By Stephanie Ann Y. Puen
The Ignatian practice of discerning spirits can be valuable for individuals as they prepare to vote this fall.
The discernment of spirits, which asks individuals to pay attention to their emotions or their interior movements as they weigh a decision, is central to Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. For Ignatius, these movements well up within us and correspond to an individual being drawn either toward God (what Ignatius calls “consolation”) or away from God (what he calls “desolation”). While consolation is marked by charity or being more authentic and free to love God and others, desolation is marked by spiritual dryness and restlessness, focusing on the self at the expense of others.
As useful as it is for individuals this election season, discernment is equally valuable for communities, particularly since voting itself is designed to be a community-centered act. In a communal context, consolation is connected to the choices that best strengthen a person’s relationship with God as lived in community with others. In the Filipino language, one word for the other person is kapwa. Many believe this word to be the combination of the prefix ka-, which implies being together with, and the root word puwang which refers to space. The other, or the kapwa, is the person in the shared space. Thinking within a kapwa framework means recognizing that the movements that affect me also affect others in the shared space. It also highlights the need for communal discernment, a process in which a person is not just reflecting on interior movements individually in a vacuum, but also with and for others.
Communal discernment is especially valuable when a community is choosing its leaders, as voters will do this November. One discerns communally by moving beyond sensing one’s own interior movements, expanding to reflect on and attend to the movements within the community. Is the community moving toward peace or toward disquiet? And what do these movements reveal about the situation of the community and its urgent needs? Communal discernment thus entails being able to have an honest conversation about how these movements are affecting both individuals and the community, probing their deeper meaning, whether positive or negative.
Development officers from various Jesuit institutions (above) participate in a small group exercise meant to deepen their understanding of the communal discernment process. Photo courtesy of Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.
Choosing leaders within the context of communal discernment ultimately means asking hard questions about ourselves and our whole community. Will a particular leader ultimately tend to move us toward consolation, lasting peace, and self-giving rather than self-centeredness? Will they tend to deepen the presence of God’s love, mercy, and justice not just in our own lives, but in the lives of others? And further, are we actually open to discerning communally, in dialogue with each other, even with the kapwa who may not share our worldview?
Asking these questions, and making the practice of communal discernment a regular part of voting from now on, can help make all the difference.
Stephanie Ann Y. Puen is a doctoral student in theological and social ethics at Fordham University and a graduate of, and faculty member at, the Jesuit-sponsored Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.
The featured cover photo (above) is courtesy of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.