Trying to grasp the elusive
Some models that were added during the work with my ex-work to become a psychologist. None of the pictures (and no one else either) were included in the finished one the essay.
Fowler, Summary (29 Apr 2014)
"Faith Development Theory" - James Fowler
• Born in 1940
• Methodist priest
• Studied developmental psychology at Harvard (met Erikson and Kohlberg)
• The book "Stages of Faith" (1981)
• 359 interviews, 3-84 years, Christian, 98% white
• Builds on Piaget and Kohlberg
• 7 levels of "faith" development
Basic ideas
• You cannot understand stages of faith that you have not experienced yourself
• When a stage comes to an end, it is because it is a way of creating meaning in existence that no longer works
• Not everyone reaches all the stages, even if you get very old
0
• Small children
• "The first fundamental belief", trust
• Upper limit when language develops, but lower?
• The interaction with the parents leaves traces that will later mark one's spirituality
1
• 3-7 years
• "The intuitive, projective faith"
• The child can walk and run, the world expands
• Imagination tries to fill in gaps and create context. Pre-logical.
• Egocentric. Don't know of any other perspectives
• When asked what children are afraid of, they say bears, lions, monsters. Without having seen them! But in the imagination they exist…
• The child does not have his impulses, it IS in them
2
• School age
• "The mythical, literal faith"
• Starting school, learning the difference between fantasy and reality, cause and effect
• "Imagination can be used when playing, but reality always applies otherwise"
• Understands that other people see things their way
• Stories are important. The child is "on the boat", cannot see from the shore
• Can see what is morally right. "Deed justice"
• God is now "anthropomorphic", previously was so and so
• Has his impulses, but IS his interests and needs
• Becomes manipulative, to get their needs met
3
• The teenage years
• "The unifying, conventional faith"
• Has an ideology, but is unaware of it
• It has been discovered how many perspectives there are
• You can begin to see yourself through the eyes of others
• You know what you believe in, but the opinions have something "obvious" about them. Everyone should understand that!
• Lack of ability to perceive "systems": Groups are only the sum of the parts
• You cannot separate symbols from what they symbolize. The symbols themselves are sacred, not what they represent. Therefore, they must be preserved
• A way of thinking that can create context, and unite what pulled in different directions
4
• Young adult
• "The own, well-thought-out faith"
• The hardest step to take (many remain at level 3)
• The authority must move from "the others" to oneself
• A thinking that can keep apart, differentiate. Not primarily preserve.
• It is understood that ideologies have a history, a context
• Doubt and skepticism, "demythologising", superstition of thought, can become superficial and lonely
• Distinguishes between the symbol as shape and what it "means"
• Live in the tension between the group and oneself
• Can you live with the relative? Is there anything absolute?
5
• The average age
• “The binding faith”
• Not many reach this level, according to Fowler
• "That you can see context in what appears as opposites and that you can live with paradoxes"
• "You have within yourself unknown layers, which in inexplicable ways determine your way of life"
• Perceptions are not only "relative", ie incorrect, but also "related" to the truth
• “A second naivety” (primarily refers to level 0-2?)
• "One longs to get close to what is different in oneself, in other people and in God"
• Danger: Paradoxicality leads to paralyzing passivity, even cynicism
• "Unusual before mid-life, Stage 5 knows the sacrament of defeat and the reality of irrevocable commitments and acts. What the previous stage struggled to clarify, in terms of boundaries of self and outlook, this stage now makes porous and permeable. Alive to paradox and the truth in apparent contradictions, this stage strives to unify opposites in mind and experience.”
fowler
• "The strength of this stage comes in the rise of the ironic imagination - a capacity to see and be in one's or one's group's most powerful meanings, while simultaneously recognizing that they are relative, partial and inevitably distorting apprehensions of transcendent reality."
fowler
6
• Old age, very rare
• "The all-embracing, total faith"
• Universal, cosmic anchoring
• Often they are killed by their own, and recognized only after their death
• Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Dag Hammarskjöld, (Christ?)
• Has overcome the split unity from level 5 and "became whole by fully living and trying to realize his vision" (cf.: "fanatic", level 2-3?)
• Made a "Copernican turn" - the world now more important than the self.
• "The self has stepped back as man's epistemological and value-giving center and presented the principle of being as its center"
• "You begin to fight against the evil that exists both in your own heart and in the society around you, but you never use weapons that can harm anyone"
• "They also become uncomfortable for anyone who considers themselves willing to fight for change with reasonable, practical means"
• "Considers themselves as parts of a larger reality, a reality that transcends themselves and their own lives"
• They have something "infectious and attractive" about them (more active than level 5), easily become carriers of the "messianic hope". They live as if the longed-for is already reality.
• "With their lives, they create zones of liberation and reconciliation in the world in a way that is both threatening and liberating for the rest of us."
(Citat från Göran Bergstrand, 1990) Criticism of Fowler
• Interviewed almost only white Christians
My own criticism or my own question marks
• His model is worse at differentiating between levels of individualistic, "holistic" spirituality. (Power to act and being able to act yourself is overemphasized.)
• On a deeper level, this criterion is certainly also suitable for the new spirituality, but at least superficially this describes an attitude that occurs everywhere within the new spirituality, at all levels
• Difficult to differentiate between having "taken one's vision seriously" (level 6) and "fanaticism" (level 3)
• Why?
• On a deeper level, this criterion is certainly also suitable for the new spirituality, but at least superficially this describes an attitude that occurs everywhere within the new spirituality, at all levels
• Difficult to differentiate between having "taken one's vision seriously" (level 6) and "fanaticism" (level 3)
• Why?
Transpersonal ps, etc
Humanistic psychology, with prominent figures such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers?, arose among other things as a reaction against reductionism within both psychoanalysis and behaviourism. The view of such things as "spiritual experiences" was one of the areas where it was felt that contemporary psychology had too narrow a framework.
Abraham Maslow was interested in people's so-called "peak experiences", which possibly overlap with what the respondents talk about and think about. Maslow thought he could distinguish a category of individuals he called "self-actualized":
“In a brief summary, the most important characteristics of self-actualizing people can be said to be the following: A more accurate perception and acceptance of reality, including human nature; spontaneity, a healthy appreciation and creativity in everyday activities; relative isolation from the immediate physical and social environment and from culture at large; deeper, more satisfying personal relationships, most likely with a small number of other self-actualized people; strong feelings of identification and sympathy with all other people; democratic (non-authoritarian) character structure; non-hostile, philosophical humor; centering around problems outside themselves that reflect a broad set of values; clear moral and ethical principles consistently applied and an experience of dissolving prominent dichotomies and opposites.” (from Maslow, 1970; ref in Wulff, p.521)
This branch of humanistic psychology has now been transferred to what is today called Transpersonal Psychology (ooooo?). As the name suggests, representatives of this branch of psychology imagine a higher instance in the psyche, "beyond the personality".
Lukoff & Co
Some believe that there are experiences that risk being judged as, for example, psychotic reactions or such illness, which have a different etiology and often a different (more favorable) prognosis. Prior to the work on DSM-4, the psychiatrist Lukoff presented several arguments that in a future version of the manual it should be possible to differentiate these experiences. And mixed forms (Lukoff).
(Lukoff, ?) More pathologizing or dismissing in DSM-3. Better in DSM-4 (who writes about that? Rizzuto?) Lukoff and colleagues worked to introduce a “Spiritual emergency” category in DSM-4, and partially succeeded
Assagioli.
An early representative of such a view was the Italian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Alberto Assagioli, who, like Carl Gustav Jung, early on studied with Sigmund Freud but eventually, partly due to a lack of consensus on spiritual matters, broke with him. In an interview in Psychology Today (December 1974), with one Sam Keen, Assagioli explains how his approach differs from Freud's:
"We pay far more attention to the higher unconscious and to the development of the transpersonal self. In one of his letters Freud said, 'I am interested only in the basement of the human being.' Psychosynthesis is interested in the whole building. We try to build an elevator which will allow a person access to every level of his personality. After all, a building with only a basement is very limited. We want to open up the terrace where you can sunbathe or look at the stars. Our concern is the synthesis of all areas of the personality. That means psychosynthesis is holistic, global and inclusive”
(http://synthesiscenter.org/articles/0303.pdf, page visited 2014-12-19).
