Simon Spire | Emergent Inquiry

BIO

Simon is a licensed psychotherapist, quest guide, contemplative, songwriter, and innovator. Guided by an enchantment with the hidden elegance and intricacy of life’s unfolding, his path has been inspired by questions such as, How can we respond to the whispers of life and allow our journey to be a response to and an expression of our ever-emerging true nature? How can we create more life-supporting economic and societal dynamics in our world? And what does it mean to apprentice to life’s ongoing emergence—individually, collectively, culturally, and soulfully? Through the bodies of work he has founded and developed—Emergent Inquiry, the Emergent Quest, Soulcentric Psychotherapy, and Liberating the Natural Breath—he accompanies individuals and groups in their processes of healing, unfolding, and apprenticing to their authentic journey. His work is informed by 20 years of contemplative and soulcentric inquiry; a corresponding commitment to academic and intellectual inquiry; 10 years of counseling and facilitation experience with individuals and groups; several years serving in leadership positions for organizations active in economic and societal innovation, international social entrepreneurship, and mental health; and his long experience with artistry and the creative process. Raised in New Zealand, his career as a songwriter and recording artist led him to the shores of Los Angeles and New York before transitioning to his current life in North Carolina. Simon holds degrees from the University of Auckland, Columbia University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has completed in-depth studies in Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing-Oriented Therapy, eco-depth psychology, and with Thomas Hübl and his Academy of Inner Science. His music and writing have been featured on major radio and TV networks in New Zealand and the US, in major songwriting competitions, and in outlets such as MTV, AOL, Voice of America, the Ecozoic Journal, and Kosmos Journal. He currently lives near Chapel Hill, NC, where he appreciates the rivers, misses the ocean, and enjoys writing about himself in the third person.

TRAININGS AND CERTIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Master’s degree in Clinical and Counseling Psychology, Columbia University, New York (including additional graduate studies in economics, business, and sustainability; and additional undergraduate studies in liberal arts and science)

• Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance, The University of Auckland, New Zealand

• Certified Focusing-Oriented Therapist, including completion of two-year certification training in Focusing for Mental Health Professionals through the International Focusing Institute (an experiential, mindfulness-based, and somatic approach to psychotherapy developed by philosopher and psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin)

• Certified Purpose Guide™ with Purpose Guides Institute guiding people in life purpose discovery and integration

• Yearlong Soulcraft Immersion and Vision Fast with Bill Plotkin and Geneen Marie Haugen through Animas Valley Institute

• Ongoing study and training with Thomas Hübl and his Academy of Inner Science since 2015, including two-year Timeless Wisdom Training human development and trauma integration training and Practice Group Leader training

• Extensive studies in adult development; non-dual traditions; depth psychology; transpersonal psychology; Integral psychology; depth-oriented life purpose discovery and embodiment; comparative religion; comparative mythology; and the history of philosophy

• 20+ years meditation practice and study

• 15+ years Alexander Technique study (as an eager student of the technique, rather than as a practitioner)

• Various additional counseling trainings, group facilitation trainings, and mind-body trainings

• Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate (LCSWA), North Carolina license #P017628

THE FULL STORY
(if for some reason you like a long read)

First, a few facts: I grew up amid the pristine waters of New Zealand, moved to the alluring horizons of Los Angeles in 2004, and then to the seismic creative vortex that is New York City three years later, where I met my future wife. We landed in North Carolina in 2015. I turned 40 in 2022.

I think we each have a stream of underlying themes and directions that inform our life’s path. My adult life has been animated by several core, interrelated threads that have captivated me and fueled my journey. Some of these themes could be expressed as questions, such as, What is the nature of full human development and human flourishing? How can we respond to the whispers of life, to the mystery that calls us, and allow our life to be a response to and an expression of our ever-emerging true nature? How can we create more life-supporting economic and societal dynamics in our world? And how can we apprentice to and in some way articulate even an echo of the profound elegance, intricacy, and beauty that underlies the vastness and mystery of this creation in which we find ourselves?

These threads that I’ve followed have led to a deep and lifelong relationship with contemplative practice and study. They gave rise to a nine-year career as a songwriter and recording artist, an initiatory journey that brought me to the US as I sought to serve and realize a creative vision. They’ve accompanied me through a long apprenticeship in the art of supporting people on their own unique journeys: My first counseling training took place in 2002 at the age of 20 after I decided to join a yearlong person-centered counseling training program during my undergraduate days and then volunteered as a telephone counselor in Auckland, New Zealand. And they’ve motivated my studies and work within the broadly-defined categories of economics and systems.

Growing up in New Zealand, I had an abiding sense that life held profound potential, richness, and beauty. At the same time, my experience was one of feeling somehow disconnected from that potential—and eventually plagued by an underlying sense of despair, emptiness, and desperation. I think it was this combination that launched me wholeheartedly onto the journey of self-inquiry.

