THE FAITH DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

A dissertation presented to the faculty of

ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY SANTA BARBARA

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of

DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGYin

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

By

TIANA BLACKBURN

JUNE 2017

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THE FAITH DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

This dissertation, by Tiana Blackburn, has been approved by the committee members signed below who recommend that it be accepted by the faculty of Antioch University

Santa Barbara in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

Dissertation Committee

____________________________________Dan Schwartz, Ph.D.Chairperson

____________________________________Lee Weiser, Ph.D.Second Faculty Reader

__________________________________Murray Stein, Ph.D.External Reader

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Copyright by

Tiana Blackburn

2017

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ABSTRACT

THE FAITH DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

By

Tiana Blackburn

This research is a phenomenological study which explores the faith development of six clinical psychologists. Thematic aspects of faith were determined using James Fowler’s Faith Development Theory and includes form of logic, perspective-taking, moral judgment, social awareness, coherence, locus of authority, and symbolic function. These aspects are seen as foundational to an understanding of participants’ stage of faith development. Note that in Faith Development Theory a religious belief system is not required in order to have the experience of faith. In terms of affiliation or non-affiliation with religion, psychologists’ beliefs included atheist, agnostic, religious, and spiritual. Faith was also viewed through a depth psychological lens to help understand the construct.Psychologists’ completed a survey of their personal perspectives on religion and spirituality in clinical practice, personal characteristics, and their demographics. They were interviewed using the Faith Development Interview from which aspects of faith were interpreted and coded. It was observed that maturity of faith varied within and between aspects. Uneven development is to be expected in any growth process. Scores within aspects were averaged and rolled up to an estimated stage score. The stages of faith for two of these clinical psychologists was interpreted as transitioning from Synthetic-Conventional (stage 3) to Individuative-Reflective (stage 4). The stages of faith for four of these clinical psychologists was interpreted as Individuative-Reflective (stage 4) with two psychologists transitioning to Conjunctive Faith (stage 5). The conclusion is that clinical psychologists do indeed have faith and here they describe their experience of it. This study is a move towards a multi-perspectival view of what it means to have faith. Future studies can provide a better understanding of faith development when they are analyzed alongside states of consciousness. It remains to be seen whether or not faith makes a qualitative difference in therapeutic outcomes. Note: The electronic version of this dissertation is available free at Ohiolink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am very thankful to Lee Weiser, PhD., as an advisor, teacher, and committee

member: her attention and support meant a great deal to me. Thanks go to Barbara

Lipinski, PhD., for a travel award to attend the 2012 Summer Research Workshop on

Spirituality and Health at Duke University, which boosted my morale; and all inspirers at

Antioch U. including our librarian Christine Forte, who provided inestimable help over the

years.

Much appreciation goes to Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc for adding depth and

breadth to my research skills and knowledge beyond what any university graduate

program can offer. Along with Allen Verhey, PhD. (a renowned theological ethicist now

passed), these gentlemen listened and offered helpful guidance over the course of several

days at Duke University.

I give thanks for Marc Rosenbush, a dear Buddhist friend who offered me his

couch during my pre-doc fellowship in a city where I no longer lived. I also greatly

appreciate my strongest ally, my beloved mother, who listens tirelessly even at 82 years

old … along with all of her furry creatures. I am grateful as well to Francesco Di Santis

for his critique and friendship. Most of all, I thank the psychologists who selflessly gave

generously their physical and emotional time and energy to share their soul and spiritual

autobiographies to help other searchers and seekers of knowledge…you will be in my

heart forever!

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Contents ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................................vii CH. 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................1

BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................. 2 STATEMENT................................................................................................................................................. 4 DEFINITION OF TERMS ............................................................................................................................... 5 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................................................... 11 METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL ORIENTATION ............................................................................... 12 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY...................................................................................................................... 15

CH. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................................................18 RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY.......................................................................................................................... 20 FAITH ........................................................................................................................................................ 26

CHAPTER 3 METHOD .......................................................................................................................37 RESEARCH DESIGN AND RATIONALE ....................................................................................................... 37 ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER ..................................................................................................................... 38 METHOD.................................................................................................................................................... 39 PARTICIPANTS........................................................................................................................................... 40 INSTRUMENTATION................................................................................................................................... 41 DATA COLLECTION .................................................................................................................................. 42 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................ 42 VALIDITY STRATEGY................................................................................................................................ 43 RISKS/ETHICAL PROCEDURES ................................................................................................................. 45

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS......................................................................................................................47 DEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF PSYCHOLOGISTS .............................................................................................. 47 CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOLOGISTS .................................................................................................. 48 PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGISTS ......................................................................................................... 49 ASPECTS OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................................... 52 SUMMARY OF RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 103

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ...........................................................................105 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................113 Appendix A.........................................................................................................................................125 Appendix B.........................................................................................................................................127 Appendix C.........................................................................................................................................129 Appendix D ........................................................................................................................................130 Appendix E.........................................................................................................................................131 Appendix F.........................................................................................................................................135 Appendix G ........................................................................................................................................137

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Participant Religious/Spiritual Characteristics…………………………….48Table 2. Participant Beliefs and Religious/Spiritual Experiences…………………..48Table 3. Participant Responses Regarding Religion/Spirituality and Health ……....49Table 4. Participant Responses Regarding Religion/Spirituality in

Clinical Practice …………………………………………………………..50Table 5. Participant Responses Regarding Religion/Spirituality and Diagnosis …...51Table 6. ASPECT: Form of logic…………………………………………………... 55Table 7. ASPECT: Perspective-taking………………………………………………62Table 8. ASPECT: Form of moral judgment………………………………………..71Table 9. ASPECT: Social awareness………………………………………………..79Table 10. ASPECT: Locus of authority……………………………………………....84Table 11. ASPECT: World coherence………………………………………………..89Table 12. ASPECT: Symbolic function……………………………………………....97Table 13. Faith Stages………………………………………………………………103Table 14. Belief in God and Faith Maturity………………………………………...104

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CH. 1 INTRODUCTION

Broadly speaking, religiousness “refers to a search for significance in ways

related to the sacred,” while spirituality is “a search for the sacred” itself (Zinnbauer &

Pargament, 2005, p.36). Nevertheless, a lack of consensus prevails as to whether or not

the sacred (which Koenig calls the transcendent) should be viewed as religious or secular,

particularly during attempts to find common ground (Koenig, 2012). According to some,

blending religion and spirituality as one construct provides an unnecessarily vague

understanding considering the lack of agreement as to the nature of spirituality itself

(Dein, Cook, & Koenig, 2012; Koenig 2008; Moreira-Almeida & Koenig, 2006; Koenig,

McCullough, & Larson, 2001). In addition to these concerns, a growing number of

people turn towards secular spirituality in order to avoid the dogma of religious belief,

mainly because religion, when seen negatively, has connotations of “conflict,

expectations, hypocrisy, rigidity, [and] evangelism” (Koenig, King, & Carson, 2012,

p.38).

The net effect of this negative perception has led to the view that spirituality

represents the highest of human potential whereas religion has become peripheral

(Pargament, 1999). As a result, because spirituality does have a historical religious

foundation, many who study religion join the two as one construct. Also, there is a

perceived need (by some) to re-invigorate religion’s vitality. While the evolution towards

a secular meaning of spirituality is difficult to operationally define (Koenig, 2012), their

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interchangeability may also be problematic, especially as regards no-faith and multi-faith

systems, e.g., many agnostics also see themselves as spiritual.

Most of the literature examines faith as a noun, as in “keeping the faith,” or

having a religion. Without question, faith in the religious sense is important considering

that large numbers of clients say that their “faith provides emotional support, social

support, and a route to meaning, all of which help them cope with their diagnosis”

(Lederberg & Fitchett, 1999, p. 375). While helpful to some, this limited definition of

faith in the religious sense is narrow. Instead, the present study addresses the construct of

faith as a verb, i.e., as an on-going, developmental process. Characteristics of

religiousness and spirituality can then be contrasted with faith development. In order to

deepen an understanding of faith, this researcher interviewed clinical psychologists about

their lived experience of faith while exploring the quantitative data on religion and

spirituality among this population.

Background

The connection between psychology and religion in the West was shaped by the

Harvard philosopher and psychologist William James early in the 20th Century (Taylor,

1996). Not long afterwards, Freud argued against Christianity as the “return of the

repressed” (Freud, 1939, p. 129). More recently, the American Psychological

Association, in 2007, adopted over a dozen resolutions specifically on religious, religion-

based and/or religion-derived prejudice to include the following:

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the American

Psychological Association encourages the dissemination of relevant

empirical findings about the psychological correlates of religious/spiritual

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beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors to concerned stakeholders with full

sensitivity to the profound differences between psychology and

religion/spirituality. (Anton, 2008)

With the exception of the Analytical Psychology of C. G. Jung, religion and spirituality

have been relegated to the sidelines of mainstream Western, Euro-centric psychotherapy

practices (Worthington, 2011). However, all of us participate in the mystery of life. The

search for meaning that usually belongs in the realm of philosophy is still addressed by

psychologists in the post-modern era just as it was by William James early in the 20th

Century.

Looking back, it was in the 1950’s that Carl Rogers brought the field closer to a

truer phenomenological approach by encouraging psychotherapists to see reality from the

client’s perspective (Worthington, 2011). Worthington stated that in the 1960’s, English

translations of literature from Eastern religions became widely available and deepened an

understanding of the relationship between the concepts of spirit and psyche. Meditation

was eventually incorporated into several psychotherapies after Herbert Benson

researched the relaxation response in the 1970’s (Davidson, Goleman and Schwartz,

1976; Goleman, 1976, 1981). Shortly thereafter, in the 1970’s through the 1980’s, the

Jesus People movement advocated for faith-based psychotherapy. As a response, students

of scriptures and psychology at Rosemead Graduate School established a forum to

systemize the Christian view of psychology (Narramore, 1973). Since the 1980’s,

journals of psychology have published articles on religion to an even greater extent

(Worthington, 2011), resulting in a growing database on the subject of religion and

spirituality in psychology. The research question, “What is the faith development of

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clinical psychologists” moves away from religious belief towards an exploration of the

lived experience of faith. The question led to a re-awakening of faith in the researcher

and a curiosity about its development. This curiosity also led to additional thoughts about

atheism and agnosticism (the opposites of religion and/or spirituality) and these are

briefly considered further on. That being said, fewer studies specifically related to atheist

or agnostic worldviews were found.

Statement

The study of the lived experience of faith, particularly its development, was

predicted to provide more interesting data than details of a person’s religion, church

attendance, etc. There is a need for qualitative studies such as this where the meaning of

participants’ responses to questions can be clarified. Jung (1958) said

The statistical method shows the facts in the light of the ideal average

but does not give us a picture of their empirical reality. While reflecting

an indisputable aspect of reality, it can falsify the actual truth in a most

misleading way. This is particularly true of theories which are based on

statistics. The distinctive thing about real facts, however, is their

individuality. Not to put too fine a point on it, one could say that the

real picture consists of nothing but exceptions to the rule, and that, in

consequence, absolute reality has predominantly the character of

irregularity (p. 494).

While the present study used the constructs of religion and spirituality for comparison

with faith development, the study is fundamentally non-theological in its exploration of

faith. The “actual truth,” as Jung might say, may be closer to Fowler’s theory of faith

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development which was drawn from Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Erik Erikson and

Robert Selman’s theories. The present study ascertained the religious or spiritual

characteristics of six psychologists through the use of a questionnaire, meanwhile aspects

related to faith were explored through faith development interviews. Responses

contributed to an understanding of the lived experience of faith for these psychologists.

Definition of Terms

In depth psychology “the studied use of words guides one towards the goal of

perfecting the soul” (Dr. Bona, personal correspondence, 2005). The feminine noun for

soul in Hebrew is nephesh (n.d.) or that which breathes. The soul rejoices, can be

refreshed, weeps, complains, passionately desires and nephesh is used 625 times as soul,

self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, and passion in

Hebrew scripture. Western-based medicine and psychology, on the other hand, use

evidence based practices such as the mindfulness of breath to address the soul indirectly

to better regulate emotions and lower stress. For the purpose here, soul is the total

essence of a person or personality that is at the heart of psychotherapy. James Hillman

said,

Most of us dropped that term back when the churches were active,

or we find it in a graveyard somewhere, but in fact, for me, it is the

crucial term of the entire work because the word psyche in Greek

from which our field comes from: psychotherapy, psychology,

psychoanalysis and psychodynamics and all the rest, actually

means soul work, means soul, so we have to bend our minds

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around the absence of it in our usual conversation and attempt to

bring it back. (Hillman, 2009)

The exploration of soul requires faith on the part of clients as well as psychotherapists. A

definition of faith with depth psychological meaning is “an intuitive cognition, with

strong emotional over- and undertones, of a realm of being beyond our conscious grasp

… [one] that is forward-looking with trust” (Stein, 2011, p. 400). Thus, faith may guide

one towards particular goals in psychotherapy. Faith is also necessary in order to practice

the spiritual disciplines of religion. As such, faith studied as a verb is well-suited.

Bormann, Aschbacher, Wetherell, Roesch, and Redwine (2009) found that cortisol levels

could be lowered among HIV-positive adults who used a spiritual mantra. Faith, they

asserted, was inversely associated with cortisol levels, thereby strengthening the

hypothesis that faith leads to positive health outcomes for HIV patients. Borman et al.

demonstrated the possibilities for further research using faith as a construct, especially as

regards spiritual discipline. Another reason this study defines faith as a verb regardless of

religious belief is that atheists and agnostics may have faith-based attitudes even as they

deny or doubt the existence of a supernatural being (Saeed & Grant, 2004).

Streib and Klein (2013) performed cross-cultural comparisons on belief in God,

disaffiliation, no affiliation, and atheist/agnostic worldviews. Streib and Klein surveyed

the literature on motives and developmental factors, predictors of (dis)belief in God,

psychological correlates and values of atheism, agnosticism, and apostasy. They stated

that the main difference between atheism, agnosticism, and apostasy lies in the hostility

expressed in atheism. This hostility appears to be a backlash against the existence of God.

Apostasy, on the other hand, implies “the loss of religious experiences, intellectual doubt

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and denial, moral criticism, and disaffiliation from a religious community” (p. 714).

Meanwhile, agnostic skepticism is a worldview that may still be open to spiritual

perspectives. It was suggested by Streib and Klein (2013) that atheism and agnosticism

be interrelated for research purposes in the same way researchers are combining the terms

‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’ into one construct in order to lessen polarization between the

two (Pargament, 1999). Interestingly, results from other studies suggested that both

religion/spirituality and atheism/agnosticism arise as a natural effect of the environment

one inhabits or as a reaction against that environment (Beit-Hallahmi, 2007).

Breaking with tradition, the first volume of the APA 2013 Handbook of

Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality encourages measures of religion/spirituality to be

conceptually related to physical and mental health instead of the frequency of church (or

house-of-worship) attendance, self-rated religiousness, and spirituality as was typical at

the time. These changes allow cross-comparisons between all groups. For example,

Hayward, Krause, Ironson, Hill, and Emmons (2016) reviewed health outcomes and

psychological well-being of atheists and agnostics using survey data from a study of

religion and health in the adult US population (N = 3010). Hayward et al. examined

group differences among religious group members (N = 2401) and three categories of

non-religious individuals: atheists (N = 83), agnostics (N = 189), and those stating no

religious preference (N = 329). According to Hayward et al. atheists and agnostics had

better physical health on individual measures including Body Mass Index (BMI); fewer

chronic conditions; and fewer physical limitations compared with religious affiliates.

Even so, they had worse “positive” psychological functioning characteristics such as

forgiveness and optimism. Hayward et al. pointed out that a healthy secular world view

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with a sense of meaning and shared identity mitigates social stigma that atheists may

experience in a religious society. Hayward et al. implied that agnostics may be prone to

greater existential uncertainty in contrast to atheists and religiously affiliated individuals.

Religious people and atheists both had higher mean levels of life satisfaction and lower

levels of death anxiety in contrast to agnostics, as if to say having certainty promotes

well-being regardless of the position taken. This was stated earlier by Wilkinson and

Coleman (2010) whose analysis of two groups of people over 60 years of age suggested

that a strong atheistic belief system also provides support, explanation, consolation, and

inspiration as does a strong religious belief system. It is the certainty, or strength as they

say, of a person’s beliefs and how those are used that influence coping rather than the

specific nature of the beliefs.

The APA Handbook offers only a tentative definition for religion “as there are no

hard and fast definitions that everyone agrees upon.” Religion is “a) the search for

significant psychological, social, or physical destinations within established institutional

contexts designed to facilitate spirituality; or b) beliefs, practices, experiences, or

relationships that are embedded within established contexts designed to facilitate

spirituality” (Pargament, Mahoney, Exline, Jones, & Shafranske, 2013, p. 15). The

definition of spirituality is more or less non-institutional in meaning. Another definition

is generally agreed-upon is “the search for significance in ways related to the sacred . . .

both individual and institutional” (Hill & Pargament, 2003, p. 11; Pargament, 1999).

Spirituality, as affirmed by Pargament et al. is “a) the search for the sacred; or b)

sacred beliefs, practices, or experiences that are embedded in nontraditional contexts” (p.

14). The term has evolved from being described as faith practices based upon religion to

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the description of spirituality as unanchored to any religious tradition (Smith & Denton,

2005, p. 175). There has been a rising trend towards self-identification as spiritual since

the time that Zinnbauer and colleagues reported only a small percentage of people were

identified as ‘spiritual, not religious’ (1997). Spiritual, not religious people are more

likely to be independent and agnostic, and they view spirituality and religiousness as

unique, non-overlapping concepts (Zinnbauer, Pargament, Cole, Rye, Butter, Belavich, &

Kadar 1997).

It has also been said that unanchored spirituality frees people of the

responsibilities of religion (Shulman & Meador, as cited in Koenig, 2012). That is

problematic for research because it becomes difficult to identify its specific

characteristics. This definitional vacuum concerned Koenig (2012) because of the

possibility of falsely equating secular spirituality with positive psychology when

measuring health outcomes. When seen as synonymous, spirituality and positive

psychology result in a tautology:

“Correlating a construct (spirituality) assessed using mental health

indicators with another mental health construct (e.g., well-being, life

satisfaction, depression, anxiety) is circular (i.e., tautological) and

assures an association between the two in every study that is conducted.

The association is meaningless and not interpretable.” (Koenig, p. 41)

This association is meaningless because to equate mental health with spirituality dooms

people as unspiritual who have emotional, mental, or physical illness, i.e., everyone

experiences difficulties in life to one degree or another and these difficulties inevitably

influence health outcomes. A person should not be criticized as being less spiritual

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because of infirmity (Salander, 2006). Salander even questions whether spirituality is a

meaningful concept at all, suggesting instead constructs such as “existential” or

“psychosocial” (Salander, 2006, p. 647).

A search for the most comprehensive definition of faith has revealed one that

surpasses both religiousness and spirituality, i.e., that which is dependable, true, and real

and is ultimately worthy of our trust. C.G. Jung (1958) emphasized that faith is secondary

to an earlier feeling of trust that is seen as instilled in early attachment relationships. In a

deeply human sense, faith is

not merely a matter of belief understood as dogma . . . nor is faith simply

the activity of those who identify themselves as religious . . . faith is

meaning-making at the level of ultimacy, something that all human beings

do, whether they express it in secular or religious terms (Parks, 1993).

Merriam Webster’s (2013) definition for faith is: 1) allegiance to duty or a person, or

fidelity to one’s promises; 2) belief and trust in and loyalty to God, or belief in the

doctrines of a traditional religion; 3) firm belief in something for which there is no proof,

or complete trust; 4) something that is believed with strong conviction, especially a

system of religious beliefs. In contrast, faith in terms of its Latin and Greek root words

means confidence, reliance, and trust (Stein, 2011). This also means trust in one’s own

“creative abilities and powers” (p. 397).

For many psychotherapists, faith belongs in the unconscious fact that the patient

wants to get well, which actually represents the essential (and inevitable) faith that they

must have in order to do so (Bishop, personal communication, May 3, 2012). One patient

with the diagnosis of schizophrenia attributed her cure to the therapist’s faith in the

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patient’s own ability to cure herself (Dorman, 1999). While at the conscious level there

appears manifestations of defense or pathology, these are interpreted by Casement (1991)

as the unconscious reaching out for “what is needed to meet unmet needs“ (p. 293).

Casement called it “unconscious hope” (p. 293) and said that this search was unknown to

the client.

Hope, as a noun, is the ground for faith and trust. Unconscious hope can be met

with hope-focused interventions that are either explicit, such as finding resources, or they

might be implied expressions of hope, e.g., hopeful reframes (Larsen & Stege, 2010).

Hope is a wishful ‘looking forward’ with some confidence in having desires fulfilled

(Merriam-Webster, 2013). Hope’s antonym is despair, or pessimism, therefore, hope is

the antidote for depression. On the other hand, faith’s antonym is deceit, duplicity, or

insincerity: all things which might shatter hope. That being said, the therapeutic alliance

is at its greatest risk when faith, within the context of psychotherapy, is absent or

damaged by duplicity.