Freud & the First Psychoanalysts (Rizzuto)
Sigmund Freud.
Freud has had a great influence on the view of people's religiosity. In the almost hundred years that have passed since his death, much has happened, in theory and in practice, but that it was not so easy for the first generations of psychoanalysts, Ana-Maria Rizzuto, herself an analyst, writes:
"Freud himself […] insisted that people should not need religion, called it a cultural neurosis, and set himself up as an example of those who could do without it. Intentionally or unintentionally, he gave the world several generations of psychoanalysts who, coming to him from all walks of life, dropped whatever religion they had at the doors of their institutes. If they refused to do so, they managed to dissociate their beliefs from their analytical training and practice, with the sad effect of having an important area of their lives untouched by their training. If they dealt with religion during their own analyses, that was the beginning of the end of it" (Rizzuto, åååå?, p4).
Winnicott.
(Winnicott, 1981/2003) “It [transitional object] originates from external reality from our point of view, but not from the child's. Nor does it come from inner reality; it is not a hallucination”, p. 25
(Jemstedt, 1993, in the preface to Winnicott) “The child's relation to the transitional object is a nascent ability to maintain a dialectical process, between union and separation, between the symbol and what it symbolizes, between inner and outer, etc., and this dialectic creates mental space .”
The subject of paradoxicality appears in Winnicott when he deals with the transitional area and the transitional object. He urges the adult world to be careful when they approach the child's relationship with the paradoxical. "I want to draw attention to the paradox contained in the child's use of what I have called transitional objects. My contribution is to request that this paradox be accepted, tolerated and respected, and that no attempt be made to resolve it. By resorting to a severed intellectual function it is possible to resolve the paradox, but the price of this resolution is the loss of the value of the paradox itself.” (Winnicott, 1981/2003, p. 16) Elsewhere in the same writing, he develops the theme further: “It [transitional object] originates from external reality from our point of view, but not from the child's. Nor does it come from inner reality; it is not a hallucination” (p. 25)
Winnicott really makes himself a spokesman for the paradox. In his book Play and reality, he returns to the subject again and again. There is more already in the preface, and the very last sentences of the afterword address this topic. That the paradoxical nature of the child's experience must be respected.
), then I content myself with pointing out that - regardless of how our childhood was - an emphasis on the concrete, the simple, in how we look at life, should be able to tempt the psyche so that certain problems arise that remind one of childhood unhappily founded such "true and false self-structure". I think this can be relevant when we discuss a thought system like NA and the attitude to existence that this can stimulate.
The limitations of objectivity.
"Furthermore, there are a large number of adults who never achieve a reliable capacity for objectivity, and those who are the most reliably objective often lack contact with the richness of their own inner world" (Winnicott, 2004, p.69)
Bio about "precision", etc...
"Negative capability".
"The negative capability" which is an ability to endure not knowing, to be uncertain (Stiller, 2007).
Email that arrived the same day we went up to Valsan. From Jules Evans' blog, on Joyce and Keats. About negative capability
"John Keats, who suggested the poet needs a negative capability in which they can experience the Sublime without 'an irritable reaching after fact and reason'" (Jules Evans blog, see ref!!)
The "mystic" in psychoanalysis
Wilfred Bion has a concept he calls "O", which seems to be his attempt to reserve or isolate a deepest aspect of the psyche.
Hans Reiland (yyyy?) writes about "the object berore the objects" as an instance, a deepest point of reference, which exists beyond the internal objects (e.g. guardians and others) that were added later.
Bollas is yet another psychoanalyst who, based on object relations theory, tries to discern a point of reference that should lie beyond the "inner objects" that have been established above all in relation to the caregivers. He speaks of this deeper foundation as "the transformative object" (ooooo?)
Deep religiosity in psychoanalytic light.
The atheist's "relationship with God"
(Jones, 1991) Jones, on how even the atheist has a relationship with God. When he asks his students, they can always answer how the god is "that they don't believe in". How does the neo-spiritual god compare. It may not even be a living "anti-god".
Psychoanalysis can provide a deeper understanding of religion/atheism.
PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION
"An individual's basic personality structure can only be understood if two specific and interacting psychological dimensions are taken into account: the personality structure developmental level and the type of defense that dominates at this developmental level. The first dimension indicates the extent of the individual, or the type of pathology that predominates in the person (psychotic, borderline, neurotic, 'normal'). The other indicates his or her personality type (paranoid, depressive, schizoid, etc.)” (McWilliams, p67)
McWilliams (1994/2005) states four levels of personality structure: psychotic, borderline, neurotic, and "normal" (p. 67)
See DSM-4. Does it have four levels? "Mature"?
Other models settle for three levels, with the neurotic level as the highest. But of course it is possible to differentiate also in such a level, one should be able to speak of a higher and a lower level of neuroticism. Neurotic and "mature neurotic"? A person with severe neurotic problems, who seeks help, and after, for example, a longer psychotherapeutic contact, has gained access to greater inner mobility, gained a greater ability to reflect on himself and has been freed from troublesome symptoms, can in any case be said to have reached a higher neurotic level.
PDM (2006) defines personality as: "relatively stable ways of thinking, feeling, behaving, and relating to others". (p17)
By "thinking" PDM refers to "not only one's belief systems and ways of making sense of self and others, but also one's moral values and ideals" (p17)
“[A] continuum of severity, from a relatively healthy to a very disturbed level of personality structure. This continuum is conventionally, if arbitrarily, divided into healthy, neurotic, and borderline ranges of personality organization, the borderline range extending from the border of neurotic character organization to the border of psychotic conditions.” It is important to point out that "borderline" in a psychiatric context, "Borderline personality disorder" (DSM) refers to a certain type of borderline, namely a more lived-out, dramatic form, which was originally delineated for research purposes (p.21). The psychodynamic concept is broader and, if you will, more universal. It stems from a time in our lives when it was actually normal to perceive and interact with the world in this characteristic, often simplistic way, and which remains as a capacity well into adulthood.
PDM does not include psychotic in its P axis ), as the research status is unclear. However, one differentiates between borderline at a higher level, and a lower level, which in some cases occurs together with psychotic or psychotic-like symptoms, such as concrete or overgeneralized thinking (p. 26). "Toward the psychotic end of the borderline spectrum" (p.29)
In addition to this, PDM states "neurotic" as well as "healthy" (p.27)
It is important to understand that "Psychotic" refers to a kind of preparedness, weakness or fragility, which means that the person in difficult situations will have a greater tendency to react with psychotic symptoms. Not that the person has manifest psychotic symptoms. It is, as I said, a level of personality structure.
“Personality is what one IS rather than what one HAS. It certainly comprises more than one can see by scrutinizing a person's behavior" (p17)
PDM points out that we can all display borderline or psychotic-like symptoms under severe stress (p20)
The term "borderline" was coined or conceptualized in the 1950s, for those patients who were too disturbed to properly fit the neurotic diagnosis, but were too grounded in reality to fit the psychotic diagnosis (p21)
Psychodynamically based research has arrived at three types of borderline, one that is closer to the psychotic, with a risk of psychotic breakthrough, a form similar to the one that the DSM rings in, and a third that the PDM describes as "over-ideational, characterized by social isolation and withdrawal, more likely to receive the DSM diagnosis of paranoid, schizoid, or obsessive personality disorder”. (p21).
PDM describes this as “a person's center of psychological gravity”, although it is emphasized that the other levels can be there as well (p23)
Psychoanalytic and other concepts
Sources div, kogn/ps
Sources
buxant
Buxant and colleagues (Buxant, et al, 2007, 2008, 2010) believe that even if the followers show a greater sensitivity, a greater fragility, which can possibly be understood against the background of their attachment experiences, this does not necessarily mean greater mental illness
Eckblad & Chapman (1983)
Magical Ideation Scale (Eckblad&Chapman, 1983) which, among other things, measures "magical and paranormal ideas and experiences".. High results on this test have also been correlated with the fact that the test subjects find it easy to make connections between words that really have nothing to do with each other .
