ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the contributing author reflects on common ground between spiritual direction and narrative therapy, while acknowledging apparent differences in the conceptualization of the self and the language of the soul. Ideas are then presented from Bakhtin's dialogic literary theory, according to which identity and meaning emerge through dialogic interaction between persons. It is suggested that Bakhtin's notion of I-for-myself, I-for-the-other, and other-for-me offers one way of speaking about the self and the soul in terms congruent with both spiritual direction and narrative therapy. Bakhtin thus offers language for what is implicit in narrative practice, namely the idea that each person holds values and a vision for their life in the world, and that others in their life have an integral place in the formation and thickening of these hopes and values.