Purpose of the Study

Francis (2012) identified the need to conduct qualitative studies into

psychologists’ faith and beliefs in more depth. Francis’ mentor, Shafranske (his

dissertation having been published in 1981) researched “factors associated with the

perception of spirituality in psychotherapy” (Shafranske, 1984) followed by a 1987

presentation to the APA called “Clinical psychologists’ religious and spiritual

orientations and their practice of psychotherapy” (1990). Likewise, Pargament

researched religious coping extensively since completion of his dissertation in 1978. The

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present study contributes a nuanced and in-depth view of the lived experience of faith

that was identified by Francis (2012) as missing in the literature.

Besides the benefit of understanding factors supportive of the therapeutic alliance,

the purpose here is to understand faith in relation to the religious and spiritual

characteristics of psychologists. Included in the originally stated purpose was the

possibility that the Faith Development Interview might have a positive influence on

participants and their practices. Results (addressed further on) do indicate benefits to

participants that are likely due to deeper thought around their personal faith development.

Methodology and Theoretical Orientation

Much like religion and spirituality, method and methodology are interrelated.

Methodology is defined as the theoretical framework or lens by which data is viewed

after it has been collected using an available method. Data is collected through

interviewing, observation, and various other methods of capturing data, and a

methodology is used for a particular way of seeing the text or hearing into what the

person is saying. Scientists under the modern paradigm of positivism regard the

observation of facts as an imperative, yet in the postmodern paradigm it is values that are

more vital (Kvale, 1996). This examination of faith through participants’ relationship to

core values allowed the researcher to work outside the bounds of positivist science

(Tolman & Brydon-Miller (2001).

In terms of method, this study invited clinical psychologists to complete a

screening questionnaire exploring their religious and spiritual characteristics. Questions

were adapted from a 2005 National Survey (Curlin, Lantos, Roach, Sellergren, & Chin,

2007). The main point of departure from the original survey was simply to change the

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name “physician” to “psychologist.” Following this, the participants were asked to

explore their rich and complex experiences through in-depth interviews (Hoyt & Bahti,

2007).

In terms of methodology, this study used an Interpretative Phenomenological

Approach (IPA). The background of the IPA methodology is founded on the thinking of

Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. A general understanding of these great

philosophers’ works is briefly elaborated upon here. Husserl’s approach is ‘unnatural’ in

that it asks us to step out of natural immersion in our experiences for the purpose of being

mindful of the perceptions we have of moments of experience instead of the whole of

experience (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). This method was used to make sense of

participants’ experiences through their own account of it (Smith, Flowers & Larkin,

2009) and through the shared humanity between the researcher and each participant.

Meaning was found through methodical questioning and psychological self-awareness

during which time a phenomenological attitude was adopted.

For Heidegger, meaning is also fundamentally important yet he found that it is

through an interpretive response to phenomena that knowledge is gained (Smith, Flowers

& Larkin, 2009). Interpretation is a meaning-making activity that accompanies inter-

subjectivity, resulting from seeing our relatedness to the world, that is to say, one’s

being-in-the-world is a perspective located in time and in relation to something (Smith,

Flowers & Larkin, 2009). The meanings that arose out of this study are relative to a

particular group of people at a particular time and involved meaning-making

interpretations after interviews were conducted.

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From Merleau-Ponty’s perspective of embodiment, the researcher can observe

and have empathy for participants without sharing completely their ordeals (Smith,

Flowers & Larkin, 2009). This is because a participant‘s experience is embodied and is

particular to his or her location in the world. The role of the body in this study was

attended to, especially the relationship between faith and the felt sense of its embodiment.

In the two-stage or double hermeneutic process within IPA (Smith, 2008),

participants’ experiences were interpreted while at the same time the researcher’s own

experience was attended to. As such, this method required a commitment to the thoughts,

language, feelings, and physical being of the participants, e.g., how they talked, what they

thought, and how they felt, as well as their silences (Smith, 2008). Smith says that IPA

asks the researcher to see the world from within the lived experiences of participants.

This required empathy on the part of the researcher towards the participants’ experiences

for the purpose of meaning-making (Smith, 2008).

Initially, the question that inspired this study was asked by Jungian analyst

Murray Stein, i.e., what is faith, do you have it, and does it make a difference? (Stein,

2011). The questions posed in this study examined how psychologists described their

intra- and interpersonal experiences of faith, whether religious, spiritual, atheist, or

agnostic. "People call faith the true religious experience," Jung (1958) observed, "but

they do not stop to think that actually it is a secondary phenomenon arising from the fact

that something happened to us in the first place which instilled 'nous' into us - that is,

trust and loyalty" (pp 46-48). The study of faith outside of the structure of religion (but

one would imagine even within it) revealed a great deal about the development of trust.

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Relevance of the Study

A psychologist‘s development of faith might have implications for the quality of

the therapeutic alliance. For example, Nissen-Lie, Havik, Høglend, Monsen, &

Rønnestad (2013) discovered how therapists’ quality of life was predictive of alliance

levels and growth by investigating their personal satisfactions and burdens. The

therapists’ Personal Burdens Scale results were strongly and inversely related to the

growth of the alliance as rated by the clients (high personal burden on the part of

therapists, alliance rated lower by clients). On the other hand, the factor scale of

therapists’ Personal Satisfactions was clearly and positively associated with therapist-

rated alliance growth, but was unrelated to the patients’ ratings of the alliance. It is ironic

that the perception of the alliance by therapists was influenced by their own quality of life

in ways that diverged from those rated by patients.

Results suggested that patients are particularly sensitive to their

therapists’ private life experience of distress, which presumably is

communicated through the therapists’ in–session behaviors, whereas the

therapists’ judgments of alliance quality were positively biased by their

own sense of personal well-being (Nissen-Lie, et al., 2013. p. 483).

While faith development may prove to be relevant to alliance levels, this study

does not examine that correlation (even though it would answer the third part of Stein’s

question, i.e., does it make a difference). However, this study could lead to future studies,

e.g., how is faith that is unrelated to religious belief or doctrine still relevant to

therapeutic outcomes? Or, do clients sense the faith of psychotherapists? And again, in

what way does atheism or agnosticism affect the therapeutic alliance? These are valuable

16

questions because while a client’s expectations, hopes, and values have a considerable

influence on therapy outcomes (Valkonen, Hanninen, and Lindfors, 2011), at times a

non-religious perspective is needed. For example, Mayers, Leavey, Villianatou, & Barker

(2007) revealed that participants felt “religion or faith, although valuable, can sometimes

block access to the insights required for changing painful or problematic aspects of their

lives” (p. 322).

In summary, Chapter 1 introduced terms relevant to this research and provided the

most commonly agreed upon meanings: that spirituality involves a search for the sacred

and religion provides the means to do so, the sacred being called ‘transcendent.’ Then, a

narrow and brief history of the relationship between religion and psychology was offered

while explaining the study’s divergence from belief/dogma towards the exploration of

faith, which has the underpinning of trust. While religion has gained prominence in

scholarly research, existing research has provided little in the way of understanding how

people experience religion/spirituality, besides, it excludes people who do not profess any

belief in a supernatural being. This study assumed that atheists and/or agnostics are not

faithless creatures who lack meaning-making ability.

A brief description of the Interpretative Phenomenological Approach based on the

thinking of Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty was presented and, finally, the

study’s relevance to the therapeutic alliance was suggested as the reason to explore the

lived experience of faith. Next, Chapter 2 contains the review of literature related to

religion/ spirituality followed by a discussion of Faith Development Theory. The

methodology and procedures used to gather data for the study are presented in Chapter 3.

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The results of analyses and findings to emerge from the study are contained in Chapter 4.

Chapter 5 contains a discussion of the findings with recommendations for further study.

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CH. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This research project concerns the faith development and religion/spirituality of

clinical psychologists. It answers the question, “What is the faith development of clinical

psychologists?” through the exploration of data from questionnaires and interviews. In

this section, the literature on religion, spirituality, and faith are reviewed. Key points and

controversies surrounding these topics are discussed. A critical evaluation of the research

is provided and general conclusions follow. After reviewing the literature pertaining to

religion/spirituality, Fowler’s Faith Development Theory (FDT) is explored.

To begin, most faith-based research is related to community and church-related

health interventions. Total projects funded by the National Institutes of Health

(NIH/NIMH) number up to 3,634 in the NIMH database alone. An NIMH (2017) ‘active

projects’ search on the keyword faith showed seven church-based projects out of a total

of eight projects. The remaining project is the role of the microbiome in promotion of

cognitive and psychological resilience (resilience being identified as faith). In addition,

an NIH (2017) ‘active projects’ search on the keyword religion resulted in 31 projects

related to HIV, cancer, aging, adolescence, drug use, suicide, diabetes, and spiritual

suffering, etc. An NIH ‘active projects’ search on the keyword spiritual showed eight

projects related to religion/spirituality and health behaviors. The number of active

projects for religion, spirituality, and faith appears low. Fortunately, this low number is

offset by privately funded research from the Templeton Foundation. Of the 80 projects

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the Templeton Foundation funded in 2016 alone, 26 were related to religion and/or

spirituality (Templeton Foundation, 2017) with many of those studies attempting to

bridge the gap between science and religion. That being said, Koenig (2012) suggested

additional cross-cultural studies and also longitudinal studies that track religious

development from early, middle, and into late adulthood while measuring personality

traits, and linking these factors to lifetime depression risks. Koenig (2012) also suggested

randomized clinical trials of R/S interventions used alone or in combination with secular

psychotherapeutic interventions, e.g. cognitive-behavioral approaches.

That being said, there has been positive growth in research on mindfulness

practices mainly due to the influence of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism (Hayes, Follette, &

Linehan, 2004; Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Linehan, 1993). As such, mindfulness has been

popularly incorporated as a psychotherapeutic intervention, for example, mindfulness-

based stress reduction (Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Shapiro & Carlson, 2009). An NIH (2017)

mindfulness-based project search showed 70 studies currently funded, which is an

increase from 44 mindfulness-based studies in 2008 listed by Shapiro & Carlson (2009).

Besides meditation and yoga, interventions included 1) Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness

Based Stress Reduction (MBSR); 2) Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT); and 3)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Most projects were related to HIV, pain processing,

alcoholism, childhood adversity, worry, substance abuse, depression, cancer, asthma,

adolescent coping, smoking cessation, resiliency, blood pressure control, aging, post-

traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety, insomnia, etc. In sum, these active projects

identify the current trend and also suggest future trends of research regarding the

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correlation between religion and spirituality with physical and/or mental health by both

medical and psychological researchers.

Religion/Spirituality

This section identifies the literature on religious and spiritual characteristics of

psychologists, physicians, and psychiatrists all of whom care for, attend, serve, or heal

patients. Throughout the Greek New Testament, there are 43 occurrences of therapeuo

which means to care for, attend, serve, or heal (Bible Hub, 2013). The word is used in

reference to the cures and healings that Jesus is described as performing among the

people. According to the original meaning of therapeuo as soul healing (Berliner, 1992) it

stands to reason that psychotherapists would be open to religious/spiritual issues (Post &

Wade, 2009) regardless of their affiliation or lack thereof.

Walker, Gorusch and Tang (2004) conducted a 26-study meta-analysis to explore

the integration of religion and spirituality in therapy among 5,759 therapists. Therapists

reported that they rarely participated in spiritual practices and organized religion. The

fact that therapists rarely discussed religious/spiritual issues in their training identified the

need for better training which has subsequently been addressed in the literature (Francis,

2012; Shafranske, 1996) and is reported upon further below.

In an early cornerstone study, Shafranske and Maloney (1990) investigated

clinical psychologists’ religious and spiritual orientations and their practice of

psychotherapy. Among 409 psychologists, 40% endorsed a personal, transcendent God;

30% affirmed a transcendent dimension in all of nature; 26% held the position that all

ideologies are illusions although meaningful; and 2% held the position that all ideologies

are illusions and irrelevant. Clearly, a majority of psychologists endorsed that there is a

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transcendent dimension in life, however less than 18% agreed that organized religion was

the primary source of their spirituality. The majority of psychologists characterized their

spiritual beliefs and practices as an "alternative spiritual path which is not a part of an

organized religion" (p. 74). This point-of-view argues against tradition, that is, that

spirituality is the essence of only religion (Koenig, 2012).

Six years later, Shafransky (1996) again found that 50% of psychologists reported

having no particular religious preferences even though 48% thought religion important.

Meanwhile, 73% reported that spirituality was fairly to very important. These results

suggested that psychologists continued to value non-institutional expressions of

spirituality. More importantly, Shafranske blended the separate constructs of religion and

spirituality into ‘R/S’ thereby making it appear that psychologists’ characteristics were

closer to the general population than previously thought. Using the same method,

Shafranske (2000) allowed an overlap between the constructs of religion and spirituality

when he surveyed psychiatrists and found that their views were similar to psychologists

(42% reported religion as not very important yet 80% rated spirituality as fairly or very

important). The integration of spirituality with religion as a construct produced results

that made both psychologists and psychiatrists appear somewhat similar to the general

public (the “bandwidth” was increased, so to speak, by the overlap of terms).

On the other hand, Curlin, Odell, Lawrence, Chin, Lantos, Meador and Koenig

(2007) used religion and spirituality as separate constructs to compare psychiatrists with

physicians. Curlin, et al. found that psychiatrists were less religious than physicians. The

physicians’ religious affiliations were noticeably broader than the psychiatrists, who were

predominantly Jewish and non-religious, non-Protestant, and non-Catholic (Franzblau,

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D’Agostino, Draper et al. as cited in Curlin, et al., 2007). Curlin, et al. showed that the

‘more religious’ physicians’ characteristics were closer to the general population. An

earlier national survey by Curlin, Lantos, Roach, Sellergren, and Chin (2005) found

physicians who were religious and spiritual to be 52% (N=1144) which at one time was

genuinely closer to the U.S. population’s 53% (N=1445) (General Social Survey, 1998).

That being said, the percentage of physicians’ who were spiritual, not religious, was

much lower at 20% (lower than both psychologists and psychiatrists in the above-

mentioned studies), and physicians’ who were neither religious nor spiritual were at 23%

(Curlin, et al., 2005, 2007).

One possible explanation for the difference between psychologists, psychiatrists

and physicians may be related to a greater degree of reported cultural and religious

diversity among physicians. When Curlin et al. (2005) provided options for physicians to

more specifically identify as Buddhist, Muslim, or Hindu versus the vague category of

‘Other’, results also appeared more diverse. The measures used by Shafranske (2009) did

not specifically identify Buddhist, Muslim, or Hindu religions. A lack of diversity was

seen in another study by Delaney, Miller, and Bisonó (2007). Another explanation for the

difference between psychologists, psychiatrists and physicians is that two-thirds of

medical schools have received grants from the Templeton Foundation to introduce

courses on religion and spirituality into their curriculums (Koenig, 2002) whereas schools

of psychology and/or psychoanalytic training institutes had not.

Seventeen years following a study by Bergin and Jensen (1990) on the disparity

between clinical psychologists and the general public, Delaney, Miller, and Bisonó

(2007) questioned whether this disparity had decreased over the years. They surveyed

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members of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2003 regarding their

religion and spirituality which revealed that psychologists were still much less religious

than the clients they serve (Delaney et al., 2007). Almost half of the psychologists said

that religion was not important in their lives (Delaney et al., 2007). While 38% of

psychologists answered either never or often to the question of whether or not they had

once or twice or several times felt close to a powerful spiritual force, two-thirds answered

affirmatively, i.e., they were spiritual not religious.

Francis (2012) investigated religious beliefs and spiritual practices of graduate

students studying to become clinical or counseling psychologists. Similar to prior studies

(Bergin & Jensen, 1990; Delaney et al., 2007; Shafranske, 1996, 2000; Shafranske &

Malony, 1990, Walker et al., 2004) Francis showed that psychologists-in-training

considered spirituality to be meaningful but they rarely participated in traditional

religious or spiritual practices themselves. Notably, Millennials (people born after 1981)

did not usually affiliate with a particular religious denomination or faith (Pew Forum on

Religion and Public Life, 2010). Fully one-third (34%) of the youngest Millennials (those

ages 18-22) reported being religiously unaffiliated (Pew Forum on Religion and Public

Life, 2012), a result reflected in the data on psychology graduate students that Francis

(2012) provided. According to Francis (2012) an increasing number of graduate

psychology students reported a growth in awareness of R/S. Graduate students explored

their clients’ religious backgrounds and the impact of client religious beliefs on

psychological functioning (Francis, 2012) at a higher rate than previously reported for

college students (Hayes, as cited in Francis, 2012).

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The increase of R/S awareness in Francis’ study squares with Vieten, Scammell,

Pilato, Ammondson, Pargament, and Lukoff’s (2013) recommendation of 16 basic

spiritual and religious competencies for all licensed psychologists. Several of these

competencies were observed in Francis’ (2012) study where graduate students used

mindfulness approaches as well as acceptance and commitment approaches in their

practices, and many said they would recommend formal meditation to their clients.

Meanwhile they incorporated values such as forgiveness, gratitude, kindness, and justice

in their treatments. Graduate students reported a greater than average use of religious

language, metaphors and concepts (Francis (2012) thereby establishing the fact that

sensitivity to R/S variables had been cultivated through effective training in their

graduate program. This need was earlier identified by Shafransky based on a study

showing that clinicians’ reported less favorable attitudes towards interventions deemed

religious (Shafranske and Maloney, 1990). More importantly, that seems to fit within

APA’s 2007 resolutions. The majority of graduate students reported that they intended to

seek consultation with religious professionals and planned to discuss the potential health

benefits associated with religious involvement (Francis, 2012), thereby demonstrating

several skills proposed by Vieten, et al. (2013).

Interestingly, Newport (2012) predicted that as long as religious expression grows

in its ‘free-form state,’ namely as spirituality, religion would become increasingly

important in America. Previously, Hoge (1996) suggested that conservative Protestant

denominations were “not on the decline” (p. 27), nevertheless the percentage of

Americans without a specific religious identity has increased while the percentage who

identify as Protestant and/or some other non-Catholic Christian religion has decreased

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(Newport, 2012). This is supported by data from The Pew Forum Religion & Public Life

(2015) survey which indicated that the Christian share of the U.S. population is declining,

while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is

growing:

“Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape,

affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While

the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young

adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages. The same trends are

seen among whites, blacks and Latinos; among both college graduates

and adults with only a high school education; and among women as well

as men” (The Pew Forum, 2015).

Compare this to the 1992 Gallup Poll when 58% percent of the general population

reported that religion was very important in their lives, 29% said it was fairly important,

and 12% said it was not very important (Hoge, 1996). The decrease in formal Christian

affiliation (from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014) and the increase in atheism (from 1.6%

in 2007 to 3.1% in 2014) and agnosticism (from 2.4% in 2007 to 4.0% in 2014) as well as

the category of “nothing in particular” (from 12.1% in 2007 to 15.8% in 2014) (Pew

Forum on Religion and Public Life, 2015) reveals a shift towards a greater degree of

similarity between psychologists and psychiatrists with the general population, and

should lessen concerns previously stated. It suggests that, as the population becomes

more diverse, i.e., an increase in non-Christian faiths alongside an increase in atheism

and agnosticism, the study of faith as a verb is perhaps a worthwhile construct to study.

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Faith

In defining faith, William James’ pragmatic philosophy (1897/2009) rejected

dogma in favor of faith as a working hypothesis (Miller, 2005).

Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is still

theoretically possible; and as the test of belief is willingness to act, one

may say that faith is the readiness to act in a cause the prosperous issue of

which is not certified to us in advance. (James, 1897/2009, para. 91)

As a working hypothesis, faith becomes a verb instead of a noun, as noted earlier. Miller

suggested that “Jamesian faith healing” was akin to the placebo effect with the

expectation that treatment works to make the patient better (Miller, 2005, p. 274). The

idea of faith as a working hypothesis renders faith as a powerful expression of

constructive knowing unlike mere observation, a set of propositions, or a system of

beliefs (Fowler, 2004).

James Fowler, professor of theology and human development, gained insight into

experiences of faith by means of Paul Tillich, the Christian existentialist philosopher and

theologian, as well as Richard Niebuhr, one of the most important Christian theological

ethicists in the 20th century: their ideas enlivened and inspired Fowler. Tillich and

Niebuhr put words to the idea that “prior to our being religious or irreligious, before we

come to think of ourselves as Catholics, Protestants, Jews or Muslims, we are already

engaged with issues of faith” (Fowler, 1976, p. 5). Fowler maintains that faith begins at

birth. Faith is present in the alliance between caregiver and child, and it continues to

develop from that day forward. Faith develops throughout the lifespan as experiences

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form patterns of faith imagined by Fowler as increasing numbers of triadic shapes. Each

triad has a central power that we relate to, whether it is a political philosophy, a religion,

depth psychology, permaculture, or baseball…this triad becomes the “relational

enterprise” (p. 18) or covenant that shapes our identity. The development of faith is

comparable to the way fractals form, i.e., fractals are repeating structures in the design

process that determine the results. Fowler’s concept of triadic faith patterns has been

termed “social learning fractals” in describing how faith can be consciously developed in

the church (Klass, 2011).

Fowler recognized the construct of faith as multifaceted and difficult to

operationalize but it has value nonetheless as a dynamic, existential stance (Fowler,

1981). It is dynamic in the sense that faith arises out of our interactions with many

persons, events, institutions, and relationships (Fowler, 1976). Faith also becomes known

to us through betrayals and failures. Therefore, Fowler takes a multi-dimensional

approach to understanding faith as he constellates various constructs from Piaget,

Kohlberg, Erickson, and Selman as well as his own (Fowler, 1986; Fowler & Dell, 2004).

