Healing Arts 
Network
Code of Ethics for Spiritual Guides
Preamble
People have long sought to enrich their lives and to awaken to their full natures through
spiritual practices
including prayer, meditation, mind-body disciplines, service, ritual, community liturgy,
holy-day and seasonal
observances, and rites of passage. "Primary religious practices" are those
intended, or especially likely, to
bring about exceptional states of consciousness such as the direct experience of divinity
or of cosmic unity.
In any community, there are some who feel called to assist others along spiritual paths,
and who are known
as ministers, rabbis, pastors, curanderas, shamans, priests, or other titles. We call such
people 'guides':
those experienced in some practice, familiar with the terrain, and who act to facilitate
the spiritual practices
of others. A guide need not claim exclusive or definitive knowledge of the terrain.
Spiritual practices, and especially primary religious practices, carry risks. Therefore,
when an individual
chooses to practice with the assistance of a guide, both take on special responsibilities.
The Council on
Spiritual Practices proposes the following Code of Ethics for those who serve as spiritual
guides.
1.[Intention] Spiritual guides are to practice and serve in ways that
cultivate awareness, empathy, and
wisdom.
2.[Serving Society] Spiritual practices are to be designed and conducted
in ways that respect the
common good, with due regard for public safety, health, and order. Because the increased
awareness
gained from spiritual practices can catalyze desire for personal and social change, guides
shall use
special care to help direct the energies of those they serve, as well as their own, in
responsible ways
that reflect a loving regard for all life.
3.[Serving Individuals] Spiritual guides shall respect and seek to
preserve the autonomy and dignity of
each person. Participation in any primary religious practice must be voluntary and based
on prior
disclosure and consent given individually by each participant while in an ordinary state
of
consciousness. Disclosure shall include, at a minimum, discussion of any elements of the
practice
that could reasonably be seen as presenting physical or psychological risks. In
particular, participants
must be warned that primary religious experience can be difficult and dramatically
transformative.
Guides shall make reasonable preparations to protect each participant's health and safety
during
spiritual practices and in the vulnerable periods that may follow. Limits on the behaviors
of participants
and facilitators are to be made clear and agreed upon in advance of any session.
Appropriate customs
of confidentiality are to be established and honored.
4.[Competence] Spiritual guides shall assist with only those practices
for which they are qualified by
personal experience and by training or education.
5.[Integrity] Spiritual guides shall strive to be aware of how their own
belief systems, values, needs, and
limitations affect their work. During primary religious practices, participants may be
especially
vulnerable to suggestion, manipulation, and exploitation; therefore, guides pledge to
protect
participants and not to allow anyone to use that vulnerability in ways that harm
participants or others.
6.[Quiet Presence] To help safeguard against the harmful consequences of
personal and
organizational ambition, spiritual communities are usually better allowed to grow through
attraction
rather than active promotion.
7.[Not for Profit] Spiritual practices are to be conducted in the spirit
of service. Spiritual guides shall
strive to accommodate participants without regard to their ability to pay or make
donations.
8.[Tolerance] Spiritual guides shall practice openness and respect
towards people whose beliefs are in
apparent contradiction to their own.
9.[Peer Review] Each guide shall seek the counsel of other guides to help
ensure the wholesomeness
of his or her practices and shall offer counsel when there is need.
This draft for public comment was released 17 October 1998. The current version is
available on the Internet
at www.csp.org.
Copyright © 1995 - 1998 Council on Spiritual Practices
Box 460820 csp@csp.org
San Francisco, CA 94146-0820 www.csp.org
USA
Permission is hereby given to reprint this Code, provided that the text is reproduced
complete and verbatim,
including the CSP contact information, copyright, and this notice of limited permission to
reprint.