Looking into the Well: Supervision of Spiritual Directors

 

I started this book before I went to Spain in October, but I didn't get very far. This took SO LONG to get through. It is more of a reference book.

Here is what I wrote on 2/13 when I was about halfway through the book:  

What else am I reading right now? Oh

Looking into the Well: Supervision of Spiritual Directors

I do not like the organization of the book. It is so bad. However, it has been helpful for me to get another perspective on supervision. It is also the model that Deepen II uses when supervising (even though they are typically doing more consultation about how to do spiritual direction rather than actually doing supervision which is helping your people gain self-awareness and interior freedom). I'm only about 1/2 way through the book, and it is very laborious because it is very poorly written, edited, and organized (needs a serious update - it has so many good gems in it that are overshadowed by those three things). So, it has taken me forever to get through it, but it is helping me as a supervisor. I also don't really connect with the "Well" illustration. It is also very cluttered and clunky. The picture is not good either. It is confusing. 

I really prefer the simplicity of Lucy Abbott Tucker who approaches supervision very simply. 

I found a YouTube video of the two comparing their philosophies of supervision. It is interesting to note that the author of Looking into the Well talks for 61% of it compared to Lucy Abbot Tuckers 39%. Tucker's training (and book) is short, concise, and to the point! Just like her talking! More my style. The Maureen Conroy is like her book, long-winded and needs to be edited!!!!

Here is the YouTube: https://youtu.be/FU3SOEzZf1M?si=Mc_EstoY5w2PSAn0 

I do like many of the things in the book though. I think LAT is just very creative in her approach to supervision and very open-handed to make it not so laborious. She doesn't require endless looking at verbatims but offers other ways of directors to inform the supervisor about their direction and evaluate it. 

I do like being on the same page with the people in Deepen though. Writing this inspires me to finish the book!  (And I may use what I just wrote to write my review of the book on my blog!)

And that is exactly what I did! Here it is a week later, and I forced myself to read it to the end. It does have some great things, but she keeps repeating herself over and over again. It needs editing. It also needs reorganization. It has 21 "Learning Experiences" at the end of the book that would have been better incorporated in the chapters. I kept having to shift back and forth between them and the numbers of the Learning Experiences did not always progress forward with the chapters of the books. I didn't like going back and forth and out of order. 

The book grew on me though. I will use some of the things in it. Actually, the thing I liked most about the book were the beautiful prayers at the end! I also like how she encourages the Ignatian Exercises. That is a big positive for me. I will share it with the people I am supervision this year in Deepen. 

I am SO RELIEVED to be done with this book!!