Farias, M., Lalljee, M. (2008). Holistic Individualism in the Age of Aquarius: Measuring Individualism/Collectivism in New Age, Catholic, and Atheist/Agnostic Groups. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 47(2):277-289
??
Such an attitude is characterized by precisely a holistic worldview where "entities and events are connected in a way that defies modern rationalistic notions of causality" (Farias & Lalljee, 2008)
Magical thinking (new age doctrine can explain)
Farias and Lalljee (2008) point out that such a disposition for magical thinking can also be something that is emphasized and encouraged within a certain culture, eg new age, and that this can also explain results.
“I am a bridge”: Farias and L (2008)
In a study by Farias and Lalljee (2008), test subjects were asked to give twenty descriptions of themselves based on the question "Who am I?". New age followers then described themselves in an extremely individualistic and abstract way (eg "I am a bridge", "I am united", "I am an illusion"). The authors summarize this part of the study:
QUOTE!
(From the same study? Individuals with a collectivist orientation usually, when asked to describe themselves, do so with judgments that are concretely connected to their social reality (e.g. "I am a daughter", "I am a baker", etc.), while those with a more individualistic orientation use more abstract judgments about themselves (e.g. "I am cheerful"). )
Universalism/collectivism, Meta-analysis (Saroglou et al), 8000 people, different rel,
A meta-analysis (by Saroglou, Delpierre, & Dernelle, 2004, cited in Farias & Lalljee, 2008) brought together studies from 15 countries, which included more than 8000 test subjects, from various religious backgrounds, and the results showed that traditional religiosity correlates positively with various measures of collectivism. However, no relationship was found between religiosity and universalism, which may seem strange given that this may seem to be close to religious ideals. The authors try to explain this by saying that a collectivist orientation may limit itself to the well-being of one's own in-group in the first place (Farias & Lalljee, 2008).
Universalism = harmony
In the survey by Farias and Lalljee (2008), the New Age adherents scored higher than the two other groups on "Universialism". This concept emphasizes such things as harmony and equality (Farias & Lalljee, 2008)
Labexp with 100 points
Collectivism, ind, universalism: Farias and Lalljee (2008)
Individuals with a collectivist orientation usually, when asked to describe themselves, do so with judgments that are concretely connected to their social reality (e.g. "I am a daughter", "I am a baker", etc.), while those with a more individualistic orientation uses more abstract judgments about themselves (eg "I am cheerful").
Self-transcendence
In a study by Farias and Lalljee (2008), 159 people who were either Catholic, New Age adherents, or agnostic/atheist (53 from each group) were tested. The aim was to investigate whether the new age was really about an interest in self-transcendence or whether it is more a reinforcement of common individualistic and secular values and behaviours.
The New Age adherents, like the non-religious, were found to be both more individualistic and egocentric in their choices and motives compared to the religious, while those with a New Age orientation simultaneously had a universalist orientation. They shared some character traits with the traditionally religious, and some with the non-religious in the survey (Farias & Lalljee, 2008).
Individualism/Universalism
Why then is it individualism and not collectivism that is associated with such radical equality, as Farias and Lalljee ask themselves in this survey of, among others, Catholics and New Age adherents? (2008).
Farias, M & Granqvist, P. (2007). The Psychology of the New Age [in Handbook of New Age]
Both started with hypothesis
Granqvist and Farias focus on social psychology, personality psychology and developmental psychology aspects of new age (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007). They describe how they both began their research with the hypothesis that this group of spiritual would differ from traditional religiosity.
Schizotypy, etc., can be adaptive
Farias and Granqvist (2007) point out that even if some of the personality traits that followers show can also be adaptive, e.g. absorption, schizotypy, etc.
New age – equally rel & atheists
Give abstract answers
"Holistic individualism"
Research that Farias has done in the past has shown that in some respects new ageers have more in common with atheists, in a test group, than practicing Catholics. Eg degree of individualistic orientation. Most striking were the answers that emerged when doing a social-cognitive analysis of how the followers described themselves. They were asked to give twenty descriptions of themselves based on the question "Who am I?" The answers were analyzed according to how abstract or concrete they were, on the concrete side things that had physical and social descriptions. On the abstract side, one that had to do with psychic qualities. New ageare gave many more abstract answers than the other two groups. To the extent that they described themselves as a process, a metaphor or as part of a universal force. The term "holistic individualism" was coined as a term for this. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Flexible psyche
Förf refers to a lot of interesting research with relevance to the subject. But overall it can be said that it is about a kind of flexible psyche, creativity, which in some respects can be understood as along a scale from normality to psychosis. (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007). That a psyche that functions in this way can also be linked to a tendency towards or openness to magical or paranormal experiences.
Translimity
Different models have been presented to try to explain these results. "Translimity" which is about thoughts and feelings being able to travel between what is pre-conscious or sub-conscious, to being noticed by the conscious. A high degree of this has been shown to be correlated with psychic experiences and a belief in paranormal experiences. Different concepts that more or less seem to address the same thing: translimity, skinlessness, and walliness (thin and thick).. the latter Hartmann-91. A consequence of this type of sensitivity is summarized by the authors as: "This sense of connectedness is of a cognitive and emotive kind but does not extend into the interpersonal domain, as people with thin boundaries typically find it difficult to feel part of a group" p. 131 (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007) This agrees with the individualistic feature of the new age spirituality, according to Prof.
Thin boundaries
Everyday stories/"Same energies"
"The association between New Age practices and thin boundaries is particularly interesting, as this latter scale taps into a sense of social alienation, of not belonging to any particular group, a particularly associative thinking style, but also an emotional vulnerability or hypersensitivity" (Farias & Granqvist, 2007). Page?
In a study by Farias and Lalljee (2006, cited in Farias & Granqvist, 2007), test participants were asked to comment on some stories with everyday events based on the question: "How would you interpret this situation?" The stories could, for example, describe a meeting with a person who felt very familiar. Instead of suggesting that it was someone the test subject might run into at the store someday, or even that "God wanted us to meet," people with a New Age orientation explained situations like this using paranormal or supernatural arguments: " Our souls have probably met before”, or “We have the same energies that make us feel drawn to each other”.
"This sense of connectedness is of a cognitive and emotive kind but does not extend into the interpersonal domain, as people with thin boundaries typically find it difficult to feel part of a group" (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Cognitive loss
"Leakage from the preconscious" or reduced barriers against things coming into consciousness, has been called "cognitive looseness" (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Words instead of dots.
The same researchers have done research with words instead of dots and new age followers have then shown stronger semantic connections (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee?, yyyy?, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
"Dots"
Förf has also been able to confirm these findings in its own research. An interesting test concerns the degree to which the person perceives patterns and figures on a screen where a hundred points are projected in random order. New Age enthusiasts perceive more complex figures, simply. People with a more traditional religious orientation did not excel in this regard. (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007). The results indicate "presence of underlying structures which may dispose the individual to experience unusual perceptions and magical/paranormal beliefs and experiences" (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007).
Holistic individualism: Faras & Gr 2007
Research that Farias has done in the past has shown that in some respects new ageers have more in common with atheists, in a test group, than practicing Catholics. Eg degree of individualistic orientation. Most striking were the answers that emerged when doing a social-cognitive analysis of how the followers described themselves. They were asked to give twenty descriptions of themselves based on the question "Who am I?" The answers were analyzed according to how abstract or concrete they were, on the concrete side things that had physical and social descriptions. On the abstract side, one that had to do with psychic qualities. New ageare gave many more abstract answers than the other two groups. To the extent that they described themselves as a process, a metaphor or as part of a universal force. The term "holistic individualism" was coined as a term for this. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Everyday stories, “Same energies”: Farias and Gr (2007)
Granqvist and Farias (2007) have focused on social psychology, personality psychology and developmental psychology aspects of new age. They describe how they each began their research with the hypothesis that New Age adherents differ from adherents of more traditional religiosity or spirituality
Magical thinking
They experienced themselves as connected to "a larger universe of being" and yet this connection was very private and abstract, rather than "socially embedded". Another part of the survey then allowed the test subjects to describe a "highlight" in their lives, which was interpreted as either as an independent individual, or socially in cooperation. The New Ageer then reported twice as many "agency" as collaboration narratives. Furthermore, more of these stories were "ideas and feelings of being magically or paranormally empowered by a non-material force or entity". (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Universalism
In a survey (Farias, 2004; ref in Farias & Gr, 2007) they examined collectivist and individualist ideals in Catholics, atheists and new age-interested people. It turned out that New Age adherents emphasized individualism as highly as atheists, distinguishing themselves from Catholics in the survey. The former emphasized such things as independence and hedonism. The New Age followers also emphasized a universalism, which can be interpreted as tolerance, a concern for humanity and nature, p125 (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
"Unending connections"
The new age has a "their concern with the existence of an intimate connectedness between all things, visible and invisible." Karma and synchronicity, according to Jung, create “a virtually unending network of connections. In this way, every small trivial detail seems to be filled with meaning. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
"There is no coincidence"
The statement "there is no coincidence" causes the new ageer to look for magical connections between many things in their everyday life. New age adherents not only share certain beliefs, they seem to share a special cognitive trait and personality disposition that prompts them to seek meaningful connections between seemingly distant and unrelated things and events" (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Schizotypy, how to understand?