A description of these stages follows. This is important since participants responded to

questions based on Fowler’s Faith Development Theory and results were coded

accordingly.

“Intuitive-projective faith” is the first stage when our earliest experiences of faith

serve to mitigate the anxieties of separation and negation during infantile development

(Fowler, 1981, pp. 119-121). This stage correlates with the preoperational stage of early

childhood according to Piaget and with the punishment and obedience stage of Kohlberg.

The child’s mind is imaginative at this stage, which results in long-lasting imprints on

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emotional and cognitive functioning (pp. 122-134). For this study, it is useful to think of

the preoperational stage as evidenced by 1) episodic thinking or undeveloped cause/effect

linear thought; 2) an adult who cannot take the perspectives of others easily; 3) remaining

attached to parents as authority figures; 4) a punishment orientation with an obvious

misunderstanding as to the true nature of right or wrong; and 5) undeveloped symbolic

functioning (images are identical with what they represent) i.e., dreams are perceived as

real.

“Mythic-literal faith” is the second stage. This stage correlates with the concrete

operational stage of Piaget and the instrumental exchange stage of Kohlberg (in other

words, the marketplace exchange of favors or blows). Thinking at this stage is concrete

and literal in terms of either good or bad (not both simultaneously) and the child has not

yet internalized their thoughts and feelings as guides. Nevertheless, the child at this stage

understands cause and effect. Episodic and intuitive forms of knowing are being layered

over while narrative emerges (Fowler, 1981, pp. 135-150). For this study, it is useful to

think of it as 1) inductive reasoning ability; 2) the need for prediction and control; 3)

linear thinking; 4) mastery of narrative modes thereby giving coherence to experience

(offers stories to “explain” experiences); 5) role-taking ability which makes empathy

possible (can project oneself imaginatively); 6) wider social boundaries than the earlier

stage; 7) understanding reciprocity and the concept of fairness; and, 8) thinking that

symbols have a literal correspondence (e.g., anthropomorphism).

“Synthetic-conventional faith” is the third stage. This stage correlates with the

early formal operations of Piaget but more dominantly correlates with the conventional

interpersonal accord and conformity stage of Kohlberg. This is a time when interiority

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and mutual interpersonal perspective-taking emerges. In other words, something greater

informs the meaning of one’s life. It is also when personality, values, commitments, and

relationships become central to identity and self-worth (Fowler, 1981, pp. 151-173). For

this study, it is useful to think of it as 1) having a standpoint that is once removed; 2)

having deeply felt beliefs and values, i.e., acting on them and defending them, although

these are uncritically based on external authority (such as the in-crowd); 4) the ability to

synthesize ideas in the pre-dialectical sense; 5) placing authority in trust-evoking

personal qualities of potential leaders or ideas/movements; 6) being conventional in the

sense of "looking the part;" 7) finding identity in face-to-face groups that fulfill

expectations and maintain peace; and, 8) having symbols or metaphors for God such as

friend, companion, comforter, guide, or mind.

“Individuative-reflective faith” is the fourth stage. This stage correlates with the

full formal operations of Piaget and correlates dominantly with the social system and

conscience maintenance stage of Kohlberg. This stage emerges in young adulthood when

critical reflection on beliefs and values becomes apparent; there is an increased ability to

take a third-person perspective; and a greater understanding of social systems becomes

possible. At this stage, authority becomes internalized and responsibility is assumed for

ideological choices. It is also when a person becomes vulnerable to losing a sense of

mystery, mainly because demythologizing becomes a part of their concept formation

(Fowler, 1981, pp. 174-183). For this study, it is useful to think of it as having 1) full

formal operations; 2) an increase of autonomy; 3) possession of one’s own particular

perspective that is vulnerable to being challenged or may require justification or change;

4) a sense of diversity that is acknowledged through caricature of other groups; 5) faith

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that is constructed; 6) a world coherence that is systematically explicit w/internal

differentiation; 7) constructions of others’ perspectives even if distorted in unconscious

ways; 8) having external truth claims that require internal validation; 9) a tendency

towards reflective relativism, i.e., context is important; and, 10) a loss of mystery is

experienced due to a minimization of the symbol’s transformative power through the

demythologizing process.

“Conjunctive faith” is the fifth stage. This is an extension of the formal operations

of Piaget in the direction of dialectical thinking; it correlates with Kohlberg’s prior rights,

social contract or universal ethical principles. At this stage, “polarities are accepted and

paradoxes observed, and one is able to see multiple perspectives” (Fowler, 1981, pp. 184-

198). Receptive faith is developed through the ability to wait as a larger sense of “Being”

develops. Fowler says that symbol and story, metaphor and myth are re-embraced as

vehicles for growth at this stage. For this study, it is useful to think of it as paradoxical-

consolidative thought processes, i.e., what was explicit and firm in Stage 4 becomes

porous and multiplex. As such, 1) suppressed dimensions are integrated; 2) there is an

openness to the anarchic voices of one's deep self; 3) one comes to terms with (social)

unconscious myths, norms, ideal images, and prejudices; and, 4) mutual perspective

taking is more accurate. The individual at this stage embraces polarities; suspends a

personal view in order to feel the impact of another's experiences, and therefore

experiences vulnerability; authority is further internalized; there is greater inclusion of

diverse groups, i.e., justice for all; and there is a principled, affective, impactful

relationship to myths and symbols. It is rare for people to reach stage five, according to

Fowler.

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“Universalizing faith” is the sixth stage. This stage correlates with none of

Piaget’s stages of development and Kohlberg’s seventh stage only begins to approach it.

It is a shift from paradoxical awareness and polar tensions towards decentration from self

(Fowler, 1981, 199-211). These persons are grounded in Oneness (Fowler & Dell, 2004).

They are passionate yet selfless; devoted to overcoming division, oppression, and

violence; and they are coming into a sense of the commonwealth of love and justice. For

this study it is useful to think of it as a time when 1) reality has more depth, that is,

fractures in the human family are painfully felt, requiring action while preserving one's

own Being; 2) conflicting loyalties are overcome through moral and ascetic actualization

of universality, regardless of personal threats: they sacrifice themselves for causes of love

and justice at moral and religious levels; 3) transcendence of “ego” is present and

accompanied by identification with a larger state of Being that some call the union of

opposites, or plural unity; and, 4) one is purified of egoistic striving and has profound

regard for, and loyalty to, Being itself.

Understanding faith development theory requires a grasp of the relationship

between symbols and experience, that is, “how symbols act as portals to significant

experience” (Bradley, 2010, p. 95) as one progresses through the stages of faith.

Remembering that “faith is always relational; there is always another in faith” (Fowler,

1981, p. 16), our turn is to “thirdness.” Bradley draws attention to Peirce’s argument

regarding Thirdness (Peirce as cited in Bradley, 2010, p. 96). Thirdness carries the idea

that all experiences may possess a three-dimensional quality. Within the relational quality

of faith, Thirdness appears as central meaning or those centers of value and power (god,

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persons, causes, or institutions) that confer meaning upon us. These ultimate concerns, of

which there may be many, are positional and symbolic.

Peirce shows that every sign has an enormous shadowy hinterland of

ambiguity which is, apparently, only resolved by the sign’s positioning

in a given set of local, intersubjective circumstances, interpretive

context, discursive practice or situation tradition. (Bradley, 2010, p. 97)

The sign becomes a symbol, such as those used in religious rituals, sporting events,

political rallies…where any thought or thing may serve as a doorway to the numinous

(Huxley as cited by Bradley, p. 101), thereby integrating the split, fragmented, or divided

self (p. 103). The ego’s position in relation to the symbol appears to be important to its

transformation, particularly as regards the transition between various stages in faith

development. An appreciation of this description of Thirdness aided interpretation and

coding of responses.

Not long after the publication of Faith Development Theory (FDT), Ford-

Grabowsky criticized Fowler’s “system of two separate tracks of human growth,” i.e.,

ego development and spiritual growth which, she said, cannot be logically combined

(Ford-Grabowsky, 1987, p. 5). Ford-Grabowsky said FDT was biased towards

“cognition, consciousness, the ego, and positivity that neglects deeper levels of

personality” or Self as found in the writings of C.G. Jung and Hildegard of Bingen (Ford-

Grabowsky, 1987, p. 39). Speaking for Jung, Ford-Grabowsky said “He would prefer to

pair each of the four terms just mentioned with his idea of its opposite: cognition with

affect, consciousness with unconsciousness, the ego with the Self, and positivity with

negativity” (p. 40). Ford-Grabowsky preferred the Jungian understanding of Self where it

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becomes possible to “identify undifferentiated complexes, repressed conflicts, and other

unconscious dynamics missed by an ego psychology like Fowler’s” (1987, p. 41).

Furthermore, Ford-Grabowsky elaborated on the dangers of egocentricity or the ‘outer

self’ in contrast to senses of sight, sound, etc. belonging to the ‘inner self’ that comes

alive in faith according to Hildegard of Bingen’s model.

In describing Hildegard’s mystical model of faith (which is key to Ford-

Grabowsky’s argument) there are prerequisites to the lived experience of faith : 1) one is

already obeying ‘commandments’ and living a life of prayer (spiritual practice); 2) one

experiences longing for a paradise lost; 3) one observes (biblical) symbols through the

senses of the external self and, following that, experiences their meaning through inner

senses and intuition (Self); 4) through a gift of the Spirit, one receives fear and divine

grace which bestows faith; 5) when received, faith becomes baptism and one has a

choice: the life of the Spirit or living-death (unbelief). Also, there is a mystical moment

when the mirror of faith reveals a glimpse of God directly (Ford-Grabowsky, 1987). For

Hildegard, according to Ford-Grabowsky, faith is independent of psychological

maturation. In addition, Hildegard “calls for a martyrdom of you against yourself,” a

dynamic named by Jung as “the crucifixion of the ego” (Ford-Grabowsky, 1987, p 9) as

opposed to the development of the ego.

However, Fowler did express his interest in Jung’s work and allowed it to inform

his thinking about unconscious dynamics in faith development, signified by his inclusion

of symbolic functioning into his model of faith development. But Fowler was not explicit

about the processes by which one transitioned to higher stages, e.g., the transcendence of

opposites through the resolution of internal complexes. Yet FDT shows the development

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from dualistic thinking towards an awareness of paradox and its final transcendence. This

transcendence, or crucifixion of the ego, appears at higher stages of faith as part and

parcel of faith development, not as a parallel path.

As regards the primacy given to the ego that Ford-Grabowsky noted, Sperry

(2012) believes this criticism was due to the masculine bias in Kohlberg's work where it

was shown by Gilligan that cognition is given primacy over affect. This bias in moral

development was described as the difference between justice and care, males preferring

justice and females preferring care. Sperry argued that the choice between justice and

care is less relative to being male/female than it is to the type of problem being discussed

(Sperry, 2012).

Note that it is important to view research in faith development as dynamic. For

example, Keller and Streib (2013) have eliminated the sixth and final stage of

universalizing faith because it is rarely seen in the research. Most adults, they say, are

located in stage 3 (synthetic-conventional) or stage 4 (individuating-reflective). In

addition, Streib constructed a religious schema style to reflect that people can be at

different stages at the same time, in other words, reflecting progression-regression

through the various stages (Streib, 2001). Streib’s critique of Fowler is similar to Ford-

Grabowsky’s in that the cognitive-structural approach fails to address the feminine aspect

such as that found in the work of Rizutto (1991). This is in spite of Fowler’s (1996)

having said, “Faith includes unconscious dynamics as well as conscious awareness. It

includes deep-seated emotional dimensions as well as cognitive operations and content”

(p. 168). That being said, unconscious dynamics are not explicit in the interview

questions or in the coding process. To further explore the implications for interview

35

interpretations, it has yet to be seen how faith development will come into dialogue with

feminist perspectives and research (Fowler, Streib, & Keller, 2004).

Wilber’s Integral Theory (Wilber, 2011) incorporated Fowler’s Stages of Faith as

a core developmental line. Wilber identified Fowler’s Stages of Faith as a vertical stage

of development and, as such, a container of consciousness in contrast to horizontal states

which are gross physical and emotional experiences; subtle visions, inspirations, and

revelations; causal glimpses of transcendence, clarity, and emptiness; nondual states of

radical union, flow, and atonement (Stanich, Wilber & Fowler, 2009). According to

Wilber, states of spiritual consciousness have been widely experienced throughout

history. However, the idea of stages of spiritual development (understood as structures

that support consciousness) is a relatively recent discovery.

To be fully enlightened in today’s world is to be both fully human and

fully divine, which means developing vertically through all the

developmental stages currently available to us as well as mastering the

many horizontal states, or else a substantial part of our world remains

forever "over our heads," limiting the amount of reality we can "become

one with." In this sense, "full" enlightenment can never be attained, in

much the same way that we could never say that we are "fully educated"—

but we come ever nearer, inching closer and closer to the unreachable

horizon of human development. While states of consciousness teach us

why we should love, stages of consciousness determine who, what, where,

when, and how we love, increasing the heart's capacity for love with every

step (Stanich, Wilber & Fowler, 2009).

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In summary, Chapter 2 explored the research on religion, spirituality, and faith,

which revealed differences in R/S characteristics among psychologists/psychiatrists and

physicians with the second group’s R/S characteristics appearing closer to the general

population. While, historically, therapists rarely discussed R/S issues with clients,

Francis’ study showed shifting trends among Millennials. And whereas early research

methods seemed to lack diversity, this appears to be changing as the general population

increases in diversity and as atheism, agnosticism, and/or apostasy continue their spiral

rise in society. Database searches revealed an increase of federal funding for studies

related to spiritual practices such as mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy,

and dialectical behavioral therapy. Finally, stages of Faith Development Theory were

explored with an appropriate interpretation for use in this study. Results of the literature

review reveal that trends do support further research into the lived experience of faith.

Future studies may encourage psychologists to facilitate conversations that will

explore an already developing faith. The conversation is important because each stage

offers genuine growth towards a wider and more complete relationship to a greater sense

of Being, at the same time encouraging a compassionate way of being in relationship

with others. This conversation accepts people where they are in their faith development

and is not suggested as a type of conversion therapy. It is meant to help see faith as a

natural part of life regardless of beliefs. Huag (2004) studied therapists’ belief and

meaning systems as they influence case conceptualization and behaviors in therapy, and

said that it is an ethical imperative to integrate spirituality into clinical training. Future

research might investigate the effect of psychologists’ faith on case conceptualizations

and show how faith is associated with clinical behaviors.

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CHAPTER 3 METHOD

The literature review revealed multiple studies examining the religious and

spiritual characteristics of psychologists and physicians. The objective of this study was

to investigate the faith development and thereby the lived experience of faith in clinical

psychologists. The value of these conversations about faith might in the future reveal

whether or not the construct of faith is meaningful when examining factors within the

therapeutic alliance that are related to treatment outcomes. The research design and

rationale, the role of the researcher, and the method used in this study are next.

Research Design and Rationale

Participants for the study were located through personal requests for referrals

from licensed psychologists who were previously known to the researcher. Demographic

questionnaires were provided to the clinical psychologists that expressed an interest in

participation with the understanding that religiousness was not required for participation.

The demographic questionnaire assessed psychologists’ religious affiliations and/or

intrinsic spirituality, atheism, or agnosticism. This questionnaire also provided data

indicating their perspectives regarding R/S. Six research participants were identified that

fit the inclusion criteria for the study, i.e., three religious and/or spiritual and three non-

affiliated. After the first set of data from questionnaires was collected, interviews were

arranged. Following an initial conversation about the topic, the Faith Development

Interview (FDI) was administered. (See Appendix F.) The FDI examined faith through

the participant’s narration of his or her life, relationships, values, commitments, and

38

religiosity as motivated by autobiographical questions. In this way, the field was

narrowed from a general understanding of a participant’s background towards a focus on

faith development to provide a deeper understanding of their experiences.

Role of the Researcher

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) requires an understanding of the

researcher’s own ideas around faith in order to bracket them during interpretation of the

data. “A researcher's background and position will affect what they choose to investigate,

the angle of investigation, the methods judged most adequate for this purpose, the

findings considered most appropriate, and the framing and communication of

conclusions" (Malterud, 2001, p. 483-484). To that end, the following questions were

pondered:

What role does R/S have in my everyday life?

What meaning does faith have for me?

Have I faith or do I not have faith?

What defining experiences have influenced the development of my

sense of faith? In other words, what were significant transitions

and/or critical life events in my history and what impact, if any, did

R/S have in making sense of or coping with those life events?

Where do I find myself currently in my own spiritual growth and

where would I like to go? (Adapted from Pargament, 2007).

Being raised Lutheran and eventually converting to being a non-denominational

born-again person, it was many years later that, through faith, that I let go of my concept

of God, in trust, and experienced a profound existential aliveness. Life did not suddenly

39

end: the car did not slide off of the high mountain road into the deep canyon. I arrived

home breathless…thrilled. During my apostasy, I became initiated into Vedanta and

meanwhile developed a hatha yoga practice at an ashram-style retreat center. After years

of mental, emotional, & physical unfoldment (struggles as well as healing) I returned to

my “roots” and re-read the New Testament gospel: a kind of re-conversion as an adult,

you might say. My faith deepened through experiences counseling children and families

during practicum. I relied on prayer and profound trust in God (besides supervision) to

overcome self-doubts. I did not fully understand the numinous quality in those small

moments where I witnessed children heal from trauma.

The meaning that faith has for me presently is an active response to a desire to

grow in consciousness; it is walking the unknown path with grace underneath my wings,

being filled with trust that things will work out for good (in spite of how they appear). I

do have faith and perhaps it is a gift…my mother said “You come up smelling like roses

from your difficulties and struggles.” Something carried me through these years, the

whisper of a heart-to-heart connection with God. I love holy writings and poetry from

Christianity, Vedanta, Buddhism, and Sufi traditions. Through a gradual understanding of

faith development, depth psychology, and consciousness, I discover answers to my own

existential questions every day.

Method

Following their responses to the demographic questionnaire, six participants were

individually engaged in a preliminary discussion about the study while focusing the

inquiry towards the research phenomenon (Englander, 2012). This was followed by the

semi-structured Faith Development Interview on another day, typically lasting between

40

one to two hours to allow participants time to reflect on the nature of the questions

provided in advance, with one exception: in one case their self-disclosure was limited and

the interview lasted only 30 minutes. Four interviews ended up being conducted over the

phone and two interviews were in person. Only one participant was not met with face-to-

face since correspondence with that participant was conducted through email and the

interview was conducted over the telephone.

Participants

Participants from existing social networks were identified through snowball

sampling. Snowball sampling relies on the “dynamics of organic and social networks”

(Noy, 2008, p. 329) and it introduces the notion of randomness in the way people either

refer or self-select. Initially, contact information was received from one or two

psychologists or so-called “informants” (p. 329). Referrals were then requested to other

possible participants. In this repetitive manner, a snowball effect was created and

participants were enrolled in the study. Questionnaires were mailed via email or post

office and participants completed and returned them (in three cases by email and the

other three cases by the post office). They expressed their willingness to participate and

were selected for the study.

Religiousness and/or spirituality were not requirements for participation.

Participants self-identified as follows: one participant as slightly religious and spiritual;

one participant as not religious but moderately spiritual; one participant as not religious

and very spiritual; one participant as moderately religious and very spiritual; one

participant as not religious and slightly spiritual; and one participant as moderately

41

religious and not spiritual at all. Of those participants, one claimed to be an atheist,

another an agnostic, and two were undecided.

This study used a small sample for the possibility of a detailed interpretative

account of the six participants involved. Detailed interpretation can realistically only be

done with very small samples (Smith & Osborn, 2003, p. 56). Selection criteria included

the fact that three participants were religious and/or spiritual and three participants were

non-religious. Three of the participants were female clinical psychologists and three were

male clinical psychologists all between 25 to 69 years of age. There were no age, ethnic,

race, or gender limitations.

Instrumentation

The questionnaire used was derived from a national survey on physicians’ self-

report of religiousness (Curlin, Lantos, Roach, Sellergren & Chin, 2005). Curlin et al.,

derived their measure from Hoge's Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale (Hoge, 1972).

Hoge’s scale has been validated extensively (Allport, 1967; Hoge, 1972; Goruch &

McPherson, 1989; Koenig, Parkerson & Meador, 1997). Hoge’s questionnaire as derived

by Curlin et al. determined the religious and spiritual characteristics of physicians as

these relate to ethical issues in medical practice such as abortion, physician-assisted

suicide, euthanasia, etc., and was thought to be useful because it is sensitive to the

different religious faiths of diverse ethnic groups and cultures. Permission was granted by

Dr. Curlin to adapt and administer this questionnaire for the present study. (See Appendix

A.) In the adapted questionnaire the word “Physician” was replaced with “Psychologist”

or “Psychotherapist,” and “patient” was changed to “client.” Also, Questions 21-22 were

removed as it pertained to specific medical practices that people might object to for

42

religious reason or otherwise, i.e., withdrawal of artificial life support or abortion for

failed contraception, etc. Question 37 was removed because it pertained to conditions

such as a critical, life threatening illness or severe disability and/or chronic pain, etc.

