination. So I began to think about becoming a spiritual director or a psychotherapist. I visited Gerald May at the Shalom Institue in Washington, DC and consulted with him about my future. He encouraged me NOT to choose spiritual direction as a career but to offer it to others as requested. He thought psychotherapy was the better choice of a vocation. May was a spiritual guide and psychiatrist himself. I came home from that visit thinking I might return to school and become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and go into private psychotherapy practice. But my analyst said, "Why not just continue your education in pastoral psychotherapy?" I thought that was a great idea. I knew that The American Association of Pastoral Counselors was a theologically liberal and free thinking community. I knew I could be comfortable there. So I enrolled in the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care's pastoral psychotherapy training program, and in 1993 graduated with my certificate and became a Certified Pastoral Counselor with the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. At the same time, also through Vipcare, I did the dual track training program that qualified me to become a Licensed Professional Counselor in VA. This required further supervision as a Resident as well as passing the LPC exam in 1995. At Vipcare I was able to continue my interest in psychoanalysis and analytic therapy. My primary supervisor there had himself been trained in Interpersonal psychoanalytic therapy. My LPC Residency years were at the Valley Pastoral Counseling Center in Waynesboro, VA. After a part time year at VPCC, I was ready to move out of the pastorate and into a full time position there. That move happened in 1995. I joined the Valley Pastoral Counseling Center, first as a Resident and then as a full time LPC and certified pastoral counselor. Valley Pastoral Counseling Center was also affiliated with the liberal/progressive American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC.) Once I was doing psychoanalytic psychotherapy full time, I continued to study psychoanalysis and sought out further supervision of my work. Now my personal growth journey was happening all the time! When you see 30 people a week in intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy you have to think about your own life. If you do not your own issues will get in the way of your work with others. Freud began this practice of deep self reflection and called it self-analysis. Jung followed a similar practice. So as I was practicing therapy with others, I continued my own self therapy as well as consulting as needed with my own therapist.......... For the last 25 years (1998-present), I have continued seeing patients in psychotherapy, while doing continuing education in psychoanalytic therapy. I have also supervised 14 LPC students in psychoanalytic therapy. Of course I have continued to grow personally through all these years. Studying theology,then philosophy, and finally science helped me see the common values held by many different individuals and groups. Reading more biogical and psychological scientific literature while working in an free thinking interfaith pastoral counseling center, further expanded my views. It has been quite a journey from those early years in the Christian Church where I first learned to reflect on my life, through my adult years where I found Unitarian Universalist Thinking best expressing my values. But is has mainly been my own personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy experience, as well as practicing therapy that has helped me the most to understand who I am and who I am becoming. In part II I will continue the story. Thanks for reading. Make a comment!! Ask a question!! Tell me who you are !!