Beloved, do not believe every spirit,

but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

1 John 4:1

God’s Spirit permeates all life from the first moment of creation. Response to that Spirit is often compromised by  counter spirits, spirits not-of-God, drawing us away from God. This is a book about these different attractions in our lives, their sources, their power to affect our decision making for good or ill. It is a book about human freedom and human limitation, about the need to acknowledge the unconscious places of unfreedom in our lives, and about the quest for inner freedom and wholeness for the sake of discerning choices that are life-giving.

This is a unique book, blending quite revealing personal experience of God and sound, helpful teaching about the ways of God’s Spirit in individual lives and in community. The book will be of value to spiritual directors and pastoral  ministers, indeed, to all people who take God seriously and are committed to living a discerning way of life.

From the Foreword by Sue Richardson pbvm

Part personal reflection, part erudite and intimate sharing of the role discernment occupies in the sacred space where humanity and Divinity meet, part guided meditation, Brian Gallagher’s memoir The Eyes of God is a first class example of a scholar-practitioner embodying Ernest Larkin’s description of discernment: ‘hearing and responding to the word

of God by one who knows the language’.

Paul Beirne, Director: Heart of Life Centre for Spiritual and Pastoral Formation