Summary Of John Mcneill's Tapping Deeper Roots

As a priest and psychotherapist, John McNeill writes “Tapping Deeper Roots, Integrating the Spiritual Dimension into Professional Practice with Lesbian and Gay Clients.” He aims to help psychotherapists and counselors (in their roles of spiritual leadership) to be available healing resources for gay and lesbians clients, who are meeting challenges to grow spiritually in the midst of theological and ecclesiastical tension. McNeill is aware of “two distinct disciplines of psychotherapy and spirituality” (313). However, he discusses the saying of Freud, “Wo es war soll ich werden, [where it was, let the “I” become]” and points out that the word “ego” becomes the key of the “authentic, free, and conscious self... and the goal of therapy” (314). The depth of our spiritual life needs to deepen into our psyche in order to drink from our own spiritual “wells,” where we encounter divine presence. For the clients, they need to have the gay and lesbian community to share their spiritual experiences and affirm their gender identity. The homosexual could play important roles of spiritual leadership because of their strong anima (315). According to Kubler-Ross, the gay and lesbian …show more content…
Their struggles of seeking and affirming the true self in the root of human ego become a key of spiritual growth. We learn again the significance of community support and social openness to the gay and lesbian persons. As the spiritual companions, we trust God’s plan for everyone and all creatures and this plan is always good. In my opinion, labeling the gay and lesbian persons as intrinsic evil ones means God creates evils. Thus, this mentality opposes to our understanding of divine nature: God is always good. In short, our compassion opens a door for God to speak and touch our inmost self and our human holistic dimensions. If someone searches for intimacy with God, who dares to say that the person is not