At ChristChurch, Clarendon Park, for the third session in the course, "Mindfulness". This eight-week course is an interfaith opportunity presented by Christians Aware (as part of its Faith Awareness programme) in association with Leicester Serene Reflection Meditation Group.
Our topic this evening is "Wisdom and the Concept of 'Stages of Faith'", facilitated by Ian Grayling and Kevin Commons, from the Serene Reflection Group.
To quote Bob Dylan (not something I
often do, faithful reader) "I'm not there". At the time of this meeting, I'm
swanning around the Frederick Gore
Retrospective III at The
Gallery in Cork Street, London, being mistaken for an internationally successful documentary
film producer (really - you had to be there).
So thanks to Kevin Commons for sending me
notes of this evening's session, so I could maintain the blog for the
course.
Ian Grayling begins the session by inviting responses from attendees, who'd been left at the end of the last session to consider aspects of their faith and its history that demonstrate "spiritually intelligent or spiritually dumb behaviour." The principal issue arising from this discussion was that there had been plenty of examples of spiritually dumb behaviour exhibited by key figures or institutional bodies within the faith traditions represented in the group. Elaboration of this point comes with reference to failure to recognise the interdependence of humanity and an attachment to independence.
Kevin then introduces the main topic of the evening, looking at James Fowler's Stages of Faith, which are as follows:
- Stage 0 "Primal or Undifferentiated" faith (birth to 2 years), is characterised by an early learning of the safety of their environment (i.e. warm, safe and secure vs. hurt, neglect and abuse).
- Stage 1 "Intuitive-Projective" faith (ages of three to seven), is characterized by the psyche's unprotected exposure to the Unconscious.
- Stage 2 "Mythic-Literal" faith (mostly in school children), stage two persons have a strong belief in the justice and reciprocity of the universe, and their deities are almost always anthropomorphic.
- Stage 3 "Synthetic-Conventional" faith (arising in adolescence) characterized by conformity.
- Stage 4 "Individuative-Reflective" faith (usually mid-20s to late 30s) a stage of angst and struggle. The individual takes personal responsibility for their beliefs and feelings.
- Stage 5 "Conjunctive" faith (mid-life crisis) acknowledges paradox and transcendence relating reality behind the symbols of inherited systems.
- Stage 6 "Universalising" faith, or what some might call "enlightenment".
An atmosphere of quite reflection builds up as individuals consider whether the material presented is justified by their own spiritual journey. The plenary discussion which follows suggests that what Fowler has to say strikes a chord with many people.