This pamphlet presents – in a kind of how to format – methods for receiving individual spiritual guidance; testing the guidance using methods that give both reliable and ambiguous results; and implementing the guidance. The pamphlet concludes with suggestions on using spiritual disciplines to build a better relationship with a Higher Power. Discussion questions included.

This is a useful pamphlet on an important topic. Knutson acknowledges how difficult it can be to discern true guidance of the Spirit from the urges of ego, compulsion, expectations, or super-ego. Then he writes a how-to guide on spiritual discernment, with methods for seeking guidance and for testing it, and examples.
This is a practical guide; also see PHPs 404, 383, 305, and 264 for a broader, deeper, and still practical treatment of discernment. ( )

Reviewed by Karie Floozmand in The Friends Journal, October 2017
https://www.friendsjournal.org/individual-spiritual-discernment-receiving-testin...

Pendle Hill pamphlets are by nature short, and this pamphlet neatly divides up an important topic into headings that touch on important questions that Quakers ask when we feel led. Is it from ourselves, or from God? Will it require us to do things we currently think we do not want to do? How can we test a leading? Jerry Knutson offers guidance on these aspects of being led, and he does so in simple language that stays close to the topic. It is important not to be carried away by emotion during discernment; this is not to say emotion has no place, but to clarify how discernment really works. I liked the line, “I am not in agreement with the statement ‘Follow your bliss.’” Indeed, a requirement can feel heavy; Knutson’s pamphlet has many tools to work with so that the yoke becomes light.