"Schizotypy" - characterized by magical thinking and unusual experiences. But how should schizotypy be understood? As a diagnosis, or as a spectrum from normal to pathology? Förf seems to have found the latter model most fruitful for his own research. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Healthy psychotism
Spiritual experiences. Fore ref to Claridge 2001 who developed thoughts about healthy psychotism. Like creativity... "spiritual experience which, like creativity, are an example of 'healthy psychotism', ie form of schizotypal personality which lies on the healthy side of the psychotic spectrum" (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007)
Absorption ("schizotypy light")
Light schizotypy and a lighter form of dissociation called "absorption", being able to be absorbed. (Far & Granqv, 2007)
Many change groups
Farias and Granqvist (2007) see a connection between the special cognitive features of the NA follower, and the fact that many change groups and activities without becoming attached or tying ties with a close network, as in traditional religious contexts (Farias & Granqvist, 2007 ).
Meet stranger
Faced with a story, a hypothetical situation to take a stand on, for example if they met a stranger who nevertheless felt familiar, the new ageer gave more magical answers than the atheist, but also than the Christian. The hypothesis was that the new ageer would give several magical answers ("Our souls have probably met before", "we have similar energies"), and it was true. The new ageer gave twice as many magical answers as everyday, natural answers ("We've probably met in town before") This leads the authors to formulate that the new ageer often has a
"highly associative cognitive style, which made them perceive events in their life in a tightly connected way (via supernatural forces or entities). (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
CONNECTION
Invisible agents, 6-year-olds
Kaplan (ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007) has found that infants who are classified with disorganized attachment, at the age of six, talk about child-parent separations with elements of "invisible agents". Mothers with disorganized attachment tend to attribute to their children such things as "psychic powers" and the possibility of being in contact with those who have died (George & Solomon, 1999, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Mothers, children "psychic powers"
Mothers with disorganized attachment tend to attribute to their children such things as "psychic powers" and the possibility of being in contact with those who have died (George & Solomon, 1999, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Desorg speech, astrology, omen
Researchers have also found that so-called "disorganized speech" in AAI interviews correlates with the interviewee reporting a variety of experiences and beliefs that are also found within the New Age, such as astrology, omens, contact with the dead, possession, telepathy and reincarnation (Hesse, 1999, ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Desorg talk, childhood
Farias & Granqvist (2007) refer to phenomena which can all be linked to a readiness to enter different degrees of dissociative states, namely disorganized attachment in infancy, disorganized talk in adulthood, and high values on the NAOS scale (see above) .
Privacy of thought, 6-year-olds
Research on 6-year-olds with ambivalent attachment (Main, 1991, referenced in Farias & Granqvist, 2007) has shown that these have difficulty understanding "privacy of thought", as well as they had a heightened belief in paranormal phenomena and contexts.
A bit esoteric
In a Belgian study (NN??, 2003 ref in Farias & Granqvist, 2007), the researchers concluded that individuals with an ambivalence/preoccupied attachment style enjoy reading spiritual esoteric literature more.
HYPOTHESES
Background to andl not equal!
The authors caution against thinking that the underlying factors for different types of spirituality are the same. This does not seem to be the case, but even the opposite. (Far&Gran, 2007) (comp vs corr, for example)
New age = comp-hyp
The authors note that the research done on New Age and its connection up to that time (Farias & Granqvist, 2007) has "uniformly and strongly supported the compensation hypothesis. Individuals who, according to self-reports or independent judges, have experienced parental insensitivity while growing up are particularly inclined to endorse the New Age".
It is a world of thought that exhibits certain characteristics that are assumed to be familiar to those exposed to mental and/or physical abuse, neglect, etc., during the formative years of childhood.
Magical thinking, trolls become part of the new age
A person with a disposition for magical thinking does not need to be interested in new age, although the probability is greater (Farias & Granqvist, 2007). Personality traits and cognitive dispositions are largely genetic, so this seems to come into play as well. When people say that their spiritual search began in adulthood, it is probably not true, but is based on a certain cognitive predisposition that was there before (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Personality traits also PGA new age intr
Although things like personality traits have a genetic component, the authors do not want to rule out that the findings they made could also arise as an effect of being interested in and involved in the New Age (Farias & Granqvist, 2007).
Förf reserves that, due to the lack of longitudinal studies, it cannot be ruled out that it is the new age interest itself that shapes the individual, rather than that it is a certain disposition that causes her or him to be drawn to this type of phenomenon . (Farias&Granqvist, I Kemp, 2007)
Förf points out that even if the New Age follower himself often talks about a search that began in his late teens, for example, it is based on formative experiences made much earlier in life.
Biology and attachment experiences
Farias & Granqvist (2007) suggest that it is a combination of biology and attachment experiences that leads to a commitment in the new age: "[B]asic underlying processes of cognition and emotion, related to a particular pattern of personality traits and attachment organization, which may make some individual more likely to report such unusual experiences and participate in the New Age” (p124).
Suggests that it is a combination of biology (cognitive and personality factors, constitution, cognitive style) together with early experiences of parents etc that lies behind the new age interest, p124 (Farias & Granqvist, 2007)
Farias and Granqvist (2007) write that the time has now come to search for the biological correlates of the new age interest.
Toxic parenting
Supposed to be attracted by the popular psychological view that is common within the New Age, with talk of "toxic parenting" (Far & Gr, 2007?)
Farias, M., Claridge, G., Lalljee, M. (2005). Personality and cognitive predictors of New Age practices and beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences. 39: 979-989
Magical thinking/"walls", various rel, 99 pers
Farias, Claridge & Lalljee (2005) recruited 99 people to a survey to measure tendency towards magical thinking, as well as thin and thick “walls. The subjects were to have no history of psychiatric illness. The participants were tested with a battery of instruments, partly to determine the type of spiritual or religious orientation, partly to test the personality dimensions above. People with a new age orientation scored high on both of these scales, while those with a traditional religious orientation did not excel in either of these respects.
"The thin boundaries construct accounts for some characteristics of the New Age religiosity, such as the sense of 'connectedness' and 'holism', as well as a particularly associative thinking style, and an emotional vulnerability or hypersensitivity" (Hartmann, 1991; ref in Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
Borderline (thin-walled/schizotypy)
In several studies, people with borderline personality disorder, as well as those with schizotyp ditto, have distinguished themselves for having particularly thin walls (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005)
Thin walls/Clairvoyance
A person with "thin walls" is characterized by such things as feelings and thoughts being mixed up, that she or he more often reports or believes in things such as clairvoyance (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005)
Holism/Magical Thinking
The holism within the new age can perhaps also be explained by an inclination towards "magical thinking" that research has been able to demonstrate (Farias, Claridge and Lalljee, 2005). Such an attitude is characterized by precisely a holistic worldview where "entities and events are connected in a way that defies modern rationalistic notions of causality" (Farias & Lalljee, 2008).
