Q & R: Four Stages by what name?
Here’s the Q:
Our Adult Sunday school class is preparing to study your Four Stages of Faith; Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity and Humility based on your presentation by the same name. After buying a copy of “Naked Spirituality” I noticed that the Humility stage appears to have been renamed to Harmony.
Is this a refinement of your thinking or am I looking at two different things?
Here’s the R:
I’ve been developing the four stages concept for over twenty years. I originally called Stage Four maturity, but that presented problems because it suggested people should rush through the first three to get there asap. That, of course, is counterproductive because there are important skills and lessons for each stage that shouldn’t be rushed. Then I changed the name to humility because humility is a hallmark of the fourth stage. But some years ago I started calling it harmony because it involves integrating strengths and aptitudes developed in the first three stages – and because people in stage four are more interested in seeking harmony with others. The containers haven’t changed – but the labels have. Thanks for the good question!