Until then, my deep interest in understanding the forces that shape our world and the potential for more life-supporting dynamics led me to a lifelong interest in political economy and my bachelor’s degree in economics and finance. I was also enthralled by the desire to create music that somehow expressed some of the beauty and vastness that I sensed. I found it challenging to balance these dual passions. I had set myself up for initial success in a more reliable setting—and I was excited about this—but as I neared the end of my final undergraduate year and prepared to enter graduate studies in 2003, I was finally able to muster the courage to follow what I felt was whispering to me somewhere in the depths of my being: continuing my fledgling adventure with music. As risky as it felt to follow, and as empty and confused as I felt somewhere inside myself at that time in my life, something told me that, somehow, this unknown and alluring path with music and the muse could reveal what I was searching for.

My ensuing journey as a songwriter and recording artist based first in Los Angeles and then in New York was closely entwined with my own personal journey of deep self-inquiry, contemplative practice, and transformative experiences. It was a potent mix of delving into the mysteries of creativity and the heart; walking an unknown and exhilarating path characterized by formidable challenges and opportunities; and meeting my deepest fears, wounds, and longings. This crucible crushed me and opened me, revealing a freedom and connection I had never known and which became the foundation upon which my life continued to unfold.

I was dedicated to following what I felt calling within, and I had assumed from all I had previously learned that discovering this core freedom and surrender would mark some kind of an “end” to the journey—some kind of point of arrival. However, the more I started to open to this space, the more alive with a kind of creative expression and love it seemed to become, and I realized that this was only the beginning of the real journey. Life became about exploring what it is to integrate essential discoveries of oneself and one’s nature with the lived experience of life in all its challenges and limitations and possibilities—an exploration of how to live in service to one’s deepest call and knowing and in participation with the creative process of what wants to be born. (By the way, I also found that there was—and is— still plenty for me to learn, integrate, heal, and grow into along the way!)

Over the past 20 years, I’ve created music; I’ve studied and trained; I’ve guided quests and developed programs; I’ve counseled and mentored; I’ve written and researched; and I’ve served in leadership positions for organizations active in economic and societal innovation, international social entrepreneurship, and mental health. But more than anything, I’ve followed (as well as I’ve been able) what I think of as life’s emergent quest—that endless, initiatory journey of soulful unfolding, of ongoing awakening and integration, of apprenticeship to life’s emergence and the evolving vision that calls, and of learning to embrace this precious life and live one’s authentic expression and connection in the world. I’ve experienced many of the great openings and opportunities as well as the challenges and pitfalls of walking this kind of path, and I consider myself a student who will always be learning and growing on this lifelong apprenticeship. I’m no stranger to grief, tragedy, and struggle, and I’m grateful to be able to say that neither am I a stranger to the awe-inspiring depths, grace, and vastness of this life of which we’re a part.

My artistic path and the way it supported my journey had been a true gift. Eventually, I found my directions expanding, and I sought formal training and studies in psychology and related disciplines to further my ability to support others in their journeys. After years of walking a richly emergent path and supporting others on walking their own paths, I now work with people through Emergent Inquiry and the Emergent Quest, Liberating the Natural Breath, and Soulcentric Psychotherapy. I’m moved by the incomparable value of traversing dark territories—the soul riches they reveal, the strength they forge, and the healing gifts they offer. I’m similarly inspired by the mystery of the larger intelligence and movement of life that weaves its way through each of our paths and invites us to dance with it. Ultimately, I endeavor to support people in increasingly discovering and living from their inherent freedom and wholeness and from a place of deepening purpose, soulful alignment, and intimacy with life.

To be invited to accompany someone on their journey is a great privilege, and it is with this sense of reverence that I approach the opportunity to work with someone as a guide, facilitator, or psychotherapist. It’s an opportunity for us to come into contact with the deeper currents of your life, to tend to what seeks your awareness, and to turn toward what is beckoning, all while honoring the natural pace of your rhythm and this particular moment in your journey. By bringing ourselves to this process, we can more fully honor not only the evolutionary dynamics of our own path, but also the larger dynamics in which we participate through our relationships, our work, and our place in culture and in the world. It’s not always easy to live from the ever-emerging wholeness of who we are, given the present state of our world and culture. Yet I believe that it is by orienting toward the greater conversation with life and with soul that whispers to us, toward the murmurs of what wants to be born in and through us, that we can most authentically serve our own unfolding as well as the known and unknown lives we touch. It is with this understanding that I accompany people through the challenging and beautiful passages of their lives.

Upper photo location: Brooklyn, New York.

Lower photo location: Durham, North Carolina (credit: Rebecca Downs)