Development and growth. Spiritual experiences can be transformative in themselves, but how do we understand our own spiritual development and growth? The spiritual dimension of life is more than just random experiences but leads us to develop and integrate spiritual experiences in ways to make our lives full and rich.
The following is a written version of this blog posting.
What does it mean to grow spiritually? Or to develop spiritually? Is it going deeper? Or maybe going higher? Or transcending? All these terms that try to describe a similar process can be confusing. There is a model of spiritual growth and development that’s not familiar to many people, but it’s a paradigm that is easy to understand and makes sense.
Of course, there are various models of spiritual growth and development. Teresa of Avila used the metaphor of a series of castles. Long before her, John Climacus described that process as climbing the rungs of a ladder. Psychologist William Fowler described a series of stages in faith development. While these models have merit and address something of the richness of spiritual growth and development, they make the process seem more complicated than it needs to be for most people.
A simple description of spiritual growth and development is rooted in many writings of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Some writers understand it as three progressive stages. Perhaps it would be better to understand this model as three stages that are cyclic and something of a spiral. Perhaps they are more like three sides or facets of the experience of spiritual development. We’re likely to move back and forth among them.
As a starting point, imagine that a person has some sort of spiritual experience. The person finds themselves illuminated or inspired by something. Because of that experience, the person feels more alive. With that, the person wants to live a better life. The person wants to do better, to be kinder, happier, more compassionate, and so forth. This is one facet or dimension of spiritual development and growth. Spiritual experience evokes within us to desire to become a better person and to live in ways that are positive. That’s a wonderful thing.
Another dimension or facet of spiritual development and growth is that we find ourselves connected to nature, to the cosmos, and to other people and creatures. Perhaps our spiritual experience is related to nature, like experiencing awe at sunset or contemplating the universe while gazing at the night sky. Increasingly, we experience ourselves as becoming more united with other people, the earth, and the cosmos. Our growth takes us beyond ourselves and our own lives to a deeper connection with all life. This is another facet of spiritual growth.
The third dimension is the experience of union and communion with the essence of life’s mystery beyond us. Yes, this is a deep connection with God, or Spirit, or whatever we understand is the Source of life and energy in the world. Generally, this connection begins in brief moments, but those moments grow. We can never exhaust them. That’s because God or the Eternal Mystery is more than we can experience or imagine even when we experience a deep sense of union and communion.
We sometimes mistakenly think that spirituality is all about this third dimension, the experience of union and communion with the Divine. But that’s only part of it. Without the other aspects, a focus on communion with the Divine can be an escapist preoccupation. It needs to be balanced with our desire to be better people as well as our growth in compassion and care for people and the world. It’s all of these things together that mark what it means to grow more and more fully in regard to the spiritual dimension of our lives.
Again, it’s not one facet over the other. Instead, it’s all of them together. Part of the wonder is that we can never exhaust our growth. We can always become better people. We can always become more compassionate toward others and the world. And we can always find greater union and communion with the mystery of life.