Permission was granted to administer the FDI (see Appendix B). The 3rd Edition

of the Manual for Research in Faith Development was used (Fowler, Streib, & Keller,

2004) however, it is being revised at this time. The Faith Development Interview reflects

discussions in developmental psychology, especially on cognitive development in the

Piagetian tradition and the elaboration of life-span developmental psychology – which all

have implications for theory and research in faith development (Fowler, et al., 2004).

Data Collection

The study involved semi-structured interviews with six participants who

completed the screening questionnaire. After the written questionnaire was completed, an

interview was arranged at a place convenient to both the researcher and the participant in

order to gather data. During interviews, participants were free to wander in their

responses, even though the questions followed the Faith Development Interview. To

ensure accuracy, a digital recorder was used with permission. The audio files were

downloaded and stored in the same manner as the transcribed data, that is, on an

encryption enabled flash drive kept in a locked location.

Data Analysis

Smith, Flowers, and Larkin (2009) stated that a semantic record of the interview

is required when doing IPA. As stated above, each interview was audio-recorded and

transcribed literally by the researcher. The audio recordings were listened to twice. The

second listening was to record non-verbal expressions, pauses, silences, laughter that

43

were identified in brackets, a listening which profoundly enhanced meaningfulness.

Smith, et al. reminds the researcher that the act of transcription becomes a type of

interpretive activity in terms of the content that is transcribed (2009). Interpretation was

not attended to during transcription.

A line-by-line analysis and coding of participant responses using a qualitative

data analysis software program called QSR NVivo was used based on the Manual for

Faith Development Research (2004) which brought forth themes (also called aspects).

From the rich descriptions of various aspects, it was possible to assign a stage score to the

passages in the interview which spoke to the specific aspect using a scoring analysis

sheet. The stage assignments of individual aspects reflected variations that were averaged

for an overall faith development profile (see Appendix G). Associations were made

between R/S characteristics and faith development stages. Detailed commentaries along

with data extracts are provided in Chapter 4 to support the assigned stages.

Validity Strategy

The questionnaire itself was validated as described above, but in general, validity

testing of qualitative research is approached in different ways. Dependability is

important. The results are dependable because all the pieces of the research make sense.

Dependability was enhanced through triangulating data between questionnaires and

interviews. Confirmability is important. This can be stated as the question, ‘Is what is

being said able to be confirmed?’ If all the pieces connect, then it confirms perhaps truth

or, at the very least, compatibility and the likeliness of the truthfulness of the experience.

(Fidyck, personal communication, 2006)

44

Another approach is provided by Lucy Yardley (as cited in Smith, Flowers, &

Larkin, 2009) who described a different set of criteria by which to test the validity of

qualitative research:

1) Sensitivity to context.

The goal was to show sensitivity to the setting, the literature reviewed, the

interview process, and the material obtained from participants, as well as the approach to

analysis. Sensitivity of interviewer was confirmed by participants.

2) Commitment and rigor.

The goal was to demonstrate an appropriate quality of attentiveness to participants

and the study as regards the quality of the interview and completeness of the analysis.

The research was conducted thoroughly, systematically, and thoughtfully.

3) Transparency and coherence.

The research process was explained clearly in the previous section where

participants and the interview process were carefully described. The steps used in

analysis were explained. Contradictions were carefully presented. Every attempt was

made to adhere to the method.

4) Impact and importance.

This type of study provides insight into the perspectives, characteristics, and

personal experiences of clinical psychologists as regards their faith development. Faith

development draws attention to other types of development as well, i.e. cognitive, moral,

etc. It is useful to consider how different types of development may affect the therapeutic

alliance. Any importance derived from this study may contribute to future outcome

studies.

45

Risks/Ethical Procedures

Participants were treated in an ethical manner at all times and demonstrated the

voluntary nature of their participation by signing an informed consent form. The

informed consent form fully explained the purpose of the study (see Appendix D).

Consent was obtained prior to recording their voices or images for data collection.

Pseudonyms known only to the researcher were given to protect the identity of the

participants. Participants were informed about the purpose of the research and the

expected duration of time required to complete the questionnaire (only one complained

about the length of the questionnaire) and the time required for conducting the interview

(all participants stated that they enjoyed the interview). Participants were informed about

their right to withdraw from the research once participation began. No one declined or

withdrew.

Participants were provided contact information for questions about the research

and their rights as participants. There were no reasonably foreseeable potential risks

outside of possible minor discomfort to participants of this study. The informed consent

form clearly stated that participants could have chosen at any time to refrain from

answering any of the questions if they felt uncomfortable and they were reminded of this

during interviews. There were one or two missing responses on a couple of the

questionnaires but no-one refrained from answering verbal questions. There was no

evidence of stress during the interview process with the exception of memories of

experiences around heartbreak. Further questions were posed tentatively with the offer of

withdrawing the question, which did not become necessary. It was voiced on more than

one occasion from various participants that they benefitted from this exploration. Fowler

46

(1986) said that the articulation of faith makes it experiential. Interestingly, it became

obvious to the researcher that experiences become religious depending on the attributions

that participants give, i.e., the language that is used to describe experience makes it

religious, spiritual, or not. This study brought insight that clinical psychologists could,

should they choose, become more aware and perhaps intentional in their own

development, particularly as regards faith.

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CHAPTER 4. RESULTS

Chapter 4 describes and analyzes the data collected from the questionnaires and

the faith development interviews. Six clinical psychologists between the ages of

approximately 30 to 69 years of age completed survey questions related to religion and

spirituality in psychology. Three major sections resulted: demographics, characteristics,

and perspectives. Following this, each participant was interviewed on variables of faith

development resulting in seven themes or aspects: A. Form of Logic, B. Perspective

Taking, C. Form of Moral Judgment, D. Social Awareness, E. Locus of Authority, F.

World Coherence, and G. Symbolic Function. The significance, value, or meaning of

results are found in Chapter 5 (Discussion).

Demographic data of psychologists

Five participants self-identified as white (not Hispanic or Latino), and one as

Middle Eastern. Of the six participants, three respondents were male and three were

female. Considering life in general, four participants were very happy on the whole, and

two were fairly happy. Three participants said their own psychological health was

excellent, and three said their own psychological health was good. Five participants

reported having a private practice; one worked at a community health center. Three

participants served between two to 22 clients weekly; two did not answer; and one had

just retired from his psychotherapy practice. One participant identified her two clients as

white and “underserved” in their community; two did not answer; and three reported a

diverse clientele (African-American, Asian, Native-American, White, and Latino.) None

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of the participants have a faith-based practice, although one said her practice is soul-

based.

Characteristics of psychologists

As seen in Table 1, participants were just as likely to describe themselves as

“spiritual” as they were to describe themselves as “religious” (in various degrees).

TABLE 1. Participant Religious/Spiritual Characteristics

RELIGIOUSSPIRITUAL

Not Slightly Moderately Very Not 1 1 1Slightly 1Moderately 1 1

No participant was both not religious and not spiritual. All reported a degree of

spirituality with the exception of the most religious of the respondents who said she was

not spiritual. Of those who reported that they are not religious, one was an atheist. The

participant who reported he is slightly religious/slightly spiritual said that he is agnostic.

TABLE 2. Participant Beliefs and Religious/Spiritual ExperiencesYes No Undecided

Believes in God 2 2 2Believes in life after death 3 1 2Religious or spiritual experience changed their life 3 3

As seen in Table 2, participants reporting a belief in God also believed in life after

death. Of the three participants who experienced life-changing religious or spiritual

moments, none these experiences occurred in the context of psychotherapy. Belief in God

was not a criteria for religious service attendance. One participant attended every week

(Protestant); two attended religious services 1 to 2 times a year (Roman Catholic and

Buddhist); two less than once a year (Agnostic and Buddhist); and one never attended

religious services (no affiliation). Two participants have the same religious affiliations

they grew up with, all others did not.

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No participant was so religious as to feel that it was a challenge to remain faithful

to their religion while working as a psychologist. Being a psychologist reportedly caused

one participant to question his religious/spiritual beliefs. Generally, participants reported

they carried their beliefs into most aspects of their lives.

Perspectives of psychologists

TABLE 3. Participant Responses Regarding Religion/Spirituality and HealthResponse

Categories# of

RespondentsClients mention religion/spirituality

How often have your clients mentioned R/S issues such as God, prayer, medication, the Bible, etc.

Rarely or never 1Sometimes 3Often or always 2

Potential positive influences of religion/spiritualityIs the influence of religion/spirituality on health generally positive or negative?

Positive 2NegativeEqual 4No influence

Religion/spirituality helps clients to cope with and endure illness and suffering.

Rarely or neverSometimes 2Often or always 4

Religion/spirituality gives clients a positive, hopeful state of mind.

Rarely or neverSometimes 2Often or always 4

How often have your clients received emotional or practical support from their religious community?

Rarely or never 1Sometimes 3Often or always 2

Potential negative influences of religion/spiritualityReligion/spirituality causes guilt, anxiety, or other negative emotions that lead to increased client suffering.

Rarely or neverSometimes 3Often or always 3

Religion/spirituality leads clients to refuse, delay, or stop medication.

Rarely or never 3Sometimes 2Often or always no answer

How often have your clients used religion/spirituality as a reason to avoid taking responsibility for their own health?

Rarely or never 2Sometimes 3Often or always no answer

Participants said their clients mentioned issues related to religion and/or

spirituality more often than not. As seen in Table 3, all participants agreed that

religion/spirituality influenced clients’ mental health to varying degrees. All participants

shared perceptions about the potentially positive influences of religion/spirituality. Most

believed that religion/ spirituality often helped clients to cope with and endure illness and

suffering. Most said that religion/spirituality sometimes helped prevent suicide, while two

50

said it often did. Most participants believed that religion/spirituality often gave clients a

positive, hopeful state of mind. The majority of participants described the influence of

religion/spirituality as equally positive and negative, with more participants having said

that religion/ spirituality also sometimes caused guilt, anxiety, or other negative emotions

that led to increased suffering. Two participants said that religion/spirituality sometimes

led clients to stop, delay, or refuse medication.

TABLE 4. Participant Responses Regarding Religion/Spirituality in Clinical PracticeResponse

Categories# of

RespondentsAttitudes

In general, is it appropriate or inappropriate for a psychologist to inquire about a client’s religion/spirituality?

Always appropriate 1Usually appropriate 5

In general, is it appropriate or inappropriate for a psychologist to discuss religious/spiritual issues when a client brings it up?

Always appropriate 2Usually appropriate 4

When, if ever, is it appropriate for a psychologist to talk about his or her own religious beliefs or experiences with a client?

Never 1Only when asked 1Whenever 4

When, if ever, is it appropriate for a psychologist to pray with a client?

Never 2Only when asked 2Whenever 2

Overall, do you think the amount of time you spend addressing religious/spiritual issues is:

Too much 0Too little 1The right amount 5

BehaviorsHow often do you inquire about patients' religious/spiritual

issues?Never 2Sometimes 1Often or Always 3

I respectfully share my own religious ideas and experiences ... Never 4Rarely 2

I encourage clients in their own religious/spiritual beliefs and practices …

Never or rarely 1No answer 1Often 3Always 1

I try to change the subject in a tactful way… Never 3Rarely 1Sometimes 1No answer 1

I pray with the patient… Never 3Rarely 2No answer 1

As regards clinical practice, most participants believed they spent an appropriate

amount of time addressing religious/spiritual issues, as seen in Table 4. All participants

held the belief that it was appropriate to inquire about religion/spirituality and in actual

51

practice several did often inquire, however some never inquired and one inquired only

sometimes. One participant reported her belief that it is never appropriate to talk about

personal religious beliefs/ experiences, whereas the majority were open to that level of

self-disclosure if it felt appropriate. However, in actual practice they rarely, or almost

never, self-disclosed. With respect to their attitude about praying with clients, a third of

participants believed it appropriate to pray when asked to by a client. However, in actual

practice, they rarely, if ever, prayed with clients. More often than not, participants were

encouraging of their clients’ religious/spiritual beliefs and practices, although one

participant reported that she may try to change the subject.

TABLE 5. Participant Responses Regarding Religion/Spirituality and DiagnosisResponse

Categories# of

RespondentsWhen client comes in for consultation Never 1

Rarely 2Sometimes 0Often 1Always 1Does not apply 1

When client presents with a minor diagnosis Never 1Rarely 1Sometimes 1Often 1Always 1Does not apply 1

When client presents with a major diagnosis Never 0Rarely 1Sometimes 1Often 2Always 1Does not apply 1

When client suffers from anxiety and/or depression Never 2Rarely 0Sometimes 2Often 1Always 1Does not apply 0

When client faces end of life issue Never 0Rarely 0Sometimes 1Often 2Always 1Does not apply 2

When client faces ethical quandary Never 1Sometimes 1Often 2Always 1Does not apply 1

52

As seen in Table 5, there were a wide range of responses to religious/spiritual

discussions around particular diagnoses. During a consultation, the number of

participants who inquired about religion/spirituality was evenly divided. Whether or not

the diagnosis was minor, major, anxiety and/or depression, participants reported that they

might have some discussion around religion/spirituality with one or two exceptions.

When participants did have clients facing ethical quandaries, greater than half of

participants were willing to discuss religion/spiritual matters with them. With two

exceptions, if a client faced end of life issues it followed that participants were willing to

discuss R/S.

Aspects of faith development

Next, the six themes (called ‘aspects’ in faith development theory) are identified.

A recording of each interview was listened to twice, and transcribed a second time for

accuracy and clarity. The second listening and transcribing of interviews allowed a

greater depth of feeling and understanding of responses. Participant responses were

assigned a stage of development for each of the six aspects (themes). Excerpts from

interviews are given below in support of the coding of these aspects. QSNVivo11

software helped to organize the data. This was followed by a second manual scoring to

improve reliability. See Appendix G for tabular results to the interview questions.

The first participant (in the order that interviews were given) was assigned the

pseudonym “Sarah.” Sarah was a moderately religious Protestant who was reportedly not

spiritual and who attended religious services weekly. Although her approach to life was

based on her religious beliefs, she said her beliefs do not influence her practice. Like

53

many other participants, she felt a responsibility to reduce pain and suffering in the world

but disagreed that psychology is a “calling.”

“Stefan” was not religious at all but slightly spiritual in that he “believes in [our]

humanity and a sense of nature and a sense of self and I believe in inner power…it’s

probably psychological when I say spiritual.” Stefan did not believe in life after death and

his source of strength, support, and guidance was internal. Stefan also felt a responsibility

to reduce pain and suffering in the world but disagreed that psychology is a calling.

“Terence” was a moderately religious Roman Catholic and reportedly very

spiritual. Although he was undecided if he believed in God, he did believe in life after

death. Terence’s source of strength, support, and guidance was internal. Terence strongly

agreed that he felt a sense of responsibility to reduce pain and suffering in the world. He

reported that his spiritual beliefs strongly influenced his psychology practice, which he

felt was a calling.

“Jackie” was not religious but considered herself interspiritual and Buddhist. She

believed in God and in life after death but, to a great extent, Jackie made sense of things

without relying on God. Jackie had always “loved” earth-based indigenous beliefs yet

still found aspects of Catholicism meaningful. Jackie felt strongly about her responsibility

to reduce pain and suffering in the world. She also strongly agreed that psychology was a

calling for her. She had a feminist philosophy:

A feminist kind of approach meaning that everyone deserves equal

dignity as human beings to have their basic needs met. Everybody

deserves to be attended to and treated if they are suffering. And so, the

indigenous, bringing in voices that are often shut down, ridiculed. I really

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love to … connect people and have their voices heard. In terms of my

everyday life and living, the Buddhist ethics really appeal to me … I

don’t throw away my Catholicism, either, and what was meaningful to

me about that. (Jackie)

“Derek” was raised Catholic and claimed no religious affiliation, i.e., he reported

that he was agnostic and slightly spiritual. He was undecided on whether or not he

believed in God or, likewise, life after death. He did not look to God for strength,

support, or guidance. Derek relied a great deal on his own ability to make sense of a

situation. Agnosticism influenced all dealings in Derek’s life as it represented his whole

approach to life. Derek disagreed that psychology is a calling for him. He disagreed that

he felt responsibility to reduce pain and suffering in the world.

“Gwen” was reportedly not religious at all and was moderately spiritual, i.e., “I

most closely identify with Buddhism.” She did not believe in God and was undecided

whether or not there is life after death. Gwen looked to herself for strength, support, and

guidance and did not rely on God to make sense of situations. Gwen agreed that she felt a

responsibility to reduce pain and suffering in the world yet disagreed that psychology is a

calling for her. While her spiritual beliefs influence her practice, her whole approach to

life was not based on religion or spirituality.

The tables that appear next represent averaged individual scores based upon

multiple questions from the Faith Development Interview (Appendix F).

Form of Logic. The first aspect indicates the characteristic patterns of mental operations

the participant employed in thinking about the object world (this aspect will be subsumed

under other aspects in a future revision of faith development theory). It is important to

55

note that there are not always parallels between faith stage transitions and form of logic

(Fowler & Keen, 1978, p. 39-40).

TABLE 6. ASPECT: Form of logic

ParticipantStage 1

PreOperationalStage 2Concrete

Stage 3Early Formal

Stage 4Formal Operations

Stage 5Dialectical

Stage 6Synthetic

Sarah 3.75

Stefan 4.00

Terence 4.75

Jackie 4.75

Derek 4.00

Gwen 3.37

As seen in Table 6, Sarah and Gwen appeared to use a more inductive thinking

style (stage 3). Moments of intense joy or breakthrough experiences that had affirmed or

changed Gwen’s sense of life’s meaning reflected tacit reasoning, e.g., “joyful moments

of overwhelming emotion, being completely in awe of the world” (this response did not

appear to result from performing operations on thought itself). Along those lines,

meditation experiences created a sense of “connectedness and love” e.g., “gold glitter

pouring out of my heart” that were very important to her. When asked what it was that

she felt connected to, Gwen said “I think myself and the universe.” Times of crisis or

suffering caused her to question God’s existence. “I think my adolescence felt that way. It

felt empty. I think that was a period of real suffering for me.”

I think the important thing to say, I guess, is that they [breakthroughs] tend

to be something that’s really solitary for me. It’s not so much…being out

in this ultra-social way that I think like “wow.” It’s usually something that

I stumble upon in the course of life [where] I end up…feeling that sense of

connectedness or meaning. (Gwen)

Gwen said she started therapy to stay connected to her life. “I feel like I’m building

resiliency during times like right now where everything is good.” Gwen identified the one

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thing she would change about her life as “I would want to be less fearful” and, as such,

Gwen has been learning how to scuba dive.

I was crying under the water [at] the beauty of this place. So that’s been, I

think, really therapeutic for me and a place where I feel so connected to

the universe. It looks like kind of a cathedral when you are under-under

the water…that’s kind of like my version of church and therapy. (Gwen)

In terms of decision-making, Gwen said “I do a lot of unnecessary thinking” e.g., “I’ll

maybe worry, talk to people. And then remember, oh yeah, I have this tool…I can sit

with myself and see how I feel when I ask myself about this choice.” If it was a very

difficult problem, “I would go to therapy and talk it through. But then again, I see that as

almost myself, too, because…it’s another way of accessing that,” i.e., inner guidance.

Sarah’s responses were absent of the tension or ambiguity (stage 3) that would

have required more rigorous hypothesis testing that is typical of a formal operational

style (stage 4). Moments of joy or breakthrough that Sarah experienced “did not change

me” but “just kind of confirmed that I was kind of in the right path.” During times of

crisis and suffering, her construction of self was sustained by relationships, “I never lost

that sense of who I was…I never lost my relationship with God or my friends.” When

asked what she wants to change about herself, Sarah said “I am pretty content with where

things are now. I guess I would like to be more of an assertive person because I am not

basically very good at being assertive.” In terms of decision-making Sarah said “I like to

think things through, I like to gather information. I am very logical in that sense.” Sarah

said she turned to her husband for guidance when faced with a difficult problem, but also

to her parents “to a certain degree,” and then to other Christian friends “just for prayer

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and guidance more so…then a voice comes to me, I guess.” Sarah appeared to be

transitioning to stage 4.

Stefan and Derek had a formal operational thinking style typical of the majority of

participants in this study. Generally speaking, individuals at stage 4 analyze multi-

dimensional problems and perform operations on thought itself. These individuals are

closely identified with systems of ideas without the tension of ambiguity. Their style of

logic is frequently more deductive and dichotomizing, their thought explicit rather than

tacit, and primarily rational. For Stefan, analysis of problems had led to moments of joy,

e.g., when challenged during a tennis match at 16 years old he had the conviction that he

could beat his opponent (who until then was winning).

The joy of working that through, figuring out the problem, and then being

able to implement the needed skills was a moment of intense joy. This is

my experience of joy. Other people may experience joy through some

other venue, it doesn’t have to be how to problem solve. (Stefan)

Not even getting his Ph.D. was as meaningful as playing sports. He said “In the moments

when I am focused, in the moment when I make a great catch, those are real intense

moments of joy.” During times of crisis, Stefan said he accepted the ambiguities

presented by life, not believing that he had suffered.

I have been very blessed that suffering hasn’t been part of my life.

