Self-Examination, Discernment, and Decision Making: Criss-crossing the Confucian and Ignatian Traditions

Abstract

The way spiritual discernment applies to decision making and management can be approached by detailing the values and/or duties that a decision will rely upon, or, alternatively, by first elucidating the modus operandi that discernment unfolds. This contribution privileges the second approach when appraising the insights brought forth by two spiritual footpaths, namely the Confucian and the Ignatian traditions. We first distinguish among the habitus that self-examination nurtures, the procedure through which a discernment is reached, and the discrete events that actual decisions constitute. We analyze how each of our traditions envisions each of these stages and how it organizes them into a whole. We then summarize the contribution brought by these two ways of proceeding to the practice of communal/managerial discernment. Our conclusion highlights a few difficulties and dissimilarities among them, the recognition of which opens up space for further research.