100 points
A laboratory experiment where the test subject had to sit in front of a computer screen in a dimly lit room. 100 dots changing at high speed in a random manner were shown to the subject for ten minutes. The instruction was that motifs would alternate with random images, and that they would say when something recognizable came along. Newage followers saw significantly more motifs (eg animal motifs, dancing people, angels etc). People with a traditional religious orientation did not see more than average (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
Schizotypy has been researched based on two different models.
One sees schizotypy more as a delimited illness or problem, or something close to schizophrenia and psychosis, while the other views schizotypy as something that exists along a spectrum from adaptive or harmless, to potentially problematic. It is even conceivable that an increased value of this variable can be for the joy of the individual, for imagination and spirituality. Here, schizotypy is seen as a personality dimension and not as pathology (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
Schizotypy, magical thinking, cognitive loseness (cf. trad rel)
An experiment showed that people with a new age orientation scored higher on schizotypal personality traits, magical thinking, cognitive looseness, and great sensitivity ("emotional hypersensitivity"). These characteristics were not found in those in the group with a traditional religious orientation (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
Thin walledness, magical thinking: Farias et al (2005)
A separate group psychologically
A separate group also psychologically
At the group level, newage adherents stand out for certain cognitive traits. Looking at certain cognitive and personality traits, there are significant differences between conventional religious individuals and those who are engaged in the new age (Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005).
Granqvist, P. et al. (2007). Examining Relations Among Attachment, Religiosity, and New Age Spirituality Using the Adult Attachment Interview. Developmental Psychology. Vol 43. No 3
"Role reversals" - High on NAOS
Granqvist and colleagues (2007) have also used the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). In one survey, a group of adults (n=84) recruited from various religious contexts were asked to answer the NAOS and were interviewed with the AAI. The results showed, among other things, that those who answered high on the NAOS were also judged to have had a considerably less loving upbringing, with more things like rejection and role reversals ("role reversals") than those who received low scores.
Granqvist, P. (2004). The myth of openness and tolerance. The Psychology Magazine (7)
Underdiagnosed suffering
Granqvist (2004) writes that followers of the new age risk having to live with "an underdiagnosed suffering" and that it is urgent to increase knowledge about this area.
Granqvist, P. The psychology of spirituality. Article. Retrieved from: http://www.troochvetande.se/artiklar.php?id=105 (2010-08-17)…?
Granqvist, P; Hagekull, B. (2001) Seeking Security in the New Age: On Attachment and Emotional Compensation. Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion. (40:3) 527-545.
Spec connection
Mainly it has then been about disorganized and preoccupied/ambivalent attachment style which is generally associated with a great deal of suffering and problems in the normal population, such as borderline personality disorder, disassociation and anxiety (Granqvist & Hagekull, 2001? Check!)
High scores on NAOS, and AAI, Romantic attach sc
From AAI interviews with New Age adherents, where he demonstrated similarities to people with disorganized affiliation. People with high scores on the NAOS scale also scored high on so-called "romantic attachment disorganization", which includes things like the individual withdrawing from closeness (more def!) (Granqvist & Hagekull, 2001).
Houtman, D., Aupers S. (2007) The Spiritual Turn and the Decline of Tradition: The Spread of Post-Christian Spirituality in 14 Western Countries, 1981-2000. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 46(3):305-320
Psychological research
A question that can be asked is whether people who embrace or take an interest in this newer spirituality also share certain personality traits? There has been research on followers of the new age, above all from a cognitive psychology and attachment theory point of view, which indicates this.
Research on the group of new age adherents has shown the existence of such things as "thin-walledness" (Hartmann, yyyy; NN,yyyy), magical thinking (ref), schizotypal personality traits (ref), cognitive loseness (Brugger et al, 1993, cited in Farias, Claridge & Lalljee, 2005), emotional hypersensitivity, dissociation light/absorption, and "thin-walled".
Thin walls: Hartmann, Farias etc
A person with "thin walls" is characterized by such things as feelings and thoughts being mixed up, that she or he more often reports or believes in things like clairvoyance. (Hartmann, see species!).
Magical thinking
Cognitive looseness/Leakage from the preconscious
Saroglou, Delpierre and Dernelle, 2004
"Self-transcendence" or individualism
Schizotypy
Absorption
Light schizotypy and a lighter form of dissociation called "absorption", being able to be absorbed. (Far & Granqv, 2007)
How the cognitive features affect
Many change groups, loose ties: Farias and Granqvist (2007)
Why this universe and not "control" equality? Faria's (2008)
Own group also psychologically
Unusual but sound minds? Farias
However, opinions differ as to whether these findings indicate greater ill health or ill health at the group level
Different, but no need to feel worse
"Unusual but sound minds" (Farias, 2012? See OneN!)
Schizotypy
Farias and G also refer to research done to test correlation between New Age Spirual interest and schizotypal traits. It is not difficult to see parallels when, for example, you read DSM-4 about the diagnosis. (Farias&Granqvist; in Kemp, 2007)
Cognitive findings
Thin-walled
Magical thinking
Attachment theory findings
Brief about attachment theory
Attachment pattern
6 year olds
Jews and "God"
How spirituality is chosen
Correspondence
Compensation
Third…
Summary
What explains interest in new age etc?
What explains common features?
Genetically
Connection experience
The doctrine itself
Do followers feel worse
emote
buxant
Farias (2012/2013)
BPS (2011)
Peters et al (1999)
For
Granqvist
kirkpatrick
Final words
Finally, I would like to thank my respondents for so generously and trustingly sharing their thoughts and musings about their own lives, as well as existence in general. At first glance and perusal, this study may seem disparaging and critical, and I understand if someone may feel betrayed or left out. But I want to assure you that my interest in the area is genuine.
More than harping on what is potentially problematic about new age/new spirituality, I actually find the question of a possible continuum much more interesting.
NA's popularity can be understood in light of the moods of our time. But it is also possible to understand something more general about our times and living conditions based on studies in NA. The pressures to which devotees are exposed, from the environment as well as from within themselves, have much in common with the challenge of living and maturing in, perhaps above all, the Western cultural sphere. NA makes certain mental processes more visible.
Conclusion. Our situation has a lot in common with NA. The denial of basic human conditions is related. This is something natural to defend against, which goes gradually through life – child, teenager, young adult, etc. – and touches on personal maturity. But one can argue that the people of our time make extra resistance to ageing, weakness, frailty. It's our usual denial at best, but reinforced or alloyed. So NA may be an aggravating factor for normal life maturation. Form so at group level. Farias o Gr concerns worth taking seriously.
A reasoning for trying to meet NA. Within NA, it is thought that man develops over a long period of time to become ready to live in/return to the spiritual world. What is taking such a long time? We are on earth to learn to think and create purposefully. The goal is to become perfectly loving individuals.
It is only in the heavy earthly matter that such learning is possible. Here we receive a response to our actions. In the spiritual world, everything happens "at the behest of thought" and learning and maturity are not possible.
Even if guilt is "an illusion", perhaps the ability to feel guilty is included in this education?
"A wounded refugee between two realms." Does anyone in the material address that idea?
Suggestions for further research
This study has had two approaches to the phenomenon. Partly, it has focused on the impact of the teaching on the individual. Much more can be done here. An in-depth psychodynamic-psychoanalytic investigation. "Good" and "bad" religion. Partly, it has taken up an old track from the psychology of religion that deals with things like
I have proposed in this study that the phenomenon should be understood psychodynamically. It is probably the case that certain spirituality exposes the individual to greater pressure/temptation to function "below their level". But this will have different effects on different individuals, probably depending on several different factors: the "forced coherence" of the doctrine, the individual's personality structure, etc.
Longitudinal studies.
Doing longitudinal studies to gain a greater understanding of how an interest in new age/new spirituality can arise remains to be done (Granqvist, et al.). But it bears pointing out that even if these findings were to point to a causality with upbringing factors, these results would not be convincing from a new age/new spiritual perspective, as it is assumed that the individual carries with him his own personality from a previous life which only " activated” by the contact with nursing staff and early environmental factors.
Philosophical analysis.
