Maps for the Journey, Developmental Models and the Spiritual Life Part 2: Causes of Arrested Development

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In my first blog on Maps for the Journey, I invited you to imagine waking up on a boat that was in excellent running condition yet lacked navigational equipment.

I likened the spiritual state of modern society to that imagined scene. Many feel cut adrift without developmental guidance—followers of Christ among them—a reality that underscores the monumental importance of models of spiritual growth for our day. Such models can become the very maps we need, helping us both identify where we are and chart a course for where we want to go.

That being said, two factors contribute to a sense of uneasiness (even hostility) that many feel when developmental models are put forward. The first is a general resistance to models stemming from postmodernity’s influence on contemporary society. The second is a cause of arrested development explained by the burgeoning insights of neuroscience.

Sound a bit highbrow?

Point taken.

But I suspect an exploration of these two factors might be more accessible, insightful, and even more fun than one might initially suppose. Let’s take them one at a time.

Resistance to Developmental Models: Dominator hierarchy Vs Growth holarchy

“One of the most notable characteristics of the postmodern-pluralist worldview,” Ken Wilber writes, “is its denial and condemnation of every form of hierarchy” (1). And since developmental models do not hesitate to speak of certain levels of development as higher than others, it is common for many in the West to instinctively cringe, even shut down, whenever any type of hierarchical model is offered for consideration. This hardline pluralistic approach fails, however, to make a critical distinction: dominator hierarchies (which are indeed loathsome) are quite different from actualization, growth, or development hierarchies (which are the forms of most growth processes in nature, including humans).

Wilber clarifies, “In dominator hierarchies, with each higher level, the few dominate and oppress the many. In actualization or growth hierarchies, each higher level is more and more inclusive.” He then offers an example to which he returns numerous times, “A fundamental growth hierarchy in nature is the hierarchy of atoms to molecules to cells to organisms. In this hierarchy…or ‘holarchy’…each higher level literally includes and embraces its junior level; it doesn’t oppress it—molecules don’t oppress or hate atoms—if anything, they love and embrace them!”

And so it is with any developmental model that is worthy of attention. Such models do not depict or advocate for dominator hierarchies, but nested holarchies, ones in which lower levels or stages are both transcended by and included in the higher (a lynchpin concept for Wilber). Postmodern pluralism’s throwing out of the holarchy-baby with the hierarchy-bathwater is “a genuine catastrophe,” in Wilber’s estimation, “since in throwing out all growth holarchies, it threw out all means of growth and development.”

Let us not make the same mistake in our consideration of models of the spiritual journey.

Neuroscience and Arrested Development: Our three-member committee brain

The reasons large percentages of people fail to make progress in spiritual development are many and varied, but perhaps the most pervasive is best understood with a few fundamental concepts of neurobiology in view.

Brian McLaren explains: “The human brain is modular. To put it in highly simplified terms, [it] functions like a three-member committee” (2).

The first committee member is the oldest and comes online even before birth. Sometimes called the primitive or reptilian brain, this neuro-module “controls your basic bodily functions, including a highly evolved set of unconscious reflexes and responses to novelty or danger.”

Shortly after birth, this instinctive neuro-module is joined by a second committee member, the intuitive, also frequently referred to as the mammalian or limbic brain. This module “orients you toward attachment by generating emotions that strengthen relationships, [ones] that are necessary for a helpless infant’s survival.”

And last but not least, committee member number three joins the fray. Often called the primate brain, this intellectual module is essential to help you become both an independent self and an interdependent agent in human society.

McLaren continues, “We could also refer to [these neuro committee members] as the survival module, the belonging or relational module, and the meaning module,” setting the stage for this truly decisive insight:

“Your meaning module’s independent thought processes are constantly being monitored and even censored by your belonging and survival modules.”

Possessing a type of veto power, the latter two can, at times, make it nearly impossible for the intellectual module to consider new ideas or perspectives (which are required for growth) that might threaten an individual’s group memberships and/or affiliations. It is in such groups and communities that herd species such as Homo sapiens feel safe and secure. It takes a great deal of courage, therefore, for any human to look at spiritual development in any way that might differ from what their communities of origin have taught them. For many, remaining in a state of arrested development seems preferable: at least it offers a sense of safety.

Progressing beyond the rudimentary teachings of a given spiritual system is no easy task, in other words, for to do so requires a daring, mature meaning module that can hold its ground in the face of the survival and belonging modules’ well-intentioned though development-constricting cries of objection.

Looking Ahead: Enablers of spiritual development

Having introduced the concept of models of the spiritual journey in our previous post, we have now added to our understanding by recognizing factors that lead many to resist such models and/or become stuck along the path of developmental progression.

Next time, in our third and final entry in this short series, we will examine the opposite, that is, enablers of progress along the journey of spiritual development.

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(1) Included quotes from Ken Wilber are drawn from The Religion of Tomorrow (Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, 2018), 204.

(2) This entire section is influenced by Brian McLaren, Faith After Doubt (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2022), 15-18.