Our instructor, for this last Saturday class, suggested that this lecture on how human beings grow and develop could have been called, “Cognitive and Psychological Development in Spiritual Growth”. I’ll admit that it was another beautiful day, as well as a Saturday, and I was not looking forward to being inside all day. However, the instructor had my attention after this, and it turns out that in the interest of full disclosure she admitted that her co-instructor for the day was also her husband.
She went on to say that the more we understanding about how we develop as human beings, the more we can understand how to cooperate with our God. The more we understand others, especially the fact that being different is just that, it is not wrong, the easier it will be to work with our differences. It’s important to recognize that it’s our differences that enrich the Body of Christ. As described in 1 Corinthians 13:11 we change over time. Each of us would agree that our understanding of God is not the same as when we were children. However, it is not enough to say that people change over time, it is important to recognize and understand the patterns of psychological growth.
Piaget separated the stages of cognitive development into four basic levels. 1) Sensorimotor is between the ages of 0 to 1.5 years during which we are gaining a sense of the world around us. 2) Pre-operational is between the ages of 2 to 6 years during which we are gaining an understanding of the world around us. 3) Concrete operational is between the ages of 7 to 12 years during which we are building relationships in the world around us. 4) Formal operational is from 13 on during which we gain an understanding of the relationships in the world around us.
Erikson further separated the stages of physical development, and suggested that psychological and social development is triggered by psychosocial crisis. If the crisis is handled in a positive way it becomes a virtue, and if it’s handled in a negative way it becomes a danger. It is also epigenetic, which means that each change in who we are builds on the last.
1) Infancy includes the ages of 0 to 2 years during which we are absolutely dependent on others. During this period we develop trust in the people and the world around us. The virtue is hope and the danger is withdrawal. 2) Early childhood includes the ages of 2 to 3 years during which we are beginning to differentiate ourselves from our parents and developing independence. The virtue is self-will and the danger is compulsion (or it’s opposite, impulsivity).
3) Play age includes the ages of 3 to 5 years during which we are developing direction. The virtue is purpose and the danger is inhibition. 4) School age includes the ages of 6 to 12 years during which we are developing skills and abilities. The virtue is competence and the danger is inertia (inability to make changes in our lives). 5) Adolescence includes the years of 12 to 18 years during which we are developing our own identity. The virtue is fidelity and the danger is role repudiation.
6) Young adulthood includes the ages of 18 to 35 years during which we are developing intimate relationships. The virtue is love and the danger is exclusivity. 7) Adulthood includes the ages of 35 to 65 years during which we are developing a sense of service for others. The virtue is care and the danger is rejection of others. 8) Old age is from 65 years on during which we are developing connections across space and time, and gaining an acceptance of our life as it has been. The virtue is wisdom and the danger is distain.
While studying Piaget and Erikson, James Fowler found himself wondering how these developmental stages might affect our understanding of faith. He began by defining religion as structure, belief as a cognitive process, spirituality as interrelational, and faith as participation in religion. He believed that for someone to hold certain religious beliefs there must be an experience of spirituality. He also understood faith to be a person’s experience of self and others, as well as the world, which is related to and affected by the ultimate conditions of existence (ultimate concerns), which in turn shapes the person’s life, purpose, meaning, trust, and loyalties.
1) Undifferentiated faith is between the ages of 0 to 2 years during which we build the seeds of trust and mutuality. It includes the origins of our earliest images of God. The danger is a failure to form relationships. The transition trigger (to the next level) is language and thought (symbols in speech and play). 2) Intuitive-Projective faith is between the ages of 2 to 6 years during which we take the first steps in self-awareness, beginning to understand that there is a world around us. However at this stage it’s an imaginative world, it is not a logical understanding of the world. The strength is imagination and the danger is images of terror. The transition trigger is the beginnings of concrete operational thinking, wanting to know what is real.
3) Mythic-Literal faith is between the ages of 8 to adolescence during which we tell stories that have a literal interpretation. We’re able to see others perspectives but we are not yet reflective or abstract. The strength is story, drama, and myth and the danger is control or perfectionism. The transition trigger is story contradictions that lead to reflection.
4) Synthetic-Conventional faith is between the ages of adolescence to early adulthood during which we develop a personal faith. We orient ourselves in the world, conforming to a faith without looking outside. We hold beliefs deeply, but we are still not self-reflective. The strength is forming personal myth (stories) and meaning and the danger is fear and loss of autonomy. The transitional triggers are serious clashes or contradictions, such as changes in the sacred and "unchangeable" issues of our lives and religion. These experiences calling for critical reflection about one's faith might be a death in the family or the process of leaving home.
5) Individuative-Reflective faith is between the ages of young adulthood to adult (30s or 40s) during which we create an identity separate from others, with internal values and focus rather than on the values of others. We have a more self-aware world view and we are aware that it's only one view or one perspective. This age also includes a demythologizing or reshaping of our mythical stories. The strength is critical self-reflection and the danger arrogance of critical thought. The transitional trigger is being restless with our self-image or outlook, and paying attention to inner "voices" or inner personalities such as our conscious. It can also be stories, symbols, and myths that break or interrupt the neatness of our faith, or becoming disillusioned with compromises and recognizing a deeper complexity in life.
6) Conjunctive faith is an integrated or inclusive faith from adulthood on during which we integrate the unconscious and symbols of tradition. During this time we reclaim and rework our past recognizing a sort of "social unconsciousness" and how it has influenced our perspectives. It might be called the "sacrament of defeat" as we accept the times when things didn't go quite right, and we develop a new openness to other possibilities. The strength is ironic imagination and the danger is passivity or cynicism. The transitional trigger is the tension between the world as it is and a transforming vision of what it could or should be.
7) Universalizing faith is rare, because it requires movement beyond ambiguity to a universal inclusiveness of community, and the kind of radical commitment made by people such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Thomas Merton, and Mother Teresa. It can be seen as subversive to the existing order because it challenges the narrow visions of religion. The danger is that followers will focus on the leader (do to charisma, authority, and or ruthlessness) rather than on the vision. The people who are at this level are not "perfect" or "self-actualized", but have received a gift from God; it is not a conscious act. It’s not a choice of intent, but a call of God, and act of grace, and a demand of history.
Universalizing faith is not normative for all human beings. It is a dying to one's self to do the work of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit who resides in each of us, joining us with Jesus who is challenging us to love and to reach out to others, leading us to a faith that in turn leads us beyond all boundaries: It is the building of the Kingdom of God.
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