"Burnout" and spiritual direction

With recent conversations making the rounds on Substack and elsewhere from those experiencing spiritual “burnout,” not only among converts to Orthodoxy but also among Catholic converts, the question arises – for me, at any rate – whether sensible, accessible, old-fashioned “spiritual direction” isn’t up for serious (re)consideration. Neither rigorism nor sloppiness should ever be the order of the day where the prayer life is concerned, but rather a healthy balance for each individual. Rigorism, in fact, frequently leads to sloppiness and worse. It’s not uncommon that an initially fervent believer, after some time, begins to swing back and forth between, first, overburdening himself or herself and, when it all gets to be too much, succumbing to spiritual carelessness and laxity. Rigorism and immoderation, born of enthusiasm, are what lead to burnout. With better guidance (and YouTube and other media are not the best places to find it; in fact, they often exacerbate the problem), much of this could be avoided. Hence, the need for “spiritual direction” – or whatever one might prefer to name it – on the parish level, always conducted with the view that parishioners are not monastics but are still called to full, devotionally rich vocations. Most Christians are not monks or nuns, and while monastic spiritual practice can be an inspirational aid to our own devotional growth, it can’t provide the norm for those outside the monastery. St. John Climacus states this unambiguously in the very first “step” of his Ladder of Divine Ascent, a text written – for all its broadly beneficial aspects – for monastics. The term “spiritual direction” has, for good reason, acquired a suspiciously “New Age” or heterodox ring in the ears of some. That’s unfortunate, but it’s time we washed the 1980s out of our system and began afresh. I can’t think of anyone better to help us do that than Fr. Martin Thornton (1915-1986), whose last work – aptly titled Spiritual Direction – appeared just as the Egregious Eighties were cranking up (and no doubt blessedly, he entirely missed the Nihilist Nineties). I don’t agree with every idea Fr. Thornton ever espoused, but with that caveat, I believe that there have been a relative few outstanding guides on the subject during the past century, and Martin Thornton was, without question, one of them.