The philosophical or theological objections that are made naturally come mainly from the Christian side (Adel..., etc.). It would be interesting if a philosopher wanted to try to describe what it is that is characteristic of new age or new spirituality, in relation to e.g. atheism/agnosticism and Christianity. If it can be caught? Equation, conditional statements. Philosophically speaking, the neo-spiritual world explanation may seem watertight. It explains
Differentiate, new age/new spirituality "type 1", "type 2", etc
The New Age has been accused of lacking a common worldview, common ideology, common organization, p17
New age is of a nebulous nature, p21 Chryssides 2007. The research that has been done has been on "new age"-interested (Granqvist). The popular notion that the new age is a smorgasbord is questioned by several researchers.
New age and new spirituality are generally perceived as very heterogeneous groups. Instead of arguing that this phenomenon is actually more homogeneous than one usually thinks, one can approach the whole thing from the other side. To state some criteria that may constitute one's group. You can then call this whatever you want. In the wanted list that went out, "new spirituality/new age" was stated. This may also apply in this study. Here after called NA, which should be seen as a kind of mix of the two.
I feel that it is heterogeneous, not so much for all its exotic practices and beliefs, and that there are so many different kinds of healing, for example - with strange names and claims - that the individual can shift between, without the width being along a kind of axis , which has to do with rationality versus emotion.
Everyone within NA embraces an acceptance of basically the same things. They differ - and can possibly be divided into a few groups on that basis - according to what is at the center of their attention, and what is peripheral: For some, experience is primary, metaphysics secondary. For others, it's the opposite. Much like in all other religious contexts. Often these individuals do not have much to say to each other, because their perceptions are so undeveloped in the department that is not their focus. In a survey, the group will appear more homogeneous than it actually is! And in an inventory of the supply in a new-age bookstore, etc., it will appear as more heterogeneous and changeable than it really is. Both perspectives are true.
Here is the research done in cognitive psychology, which points out that in some aspects traditional Christianity and atheism have more in common, compared to new age/new spirituality, both enigmatic and fruitful.
Gender aspects.
It would be interesting to investigate gender aspects in new age/new spirituality in more depth. Some have been done (Löwenadler, etc.). This material suggests that there could be a gender-specific difference here, for example in how women and men perceive and/or even use such things as separations in the light of new age/new spirituality. In that case, this probably does not differ from emancipatory aspects in other research, but what makes it extra interesting in this group is that the interest itself is so much about liberation, personal self-realization, feeling strong and free, agency, independence , individualism, etc.
Another gender aspect is how new age/new spirituality encourages the individual to develop or emphasize more classic female ideals, to be loving, understanding, considerate and so on. How does this affect the women and the men? For the women, it could mean a reinforcement of something that is already expected of them. Partly to live up to a classic female ideal, partly to take care of yourself, free yourself, put your foot down. At the same time, there is the individualistic imperative, to self-realization, liberation.
Is it the case that the emancipation of women within NA can become a trap or an overpowering project? (How did I think here?)
Parallels to modern man's thinking.
It is clear that typical neo-spiritual beliefs have great public acceptance. What does it mean? To examine differences between magical thinking or superstition and new age/new spirituality as a philosophy of life. To further differentiate in this. Benign and malignant.
"Pseudo" phenomenon
There are everywhere in the literature examples of how accepted diagnoses are used in a "light" sense. "Imposed aneroxia" in the context of cults, a kind of "psychopathy" or indifference that can follow drug addiction, harekrisna monks who can appear "psychotic", young people who can display a "borderline-like" personality on the threshold of adulthood, etc.
Healthy followers of new age/new spirituality
To examine more closely the group that seems to be able to embrace this worldview without it having any negative consequences whatsoever. Individuals who possibly have their own experiences of such "enlightenment" that occurs anecdotally in the material, which the interviewees believe can be confused with psychotic phenomena. In that case, this will be research that crosses the border into transpersonal psychology, in the wake of Abraham Maslow.
Many great scientists are and have also throughout history been deeply religious, and superstitious, by today's standards. Newton, etc. Why? From old habit? The norm of the outside world? What about us today, which norm is it that we easily fall back on, or may need to make ourselves aware of? Synchronistic ideas, on astrology.
Methodology discussion
Due to the nature of the interview subject, that the interviewees are asked to open up about something both personal and potentially sensitive, moreover for a researcher in the psychology subject who could be assumed to be critical of things like religiosity, the interviewer had to make an effort to create a good atmosphere.
An interview situation where you have to give answers about your innermost thoughts, in a research context, together with a person who does not share much himself, cannot be said to be a "normal" situation. A person can be assumed to perform at a lower level than otherwise. That would be understandable.
The interviewer tried to make the interviewee understand that the interviewer, if anything, actually had a positive bias. In other cases, it felt extra justified to highlight a critical research stance.
On a few occasions during the interviews, for example when the respondent got into how questioning academics have been about things like the New Age, it was felt justified to further highlight that the interviewer himself had a certain pre-understanding and sympathy for the phenomenon. It could also be that the interviewer talked about his own background and commitment in vague terms.
Representativeness.
It is not possible to say to what degree the participants in the survey were representative of the population. This is also not the purpose of a qualitative interview study (ref). The informants show both similarity and variation, which can say something interesting about the phenomenon. That the proportions are fair is not decisive for this.
In the search "Alternative answers to the eternal questions" is leading? Mm... See the wanted list
Final debate
In this study, I have tried to put a psychodynamic-psychoanalytic framework over the phenomenon of new age/new spirituality. To theorize about "a continuum" in how followers are able to handle and live with this imaginary world.
It has been my desire to broaden the psychological perspective on new age/new spirituality. To consider and acknowledge, and try to explain, some of the difficulties or challenges that lie in this imaginary world and that are probably true at the group level. But depending on various factors, "personal maturity", it need not be problematic for the individual.
The personality is put under extra high pressure from the doctrine, but the outcome is still not a given. Freud's critique of religiosity is still relevant to describe the potentially problematic sides of religion and spirituality. Later psychoanalysts have nuanced the picture and managed to shed light on the other end of this continuum as well.
The question of new age/new spirituality is a heterogeneous phenomenon, "a smorgasbord", or is it, despite the many different expressions, a homogeneous phenomenon after all? Both may be right.
Is new age/new spirituality a danger to public health, as Granqvist (ref) claims? At the group level it is probably true, but it is valuable to emphasize and try to deepen understanding at the individual level. Because there, these observations are probably not simply true.
The situation of modern man has much in common with the new age/new spirituality. The denial of basic human conditions is related. This is something natural to defend against, which goes gradually through life – child, teenager, young adult, etc. – and touches on personal maturity. But one can argue that the people of our time make extra resistance to ageing, weakness, frailty. It's our usual denial for the longest time. With the typical new age/new spiritual beliefs, these defenses are "armed" and can become an aggravating factor for normal life maturity. Farias & Granqvist's findings are worth taking seriously.
It is possible to understand the popularity of new spirituality against the background of moods in our time. But it is also possible to understand something more general about our contemporary times and our living conditions based on studies in new spirituality. The pressures to which devotees are exposed, from the environment as well as from within themselves, have much in common with the challenge of living and maturing in, perhaps above all, the Western cultural sphere. The neo-spirituality makes certain mental processes more visible.
"Tolerance of ambiguity" is an important marker.
Why is the new age/new spirituality upsetting?
Some of the resistance to new age may be well-founded. There is something about its elitism and uncriticalness that viewers may, with good reason, find objectionable.
The rest probably has to do with getting used to it. Some of the traditional Christian beliefs are hardly less startling or less in conflict with science's view of what is possible or real. However, they have been part of our culture for so long that they rarely attract attention.
An important finding from the research is, of course, how widespread the typical New Age beliefs actually are in the population. 20-25% etc perceive reincarnation as either true or not improbable. Telepathy, contact with deceased relatives, etc.
(Hammer, 2004) The concern some feel about the New Age followers, and criticism, may be misguided. "Anxious secular rationalists exaggerate the risks of a New Age commitment simply because they overestimate the distance between themselves and those interested in the New Age" (Hammer, 2004, p. 348).
A few words in defense of new age/new spirituality
Out of respect for the subject and my respondents, I would like to emphasize that it is impossible to rule out that new age/new spirituality does not in itself have an explanatory power, which in a way can be stronger than conventional religion and natural science and which actually accounts for a greater or less of its attraction on the follower. But it is of course outside the scope of this study to investigate how things are in that matter, if it is even possible to do it in a systematic way. This discussion section has limited itself to certain psychological aspects.