Certainly the biggest crisis, as I look back the most meaningful crisis, has

been the death of my father. While it was a major event, I believe that my

mother handled it, I handled it, the family handled it in ways that were

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highly functional so it didn’t blur into no meaning or disillusions, and in

that way I have just been so fortunate. (Stefan)

Except for the physical stamina that he had 20 years ago, Stefan had no desire to change

anything about himself, the reason being that to do so would unravel his entire life “and I

like where I am today.” In terms of decision-making Stefan said,

I use both my left and right brain. Remember that I was a creative thinking

teacher…I collect data and analyze it logically to gain perspective but I

also use my feelings to gain perspective, so I use both logic and emotion.

(Stefan)

When faced with a difficult problem, Stefan said “I am my own guidance. I occasionally

engage others to reflect back to me in order to help clarify my own thoughts.” Stefan

relied upon conscious logical processes with no reference made to unconscious processes,

unlike participants at stage 5.

Derek’s linear thinking suggested his form of logic was deductive in style, and it

seemed one dimensional (stage 4). Moments of intense joy or breakthrough experiences

appeared to have eluded him with the exception of one realization he had when his father

died, “My father worked his ass off his whole life. And I think, you know, when he died,

I realized that I don’t want to go that same route.” Derek gave a story of his father that he

said may possibly reflect a breakthrough experience:

Probably somewhere in my mid-20’s I gave him a hug. I had never done

that before. He had never hugged me before. At that point I decided that

every time I was going to see him I was going to hug him. And I did. And

he was very uncomfortable with it. And about 2 years later one of my

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sisters called and said, ‘What’s going on with our father? He gave me a

hug.” (Derek)

Similarly, experiences of crisis seem to have eluded Derek. “Certainly, I’ve had

suffering. [But] you know, I have had a very lucky life. Part of it has to do with my

working, that I do what I want to do in life. But profound disillusionment? Life has no

meaning? No.” Derek said that he has no answer to the question about what he would

most like to change about himself, but conceded “Maybe…have a little more patience.”

In terms of decision-making, Derek said “I would never make an important decision

without really thinking about it, and then doing a gut check” but he could offer no

examples other than to say the “gut check” means “taking a look on just how does it

feel.”

Adults are usually between stages 3 and 4 according to Streib and Keller (2013)

but Faith Development Theory expands into an additional stage called “post-operational

thinking” (Manual for Faith Development Research, 2004). Post-operational refers to

dialectical thinking. This could be seen as “polar thinking” which embraces both sides of

a polarity versus the polarized thinking seen in earlier stages where one side of things is

favored. When scores at .70 or higher are rounded up as suggested by Parker (2006),

Terence and Jackie (stage 4) appeared as transitioning into stage 5, the post-operational

stage. (By the way, these two participants were Jungian psychotherapists.) Generally

speaking, these individuals are open to multiple aspects and different perspectives; they

embrace tensions/ambiguities for their potential yield of deeper understandings; their

ideas are contained in open systems; and, they are process-oriented.

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Although Catholic, Terence said he found in Christianity “a hostility towards

life.” “[From] my early studies in Eastern religion and Eastern thought, you know, it

came to me that God has got many facets expressed in many different religious traditions.

Each religious tradition has a facet of God.” Terence appeared conscious of the historical-

temporal nature of phenomena and the depth dimension in human beings (the

unconscious). “All of my life I always paid attention to my dreams. I value my dreams,

am guided by my dreams, so dreams are the language of soul, dreams are sacred to me.”

His form of logic included a mythological perspective.

What happened to God according to Nietzsche was that he lost his soul

and became pure spirit. God’s soul died, yeah and what God is

conceptually now is just disembodied spirit. I have a whole mythology of

soul as God, as transcendence upwards and beyond, and

heaven…everything except this world. A soul-less God. (Terence)

Terence said he went through stages of depression that could “tear him down for a while”

i.e., “a crisis of faith that I have to accept” because of his willingness to hold paradox and

tension. In terms of making changes, he would like “more guts and courage” and to have

been “born with the skill to write” as it is something his soul calls him to do, and yet he

finds it painful because of “layers of meaning,” suggesting his depth in thinking.

Decision-making for Terence required contemplation and reflection, “It’s more about the

relationship with myself. I want to know where I stand and how I feel before I get input

from others.”

Jackie’s form of logic reflected an awareness of the depth dimension in human

beings, i.e., the unconscious. When she had an important decision to make, not only did

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she talk to people that she cared about and trusted for their opinions but “I try to do some

oracle kinds of things to see what will emerge out of my unconscious.” Mainly, Jackie

interacted with her dreams for guidance and said, “I think the number one thing is

probably looking at dreams.” Working with her dreams placed Jackie not only at a formal

operational stage but also dialectical in her use of the imagination. “I used to have a lot

of nightmares but I also had incredibly beautiful dreams breaking through as I moved

through the nightmares and kind of embraced more of my shadow.” At times of crisis or

suffering, Jackie relied upon contemplative reading practices. As a teenager, Jackie said,

“I contemplated being a nun but the Catholic part didn’t…one of them gave me a book,

The Gift from the Sea, and said “I think you are running away from life. Here read this.

That was significant.” (Jackie) Coincidentally, her father gave her the same book, she

said.

Moments of breakthrough and intense joy in relationships were important to

Jackie as well as experiences of joy in nature and the arts. She appeared open to reality,

embraced multiple perspectives, and was less concerned about boundaries around any

particular set of ideas, “I learned about Eastern philosophies and Native Americans and it

changed my life.” Jackie said, “I really want to always be careful about having anything

that has an ism after it.” Jackie also guarded against “idiot compassion” as opposed to

“authentic, deep, real compassion.” At times, Jackie struggled with “a little bit of social

anxiety” and “would change that and be more assertive.” When she asserted herself “I

get out of my own way…it feels very grounded…it’s a fierce compassion.” Jackie would

like “more confidence in my own voice,” and viewed herself as a quiet activist, although

“I think there are times I could have stood up for myself or others more actively.”

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Perspective-Taking. The second aspect indicated the way a participant described the

self, the other, and the relationship between self/other. It is the way a participant

constructed the interiority of another person as well as how he or she thought and felt

particularly as it related to knowledge of internal states (Manual for Faith Development

Research, 2004, p. 24).

TABLE 7. ASPECT: Perspective-taking

ParticipantStage 1Egocentric

Stage 2Concrete

Stage 3Mutual

Interpersonal

Stage 4TheoreticalSystematic

Stage 5Multi-

Perspectival

Stage 6Mutuality

Sarah 3.33

Stefan 4.33

Terence 4.00

Jackie 4.50

Derek 4.00

Gwen 3.66

As seen in Table 7, Sarah and Gwen’s mutual interpersonal style of identification

suggested their development could be located at stage 3. Generally speaking, individuals

at stage 3 have a construct of ‘self’ that is not separate from others, however they do

understand the interiority of others – they intuitively “put themselves in other’s shoes”

but others have more power to determine the self: there is a tendency to be people-

pleasers, their environment determining to a greater extent just how significant other

people are to them. Perspective-taking at this stage is governed by intuitions of rules or

laws of relationships.

Sarah’s relationships appeared central to her sense of self. Sarah’s conversation

reflected trust, sharing, and safety with family and friends, and reliance upon

interpersonal virtues. Sarah was very close to her husband. She was also close to aunts,

cousins, and “really good” friends. “My husband was a really good friend of mine

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through all the stages of my life.” “I started falling in love just a few years ago … trusting

someone, sharing something with someone, it just becomes easier.”

Gwen’s perspective-taking suggested that she may be close to transitioning from a

mutual interpersonal style to a systematic theoretical style, if not already. Her

perspective was defined by the fact of having been adopted after birth.

It’s finally 37 years into the process of feeling that my adoption was really

like a tragedy [but] is more recently something that I see through a

different lens because of…meeting her [biological mother] and seeing that

I think or I know that I am much better off for having been raised in the

family I was raised in. (Gwen)

Gwen had a “special bond” with a few teachers who were “nurturing and kind” but her

interpersonal needs were mainly met through a long-standing relationship with a therapist

that helped her develop a more systematic theoretical style of perspective-taking. That

key relationship was how she developed a construct of self where it was lacking before:

So, okay, that is absolutely…a huge one. I still am in therapy with her

now. We have been together for like 20 years and she is like a mother to

me. I think the universe kind of did bring her to me…just segued in some

way into my own spirituality. I think that was kind of one of those ‘meant

to be’ relationships that came. Soo that’s probably the most important

relationship. (Gwen)

Things were complicated with her adoptive mother. The transition in social perspective-

taking occurs when a person can make changes from being at the mercy of their

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environment to actually shaping relationships by means of greater autonomy. When

asked how the shift in perception of her mother occurred, Gwen said

I started being more loving. My mom has been consistent. But when I

decided to become more loving to her, she became more loving to me. It

was really initiated by me making a decision not to be shut down … I

think my relationship with my parents has changed … I think I have more

appreciation for them. I had a greater insight into what their dynamics

were and how that impacted me for better or worse (laughs). And I just

have more gratitude. I think I’ve grown up in that way. So, yeah… (Gwen)

Gwen viewed her parents in a nuanced way and appeared less emotional, more critical,

and conceptually mediated in regards to them – she worked out her own worldview

history while recognizing their separate and unique worldview histories, i.e., they clearly

did not determine who she was.

In the past, Terence’s relationships appeared to have been mutual interpersonal in

that significant others had the power to determine who he was: he seemed to lack a

construct of “self” apart from these relationships. Terence said he became an intimacy

junkie because his father, who was quiet and religious, was “emotionally cut-off.”

He was a man of impeccable integrity, devoted to give his life to the

family and to his wife. His wife, my mother, was a very sharp lady and

liberated way beyond her years but I’m kind of an intimacy junkie and

both of them [parents] were kind of emotionally cut off. I mean that’s why

I am an intimacy junkie. (Terence)

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One priest was admired, e.g., “a man of deep faith” who “reached me and touched me

and made me take a look at my life.” Also as regards past relationships, Terence

experienced heartbreak when a significant relationship painfully ended.

I learned a lot about the nature of love and the nature of jealousy and

heartbreak and how to get through that and how to go on and recover and

re-engage. I think over time, you know, I feel like I gained faith that I’ll

make it through events even though they may be difficult in the moment.

(Terence)

Again, as for many participants, developmental stages were not mutually exclusive and

Terence’s perspective-taking scores were interpreted as being between mutual and

interpersonal to systematic and theoretical (stage 4), i.e., a move away from being

emotional and towards being more critical with perspectives being more conceptually

mediated through his love of Nietzsche.

This German psychologist, Nietzsche, has been a passionate interest and a

love…long-time relationship for me for 27 years. It got started by James

Hillman who introduced me to him and I did my dissertation on him and

have been reading and writing about him for years, trying to look at some

of his ideas and apply those to therapy. (Terence)

Through archetypal psychology and the study of Nietzsche, Terence imagined the

interiority of others and analyzed relationships. Terence’s current relationships suggested

that he could possibly transition into multiple perspectives and openness (stage 5), i.e., a

widening of boundaries of identity and perspectives. He granted autonomy not only to his

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own perspectives but also the perspectives of others; he sounded conscious and critically

reflective; he radically affirmed others’ interiority particularly when it included suffering:

[It’s] just that I am the most optimistic person about the negative things in

life. I don’t see the negative as negative. I see the negative as opening up

to deeper greater things. It cracks us open, develops character, the

suffering transforms us. Suffering can certainly overwhelm us and we

need to take care of ourselves, you know, it’s a tough thing but uh it’s

certainly as a therapist (little laugh) that I value people’s suffering and I

don’t want to take it from them, want them to move through it in a way

that opens up the possibilities for them…so I set up the most positive

about the negative for these clients. (Terence)

Derek’s interview did not offer as much in the way of marker events to analyze

the aspect of social perspective-taking. Past and current relationships reflected a

systematic and theoretical style in that he appears to have been less emotional, more

critical, and conceptually mediated in his perspectives.

My father died…so it’s been awhile. Like I said, he was a nice guy. We

had a nice relationship for a male of that time which meant you didn’t

talk about feelings, you didn’t talk about stuff. You talked about work.

You know, that kind of thing. But a nice guy. (Derek)

Generally speaking, individuals at stage 4 recognize their similarity with others

yet have a separate and unique worldview history which they capably justify.

Nevertheless, individuals at stage 4 may tend to over-objectify and reduce or ignore

particular qualities of others. From about the age of 8, Derek’s mother fared less

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favorably in his opinion, e.g., “One of us is really nuts here. Is it me or is it her? It’s her.”

When asked to explain what “crazy bullshit” meant, Derek says “She is immature, totally

egocentric, an emotional child, lacks a lot of empathy. Am I getting clinical enough for

you?” This may be an over-objectification that reduced or ignored particular qualities of

his mother. In terms of his past relationships, he says “It is more about who I can connect

with than trust.” Derek maintained a separate and unique worldview from friends,

however,

We don’t talk a lot about in depth stuff, although sometimes we do. You

know, it’s funny I can go months without talking with friends. But most

of my friends we can just pick up where we left off. And that’s the

important thing. We can fill in the blank spaces. (Derek)

Stefan’s ability to adopt another’s perspective suggested that past relationships

reflected a systemic and theoretical style. Stefan viewed his parents as having separate

and unique worldviews/histories and he developed a sense of a separate “I” that could

analyze them. Stefan’s parental relationships were positive, and he felt emotionally and

financially supported.

My mother was a warm, loving, nurturing woman who was just so

popular with everybody…and so she was the one, I think, that taught me

empathy and gentleness and love and compassion and was always there

as an anchor. But my father was a little, well, far less warm. He was a

brilliant scientist, uh, and he…had this real strong playful sense…He was

not as involved in my non-academic growth [sports]. (Stefan)

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Stefan became self-reliant at a young age. He found teachers and coaches that modeled

“wonderful male relationships”:

The other relationship that was really important…would be my little

league baseball coach who I had for at least 2 years maybe 3. And it was

seeing someone dedicated to the kids, dedicated to the game and…the

coach-y aspect, teaching a skill, having us try to do our best at the same

time not being excessively critical. The next significant relationship was

my high school choral instructor … Again, here was someone who was

just so dedicated to the students. He was always supportive of students and

kind, and so all of that impacted me in looking at what a wonderful male

relationship is…a kind man that could still be a teacher. (Stefan)

Stefan was left “rudderless” as a teenager when he needed guidance most due to his

father’s death, especially since his mother “was not equipped to do things.” This opened

the door to many new relationships that offered multiple perspectives, and he has grown

to honor separate and unique worldviews, and he did not appear to project his values and

beliefs onto others.

Over the years I really have developed into somebody who fully respects

people’s right to be who they are…to do things that are unhealthy if they

choose to. I’m very much pro people being who they are. And I may not

want them in my life…I may not like the person but I respect people’s

rights to be who they are. (Stefan)

Stefan had very deep friendships where he openly discussed “rich and meaningful things”

even when beliefs were different…he appeared very accepting of others’ perspectives,

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e.g., “My sister and I get along and all that but her way of being in the world, of dealing

with the world, is different than mine.” At the same time,

I can sit and talk for hours and hours and hours with my best friend, I can

do the same with my brother. He and I could sit and talk for hours and

hours and hours about rich and meaningful things. He, actually, is very

spiritual as is my best friend. My best friend is religious and spiritual. My

brother is not religious but he’s spiritual. (Stefan)

Jackie’s perspective-taking was mutual and interpersonal as regards past

relationships and over time she developed a more systematic and theoretical perspective.

As a child she appeared to have experienced transpersonal awareness that enabled her to

easily adopt others’ perspectives. A family member’s illness awakened her compassion:

I would have moments with him where we would sit and l would look at

him and I felt like I saw his soul. I saw…he’s not just all this behavior.

There is this profound- it would scare me because it was so intimate

(sigh). Again, one of those things that just hit me like there’s so much

more, there’s so much more than meets the eye here. (Jackie)

Jackie’s ability to empathize at a young age which, along with school stressors and

various traumatic family experiences, might have led to “dissociation,” she said. “I

daydreamed so much…the teacher could be speaking to me and I would be glazed over in

my own world.” Jackie had difficulty maintaining a construct of self, “I had, from a

young age, a lot of reflection on life and what it is to be embodied in a certain way and a

lot of questions about God.” She isolated herself, “I spent a lot of time alone, like in the

backyard, thinking. Nature became such a solace for me…nature became my home and it

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was so healing for me.” In addition to abstraction from concrete social relations, Jackie

struggled between “rebelling” against her mother who “…still held those Catholic ideas

very strongly and imposed them” at the same time Jackie desired to please her.

However, through the gift of a few excellent teachers, Jackie developed a more

systematic and theoretical perspective. She gained the ability to conceptually formulate

and analyze relationships through the development of a new self-construct:

I learned about Eastern philosophies and Native American[s] and it

changed my life. It didn’t move me from being Catholic at the time but it

deepened my contemplative practice and my sense of spirituality. It was

as if somebody was telling me who I was. I got it. I just got it. I knew the

answers. (Jackie)

Jackie formed a significant relationship with someone from another culture and

became part of an extended family in another country. “Out on my own” her life

experiences brought changes in perception. Whereas as a child she gave a lot of power to

her parents, e.g., “I just thought he [her father] walked on water when I was in early

childhood,” her relationships understandably changed upon returning to the U.S. “As the

years went on, I became more like a parent to them in a way” and Jackie said she

eventually became friends with her mother as her hospice caretaker. Besides co-workers,

friends, and family, Jackie’s list of current relationships included a spiritual mentor, a

Jungian analyst, and iconic images “from all the different religions of the world.” Jackie

critically self-reflected on her marriage,

It’s important to me because I think partnerships and love are one of the

clearest ways we can make each other better, who we can be as better

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people in this world…I have views about relationship where I don’t think

you should depend on another person to be “the be all and end all” of

everything so I have friendships, too… I have struggled a lot with having

to come to terms with not projecting a lot of romantic notions on others

and getting obsessed in that way…as if the grass is greener elsewhere,

but to really come to terms with how can I best be in a relationship

regardless of what relationship that is, and THIS is the relationship that I

am in and I am going to show up as best that I can in it. And the

challenges that come upon us in a relationship are great opportunities for

recognizing how we can leave this world in a better place. (Jackie)

Moral Judgment. The third aspect identified patterns of thinking about issues of moral

significance. Moral judgment is seen as a complex skill involving patterns of reasoning,

grounds of moral justification, the boundaries of social inclusion and exclusion, and

social perspective taking (Manual for Faith Development Research, 2004, p. 24).

TABLE 8. ASPECT: Form of moral judgmentStage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

Participant Pre-moral Reciprocity Interpersonal Law & Order Multi-Perspectival

Universal

Sarah 4.25

Stefan 4.50

Terence 5.00

Jackie 5.00

Derek 4.00

Gwen 4.25

In terms of moral judgment, Sarah thought an action could be right and wrong at

the same time, depending on context. As such, Sarah showed principled moral reasoning

that was oriented towards individuals rather than at a group perspective. This form of

moral judgment also includes reflexive moral relativism but was based upon her embrace

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of cultural diversity. Sarah placed importance on “the hurt of why somebody did it, the

reasoning behind it.” In the end, she said, it is a person’s motivation that matters. When

defining sin Sarah said, “Just anything that’s not done with the right intention,”

suggesting there are no absolute values shared by everyone (in terms of behavior). In

regards to the presence of evil in the world, “I think it goes back to the fact that we do

have free will…that we are not kind of meant to all act the same.” In terms of conflict or

disagreements and their resolution, Sarah emphasized the values of her religion.

I think to me it goes back down to really anything outside of that

salvation piece within my own religious belief, kind of up to where God

wants you to live and that relationship between you and God. (Sarah)

When further probed about the disagreement people may have over salvation,

Sarah said, “I don’t have the right to change somebody else’s beliefs…I believe in that

‘relationship’ and so I feel like if and when God wants that to happen, it will happen.”

Respecting another’s right to believe in what they will still does not truly integrate

multiple perspectives as seen at higher stages of development. As such, it was interpreted

that Sarah reflected conventional moral judgment.

More than half of the participants emphasized rights and duties in terms of

maintaining the social system (stage 4), as seen in Table 8. Generally speaking,

individuals at stage 4 rationally defend the values of social institutions over the rights or

needs of individuals. Derek’s form of moral judgment suggested a law and social order

style. Derek agreed that actions can be right or wrong based on the outcome of the action.

“The outcome has to be balanced, again, with morality. Was it moral to drop the A-

bombs? No. Was it a pragmatic outcome? That you can defend.” In other words, the atom

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bomb achieved its societal goal. When asked to define sin, Derek said “It is an immoral

act. Who defines what’s moral? The jihadists aren’t doing something immoral by

chopping people’s heads off. Sin is cultural,” reflecting the reflexive moral relativism of

an individual at stage 4. When asked to explain the presence of evil in the world, Derek

said that “evil is too broad a concept.”

I don’t use the term evil. A lot of people do. I don’t use that word. I don’t

think there is some free-floating entity out there labeled evil. I don’t. I

really have to come to that from a psychological perspective of

biological, genetics, and environment. (Derek)

When asked how people can resolve conflicts when they disagree about an issue, Derek

said “Damned if I know.” From a pragmatic viewpoint,

It’s not going to happen through politics because politics is amoral. It’s

not going to happen through religion because religion is self-serving.

