The Stages of Spiritual Growth

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The Stages of Spiritual Growth

By M. Scott Peck, M.D.
Abridged by Richard Schwartz

The following except from The Different Drum (pages 187-203) by M. Scott Peck, MD, was selected for our website both for its clarity in describing spiritual stages we go through and for its insight into understanding both ourselves and others in relationship to these stages. It also helps illuminate why there can be no single "spiritual formula" that we can apply to every individual. I should point out that Zen, Buddhism's mystical path, begins at Stage IV as described by Dr. Peck, and that many who are seeking to enter Zen's precincts will be found in Stage III. Scott Peck died Sept. 25, 2005 at his home on Bliss Road in Warren, Conn. at age 69. He left us with a vast collection of writings on subjects pertaining to spirituality and psychology and culture. A list of his books can be found by clicking here.

-- Chuan Zhi Shakya

Just as there are discernible stages in human physical and psychological growth, so there are stages in human spiritual development. The most widely read scholar of the subject today is James Fowler of Emory University, the writer of Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. But I first came to an awareness of these stages through my own personal experience.

The first of these experiences occurred when I was fourteen and began attending Christian churches in the area. I was mainly interested in checking out the girls but also in checking out what this Christianity business seemed to be about. I chose one particular church because it was only a few blocks down the street and because the most famous preacher of the day was preaching there. It was in the day before the "electronic church," but this man's every sermon was broadcast over almost every radio frequency across the country. At fourteen I had no trouble spotting him as a fraud. On the other hand, up the street in the opposite direction was another church with a well-known minister--not nearly as famous as the first but still probably among the top thirty in the Who's Who of preachers of the day--a Presbyterian named George Buttrick. And at age fourteen I had no trouble spotting George Buttrick as a holy man, a true man of God. What was I to think of this with my young brain? Here was the best known Christian preacher of the day, and as far as I could discern at age fourteen, I was well ahead of him. Yet in the same Christian religion was George Buttrick, who was obviously light years ahead of me. It just didn't compute. So I concluded that this Christianity business didn't make any sense, and I turned my back on it for the next generation.

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(Since this doesn't headline one the home page, I don't imagine we're going to get a good cross-section of the membership.)

Wow, what a dead thread.

Yes, very dead. What makes these stages necessarily ideal descriptors though? They don't seem to necessarily be scientifically falsifiable or verifiable? After all, who can claim with all certainty the law of spiritual development in all people? In all honesty, I will not make a single claim on my stage. Am I a conscientious stage 1? An instable stage 2? An anti-social stage 3? A twisted stage 4? Would a person necessarily know what stage they belong to? Can anyone else outside of that person really be more certain? I am in an odd mood though I suppose. Why don't you enlighten us MrMark as to where your spirit rests as I have noted that nobody has voted.

Pseudoscience is fun!

Well, if we let Peck's stages stand for the sake of argument, I'd say I'm definitely in Stage I. I would guess it would be quite difficult for an aspie to crawl out of S1, given our social problems. Too much preoccupation with self would prevent us from really coming round to S3 or S4.

However, I don't think in terms of spirituality in my life, and I'm admittedly prettyself centered, so I don't know the answer.