The Craft of Creating Worlds for Spiritual Exercises

1. My physical world.
I adapt the physical world to mirror the desire of the spiritual exercise. So I darken or lighten a room, I place a bowl of water, I wear certain colored clothes, and so on [Spiritual Exercises 79].

2. My emotional world.
I remain in the emotional world of the spiritual exercise by keeping my whole day in serenity, joy, sorrow, etc., so matching the desired emotions of each particular exercise [Spiritual Exercises 80].

3. My inner world.
I sustain the inner world of the spiritual exercise with thoughts and memories that keep the climate of my retreat throughout the day [Spiritual Exercises 78, 130].

4. My imaginative world.
I enhance the imaginative world of the spiritual exercise by choosing what I look at, what I touch, what I smell, how I eat, where I am during the day. So I try to remain in harmony with the particular exercise of that day [Spiritual Exercises 81].

5. My symbolic world.
I use the power of the symbolic world by creating body actions that mark special graces or desires. The sign of the cross or a hand over my heart is traditional. Discretely, I may use similar gestures throughout the day [Spiritual Exercises 27].

Please note.  For greater depth in giving the FSE and guiding Spiritual Conversation see the Manual  here.