Women at the Well

The authors writes "In this book I want to show how a feminist perspective transforms both the context and the content of spiritual direction. I write for all those who work with women in spiritual direction and retreat settings. And I write for individual women themselves, and groups of women, who may wish to use this book as a guide for self-direction and prayer. Feminism provides a new way of seeing reality. It is an alternative world view which replaces the divisions intrinsic to sexism with models of wholeness for both women and men. Feminism is a vision of life emphasizing inclusion rather than exclusion, connectedness rather than separateness, and mutuality in relationships rather than dominance and submission. Feminism also entails the conviction that full individual development can take place only within a human community that is structured in justice. And so feminism works for social change. The term "spiritual direction" as I intend it should also be clarified. Spiritual direction is a conversation in which a person seeks to answer the question, "What is spiritual growth and how do I foster it in my life?" The exchanges that comprise a spiritual direction relationship focus on awareness of and response to God in one's life. But since God is the deepest dimension of all experience, the conversation will range over every area of existence. Spiritual direction concerns the movement of our entire lives in and toward God."

As can be seen from the above, Fischer’s views apply not only to the spiritual path but to the worldview revealed or induced by EHEs. Her book, therefore, is a useful guide to working EHEs, especially transcendent and inscendent ones.