That means the only way it can come about is through some greater

raising of individual consciousness. And…we are one step out of the

jungle…in our development as a species. (Derek)

Gwen’s form of moral judgment suggested a law and social order style in that she

did judge certain actions as being right or wrong, although she said somewhat tacitly that

it is not something she often thought about. “I think wrong for sure is defined by harm to

me. So, harm to yourself, or harm to another person, or harm to the earth.” When asked to

define sin, Gwen expressed her discomfort with using the word and said “I can

understand that there are things that, as human beings, are not positive for us to engage

in.” Also, “I don’t consider myself a Buddhist but it resonates with me, the way they talk

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about concepts of living…” yet she would not elaborate further. Mainly, the presence of

pathology explained the presence of evil in our world.

I think it’s the result of pathology. The psychologist in me really thinks

that, because of suffering, people start to act out in ways that are really

hurtful and then it just becomes a cycle. So I don’t think someone is ever

possessed by the devil or something, I think it’s just through their own

traumas. (Gwen)

When asked how conflicts can be resolved if people disagree about an issue, Gwen

answered “I think by respecting each other’s wishes and just acting in accordance with

your own beliefs,” which reflected principled moral reasoning. The example she

provided was on abortion, “If someone does not believe in abortion then they shouldn’t

have an abortion. I don’t know why they feel they have a right to tell other people how to

live.” That people should be allowed autonomy to follow their own beliefs reflects

multiple perspectives. “You are your own person and you can do whatever you want …

[there’s] not enough respect for other people’s belief in this world.” This perspective is

critical of the social order and argues for the rights of individuals, a perspective closer to

stage 5.

Stefan’s form of moral judgment suggested both a law and social order style in its

reflexive moral relativism as well as principled moral reasoning and also multiple

perspectives, e.g., “All outcomes are right.”

One can’t take a wrong action given the data at hand. People make the

best decisions based on the data that they have at any given point in time.

Even future actions are not right or wrong. Things may not work out the

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way that you want them to, in that way it could be wrong. But all

outcomes are all right. (Stefan)

Stefan did not use the word “sin” but said “I cannot do sin other than violating the

rights of others or non-acceptance of others.” His explanation for the presence of evil in

the world was biological.

We all have the belief system that we have to be part of the group. That is a

functional survival system, you know, we plan, we do community just like

we see animals that herd. If someone is ostracized or pushed out of the

group then what develops in them is great fear. And then evil becomes one

of the behaviors that someone can do when they are in great fear to try and

control the world around them. That would be, for me, kind of a biological

explanation of evil. (Stefan)

Stefan did not see how religious conflicts could be resolved except through mutual

acceptance, e.g., “I have the right to my religious beliefs and you have the right to yours

even if I believe your beliefs are bad.”

In other words, Jews don’t believe that Christ is the son of God, but can

they accept that Christians do, and say that it’s okay? In the same way that

Christians believe in Christ and the Jews don’t, to be able to say they have

a right to believe differently. Our religious beliefs are for us and not

necessarily for everyone. (Stefan)

Terence’s form of moral judgment showed that he recognized multiple

perspectives as well as the maintenance of the social order. Terence distinguished

between gross actions and subtle actions when determining whether an action is right or

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wrong. “Soul decisions are more subtle in that the appropriate response is in the

moment.” In terms of what makes an action right, Terence said “Right action would be

that it increases the health of a person, the situation, or the thing. The wrong action would

increase the illness or the destruction of a situation.” When asked to define sin, Terence

said, “I like the Greek definition of it, missing the mark,” and he said “a sin is not being

honest with myself and others.” When asked to explain the presence of evil in the world,

Terence said,

I don’t know if there is an evil entity out there floating around infecting

people but I think people who are consciously, consciously, trying to

inflict harm and death to people, those are evil people. Being aware that

you are hurting others and intentionally doing that, to me that’s the most

evil. People accidently hurt people, or you know, can’t help it, or hurt, too,

and slash back…it’s different than consciously intending to do it.

(Terence)

In terms of conflict or disagreements and their resolution, Terence emphasized multiple

perspectives to maintain social order.

I see a lot, a lot of couples. They fight as if there’s just one truth, like I

have the truth and you’re wrong about this, this is the way it should be. So

I say, “You have your truth and you have your truth and since you guys

are living together you’re going to have to figure out some middle ground

where you can value each other’s truths or compromise.” So there are

many truths. (Terence)

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Jackie’s form of moral judgment suggested principled moral reasoning and

multiple perspectives (stage 5). In regards to what makes an action right or wrong, Jackie

said “I do hold that there are right actions, that one can live a life on the basis of right

action. In terms of sticking to a law or rule just because it’s a law or rule, I think there is

relativity.” If Jackie were to define sin, it is “undermining others or oneself I suppose.”

Jackie defined undermining as,

…intentionally undermining the efforts of others that strive for equality

and love and mastery. And also undermining those efforts with in oneself,

self-sabotage. It comes back to intention. Intentional harm is evil. If it’s

not intentional, then what are you going to do? But intentional harm, that’s

evil. (Jackie)

When asked how conflicts can be resolved if people disagreed about an issue, Jackie

reflected a principled and universal form of moral judgement:

Well, Ken Jones talks about that in The New Social Face of Buddhism, ‘a

higher third’ and that when there’s conflict, if we can get out of our own

way, our own ego and attachment to things, I think a lot can happen.

When people can come to together and say, here’s a conflict, it’s here ok?

Let’s look at this together. Restorative justice practices nurture…foster

that way of ‘being with’ so that all voices are heard. Even with anger, even

with mistrust, even with non-forgiveness, it’s out on the table. But it’s out

on the table as a shared conflict. Not like you have this conflict and I

don’t. When anyone has a conflict, I think it’s our shared conflict…it’s in

our field. (Jackie)

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Jackie called this higher third “hovering compassion.” “It’s an imaginal umbrella of ‘let’s

hold this with compassion.’ ” Jackie’s perspective is worth echoing.

We can have a strong voice, we can have anger in there, and not even

necessarily want to associate with that person, if you will, on an ongoing

basis, but let’s look at this together from a place of non-reactivity and

compassion while also using some logic, some abstract thinking. Get out

of our own concrete narrow heads and egos because it keeps us confined. I

think that if we can expand to take on different perspectives, even if we

don’t agree with them, even for a moment to just try them on or hear, even

get angry and share that, I think that’s a way to work with conflict, to see

where we get caught individually and collectively in a narrow

understanding of something because then we are going to suffer and make

others suffer. (Jackie)

Generally speaking, individuals at stage 5 uphold the rights of the individual over any

claim of the social order. These individuals are able to hold competing claims in tension

and to reason dialectically thus removing the tension of integrating multiple perspectives

(Note again that Terence and Jackie were Jungian psychotherapists).

Bounds of Social Awareness. The fourth aspect identified a participant’s group

identification: how they constructed the group they identify with, and how they related to

the group. This aspect answered the question of how wide or inclusive is the social world

to which a person will respond (Manual for Faith Development Research, 2004, p. 24).

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TABLE 9. ASPECT: Social awarenessStage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

Participant Primary Relations

Extended Peer Group Selected Social Awareness

Inclusion of Differences

Universal

Sarah 3.66

Stefan 4.00

Terence 4.33

Jackie 5.00

Derek 4.00

Gwen 4.00

Generally speaking, the social awareness of an individual at stage 3 does not

extend beyond the groups to which they are immediately involved in. Other groups

outside the person’s relational network are apt to be seen in general ways and sometimes

stereotyped. Their interest is interpersonal concordance within a highly valued

membership group. Sarah’s life centered on family and friendships. School was one of

the most important marker events in her life. “I was at school all the time…that’s where I

grew the most.” “There was a teacher growing up that I was very close to and she was

always kind of there for me.” Sarah’s community was small and church-related. At one

point there was the painful ending of a seven year relationship which caused her to

“create a new life in my mind.” Sarah’s personal identity shifted as her network of

relationships in graduate school grew. Sarah focused on developing more autonomy and

on consciously becoming “outgoing.” Sarah has since maintained selected social

awareness mostly limited to those with similar Christian beliefs, typical of individuals at

stage 4. When asked what groups she identified with, she said “[Those] very close to my

Christian beliefs…”

As seen in Table 9, most participants maintained ideological systems wherein the

self was identified through others who were seen as relative to that system (stage 4).

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Stefan, for example, had a lifelong attachment to a particular group he encountered after

his father’s death when Stefan was 17 years old.

I attended a residential leadership training program the summer before my

senior year, which was about 2 months after my father’s death. There was

a week of this leadership training and I really loved it and connected with

people. Out of that, 2 weeks later, I attended what would be in the old days

a sensitivity training session…and that experience was just off the charts

in terms of depth and meaningfulness and connection…pretty incredible.

(Stefan)

This became even more meaningful as Stefan devoted himself to becoming a leader in the

organization. He was committed to training students in creative thinking over many

years. Although a large community, “we were isolated from the world” and he had “a

very rich experience working with the staff and students.”

Perhaps the sensitivity training was the beginning of self-awareness, a

sense of self…a kind of ‘what’s the meaning of life’ from an existential

perspective. And it wasn’t a religious or spiritual organization. I think

relationships with people in those organizations, relationships to the

people that I mentioned that were significant, all have contributed to my

sense of self. (Stefan)

Stefan reported that he found himself through the reflection of other people, many of

whom helped him to see who he was not. Self-differentiation is an important dimension

under the aspect of social awareness. It contributes to the quality of selected social

awareness typical of individuals at stage 4.

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You know, you meet others and you see who others are and that supports a

sense of self. But also probably my psychological training…my training as

a therapist and having sat with hundreds of clients over the years and

having heard their stories and perspectives. In a way, what that helps me

do is differentiate who they are from who I am. So all of that would be, I

would say, combined into any spiritual search I might have had. (Stefan)

Stefan had an afterthought about another group that he had a relationship with. It may

shed some light on the interpretation of his responses. Generally speaking, individuals at

stage 4 see multiple viewpoints but their view of others still preserves their own

perspective, i.e., they require ideological compatibility.

The other group I have an ongoing relationship with is a professional

organization that specializes in applied humor…how we use humor for

human relations…to help people. And it’s not as much about the topic

although it is significant to me. Once again…I have found a group of

people with whom I am really connected. We have similar thinking, we

respect each other, and I have been with that group for about 25 years.

(Stefan)

Marker events in Terence’s life also reflected selected social awareness from a

young age, having grown up in the “hippie revolution in the 60s.” “I was about 15 or16

when all of that was happening and that was a significant time in my life in terms of kind

of challenging authority…re-thinking religion…peace and love…trying to get high on

life.” The changes he made as a teenager in order to be accepted reportedly led to a “kind

of self-actualizing.” In terms of group identification, Terence identified with the Tea

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Party Movement. “That’s probably not politically correct to say to someone who lives in

California, but that is part of my interest in politics because I am concerned about the

world and the nation.”

They function as a common cause, common voice, common group [which]

was helpful for me … when someone says I know I get very nervous, but

it’s a leaderless group. And that is somewhat attractive to me. (Terence)

This group identification was not seen as multi-perspectival: he described it as a group of

people with a common cause and semi-seriously said, “You know the Democrats are

blocking my victorious next presidential election so I don’t like them (laughs). They are

not on my good list” which was interpreted as selected social awareness. His preference

for a leaderless group was reflected in Terence’s inspiration by “an individual divine

spark that gives us our guidance.”

Derek’s marker events were reportedly insignificant and suggested a selected

social awareness focused on his profession. When asked what groups, institutions, or

causes he identified with he said “None. And again, my reason being I feel like I am an

outlier in this culture.” “To me there has to be balance and so many of these groups,

whatever, causes, they don’t have balance.” The only change in relationship that affected

his way of thinking about things was when a girlfriend died, “It shifted in the sense that

she died when she was ... I think in her forties … and really in your early 40’s you don’t

think about the end game, but it really brought the end game into focus for me.”

Gwen reflected a mutual interpersonal style in past relationships as she worked to

overcome identity issues. Being adopted made it difficult to establish a construct of self.

“I would say being adopted was a really defining event of my early childhood…it is

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obviously not something I consciously remember but I think unconsciously it really

impacted me.” Changing schools was another marker event that contributed to identity

issues. “I really struggled in my adolescence with my own identity and sense of myself.

That was probably the hardest time of my life….Looking back, I was kind of lost.” As an

adult, Gwen reportedly felt “more stable in myself and more focused” when she was in

graduate school. “At 32, I felt like I finally…knew more about who I am.”

Gwen reported an aversion to groups, “It’s the same with authority…I don’t want

to be in a group,” yet she participated in meditation retreats, art classes, and whatever she

felt would help her to feel “connected,” all of which reflected a selected social awareness

although Gwen preferred an impersonal connectedness with people:

I think just feeling that I am with like-minded people, so there is a sense of

just connectedness and not even needing to know, like, who is this person,

what is their last name, what do they do, and what are they like, and just

like it’s like a soul connection. It’s a heart connection. (Gwen)

Jackie appeared to have developed into stage 5 because of her inclusiveness of

socially different persons or groups. Jackie actively sought contact with groups and

persons that were, in principle, different from her. Jackie affirmed pluralism as an

enriching phenomenon; her boundaries were more open than other participants. Jackie’s

inclusion of difference and regard for diversity extended beyond class norms and

interests, and represented a disciplined ideological vulnerability to “truths” and “claims”

of outgroups and other traditions. This may have been due to events in her youth that

increased her awareness of patriarchal attitudes (sexism) and bullying (racism) as she

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moved between countries and cultures. Her sensitivity to the pain of others led to a

compassionate view.

I identify with health care disparities and anything that can mend that.

Everyone deserves equal dignity as human beings to have their basic

needs met. Everybody deserves to be attended to and treated if they are

suffering. That is our responsibility to each other. (Jackie)

Notably, Jackie’s inclusiveness extended to the environment. She said she had a profound

love and connection to the earth, the natural world. “I am not as much of an activist in a

tangible kind of way that a lot of people are, because a lot of my activism is more quiet.”

Locus of Authority. The fifth aspect looked at 1) how authorities are selected, 2) how

authorities are held in relationship to the participant, and 3) whether the participant

responded primarily to internal or external authority (Manual for Faith Development

Research, 2004, p. 25). Locus of authority is the person or thing that someone looks to in

order to validate, or legitimize, significantly felt meanings.

TABLE 10. ASPECT: Locus of authorityStage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

Participant AttachmentDependence

Personal Relatedness

ConsensusTrusted Others

Internally Located

MultiplePerspectives

Transcendent

Sarah 4.00

Stefan 4.00

Terence 5.00

Jackie 5.00

Derek 4.00

Gwen 4.00

As seen in Table 10, all participants located authority in ideas, systems, and

institutions rather than in actual persons, however two participants appeared closer to a

multi-perspectival style (stage 5). Mostly, authority was principled and internally

located, based on a self-ratified, ideological perspective (stage 4). The locus of authority

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could be explicit authority such as a figure, law, tradition, or custom depending on the

way it was represented. All participants evaluated authority from the perspective of their

own worldview or ideology.

Sarah’s responses placed increasing emphasis on the sovereignty of individual

conscience although she suggested location of authority in a transcendent dimension. She

abided within the authority of her religion and the relationships found there. Sarah said,

“I think for me...my life’s value comes from relationships with friends and family…and

relationships with people…that’s what is most important ultimately.” Sarah did not think

there are certain actions or types of actions that are always right under any circumstances,

nor are there moral opinions that she thinks everyone should agree on, “Right. I think

context is very important.”

Stefan’s locus of authority was principled and internally located through a self-

ratified, ideological perspective, i.e., self-gratification. Stefan said, “This may sound self-

serving and it certainly is, but I do in life what is most self-gratifying.” His generosity

was based upon what he calls a “selfish” ideal:

That is not selfish even though it certainly sounds selfish…As a person, I

also am very giving…but the giving is because I choose to give, I want to

give and that’s pleasurable to me. So again it comes back to a benefit to

me in my being giving or being kind but that is…what makes life

meaningful. (Stefan)

Stefan’s responses suggested location of authority in a system of ideas, e.g., “Part of

being the best me means respecting that others are who they are. I think a lot of that

comes from my training as a psychologist.” Stefan supported “people’s rights to be who

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they are…and setting limits…but my main value is the equality of all humans.” These

principles made morality uncertain, “In terms of the Bible’s commandments, for

example, do not kill, I don’t agree with that 100% of the time.” Stefan said, “There is too

much ambiguity and it depends on the circumstances,” indicative of a reflexive

relativism. There was not enough evidence to suggest a tensional approach to authority

that would have placed him closer to stage 5.

Derek’s locus of authority was principled and internally located. In terms of life’s

meaning,

I’ll tell ya. Two sentences there. One is just the freedom that I have at this

point in my life ... the economic freedom and the time freedom. And also

my work at the clinic and privately, both. And friends and relationships,

too. That’s the meaning [of life] for me, and the meaning really has to do

with something I noted a little earlier on. When it’s time to check out,

leave the world a better place. (Derek)

Derek wanted to leave a legacy, “You know, I have learned things from different people

but not in a mentor sense.”

I just feel like I may have accumulated some things that are worth

passing on that you won’t find in any course books, and I never really

had a mentor like that. And I think it is important for people to have

mentors…professionally most of what I have gleaned is through

workshops, courses, classes, degrees as opposed to really one person that

just…had that for me. (Derek)

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Derek believed charity was always right under any circumstances…it is a moral action

that he strongly supported:

And also under that for me would be pro bono work which I have done

lots of over the years. Not everyone can afford to be charitable. You can

afford to be charitable non-monetarily through your actions but when I

say charity I really mean contributing money. (Derek)

Life’s meaning for Gwen was found through a personal journey of self-

exploration, “That’s the number one thing that I invest my energy and my finances in.”

Following that was work, “Being in a profession where I am just helping people is really

important.” Her beliefs, values, and commitments were to “hold onto hope” and to

“working on myself, pushing myself…commitment to growth, I guess, and opening and

connecting.” Gwen did not locate authority externally, e.g., she had no specific belief in

God however she identified with a system of ideas, i.e., Buddhism. That being said,

Gwen did not evaluate authority from the perspective of Buddhism or another worldview,

having said that she was rebellious by nature and anti-authority. Being somewhat of a

rebel appeared to form the basis for her way of thinking. She did not think there are moral

opinions that everyone should agree on, i.e., everything was relative and there were no

absolutes:

I really respect other people’s rights to have different beliefs. And I see

how in different circumstances things could be different. How even killing

someone could be justified in some situations. I just don’t see it as black

and white. I think if someone gives you enough of a scenario you could

probably find anything justifiable. (Gwen)

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Terence placed a high value on individual responsibility in terms of life’s

meaning,

I don’t think life in itself has meaning and purpose. I think you get to put

meaning and purpose into your life. And if you live a meaningful life then

you have meaning. If you live a purposeful life then you have purpose…I

don’t feel God has a plan for me. (Terence)

In terms of an action or opinion that was always right under any circumstance, Terence

said there is “always an exception” and it depended upon “having a decent moral

compass.” Terence had a disciplined subjectivity mediated by critical thought. He was

committed to psychotherapy as a religious practice. “I don’t need anything outside to

bolster my support for my value system. It is very powerful and very hard as a

taskmaster.”

It is a spiritual practice about the practice of soul. And it continues to be

important to me…to continue to grow my skills and to articulate and do

some educating about depth therapy and value, and continue to be

informed about the Dionysian myth. I would say that is all I am going to

say. (Terence)

Jackie also appeared closer to stage 5 in terms of locus of authority. Jackie

displayed a tensional or mediated approach to any form of authority or authority figure,

and she took multiple perspectives. There were no absolutes in Jackie’s worldview. She

located authority in a transcendent dimension along with an increasing emphasis on the

sovereignty of individual conscience. For Jackie, life had meaning when she helped

others:

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I have to do certain things for the job like publish or present, but I don’t

feel that ambitious anymore…they really don’t create that much meaning

for me…but when I hear somebody say to me “I would really love…”

there is something that awakens in me where I want to make that happen

for them, for that person. And I want to help connect them to somebody or

[help them] recognize that…their gifts in the world can be connected out

there in some way. (Jackie)

Jackie described her “calling” as a metaphysical “buzz” that she explained as “the

relationship of physics with consciousness,” i.e., her calling was embodied. “I don’t

understand it because I don’t have that kind of mind, but I can conceptually get it

somehow deep in my body, and it really resonates for me even though I could never put

an equation together.” Jackie’s commitment to nature, to equality, to connecting people,

to her spirituality reflected a dialectical joining of judgment-experience processes with

reflective claims of others and of various expressions of cumulative human wisdom:

I don’t know if I am so much about beliefs. I really want to always be

careful about having anything that has an ism after it. I really like

exploring things…but I don’t know, I have a part that is rebellious about

settling into any one particular ism. (Jackie)

However, Jackie believed there are certain actions that were always right under any

circumstances…a certain moral opinion she thought everyone should agree on: “Always

right? Yeah I think that everyone should always come from a place of compassion. That

doesn’t always mean being weak. I think compassion can be strong.” For Jackie,

compassion was internally located and extended outwards as did her locus of authority.

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Form of World Coherence. The sixth aspect described how participants constructed the

object world, including the sense of an ultimate environment. World coherence is a type

of cosmology, whether explicit or tacit, that included participants’ worldview but was not

limited to that. World coherence included the principles by which participants’

worldviews were constructed: the logical relations by which elements of the world are

held together (Manual for Faith Development Research, 2004, p. 25).

