Changes

==Introduction==

==Introduction==

Twenty-two years ago I stumbled upon a life changing book.  It was “Stages of Faith” by James Fowler.  Fowler taught a form of developmental psychology to seminary students at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.  His vision was to train future pastors to recognize that any given congregation will include a variety of people with differing faith-structures.  The idea was to equip the church to accommodate as well as challenge each type of faith.  Fowler’s academic work is based on meticulously categorized interviews with thousands of people, each describing his or her own spiritual journey, and answering specific survey questions.  The result is that Fowler identifies six distinct stages of faith that are universally applicable, as it turns out, to any faith tradition.   

Twenty-two years ago I stumbled upon a life changing book.  It was “[[Stages of Faith]]” by [[James Fowler]].  Fowler taught a form of developmental [[psychology]] to seminary students at [[Emory University]]’s [[Candler School of Theology]].  His vision was to train future pastors to recognize that any given congregation will include a variety of people with differing faith-structures.  The idea was to equip the church to accommodate as well as challenge each type of faith.  Fowler’s academic work is based on meticulously categorized interviews with thousands of people, each describing his or her own spiritual journey, and answering specific survey questions.  The result is that Fowler identifies six distinct stages of faith that are universally applicable, as it turns out, to any faith tradition.   

Here in America we prefer to choose our beliefs from a menu, but the fact that faith develops in stages is not something you can simply choose to believe or not.  It’s one of those things like gravity that is not optional.  Anyone actively engaged in his or her own spiritual growth will inevitably grow upward through at least some of the six stages in a very specific order that will never vary.  And while the direction and order of the faith-stages are inviolable, one may not necessarily ever grow beyond a particular level.  Take a snapshot at any given church and you will find representatives of every stage.  Even a sample of people at the same point in life, say, all 40 year-olds, will represent different stages.  It was stunning to read the book because I was reading my own biography in a sense.  It was unequivocally clear to me at the time that I was in Fowler’s fifth stage.  I had experienced a number of “dark nights of the soul” on the way to that stage and for the first time I fully understood the underlying process.   

Here in America we prefer to choose our beliefs from a menu, but the fact that faith develops in stages is not something you can simply choose to believe or not.  It’s one of those things like gravity that is not optional.  Anyone actively engaged in his or her own spiritual growth will inevitably grow upward through at least some of the six stages in a very specific order that will never vary.  And while the direction and order of the faith-stages are inviolable, one may not necessarily ever grow beyond a particular level.  Take a snapshot at any given church and you will find representatives of every stage.  Even a sample of people at the same point in life, say, all 40 year-olds, will represent different stages.  It was stunning to read the book because I was reading my own biography in a sense.  It was unequivocally clear to me at the time that I was in Fowler’s fifth stage.  I had experienced a number of “dark nights of the soul” on the way to that stage and for the first time I fully understood the underlying process.   

Ten years later I discovered Ken Wilber.  I had heard of Wilber long before that but finally decided to read some of his books.  Wilber is something the world hasn’t seen since the ancient Greeks—a full-time self-supporting philosopher who achieved a categorical breakthrough.  Like Fowler, Wilber sees life unfolding in stages but expands stage theory to a cosmic scale.  There is actually a direct connection between the two men as Wilber often cites Fowler in his own work.  Wilber covers a universe of topics in his opus but we will focus here on what he has to say about spiritual growth.  He goes well beyond Fowler in this line of thought.

Ten years later I discovered [[Ken Wilber]].  I had heard of Wilber long before that but finally decided to read some of his books.  Wilber is something the world hasn’t seen since the ancient Greeks—a full-time self-supporting philosopher who achieved a categorical breakthrough.  Like Fowler, Wilber sees life unfolding in stages but expands stage theory to a cosmic scale.  There is actually a direct connection between the two men as Wilber often cites Fowler in his own work.  Wilber covers a universe of topics in his opus but we will focus here on what he has to say about spiritual growth.  He goes well beyond Fowler in this line of thought.

 

Wilber may copyright his books but not his philosophy.  He works in collaboration with many others.  He acknowledges that his role is that of a compiler of the work and thought of hundreds of others from Tibetan gurus, to German philosophers, to Harvard researchers.  Wilber's 10% contribution has been to provide the glue that pulls together the history of the twin human quests for truth and for meaning into a single unified vision; a “philosophy of everything.”  Yes, I know…we’ve all tried to do that!  But Wilber does seem to have made a major breakthrough in unifying diverse fields of thought.  The scope of his writing is vast and there is much we could say regarding his social and political thought, his philosophy of science, and his taxonomy of the entire universe, but my purpose here will be limited to presenting a brief but clear introduction to Wilber as spiritual guide.  I believe there are three key concepts involved:  quadrants, stages,  and states.

==QUADRANTS==

==QUADRANTS==