Spiritual Development
James Fowler used the term faith to broadly describe a trust and loyalty to a transcendent center of value and power, not a specific faith belief or religion (Horton-Parker & Brown, 2002). Fowler believed that the capacity for faith development was universal and cross-cultural. His model was hierarchical, but, like Kohlberg, he did not believe that all people reached the higher stages. Although some critics argue that some of his conclusions still lack empirical support (Parker, 2010), it is still a valuable model to consider.
In Chapter 14, we will delve more into spirituality. When people experience emotional pain, it impacts their faith, whether they define that as a religion or another system of beliefs, what Fowler refers to as ultimate reality. Pain brings up difficult existential questions, and when our clients live in it, their belief systems will likely change, possibly creating ripple effects in their families and communities. Therefore, understanding how these spiritual beliefs are developed is important to understanding the entire person. It also cues you about whether these beliefs are an area of strength or an area of challenge for your client. Regardless, it allows you to ethically, from a client- centered perspective, work on spiritual issues in therapy.
Fowler began with the Pre-stage: Undifferentiated Faith, which occurs in infancy. This stage is when seeds of trust, hope and courage compete with fears of abandonment. How tasks relating to physical, psychosocial and cognitive development are resolved will influence whether these seeds are hopeful, trusting and courageous or fearful, and thus will impact all future stages (Horton-Parker & Brown, 2002).
Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith happens in early childhood. This stage is when self-awareness emerges. According to Fowler's model, intuition guides the child’s understanding of their relationship to an ultimate reality, and their imagination fills in gaps in understanding (Horton-Parker & Brown, 2002). Imagination at this stage is unrestrained by logic (Erwin, 2001). Therefore, children who are still developing the verbal ability to express cognitions understand faith intuitively. When there is limited knowledge, cultural taboos or misconceptions, the child may develop terrifying fantasies. They project that faith concretely through scary fantasies when they do not understand. The moral task at this stage is understanding punishment and obedience and an egocentric understanding of what they get from social exchanges.
Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith occurs in middle childhood. In this stage, reality is literal, symbols are one-dimensional, and rules are considered real and concrete (Horton-Parker & Brown, 2002). They construct cause-and-effect perspectives to understand the world, which are incorporated into stories and myths (Erwin, 2001). In middle childhood, children are navigating peers, going to school and learning social roles. Children in this stage may not yet fully grasp hypothetical concepts.
Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith occurs in adolescence. Adolescents attempt to understand social relationships while determining morality through social approval and later based on rules and external authorities. In this stage of faith development, they also use the qualities they have experienced in personal relationships to understand the value and power of an ultimate reality.
The next stage occurs in young adulthood. Stage 4: Individuative- Reflective Faith is when self-identity and personal worldviews start to become differentiated from others, and young adults form their own interpretations of ultimate reality (Horton-Parker & Brown, 2002). This stage is marked by critical reflection as an awareness of the complexity of life arises. This may be a time of disillusionment with previous beliefs. As young adults are valuing intimate relationships and merging families, beliefs that were comfortably unquestioned before may now be examined through a new perspective. Higher education, friendships not influenced by parents and career values may also create the friction that adds to differentiation. This may not be a despairing disillusionment, though. They are in Piaget’s Formal Operations stage, and have the capacity to consider things that could be. Many young adults enjoy this new freedom and exposure to new ideas. Others find that their previous beliefs are solidified, but as personal, not external, beliefs.
In mid-life, Fowler describes the Conjunctive stage as a time of integrating unrecognized issues from the past, a time when the past is reclaimed and reworked to create new meaning. During this stage, heightened spiritual revelations are possible. This is when adults are heavily invested in the generation before and behind and coping with illness and deaths in friends and families. A seriousness arises as they seek to cultivate an identity and meaning for others (Erwin, 2001). They are trying to meet Erikson’s challenge ofgen- erativity vs. stagnation. Moral development, if they have developed past the need for social approval, is usually with an internal sense of right or wrong that is less concerned with what they get in return.
Stage 6: Universalizing Faith is the final stage of faith development. This stage is rarely achieved, but when it is, it is marked by extreme compassion and may involve martyrdom for faith. Those that reach this stage are often more appreciated after death. It corresponds with Kohlberg’s Stage 6, where a concern for universal ethics for all people occurs.
