(1) Pastoral Counseling, Clinical Pastoral Care, and Spiritual Direction…

1.     … are generally thought of as Christian disciplines. In fact, these disciplines do not speak for any particular belief system, but often eschew narrow religious views, and draw from perennial wisdom teachings, and Eastern and Western Psychology, as a foundation for their counseling practice. In so doing, these practitioners—many who themselves are trained mental health practitioners and have clinical training and experience—find themselves more closely aligned with transpersonal and transactional psychologists and psychotherapies. In such a context, one of the psychotherapeutic objectives of spiritual direction or pastoral counseling is to demonstrate the illusory nature of “self / not self” boundaries, and to bring about an awareness of the mental factors out of which arise mental and spiritual suffering.
   

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(2) Spiritual Desolation 

1.     Spiritual Desolation is a concept generally applied to an experience of disconnect from one's Religious Faith, God, or a feeling of being beyond Salvation, and unfortunately are typically understood almost exclusively in Christian terms.
   

2.     Perhaps the leaning toward Christianity comes from the fact that the root of the term Spiritual Desolation is grounded in "The Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John de la Cruz. However, I think the most concise definition is, a letting go of the Ego's hold on the Psyche, giving room for a complete transformation of one's way of defining their “self” in relationship to the divine mystery, the universe, etc. It's aptly described as desolation because it truly is a period of vast darkness that engulfs a person. Still, mystics perceive it as a blessing in disguise out of which one grows in both the sensory and spiritual realms. It presents often in the form of a disconnect with reality as we have known it, a feeling of falling into an abyss, and of isolation or separation.
   

3.     There is a quote by Teilhard de Chardin that I love because it so clearly describes Spiritual Desolation in mystical terms.
   

4. "And so, for the first time in my life perhaps, I took the lamp and, leaving the zone of everyday occupations and relationships where everything seemed clear, I went down into my inmost self to the deepest abyss whence I feel dimly that my power of action emanates. But as I moved further and further away from the conventional certainties by which social life is superficially illuminated, I became aware that I was losing contact with myself. At each step of the descent a new person was disclosed within me of whose name I was no longer sure, and who no longer obeyed me. And when I had to stop my exploration because the path faded from beneath my steps, I found a bottomless abyss at my feet, and out of it came — arising I know not from where — the current which I dare to call MY life."
   

5.     Perhaps you can see how Spiritual Desolation can often be confused with Depression in the mental health profession. Often treating Spiritual Desolation with interventions designed for treatment of Depression can actually result in spiritual bypassing, and the underlying drive for discovery is unattended. I think of a statement that Carl Jung made, “when we do away with the pain without answering its question, we do away with a part of ourself.”
   

6.     In addition, the two will often co-occur, in which case addressing one without the other can have the unsatisfactory result of a deadening of the psyche rather than a letting go of the Ego's hold on the Psyche.  Ideally, when both Depression and Spiritual Desolation are present and both can be addressed skillfully, an intervention can support the growth of both Ego and Psyche. After all, it really does require a strong and healthy Ego to risk letting go of its hold on the Psyche. The unhealthy or weak Ego can't risk letting go of the Psyche for fear of disappearing, and the force of its grip can be mistaken for strength.

Nyo. "As it is," the way things are, without delusion, without illusion.