Creating a Spiritual Autobiography
Creating a Spiritual Autobiography is a powerful exercise in one’s spiritual life. In EfM this exercise is called “Stepping stones.” It is often included in seminars for “adult formation.”
Sharon Ely Pearson is an Author and Christian Educator. She says that, as an EfM mentor, “sharing one’s spiritual autobiography builds a group faster than anything else, providing them with the chance (some for the first time) to reflect on where God has (or has not) been throughout the stages of their life. It is a humbling experience to share their spiritual autobiography with others. Even if they share only portions, it is an honour and a privilege to be entrusted with something so sacred.”
The Jesuits give an excellent definition of a spiritual autobiography: “A spiritual autobiography focuses less on the people, events and experiences of a person’s life and more on what these people, events and experiences meant for them and how they formed or shaped the course of their life. It allows the writer to communicate who they are and what is important to them. The process of crafting a spiritual autobiography demands communicating this to themselves as well. It demands that writers look within themselves and that they ask themselves the very questions they hope to answer – Who am I? and What is important in my life? It demands that they look long and seriously at the people, events and experiences of their life, their struggles and conflicts, their strengths and weaknesses, and the decisions they have made. Yet it is in seeking to understand these seemingly disparate facets of their life that they gradually come to understand them in all their interrelatedness. More importantly, it is there that they will often discover God in their life, not simply as their Creator and Redeemer, but as the One who has been present actively, ‘at work’ in their life, inviting, directing, guiding and drawing them into the fullness of life.”
EfM’s third year’s focal point is to create one’s spiritual autobiography through employing the “Stepping Stones” process. There are many ways of gathering one’s thoughts about our history with God. We could develop a time-line, thinking about the historical events that occurred during our life and placing our thoughts, feelings, location and other personal events alongside it. Or put together personal photographs or magazine clippings that resonate with the different phases of our lives. Or, following the model of “Godly Play,” create an “Object Box” containing mementoes and artefacts which have had meaning to us throughout our lives.
The “Stepping Stones” exercise, in the context of EfM, has the added dimension of sharing it with the people they have built a relationship with over several years. However, in a parish context, or even as part of our personal development, there is no reason why this process could not be a part of Lenten devotions.
Get out your personal letters, photographs, and mementoes: scan or photocopy christening and confirmation certificates. How you do this is up to you: being creative does not necessarily entail drawing, writing, or taking photos, but it might.
For further inspiration on how to write a spiritual autobiography, see: https://www.upperroom.org/resources/writing-your-spiritual-autobiography.