TABLE 11. ASPECT: World coherenceStage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

Participant Un-differentiated

Logical Narrative

Tacit, Non-Self-Reflective

Critical Reflection

Complex Pluralism

Participation in Being

Sarah 3.50

Stefan 4.00

Terence 4.75

Jackie 4.25

Derek 4.00

Gwen 4.50

As seen in Table 11, Sarah appeared at stage 3, which indicated a synthesis of the

conventional ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of her membership group or set of significant

others. Contradictions in this synthesized world view are usually dealt with by exclusion

rather than be explicit reasoning. Generally speaking, individuals at stage 3 often view

the world in interpersonal and often romantic terms. Some of Sarah’s responses appeared

tacit and non-self-reflective, a blend of conventional ideas rather than explicit reasoning,

e.g., life may have a purpose but “I don’t know what it is” although “there is something

we were supposed to do.” She believed in the afterlife and considered herself a religious

person, “Yes and no. I do belong to a pretty big religion and I feel strongly for it, but no

because I don’t like the word…I see it as an ongoing relationship.” Her personal

relationship with God held the world together and through it Sarah formed a single,

workable worldview. However, Sarah’s image of a person of mature faith appeared

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critical and self-reflective with an emphasis on differences and dichotomies as seen in

stage 4. “Honestly, I think to me it [faith] is seeing and believing in what you believe in

and not just what other people think.” Sarah’s example was a person who does not “shy

away from sharing their beliefs with friends and family even if just to say who you are.”

That being said, more than half of the participants rationally defended their own

worldview (stage 4). Generally speaking, individuals at stage 4 are typically reductionist

and will collapse tensions and paradoxes in one direction to maintain coherence.

Stefan appeared critically reflective when asked to offer an image of a person of

mature faith, i.e., “Mature is not a good word in terms of faith,” he said, as he rationally

defended his point of view:

I would say my best friend, who is a devout Catholic but is also more

spiritual. He connects with spiritual leaders, goes on retreats, and met the

last pope. If you sat down with him he would never talk about God but he

is involved in an on-going search for inner peace and solitude. The most

important belief is in the self, in people, and in good. The quality I admire

is that he is still open to change. (Stefan)

When it came to believing in whether or not human life had a purpose or if people were

affected by a power or powers beyond their control, Stefan said,

I don’t believe there is any power guiding or controlling our life. Now are

we influenced by things around us? Sure. We are influenced by gravity.

We are influenced by other people and all that. But some kind of a plan,

power, or controlling power or destiny, I don’t believe that at all. I’ll just

put in a side note. My best friend and I are on complete opposites on this.

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He definitely believes that there is a controlling power, there is no

coincidence…that we are all on a path of destiny. He and I see that part of

the world very differently. (Stefan)

Stefan went “to the very basics of SURVIVAL” as the meaning or purpose of life. When

asked about the meaning of death or what happens to us at that point, Stefan expressed

that he “wishes” for an essence, an energy called soul or spirit. However, he said “Death

is what Beethoven is doing today. Decomposing. We return to non-being. I believe that

when you die, it’s over…it’s the existential belief.” Stefan laughed when asked if he

considered himself a religious person.

Generally speaking, individuals at stage 5 tend to seek understanding rather than

explanation. Although there was mystery and depth phenomena in Terence’s responses,

the risk for individuals at stage 5 is becoming nihilistic in striving for closure. Terence

provided a description for maturity in faith that reflected a multi-leveled complex

pluralism by offering a quote from Nietzsche, “Profound suffering makes noble” in other

words, faith is something to be cultivated. Terence said,

I have a concept of an ideal nobility. That everything grows. A tree tries to

grow to its most beautiful, profound, grand way that it can depending on

the environment and other factors, but it struggles to be the best beautiful

tree it can be. I think every preacher, like every flower tries to strive to

produce the most beautiful flower, I think we have that within ourselves,

to grow and develop and mature as a person. It’s kind of all our life’s task

to cultivate ourselves. (Terence)

Terence critically reflected on life’s purpose with ideological purity:

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One way of saying it is if you were given the gift of a surgeon’s hands,

and you decided in your beautiful faith to go down to the Peace Corps

and dig trenches for the poor, you didn’t take advantage of God’s gift to

you. You actually…copped-out by not respecting the gifts that you were

given and using them to the best of your ability. So I would say that’s a

shallow response to the gifts you were given. And you have a

responsibility, if you have that surgeon’s hands, the responsibility then to

develop those hands. (Terence)

In the interest of truth and comprehensiveness, Terence held disparate elements in tension

as regards death. He resisted reductionism and recognized ambiguity, complexity, and

multiple metaphors in reality.

Jung tried to avoid that [question of death], you know, that’s a theological

question and I am a psychologist…I know life is holy. I know that it

matters here what you do here and what matters next. But I am loathe to

say we hang around and drink tea and chit chat for the rest of eternity. I

think there’s may be a whole other life, a whole other level, a whole other

adventure…evolutional soul, whether that’s reincarnation or whole other

struggles, it goes on, you know, energy is not destroyed or created, it’s just

transformed. But I am against avoiding life…because you are more

focused on the afterlife. I call that the worship of death. Why be concerned

about what happens when you die? Why shouldn’t you be concerned

about what happens when you are living? (Terence)

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When asked if he considered himself a religious person, Terence said, “Therapy is my

religious practice,” and he clarified it by saying “I am more soulful. Soul is my religion.”

Jackie provided tacit descriptions for her ideal of maturity in faith, e.g., an image

of a Buddha or a mountain. Other examples were Babaji, Nature, Quan Yin “as an image

of compassion,” Jesus, and a strong, earthy Goddess “full of mud.” These disparate

images were held in tension, their truths were hidden…there was mystery about them.

Jackie offered little in the way of explanation that would serve to collapse the tension

between these images. When asked if there was an ethereal quality in these images,

Jackie said, “No. It’s really earthy. I do a Tibetan practice where you imagine yourself

going deep, deep, deep into the earth. You breathe as you go deeper and deeper and

deeper until you are breathing under the earth. I love that. “

Jackie preferred Buddhist practices and Vipassana meditation “because they are

grounding for me...to connect me to others and to the earth, and to not want to

disappear,” in other words, those were the ways in which the world held itself together

for her. Jackie’s averaged score was affected by a few tacit, non-self-reflective, and

unarticulated responses. Jackie thought “there must be a plan, some kind of plan” for our

lives, i.e., “we are in relationship with things beyond our control,” although beyond this

her worldview was impersonal and unarticulated. Death, for Jackie, was “a passage but

not an ending…when we die our body decomposes but another part of our essence just

blends with the rest of the big breath, the big heart, the big mind.” “I really embrace the

idea of impermanence.” Jackie said she was not religions and did not elaborate. The

interviewer asked what it meant to be a person of faith. Jackie’s answer reflected a multi-

leveled complex and pluralistic view (stage 5):

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There is a very profound reason that we are here in a human body and I

have faith that there are many more worlds beyond the worlds that

surround earth. I have faith that somehow, at the core of this existence

here on earth, that love is the overriding principle. I have faith in that

because we feel it when it’s there and we know it. I have faith in that.

(Jackie)

On the other hand, Derek asserted that a mature faith was “faith in oneself” along

with a balanced perspective, which revealed a critical self-reflective style of thinking,

although it could also be seen as polar thinking,

It all starts there. And so, you have to have a mature faith in the sense of

“Man, I’m a real a-hole sometimes” versus “You know what? I’m a

decent person most of the time.” It’s a balance. The model is balance.

(Derek)

When asked if there is a plan for our lives, Derek said, “You know that old, I don’t know

I think maybe it is a Yiddish saying, men plan--people plan, God laughs? I’m thinking so

many ways that’s true.” He said he does not think there is a plan but “I am not positive. I

am agnostic. I can’t get beyond that.” “Better be open for changes in your plan.” Derek

maintained coherence in a world where he thinks about death quite often by repeating

what he said earlier, “Check out better than you found it.” There is little evidence of

reflection or abstraction in his worldview when asked about death, “The worms take

over.” When asked if he is a religious person, the tensions and paradox collapsed in one

direction to maintain coherence.

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The thing is…about religion, they all say the same thing in the positive

for the most part. We should all be, you know, wonderful people in this

regard but they are all fucked up. You know, more bad has happened

because of religion than good in some ways, so I don’t see it as a real

positive force in the world. Especially these days with all the crazy

jihadists. (Derek)

Gwen’s reasoning approached a multi-leveled and complex pluralism (stage 5).

For Gwen, the Dalai Lama was the image of a person of mature faith.

I have an image in my mind that initially comes to me which is being at

peace. Not someone who is fervently holding onto a belief and needing to

tell everyone and convince people and has this activation around it. I

imagine someone who is so defenseless around it … and is open to

everybody else’s kind of understanding of these things. (Gwen)

When asked if life had a purpose, Gwen resisted reductionism and held disparate

elements in tension in the interest of truth and comprehensiveness. “I think we do have a

purpose but I don’t think there’s just one. I think there could be a different purpose for

everyone.” She told a touching story from a Game of Thrones episode:

There is a guy who doesn’t speak the entire five seasons of the show. All

he says is “Hodor.” He guards over this child. In the last season…you

realize that his entire purpose was to hold this door (her voice quavers and

she is on the brink of tears) and save this child. So, it’s like what you can

see in a way is this tiny life purpose that ultimately, I am sure, could have

enormous implications for the world! Maybe it is not grand. Maybe it is

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something small but I think that we all do have something. Whether we

know it or we don’t know it, I don’t think that matters in a way. I think it

is still there. (Gwen)

Gwen sighed in response when asked what death meant to her, and she did not elaborate.

When asked if she considered herself a religious person, she answered “No” although she

would kneel and pray if she found herself in a Catholic church.

I think of the word religious as being organized and needing to be in one

category. My beliefs are really just a function of my own experience and

are maybe open to change in a way that I don’t see Catholicism as being

(laughs) open to change. That is why I don’t see myself as religious.

(Gwen)

Symbolic Function. The seventh aspect was concerned with how participants

understood, appropriated, and utilized symbols and other aspects of language in their

process of meaning-making. Generally speaking, symbolic function is evidence of how

individuals blend thought and imagination in faith, and where they locate centers of value

and images of power (Manual for Faith Development Research, 2004, p.25).

TABLE 12. ASPECT: Symbolic functionStage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

Participant Fantasy & Reality Blur

Literal/One-dimensional

Emotional De-mythologizing

Fusion Synthesis

Sarah 3.50

Stefan 4.00

Terence 5.00

Jackie 5.00

Derek 4.00

Gwen 3.75

Individuals at stage 3 of symbolic functioning generally take symbols at face

value, perhaps even resisting the analysis of a symbol. Generally speaking, these

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individuals do not perform a critical analysis to understand ideas or concepts; their

interpretations are influenced by trusted authorities; and conventional interpretations of

symbols are oriented towards interpersonal qualities. As seen in Table 12, it did not

appear that Sarah made the effort to de-mythologize her image of God nor to analyze it to

form a critical analysis. Sarah’s idea of God remained unchanged and unchallenged from

childhood, “Over the years that hasn’t really changed just kinda my own strictness in

religion has kind of changed.” Symbols held an evocative power for her, e.g., “I really

like going out to places where you can see the stars. I just think there’s something very

special in like the world being so big” that showed a degree of conceptualization. Sarah

performed one spiritual discipline, i.e., “I pray.” When asked if there are religious ideas

or rituals that seem important, Sarah’s response was less ideological and more

conventional. “I think for me the biggest thing is just, uhm, salvation. I think anything

outside of that just doesn’t really matter.”

Gwen appeared to be transitioning from stage 3 to stage 4. Generally speaking,

individuals at stage 4 translate symbols into concepts or ideas, and interpretations are

reductive, i.e., determined by a self-selected ideology. When asked if her image of God

changed across her life’s chapters, Gwen said she was raised Catholic but never attached

to it. “I don’t have a feeling that there is a God or one person that makes things happen in

the world and punishes people if they sin or anything like that.” Gwen found herself most

in communion or connection with God or the universe “being in the water, being in

meditation, being in holy spaces” but offered no analysis of the symbols which serve to

evoke powerful meanings for her other than “there’s an energy.” Gwen said, “You can

attract things that are maybe positive or negative based on your actions but I myself am

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much more in control as opposed to someone else being in control of me or looking at me

and judging my actions in some way.”

Gwen placed great importance on symbols and rituals for the qualities they

represented, i.e., the feelings they invoked in her that gave comfort, perhaps representing

a fusion of symbolic and ideational meaning. She invested symbols with the power to

evoke, generate, and sustain layers of meaning, although she did not describe this in

detail other than to say she reflected upon it and journaled as she asked for guidance. “I

always joke that I am like a white witch (laughs) because I love doing little ceremonies

and stuff at home, like when the seasons change or it’s a full moon or a new moon.”

It was clearer that Stefan and Derek were at stage 4 in that they placed symbols

within a systematic framework, de-bunked myth, and viewed symbols and myth in terms

of their functional impact on social systems and groups. Stefan’s idea of God had also not

changed from childhood but it appeared that since childhood he had de-mythologized the

image of God, “I don’t believe God, in the sense that people believe in a supreme being

or a religious entity, even exists. And I had that belief when I was a child.” Stefan talked

about God as being “the inner spirit within…that you ask for help or guidance within

yourself” but clarified that it was the “inner power” to make personal choices. Stefan

placed God within a systematic framework, “God being that sense in all of us that is

about ethics and morality, that helps guide us towards our destinations--not destiny, I

don’t believe destiny --that is more of what I could embrace as an image of God. In

general, I am pretty much atheist.” Stefan found himself most in harmony with the

“universe” as his inner power and said that could be playing softball in the outfield as he

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focused on the game and the “rest of the world disappears…it is like a meditation.” This

functioned as providing Stefan internal consistency and heightened self-consciousness.

Likewise, Derek was pragmatic and offered little in the way of critical analysis to

understand any particular ideas or concepts about God. Derek said “I was raised Catholic

by nuns. The nuns raised me probably more so than my parents did in many ways and by

the time I was in 6th grade I realized they are full of shit.” Derek found himself most in

communion in nature, “I am not a city person…the only things that bugs me about living

in the city is that you can’t see all of the stars. When you see all that stuff you realize, oh

man, I am a fly speck.” This informed his practice of psychology, “I think that is part of

what happens to kids who grow up in the city. They don’t realize how little and

insignificant they really are in the whole scheme of things.” When asked if there were

any ideas or symbols that were important to him, Derek said, “I like Jung’s idea of the

collective unconscious. I think there is something there….it just seems like there is

something that gets passed along in the genes,” and added “We are one step out of the

jungle” as regards the collective unconscious and racism in culture. In terms of spiritual

discipline, Derek said his practice was bicycling, “I bike five days a week for a couple of

hours a day. I can shut down my internal dialogue and just feel the wind and the sun and

look at the ocean. That’s as close [as I get] to just shutting off the internal stuff.”

Terence’s image of God reflected a shift towards personal responsibility and

autonomy during his early development in the Catholic Church. “I must have been nine

or ten and struggling with how to remember all the sins that I am supposed to

remember….What if I forgot one?”

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In terms of religious ideas, symbols, or rituals that were important to him, Terence said,

“dreams are the language of soul…dreams are sacred to me.” Dream work was a soul

discipline for Terence. When asked if he interpreted his dreams, Terence said “I don’t

interpret them. It is more like a poetic, aesthetic, and metaphorical approach to the dream

work. Interpreting is a spirit move, not a soul move, and I hate spirit moves.”

I was really traumatized about the nature of sin when I bumped

into a priest on a walkway between schools and I struck up a

little conversation with him. He said something to the effect that it

wasn’t a sin unless you believed it was a sin. There was

something about that it was more of my responsibility to live a

good life and hold myself to the values that I determine. It wasn’t

something outside of me…some priest or church that would

decide what sin is and what sin isn’t. That was a big shift for me

in terms of Catholic guilt. (Terence).

A simple way of defining soul, which can’t be defined, [is that]

it is your experiential dimension of life, your unconscious

experience, not your awareness of life but your experience of

life. And that experience has a depth that is unknowable, it’s a

place where the secret and the beauty of the divine are located.

It’s where things become meaningful because you experienced

it as significant for you. It’s where we live and dwell, and

everything after that is just hollow, maya, or concepts and

interpretations, and dead symbols. (Terence)

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Terence’s attitude went beyond de-mythologizing and instead his approach

invested life with new meaning. This “second naivete” was a move towards new

openness to the power of symbols to evoke, generate, and sustain layers of meaning.

When asked if he performed any spiritual discipline, Terence said “I used to meditate for

many years. Uhm..uhm..yeah you can see how the word gets me very confused.” When

asked what he thought had happened during his meditations, Terence said “I was learning

to quiet my mind, learning about my monkey mind, learning how to be present, learning

how to de-stress, and maybe little bumps of enlightenment here and there.” At this point

in his life, he said, “I feel like I am practicing meditation all day long. To be present you

are not thinking. You’re engaged in being.”

Jackie’s image of God suggested a fusion of the symbolic and ideational, “I don’t

know if I believe in God per se…I go back and forth between the Buddhist and more of

the Vedanta with this idea of Atman,” or “world soul.”

I went from a very young child believing that God was almost like an

entity to believing that God was in everything, even a blade of grass. That

“everything-was-nothingness” piece came when I was 16 years old. It

never made sense to me that God was an entity with a white beard in the

sky. I think it became much more understandable to me in some kind of

system when I learned about Eastern philosophy. (Jackie)

Jackie’s sense of harmony came from her contemplative practices as well as music. In

terms of religious ideas, symbols, or rituals that were important to her, Jackie said,

Well, they have shifted through the years. The ritual of Mass used to be

important to me. The ritual of meditation. The ritual of readings, dharma

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kind of readings that don’t necessarily have to come from Buddhist

traditions, but spiritual traditions, devotional readings. Like I said earlier,

an image of Quan Yin or something to kind of embody that feeling of

compassion. The image of a child’s innocence face, you know, to really

bring that feeling of love, of metta, and get that going in those moments

when I might be feeling like I’m having a struggle with that. (Jackie)

Broadly speaking, Jackie appeared open to the power of symbols to evoke, generate, and

sustain layers of new meaning. In terms of spiritual discipline, Jackie’s rituals “center me

in some way and it does not take me long to do that” e.g., “light a candle, read a little

passage of short quotes or do a small meditation.”

Summary of Results

TABLE 13. Faith StagesIntuitive-Projective

Mythic-Literal

Synthetic-Conventional

Individuating-Reflexive

Paradoxical-Consolidative

UniversalizingParticipantSarah 3.68Stefan 4.12Terence 4.73Jackie 4.78Derek 4.00Gwen 3.88

An overview or description of these six stages of faith development was provided

in Chapter 2, the Literature Review. In summary, participant profiles were presented by

various aspects of their faith development. Each aspect had several questions. The answer

to each question was individually scored and then all of the scores under that aspect were

averaged. The overall faith stage score was estimated by an average of scores from all of

the aspects. See the faith development stages in Table 13. When rounded up according to

Parker (2006), it could be seen that Sarah, Terence, Jackie, and Gwen were transitioning

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between stages. Stefan and Derek appear solidly at stage 4. Table 14 shows the

correspondences between belief in God and faith maturity.

TABLE 14. BELIEF IN GOD AND FAITH MATURITYParticipant Belief in

GodStage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

Sarah Yes XStefan No XTerence Undecided XJackie Yes XDerek Undecided XGwen No X

As seen in Table 14, there does not appear to be a direct relationship between

faith development and belief in God. The next section, Chapter 5, discusses results in

more detail.

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CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The following discussion is a dialogue between results and the reviewed

literature, i.e., how the results of this study have been understood through the existing

literature, and also what light is shed on the literature itself through these results. The

core question of this study was “What is the faith development of clinical psychologists?”

In other words, what can we learn about the lived experience of faith from the

conversations shared by six clinical psychologists? The questions asked in the Faith

Development Interview reflect mostly a conscious process: maturity in terms of how

clinical psychologists think and reason; their ability to adopt another person’s

perspective; the way in which they reason about moral issues and make decisions; how

and where they set limits around their community; where they find authorities for their

faith and how they relate to them; their way of holding things together and forming a

single, workable worldview; and, their way of understanding and responding to symbols

(Underweiser, 2004).

Results showed that, certainly, these clinical psychologists do have faith

regardless of their religious affiliation or non-affiliation. Clinical psychologists

interviewed for this study displayed a range of maturity as regards faith. See Table 13.

From atheist and agnostic to the most religious, there is evidence of faith according to

Faith Development Theory and this is in accord with what Dr. Allan Verhey, Professor of

Theological Ethics at Duke University has said, “Everyone has faith in something.”

Critically speaking, Dr. Verhey said that “faith is too general a term” for this researcher

to measure and he emphasized that “faith exists as hope and love…hope as some form of

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optimism other than wishful thinking” (personal communication, 2012). That being said,

results revealed optimism in the face of death, loss of relationships, parental

disappointments, and illness among participants who all reported a degree of spirituality

with the exception of one religious participant (see Table 1). The stages of faith for two

of these clinical psychologists was interpreted as transitioning from Synthetic-

Conventional (stage 3) to Individuative-Reflective (stage 4). The stages of faith for four

of these clinical psychologists was interpreted as Individuative-Reflective (stage 4) with

two psychologists transitioning to Conjunctive Faith (stage 5). These transitions are

expected. It was notable that those psychologists transitioning into Conjunctive Faith

were Jungian psychotherapists. In the stage of Conjunctive Faith, one is able to live with

paradoxes and accept polarities; one is able to see multiple perspectives and even enjoy

them. The vehicles for growth at this stage are symbol and story, metaphor and myth.