A description of new age/new spirituality's own premises.
Within the new age, people are thought to develop over a long period of time in order to become ready to live in/return to the spiritual world. What is taking such a long time? We are on earth to learn to think and create purposefully. The goal is to become perfectly loving individuals. It is only in the heavy earthly matter that such learning is possible. Here we receive a response to our actions. In the spiritual world, everything happens "at the behest of thought" and learning and maturity are not possible. Even if guilt is "an illusion", perhaps the ability to feel guilty is included in this education? "A wounded refugee between two realms." Does anyone in the material address that idea?
That Christian ethics is consistent with psychoanalysis to such a high degree
New age/new spirituality - a high-risk project?
Maybe new age/new spirituality is a high-risk project. All kinds of spirituality provide ideals to live up to and visions of the future. Normally this is organized around, and moderated by, the individual's relationship with God. Within a spirituality that lacks an image of God, or in which this image of God is unclear or difficult to understand - and even more so if some of the divine attributes are placed on the individual, the individual is exposed to more than he or she can bear.
Increased regression pressure. Different individuals will be affected differently here, depending on what resources he or she has at his or her disposal.
What is it like to live with full responsibility for one's destiny and how to combine it with "God's love"? The reasoning in the data material may resemble the reasoning: "I only get what I deserve." What to think about this? Even if you have a coherent, "logical" worldview where these contexts are explained, is it possible to keep them apart, so that you don't feel abandoned or neglected?
Ideas about karma and reincarnation are found in other religious schools of thought. But as Hammer claims, these thoughts are nevertheless understood in a slightly different way within, for example, popular Hinduism. Fate is not something that the individual himself has to bear. Relatives and survivors are involved in another way, making sacrifices to the gods on behalf of the deceased, etc.
If one were to try to fit the new age into the usual Christian dichotomy, between man's salvation being due to God's "grace" or that it is due to his own works, then the new age clearly belongs to the latter. New age can here be perceived as more radical than even the most radical reformed Christian movements, e.g. the Word of Life. She really escapes.
Granqvist and the AAI interviews.
Both sides are right. I believe that the pathology is higher than followers of the new age/new spirituality themselves think. Granqvist et al are right. And their argument is correct: the one with shaky upbringing and experiences will feel at home in na's 1) general tolerance for differences, 2) the tendency to misinterpret and elevate actual difficulties as signs of superiority, downright, 3) the doctrine suits the relational experiences you have, role reversals etc. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that more people there actually feel worse.
But at the same time, one can sense that too much that is assessed and labeled, for its similarity to accepted patterns and symptoms, should be given a "pseudo-" before it or "like" at the end. NA culture isn't as crazy as they seem, people aren't. Partly misinterpreted, overreacted, based on cultural norms (Hammer).
God.
Although I am not a Christian myself, or have any faith in God to speak of, these stories make a depressing impression on me
Perhaps even the atheist can have a more satisfying relationship with his non-god (Jones) than a New Age/New Spirituality follower can have with his version. This could probably be investigated using psychodynamic theory.
I am inclined to believe that of the three god-relationships, the Christian, the atheist, and the god that new age/new spirituality embraces, the latter is the least successful from a health perspective.
The debt.
If NA is viewed from a psychoanalytic perspective, the question of guilt comes up. The feeling of guilt, and the desire to repair what one has done - and ask for forgiveness, mercy - is central to psychoanalysis. Even for those who look at NA from a Christian perspective, the question of guilt comes up.
Within NA, the issue of guilt is central, but one comes to a completely different conclusion than both the Christians and the psychoanalysts. Isn't that interesting? The psychoanalysts and the Christians view man from perspectives that are similar to each other.
About living up to a certain standard, os v. "Many are afraid that evil thoughts and feelings will come out when you let go of control. And of course it can be so. But we are not called to save ourselves. It's God's job" (Persson, 2007, how ref lecture script for the web?)
New Age and Jung.
Several of the informants mention Jung as a source of inspiration. That NA fits in with and has been strongly influenced by Jungian psychology is also evident from the literature (Hammer?). Jung is sometimes pitted against Freud and psychoanalysis, and the latter often falls short. But this is partly based on a misconception. In some matters or aspects the two giants stood far apart, but in other aspects they were strikingly similar and perhaps children of the same era. Their view of humanity was individualistic. And while the psychoanalytic movement had to adapt to and take impressions of relational and interpersonal perspectives (Bowlby, Stern et al, even Kohut) - and reconcile these with the legacy from Freud - it is rather NA that can make an archaic impression, completely regardless of the Jungian concepts, superficially it seems to be about things that you also share with others, etc.
Is new age a "religion" among others?
Is the new age an ordinary religion, or is it a special atypical phenomenon, which requires special theories? Both, I would argue. It deals with the same questions, solves largely the same problems, has similarities in many ways, gives answers to similar eternal questions. In that sense it is religion. But then there are things that are special to it. That is what I wanted to show with this study, or what this study landed in. It is a spirituality with higher psychological stakes. Freud's criticism of religion is in some respects more apt for the new age than it is, and was, for religion. If Freud had not been so driven by what he was devious of, he might have wanted to make a greater distinction between adaptive, harmless, purely enriching, religiosity, and aspects of such occultism that also existed in his time.
The public who drew the shortest straw - again?
The scientists have moved on. The public has drawn the shortest straw. If religion has in periods served the prevailing order, caused people to behave in a way that was system preservation, then something similar can apply to secularization today. A basis for consumerism? Poverty, lack.
Our time, parallels to new age/new spirituality
It is possible to understand the popularity of new age/new spirituality against the background of currents in our time. But it is also possible to understand something more general about our times and living conditions based on studies in new age/new spirituality. The pressures to which devotees are exposed, from the environment as well as from within themselves, have much in common with the challenge of living and maturing in, perhaps above all, the Western cultural sphere. NA makes certain mental processes more visible.
The denial of basic human conditions is related. It is something natural to defend against, which goes gradually through life – child, teenager, young adult, etc. – and touches personal maturity. It can be argued that modern man makes extra resistance to ageing, weakness, frailty. It's our usual denial for the longest time. The worrying thing about new age/new spirituality is that with this world view the "normal" resistance (defense) becomes "armored" or "alloyed". So new age/new spirituality can be a complicating factor for normal life maturity. Presumably this is true at the group level. (Farias and Granqvist's musings are worth taking seriously.)
Is new age/new spirituality "bad religion"?
How is new age? New age provides answers. This it has in common with more fundamentalist religious systems. Concrete answers at a detailed level. Risk that common sense invades areas that in adulthood would be allowed to remain play areas? (see ref Igra, with Jemstedt on "leakage" between levels that psychoanalysis aims to help with, if necessary!)
Rotstein on "gap" (Hammer, ref). This also connects to a number of sayings and sayings from folk psychology: "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is", "The road to smoke is lined with good intentions", "When the best becomes the enemy of the good ", etc.
In Wilfred Bion (Bion, ref?) there is the expression "negative capability", simply being able to bear not knowing. By the same author: “'[P]recision' is too often a distortion of the reality, 'imprecision' too often indistinguishable from confusion” (Bion, 1977).
Kallifatides (2004) writes about the labor of translation. Painful experiences have led him to the conclusion that “[t]he complete accuracy is the dream of the dead”.
Loewinger's stages, the higher ones (wiki)
Conformist (E4)
'Most children around school age...progress to the next stage, conformity'.[19] Persons begin to view themselves and others as conforming to socially approved codes or norms.[20] Teaching education as adult development. Theory into Practice, 17(3), p. 231 Loevinger describes this stage of having 'the greatest cognitive simplicity. There is a right way and a wrong way and it is the same for everyone...or broad classes of people.[21] One example of groups conforming together at this age is by gender—boys and girls. Here persons are very much invested in belonging to and obtaining the approval of groups.[22] Behavior is judged externally, not by intentions, and this concept of 'belonging to the group (family or peers) is most valued'.[23] 'the child starts to identify his welfare with that of the group', though for the stage 'to be consolidated, there must be a strong element of trust'.[17] An ability to take in rules of the group appears, and another's disapproval becomes a sanction, not only fear of punishment. However rules and norms are not yet distinguished.
