The five stages of spiritual growth..... according to Scott Peck

[Cheswick2.0]

http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/stages.html

Since there is so much discussion of religion here and so much concern about who is and is not a "Christian", I thought I would share what I believe to be one of the best analysis of spiritual growth that I have ever read.



******************************************************

STAGE I:

Chaotic, Antisocial. Frequently pretenders; they pretend they are loving and pious, covering up their lack of principles. Although they may pretend to be loving (and think of themselves that way), their relationships with their fellow human beings are all essentially manipulative and self-serving. <more>



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STAGE II:

Formal, Institutional, Fundamental. Beginning the work of submitting themselves to principle-the law, but they do not yet understand the spirit of the law, consequently they are legalistic, parochial, and dogmatic. They are threatened by anyone who thinks differently from them, as they have the "truth," and so regard it as their responsibility to convert or save the other 90 or 99 percent of humanity who are not "true believers." They are religious for clear cut answers, with the security of a big daddy God and organization, to escape their fear of living in the mystery of life, the mystery of uncertainty in the ever moving and expanding unknown. <snip>

There is a Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, mentality (one-sided thinking - ignorance that produces hostility) in every religion, the one-sidedness, in every ideology. Christianity cannot be condemned as responsible for the fundamentalists who claim to represent such. One just has to look at Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King, Jr. to see the opposite of such thinking.

<much more about this stage>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STAGE III:


Skeptic, Individual, questioner, including atheists, agnostics and those scientifically minded who demand a measurable, well researched and logical explanation. Although frequently "nonbelievers," people in Stage III are generally more spiritually developed than many content to remain in Stage II. Although individualistic, they are not the least bit antisocial. To the contrary, they are often deeply involved in and committed to social causes. They make up their own minds about things and are no more likely to believe everything they read in the papers than to believe it is necessary for someone to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior (as opposed to Buddha or Mao or Socrates) in order to be saved. They make loving, intensely dedicated parents. <much more>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STAGE IV:


Mystic, communal. Out of love and commitment to the whole, using their ability to transcend their backgrounds, culture and limitations with all others, reaching toward the notion of world community and the possibility of either transcending culture or -- depending on which way you want to use the words -- belonging to a planetary culture. They are religious, not looking for clear cut, proto type answers, but desiring to enter into the mystery of uncertainty, living in the unknown. The Christian mystic, as with all other mystics, Sufi and Zen alike, through contemplation, meditation, reflection and prayer, see the Christ, Gods indwelling Spirit or the Buddha nature, in all people, including all the Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and so forth, recognizing the connectedness of all humanity with God, never separating oneself from others with doctrine and scripture, recognizing that all scripture acts as fallible pointers of inspiration, unable to capture the essence of truth outside of both human perception and the linguistic straight jacket of language and articulation, that is, the words of fallible men who experienced the nature of God, that of their inner true self, and attempted to record their experience in human words, words constrained by the era of time they were written in that became compromised the moment they were penned and are further removed from objectivity when interpreted by us, fallible men and women who read them.
<more>
********************************************************

And the author goes on to talk about how people of these different stages fit into community with each other. It is a very interesting piece.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. It is interesting

what he says on mystics. But he left out one element-direct spiritual experience, which is the goal of mystics I know. From my experience, people on this path, no matter what their label (Christian, Sufi, Native American, Buddhist, etc)all tend to get along and understand one another, namely because they have all had some sort of mystical experience.

[Cheswick2.0]

3. Click on the link and read the whole article

He talks a bit about the myystical experience and says basicall what you just said, that stage IV people are the same no matter what religion.
He also talks about how we keep parts of the person we were/are in each stage so that we can call on that part when needed.

I found his book, "The Road Less Traveled" many years ago and also really enjoyed "People of The Lie".

[NMDemDist2]

5. People of the Lie sums up the repubs doesn't it?

I recommend it highly

[Cheswick2.0]

6. The leadership certainly

The story I always remember from that book is the one about the boy whose parents give him the gun his brother committed suicide with. Then they wondered why he was depressed. I have been related through marriage to people like that.

[cvoogt]

2. may be of interest

this is perhaps tangential, but there is a mystic text known as the Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, by Baha'u'llah. It describes the stages of spiritual growth quite well in my opinion, and I think many people can draw something from it.

Here's a link:

http://bahai-library.com/writings/bahaullah/sv/

[Cheswick2.0]

4. Thanks, going to read that now.

[bicentennial_baby]

7. His niece teaches at my college

cool

[sweetheart]

8. I presume the 5th is enlightenment

I count 4 in the article. I like the koan of saying 5 and
describing 4. Presumably, 5 is direct awakening to unity
beyond language, and the proxy of description.

[Cheswick2.0]

9. actually no, I made a mistake..there are four stages

[AnIndependentTexan]

10. I believe I might be in Stage 4

I'm a old school philosopher and have been learning by observing life. The unity of the spirit is not the knowledge of the past. If you try to reach a direct awakening then you'll never find it. To live as a human one must first understand what living truly is.

It is through life that we see the present. It is through life that the future is forged. The past is only a reference of what we have become. The present is the test and trails. The results are what create the past. By observing life we become that life. If you wish to gain knowledge you must first live your life.

[Cheswick2.0]

12. "If you wish to gain knowledge you must first live your life."

That is certainly true.

I think the most interesting part of this theory is that is explains the differences between fundamentalists and intellectualy spiritual people.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. 5 Thomas Merton and me