These are re-embraced with greater meaning as an adult. Individuals at this stage have

developed a receptive faith, one that waits and allows the Self to grow.

Hood, Hill and Spilka (2009) observed three facts about religious and spiritual

identification. One, most people identify as both. This was true in the present study. Two,

a significant minority “use spirituality as a means of at least partly refuting or even

ridiculing religion” (p. 376). That was true for at least one participant. Three,

religiousness and spirituality overlap considerably in the U.S. with the exception of

scientists and psychologists in particular (Beit-Hallahmi as cited in Hood et al., 2009). If

it were not for the overlap of religion and spirituality in the two Jungian psychotherapists,

this study would have more clearly confirmed Beit-Hallahmi’s observations. As seen in

Table 14, approximately one-third of participants believed in God. The faith development

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of those who believed in God was at stages 3 and stage 5, respectively, signifying that

mere belief in God is not strongly related to maturity in faith. Of the six participants, their

belief in God or lack thereof was evenly distributed irrespective of faith development.

To be truly phenomenological one needs to “enlarge our thought in order to

comprehend the phenomenon rather than force the phenomenon to fit our pre-conceived

theoretical categories” (Schelling as cited by Mahmoud, 2016). This requires seeing

through the data to themes not categorically identified by faith development theory. In

this study “connectedness” was an emerging theme for all participants whether atheist,

agnostic, religious, spiritual, male, or female. Corresponding to the theme of

connectedness was the possibility of alienation, e.g., being an outlier. The striving for

connectedness may suggest a pre-existing alienation. In any case, all participants spoke of

the importance of connectedness. It was difficult to place the concept of connectedness

within the aspects of Faith Development Theory. Connectedness might have been

embedded within the aspect of social-awareness, however, bounds of social awareness

concern how inclusive a person’s social circle is as regards groups, institutions, or causes

that one identifies with. It was suggested in the Manual for Faith Development Research

that a larger social presence, i.e., the more perspectives integrated, indicates a greater

degree of faith development. For example, who is the person willing to include in his or

her thinking and who remains alien? (Fowler, Streib & Keller, 2004). Although questions

within the aspect of the bounds of social awareness elicited answers about like-

mindedness and hinted at out-groups, this aspect did not appear to speak to the depth of

the kinship, similitude, closeness, alliance, friendship, affinity, or bonds with others that

echo connection. Likewise, the idea of connection may coincide with the aspect of world

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coherence, nevertheless responses to “What happens to us after death” within that aspect

bore little discussion relative to connection here and now.

Alternatively, Hommerich and Tiefenbach (2017) have proposed a measure of

social affiliation. Social affiliation was defined as being a respected and valued member

of society as a means to subjective well-being. Social affiliation is not related to an

individuals’ direct environments as queried in the Faith Development Interview but

concerns one’s relation to society as a whole. The community dimension in Faith

Development Theory is measured as social capital in terms of trust, personal networks

and norms, however social affiliation is a societal dimension of being and feeling a part

of the “here and now” of the social whole (Hommerich & Tiefenbach, 2017).

Unsurprisingly, the value of connectedness seen as social affiliation was very important

to the clinical psychologists in this study, as stated above, and should perhaps be

addressed in future revisions of Faith Development Theory.

The idea of being someone who breaks faith or defects, who rejects, or is seen as

rebellious, appeared as a fairly common response for four out of six participants. Being a

rebel is one thread leading to a mature faith in contrast to being faithful, obedient or loyal

(or even conformable) to a set of beliefs, especially since some of the greatest mystics or

theologians reflect this divine rebel characteristic: Martin Luther, St. Francis of Assisi,

Sri Aurobindo, Teresa of Avila, Krishnamurti, St. John of the Cross, Osho, etc. As

regards mystics such as these, Ford-Grabowsky criticized Fowler’s theory because it

lacked the mystical aspect, which is also seen as intuitive and feminine. To Ford-

Grabowsky in the late 1980’s, whose view was strictly Christian, the fact that Fowler’s

theory included all religions seemed offensive to her. As it turns out, Ford-Grabowski’s

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publication Sacred Voices (2002) reflects a multi-perspectival worldview that is inclusive

of the mystical within many religious traditions. As seen through the lens of Faith

Development Theory, Ford-Grabowsky’s social perspective-taking appears to have

transitioned (or matured) from stage 4 to stage 5, something that could only be observed

through the passage of time, and it perhaps lends some credence to Fowler’s theory of

faith development.

Also regarding mystics, William James said that “faith-state and mystical state are

practically convertible terms” (as cited in Lyman, 1904, p. 505.) Lyman (1904) wrote a

fine article on faith and mysticism that bears discussion as it feels curiously appropriate

to this study. The long-standing argument seems to be between rationalism and faith

and/or mysticism. Note that Fowler attempted to bridge these concepts, and was followed

by Ken Wilber who added state-stages of consciousness alongside structure-stages of

psychological development when he framed integral consciousness (Wilber, 2000).

Starting from the position of rationalism, Lyman asked the question whether faith and

mysticism are contrary principles yielding different results, or if understood rightly, they

are compatible and yield the soundest spiritual life and the fullest experience of God.

This comparison would be useful in future studies. Faith, Lyman said, is experiential and

therefore empirical. Using the concept of faith in any other way introduces dogmatism,

he said, which relates it to a system of doctrine. “Thus faith, as a distinct principle of life,

is truly empirical” (Lyman, 1904, p. 506). Since “science makes its appeal to experience,

and refuses to speculate beyond the realm of possible experience” (p. 506) it would

appear that the study faith (and separately, mysticism) as lived experience provides

empirical evidence when approached through Faith Development Theory.

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The fascinating idea of “Thirdness” was discussed in the literature review as it

relates to Fowler’s concept of triads and the “relational enterprise” (Fowler, 1976, p. 18).

According to Fowler, shared beliefs and values contained in the relational enterprise

comprise Thirdness. This triadic faith, or Thirdness, was embedded in the idea of central

meaning but not directly interpreted and coded. In future studies, participants should

explicitly describe any practices they use that facilitate a consciousness of Thirdness.

Whether the practice of Thirdness is spiritual (e.g., meditation) or soul-related (e.g.,

active imagination), the resulting unity of opposites would reflect a consciously shared

central value between psychotherapist and client. In this way, psychotherapists could

support the development of mature faith as described in the later stages of the theory.

Other important themes emerged among participants at various stages that

reflected values such as charity, compassion, and helping others. These values were

expressed here with conviction in such a way as to conclude that they are aspects of faith.

However, they were not explicitly addressed in faith development theory other than at

Stage 6’s Universalizing Faith … even though participants expressed these values at all

stages of faith development. And while the faith development interview asks questions

related to empathy under the aspect of perspective-taking, compassion is not the same as

empathy. Compassion is when the feelings and thoughts within empathy include the

desire to help (http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/compassion/definition). Notably, the

values of charity, compassion, and helping others that were expressed by these

psychologists is important, and clients need to be aware of them irrespective of whether

or not their psychologist has a religious affiliation.

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The limitations that were accepted during this dissertation are as follows: small

sample size; the challenge of interpretation using Faith Development Theory (as opposed

to another approach); the researcher’s limited experience at this type of coding (note that

interpretations are limited by the researcher’s own stage of development); and, the need

of additional experienced raters. Although these limitations and weaknesses were present,

they did not significantly impact the validity of these findings. This is because small

sample sizes are preferable in this type of study; also, Faith Development Theory is

continually evolving and its challenges are similarly faced by every researcher; and,

inevitably, one’s own stage of development provides nuance as to how phenomenon is

viewed and interpreted even with careful bracketing of personal views.

The following recommendations are made. Future researchers could develop a

measure of spiritual evolution through state-stages of consciousness (Wilber, 2011) to be

used alongside the structural-stages of Faith Development Theory in order to examine

correlations. For example, Hood (2009) identified a correlation between mysticism and

religiousness through an association with spirituality using the M-Scale. Hood reports

that “mystical experience is commonly reported by individuals who identify themselves

as spiritual rather than religious, and by those who identify themselves as equally

religious and spiritual” (p. 378). The M-Scale examines mystical experience through

traits of introversion and extroversion. A comparison of M-Scale results with faith

development could show evidence of a correlation between faith development and

mystical states, if one exists. The reason for this type of research among clinical

psychologists is to further understand factors that contribute to case conceptualization,

the therapeutic alliance, and/or therapeutic outcomes.

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In conclusion, this qualitative study provided a deeper understanding of the lived

experience of faith among clinical psychologists via conversations around aspects related

to faith development. Fowler’s theory leads one to appreciate various stages of faith, i.e.,

1) the blending of fantasy and reality (Intuitive-Projective); 2) story-telling (Mythic-

Literal); 3) the development of a belief system within an expanding social network …

and how the individual is positioned as regards authority (Synthetic-Conventional); 4) the

difficult stage when critical examination of beliefs begin (Individuative-Reflective); 5)

the stage when the limits of logic are realized and the individual starts to accept the

paradoxes of life (Conjunctive Faith); and 6) the full ability to live in service of others

without self-regard (Universalizing Faith). This study was a move towards the multi-

perspectival view of what it means to have faith. The results of this research revealed that

Jungian psychotherapy could be useful for clinical psychologists who are interested in

faith development because, coincidentally, psychotherapists at the higher stages of faith

development in this study were also Jungian psychotherapists.

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Appendix A

Permission to Administer and Publish Demographic Questionnaire

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Appendix B

Permission to Administer and Publish the Faith Development Interview

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Appendix C

Participant Letter

Dear Participant,

Thank you for expressing interest in participating in a dissertation project called:

THE FAITH DEVELOPMENT OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

The purpose of this study is to deepen our understanding of the experience of faith in the context of a clinical psychology practice. We will discuss faith as a construct and explore how you may be experiencing it in your clinical practice.

Because faith is understood differently by people of various backgrounds, whether they are religious, spiritual, or not (religiousness is not a requirement to participate in this study) I am asking for you to complete the attached screening questionnaire prior to meeting for a 90-minute interview. Please return it via email or mail your responses to:

Tiana BlackburnP.O. Box xxxxxxxxxxxx CA xxxxx

Only 6 people who complete this questionnaire will be interviewed. This questionnaire will help me to select 3 psychologists who have a religious /spiritual background and 3 without any religious affiliation. To protect your privacy, the completed questionnaire will be returned to you once a selection has been made. For those participating in the subsequent interview, the questionnaire will become a part of data collection and, therefore, subject to the Informed Consent agreement.

It is my hope that the benefits to you will be an increase in self-awareness, along with a deeper understanding of the therapeutic encounter. Call (xxx) xxx-xxxxif you have additional questions.

In sincere thanks,

Tiana Blackburn, M.A.Clinical Psychology Doctoral StudentAntioch University Santa Barbaratblackburn@antioch.edu

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Appendix D

Informed Consent

Project Title: The Faith Development of Clinical PsychologistsProject Investigator: Tiana BlackburnDissertation Chair: Dan Schwartz, Ph.D

I understand that this study is of a research nature. It may offer no direct benefit to me.

Participation in this study is voluntary. I may refuse to enter it or may withdraw at any time without creating any harmful consequences to myself. I understand also that the investigator may drop me at any time from the study.

The purpose of this study is to deepen the investigator’s understanding of the experience of faith in the context of a clinical psychology practice. Faith is understood differently by people of various backgrounds, whether they are religious, spiritual, or other. This study will explore faith as a construct in the lives of psychologists and how it may be experienced in their clinical practice.

As a participant in the study, I will be asked to take part in the following procedures:

Participation will require 10 minutes to complete a screening questionnaire which will be emailed to the participant. This will be followed by a brief conversation about the concept of faith, followed by a 90 minute semi-structured interview that will take place at a convenient location.

The risks, discomforts and inconveniences of the above procedures might be:

There are no known risks. The interview will be conducted in a comfortable place of my choosing at a time that is convenient to me.

The possible benefits of the procedure might be:

The benefits to me could be an increase in self-awareness of my own faith development. The benefits to other researchers could be a deeper understanding of the therapeutic alliance.

Information about the study was discussed with me by Tiana Blackburn. I understand that participation is voluntary and may be discontinued at any time without consequence. I understand that my responses will be coded to protect my identity and to ensure confidentiality. If I have further questions about the research and/or my rights, I can call Tiana at (xxx) xxx-xxxx or Dr. Ron Pilato at (xxx) xxx-xxxx or email atrpilato@antioch.edu

The purpose of this study is to complete a research project at Antioch University. Data and results may be included in future publications and presentations. The confidentiality agreement will be effective in all cases of data sharing.

Date: __________________________ Signed: _________________________________________

Date: ___________________________ Signed: _________________________________________

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Appendix E

IRB Application

1. Name and mailing address of Principal Investigator(s):Tiana BlackburnP.O. Box xxxxXxxxxxx, xx, xxxxx2. Academic Department: Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology3. Departmental Status: Student4. Phone Number: (a) Work (b) Home (c) Cell xxx) xxx-xxxx5. Name of research advisor: Lee Weiser, Ph.D.6. Name & email address(es) of other researcher(s) involved in this project: N/Aa) Name of Researcher(s): Tiana Blackburnb) E-mail address(es): tblackburn@antioch.edu7. Project Title: The Faith Development of Clinical Psychologists8. Is this project federally funded: No9. Expected starting date for data collection: June, 201410. Expected completion date for data collection: May, 201511. Project Purpose(s):

This qualitative study will explore the construct of faith through semi-structured interviews with psychologists. I will examine their religious and spiritual characteristics,including their faith development, to explore their understanding of the construct of faith and their experiences of faith when working with clients

12. Describe the proposed participants- age, number, sex, race, or other special characteristics. Describe criteria for inclusion and exclusion of participants. Please provide brief justification for these criteria.

All participants will be clinical psychologists. There will be no age, ethnic, race, or gender limitations. Six participants, who have filled out and returned a demographic questionnaire, and who express their willingness to provide their perspectives on faith, will be selected for the study. The first three participants who indicate that they have no religious affiliation will be selected, and the first three participants who indicate they have an R/S or faith experience in the context of psychology will also be selected. The reason for these criteria is to have a comparison between people who have experiences of faith regardless of whether or not they have a religious affiliation.

13. Describe how the participants are to be selected and recruited.

Clinical psychologists from existing social networks will be identified through snowball sampling. Initially, I will receive contact information from “informants” belonging to various psychological associations, for example, at an SBCPA monthly salon. I will also

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provide them a business card with my contact information and ask to be referred to others whom they think might be interested. In this repetitive manner, a snowball effect is created until enough participants are enrolled in the study.

14. Describe the proposed procedures, (e.g., interview surveys, questionnaires, experiments, etc.) in the project. Any proposed experimental activities that are included in evaluation, research, development, demonstration, instruction, study, treatments, debriefing, questionnaires, and similar projects must be described. State briefly and concisely the procedures for the project.

The questionnaire is derived from the Curlin, Lawrence, Chin, & Lantos’ study of physicians’ self-report of religiosity. Curlin et al., derived their measure from Hoge's Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale, which has been validated extensively. Permission has been granted by Dr. Curlin to adapt this questionnaire for the present study.

In addition, I will be using the 2004 Manual for Research in Faith Development by Fowler, Streib, & Keller. The Faith Development Interview (FDI) contained therein reflects recent trends in developmental psychology, cognitive development, and life-span developmental psychology which are believed to have implications for theory and research in faith development. Permission has been granted to use the FDI.

Potential participants will self-report their religious and/or spiritual characteristics using the questionnaire. Once selected, participants will be contacted via phone and/or email to arrange a meeting at a location mutually convenient. We will discuss the construct of faith for the first 30 minutes. This will be followed by the semi-structured interview using the FDI.

15. Participants in research may be exposed to the possibility of harm - physiological, psychological, and/or social - please provide the following information:

a. Identify and describe potential risks of harm to participants (including physical, emotional, financial, or social harm).

The informed consent form clearly states that participants can choose to refrain from answering any of the questions in the interview should they feel uncomfortable. In the event that stress is experienced from the process of answering these interview questions, the interview will be ended if desired, and a referral will be made to a psychotherapist or a chaplain.

b. Identify and describe the anticipated benefits of this research (including direct benefits to participants and to society-at-large or others)

This study extends existing research of religious and/or spiritual characteristics of psychologists in an in-depth way that has been identified as a gap in the literature. The benefits to participants could be a deeper understanding of their own faith development that may have a positive influence on their practice of psychotherapy. Society may benefit

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as it could enlighten our understanding of less well-known aspects of the therapeutic alliance.

c. Explain why you believe the risks are so outweighed by the benefits described above as to warrant asking participants to accept these risks. Include a discussion of why the research method you propose is superior to alternative methods that may entail less risk.

The method chosen entails minimal risk. A qualitative study is preferred because there are already many quantitative studies on the religious or spiritual characteristics of psychologists, physicians, and psychiatrists. Since there is minimal risk to answering questions on the lived experience of faith in clinical practice, it would appear that the knowledge gained would be very beneficial to a psychologist in understanding aspects of the therapeutic alliance, the strongest predictor of successful outcomes in psychotherapy.

d. Explain fully how the rights and welfare of participants at risk will be protected (e.g., screening out particularly vulnerable participants, follow-up contact with participants, list of referrals, etc.) and what provisions will be made for the case of an adverse incident occurring during the study.

The informed consent form clearly states that participants can choose to refrain from answering any of the questions in the interview should they feel uncomfortable. Should stress arise from answering the questions, mindfulness (on breath, on posture) would be initiated. The interview will be ended, if desired, and a referral to a psychotherapist or chaplain provided.

16. Explain how participants' privacy is addressed by your proposed research. Specify any steps taken to safeguard the anonymity of participants and/or confidentiality of their responses. Indicate what personal identifying information will be kept, and procedures for storage and ultimate disposal of personal information. Describe how you will de-identify the data or attach the signed confidentiality agreement on the attachments tab (scan, if necessary).

Participants will be provided with contact information for questions about the research and research participants' rights. An opportunity will be given for participants to obtain appropriate information about the nature, results, and conclusions of the research, and reasonable steps will be taken to correct any misconceptions that participants may have. All written materials identifying the participant will be kept in a separate location from the transcribed data. All computer files will be password-protected on an encryption enabled flash drive kept in a locked box. Transcribed data will be held for a period of seven years and then shredded. All digitally recorded interviews will be erased from the recording device once the written dissertation has been accepted by Antioch University Santa Barbara. A summary of results will be made available to each participant upon request. Should anything happen prior to completion of or acceptance of the final written dissertation, the Executor of my estate will be tasked in writing to properly dispose of all associated study materials, the shredding of written documents and to ensure that any audio recordings are erased.

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17. Will electrical, mechanical (electroencephalogram, biofeedback, etc.) be applied to participants, or will audio-visual devices be used for recording participants? If YES, describe the devices and how they will be used:

A password-protected digital or wireless device, i.e., a smartphone, will be used to audio record the interviews. The audio files will be downloaded onto a password-protected, encryption enabled flash drive and transcribed; the transcribed data will then be entered into the NVivo software. The drive will be kept in a locked location separate from the transcribed files. After seven years, the audio files will be deleted along with the shredding of the transcribed data.

18. Type of Review: Expedited

Please provide your reasons/justification for the level of review you are requesting.

This is a minimal risk qualitative study that presents only benefits to participants.

19. Informed consent will be included with this application. If information other than that provided on the informed consent form is provided (e.g. a cover letter), attach a copy of such information. If a consent form is not used, or if consent is to be presented orally, state your reason for this modification below. *Oral consent is not allowed when participants are under age 18.

A copy of the Informed Consent form is attached. The Participant letter is also attached.

20. If questionnaires, tests, or related research instruments are to be used, then you must attach a copy of the instrument at the bottom of this form (unless the instrument is copyrighted material), or submit a detailed description (with examples of items) of the research instruments, questionnaires, or tests that are to be used in the project. Copies will be retained in the permanent IRB files. If you intend to use a copyrighted instrument, please consult with your research advisor and your IRB chair. Please clearly name and identify all attached documents when you add them on the attachments tab.

These will be uploaded in Sakai.

I have agreed to conduct this project in accordance with Antioch University's policies and requirements involving research as outlined in the IRB Manual and supplemental materials.

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Appendix F

Faith Development InterviewFowler, J., Streib, H., Keller, B. (2004). Manual for Faith Development Research. Center for Research in Faith and Moral Development, Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Permission granted.

LIFE TAPESTRY/LIFE REVIEW

RELATIONSHIPS

PRESENT VALUES AND COMMITMENTS

136

RELIGION

26.

137

Appendix G

Coding of Aspects

138

Sarah, continued…

139

140

Stefan, continued…

141

142

Terence, continued…

143

Terence, continued…

144

145

Jackie, continued…

146

Jackie, continued…

147

Derek, continued…

148

Derek, continued…

149

Gwen, continued…

150

Gwen, continued…