'While the Conformist likes and trusts other people within his own group, he may define that group narrowly and reject any or all outgroups', and stereotypes roles on the principle of 'social desirability: people are what they ought to be'.[22 ] Behavior is judged externally, not by intentions, and the concept of 'belonging to the group (family or peers) is most valued'.[23]
Self-Aware (E5)[edit]
Loevinger considered the Self-Aware (also known as 'Conscientious-Conformist') Transitional Stage to be 'model for adults in our society',[24] and thought that few pass the stage before at least the age of twenty-five.
The stage is largely characterized by two characteristics: 'an increase in self-awareness and the capacity to imagine multiple possibilities in situations'...[25] [was] a stable position in mature life', one marked by the development of 'rudimentary self -awareness and self-criticism': however the closeness of the self to norms and expectations 'reveal the transitional nature of these conceptions, midway between the group stereotypes of the Conformist and the appreciation for individual differences at higher levels'.[26] Loevinger also considered the level to produce 'a deepened interest in interpersonal relations'.[27]
Conscientious (E6)
At progression to 'the conscientious stage...individuals at this level, and even more often at higher levels, refer spontaneously to psychological development'.[28]
By this stage, 'the internalisation of rules is completed', although at the same time 'exceptions and contingencies are recognised'.[29] Goals and ideals are acknowledged, and there is a new sense of responsibility, with guilt triggered by hurting another, rather than by breaking rules. 'The tendency to look at things in a broader social context' was offset by a self seen as apart from the group, but also from the other's point of view; as a result 'descriptions of people are more realistic…[with] more complexities'.[30] Standards are self-chosen, and distinguished from manners, just as people are seen in terms of their motives and not just their actions.
The Conscientious subject 'sees life as presenting choices; [s]he holds the origin of his own destiny...aspires to achievement, ad astra per aspera '[31] but by his or her own standards.
Individualistic (E7)
During this stage, persons demonstrate both a respect for individuality and interpersonal ties.[32] Loevinger explains 'To proceed beyond the Conscientious Stage a person must become more tolerant of himself and of others...out of the recognition of individual differences and of complexities of circumstances'[33] developed at the previous level. The individualistic ego shows a broad-minded tolerance of and respect for the autonomy of both self and others. With a new distancing from role identities, 'moralism begins to be replaced by an awareness of inner conflict', while the new stage is also "marked by a heightened sense of individuality and a concern for emotional dependence".[33] Subjective experience is opposed to objective reality, inner reality to outward appearance; and 'vivid and personal versions of ideas presented as cliches at lower levels'[34] may emerge.
A growing concern for psychological causality and development will typically go hand in hand with 'greater complexity in conceptions of interpersonal interaction'.[34]
Autonomous (E8)
Loevinger described this stage as marked by the freeing of the person from oppressive demands of conscience in the preceding stage'.[35] People at this stage are "synthesizers" and are able to conceptually integrate ideas.[36] The autonomous person also 'recognizes the limitations to autonomy, that emotional interdependence is inevitable'.[35] The stage might also see a 'confrontation with the limitations of abilities and roles as part of deepening self-acceptance'.[37]
'Self-fulfillment becomes a frequent goal, partly supplanting achievement', while there may well be a wider 'capacity to acknowledge and to cope with inner conflicts',[35] such as between needs and duties.
'A high tolerance for ambiguity…[and ] conceptual complexity'[35] – the capacity to embrace Polarity, Complexity, Multiple Facets, and to integrate ideas – is a further feature of the Autonomous Stage, as too is the expression of 'respect for other people's need for autonomy in clear terms'.[38]
Integrated (E9)
According to Loevinger, this is a rarely attained stage. At the Integrated stage,"'learning is understood as unavoidable...the unattainable is renounced".[37] The ego shows wisdom, broad empathy towards oneself and others, and a capacity to not just be aware of inner conflicts like the individualistic ego or tolerate inner conflicts like the autonomous ego, but reconcile and make peace with those issues.[39] This 'Reconciling inner conflicts...cherishing of individuality'[40] are key elements of its Self-Actualizing nature, along with a fully worked-out identity which includes 'reconciliation to one's destiny'.[41]
Possible tenth stage[edit]
As differentiation increases, the model of ego development has found broader acceptance among international researchers. Therefore, a new stage E10 has been mentioned in reference to "Ich-Entwicklung", the German equivalent of Loevinger's stages.[citation needed]
Critical response[edit]
Susanne Cook-Greuter has further refined both Loevinger's sentence-completion test instrument as well as definitions and distinctions among the stages of ego development.[42][self-published source?]
Some have maintained that 'in general, Loevinger's model suffers from a lack of clinical grounding', and that arguably 'like Kohlberg's theory...it confuses content and structure'.[43] Based as her research was on the assessment of verbalised material, because 'the measure focuses so heavily on conscious verbal responses, it does not discriminate intelligent, liberal people with severe ego defects from those who actually are quite integrated'.[44]
Nevertheless, the wide extent of her research must give a certain weight to her findings. 'Loevinger's (1976) model of development is derived entirely from empirical research using her sentence completion test...The manuals contain hundreds of actual completions, organized by exemplary categories'.[45]
Fowler vs. Peck
James Fowler's Stages of Faith
In his book 1981 book Stages of Faith , James W. Fowler developed a theory of six stages that people go through as their faith matures based on the Piaget stages and Kohlberg stages. The basic theory can be applied, not only to those in traditional faiths, but those who follow alternative spiritualities or secular worldviews as well. In his 1987 book The Different Drum, M. Scott Peck offered a simplified version focusing only on the four most common stages. See also: Erikson stages
| Intership | Description | Simplified version by M. Scott Peck | ||
| Stage 1 | Intuitive-Projective | This is the stage of preschool children in which fantasy and reality often get mixed together. However, during this stage, our most basic ideas about God are usually picked up from our parents and/or society. | I. Chaotic-Antisocial | People stuck at this stage are usually self-centered and often find themselves in trouble due to their unprincipled living. If they do end up converting to the next stage, it often occurs in a very dramatic way. |
| Stage 2 | Mythic-Literal | When children become school-age, they start understanding the world in more logical ways. They generally accept the stories told to them by their faith community but tend to understand them in very literal ways. [A few people remain in this stage through adulthood.] | ||
| Stage 3 | Synthetic-Conventional | Most people move on to this stage as teenagers. At this point, their life has grown to include several different social circles and there is a need to pull it all together. When this happens, a person usually adopts some sort of all-encompassing belief system. However, at this stage, people tend to have a hard time seeing outside their box and don't recognize that they are "inside" a belief system. At this stage, authority is usually placed in individuals or groups that represent one's beliefs. [This is the stage in which many people remain.] | II. Formal-Institutional | At this stage people rely on some sort of institution (such as a church) to give them stability. They become attached to the forms of their religion and get extremely upset when these are called into question. |
| Stage 4 | Individuative-Reflective | This is the tough stage, often begun in young adulthood, when people start seeing outside the box and realizing that there are other "boxes". They begin to critically examine their beliefs on their own and often become disillusioned with their former faith. Ironically, the Stage 3 people usually think that Stage 4 people have become "backsliders" when in reality they have actually moved forward. | III. Skeptic-Individual | Those who break out of the previous stage usually do so when they start seriously questioning things on their own. A lot of the time, this stage ends up being very non-religious and some people stay in it permanently |
| Stage 5 | Conjunctive Faith | It is rare for people to reach this stage before mid-life. This is the point when people begin to realize the limits of logic and start to accept the paradoxes in life. They begin to see life as a mystery and often return to sacred stories and symbols but this time without being stuck in a theological box. | IV. Mystical-Communal | People who reach this stage start to realize that there is truth to be found in both the previous two stages and that life can be paradoxical and full of mystery. Emphasis is placed more on community than on individual concerns. |
| Stage 6 | Universalizing Faith | Few people reach this stage. Those who do live their lives to the full in service of others without any real worries or doubts. |