Dear People Whom God Loves,
Continuing with thoughts from Integral Spirituality. We will look at the line of moral development through three stages. There are others who trace that line through six or seven stages.
Remember that stages could be called levels. Also they are permanent and not passing. For example, a person may be honest at times but not have the virtue of honesty.
Stage I is called preconventional or egocentric. An infant is largely self-absorbed in his/her awareness. In other words, everything is about “me.” This does not mean that the infant is bad. We all start there. What is tragic is to remain there. When we look inside of ourselves honestly, don’t we see hints of that even when we have moved further along?
Stage Two is called conventional or ethnocentric: awareness centers on the child’s group, tribe, clan, nation, gang, or religion. Those who do not belong to the child’s group tend to be excluded. A lot of this remains in us as adults. How many of us continue to think that our nation, our political party, our religion is the right one and we are superior to the rest. This shows itself when we only want to make our case and are unwilling to listen to the other point of view.
Stage Three is called postconventional or worldcentric. Now our identity expands to care and concern for all people regardless of race, color, sex, creed or nationality. For those of us who believe in God, when we are graced to realize that God is the Lover of everyone and that Love is present in everyone, this begins our entry into this stage. People who do not believe in God can also enter this stage. People who do believe in God may never enter it.
This is the movement from “me” to “us” to “all of us”.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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