Changing Life Patterns: Adult Development in Spiritual Direction

by Elizabeth Liebert

Changing Life Patterns explores the relationship between adult development and spiritual guidance, focusing on the experiences of four individuals (Mary Beth, Roger, Tom, and Katherine) and their congregation, Eastminster Presbyterian Church. Author Elizabeth Liebert extends and clarifies the dialogue between contemporary insights into human development and spiritual guidance. Spiritual guidance encompasses pastoral responses that raise awareness of God's call and appropriate responses, while spiritual direction is a more personalized form of spiritual guidance. The book adopts a developmental perspective to examine how individuals and congregations change over time and how these developmental dynamics impact spiritual guidance. Liebert explores assumptions about human development, stages of adult development, and the implications for spiritual direction. She emphasizes the importance of communication, empathy, and understanding individual frames of reference in spiritual guidance. "Changing Life Patterns" also expands the developmental perspective to explore the formational processes within congregational spiritual guidance. While focused on spiritual direction, the book also provides insights for ministers, spiritual guides, and other professionals involved in facilitating the spiritual growth of others. Liebert also highlights the underrepresentation of women's voices and experiences in personality sciences and spiritual traditions and includes research that focuses on women's experiences. "Changing Life Patterns" offers a developmental lens to deepen our understanding of human development and its implications for spiritual guidance and growth in Christ.

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not so much about spiritual direction as it is an application of human development theories to the practice of spiritual direction. As such, it offers some interesting and useful insights in places but, for the most part, I found this book to be dry reading and, at times, very frustrating in its point of view. That people typically grow though stages of development which have some common characteristics as they age and experience the vicissitudes of life is well documented by sociological and psychological studies, especially in the earlier stages. The models produced can provide a helpful interpretive framework for counselors, clergy and spiritual directors in helping others grow emotionally and spiritually. But, as the theories progress to defining later, more "mature" or "highly developed" stages of development they become more problematic, in my opinion. The later stages aren't as well substantiated as the earlier ones, because there are fewer people to study who have reached those stages. Yet, the expected characteristics of these later stages seem to be applied with as much confidence as are the earlier ones. The positive characteristics of later stages seem to reflect more the ideals and values held by the theorists than anything else. The progression of stages in this book is presented as linear with no forks in the road, only stops or regressions along the way.

In spite of the author's occasional insistence to the contrary (the two caveats she discusses on pages 127-8 are very important and well stated), the stages end up looking like some kind of grading system for degrees of maturity and spiritual growth. What's even more disturbing is that the characteristics of these stages tend toward a kind of relativism and universalism in one's moral and theological beliefs as one goes up the scale from "lower" to "higher" stages. The problem with the stages is that they seem to explain too much and so don't explain much at all. Depending on one's point of view, for example, one could view a move toward relativism and universalism as a degenerate one rather than one toward maturation. Who's to say? The application of the framework to individuals who contradict it would seem to put them in a "lower" stage as a means to explain (away) why such people think the way they do (e.g., they're a bit "narrow minded" or they've "gone soft"). The appeal to "paradox", for example to resolve conflicts seems way overdone as a sign of mature development. If one doesn't understand and maintain the difference between paradox and contradiction, then the appeal to paradox can be an immature way of insulating oneself and one's beliefs from challenge and change. Or, it can be used simply as a way to resolve an inner tension or discomfort with an unpopular, or "politically incorrect" point of view, just another way of being a "conformist," albeit to a new set of values. To leave behind consistency and comprehensiveness for the sake of some vague and ill defined concept of "oneness" and "universal principles" just doesn't seem like the pinnacle of adult development to me. Not necessarily. It could just be a self insulating way of easing inner conflicts as one ages, the process of caring less about issues that one will not be able to effectively influence in the remainder of his or her lifetime.

It matters more to me how well a person has remained engaged with the implications of their own point of view and that of others with respect to it, during their life experience. Those who still believe in the truth about serious matters which are important to them and others while still also being able to honestly understand and graciously engage opposing viewpoints are the most mature human beings. I've met "broadminded" and "inclusive" persons who have very elitist attitudes toward their more "conformist" neighbors, family or church members. They love humanity, but dislike particular people very much. On the other hand, there are plenty of those who might be labeled "conformist" who may seem insensitive to global or systemic evils but who will reach out in love to any individual in need. Who's more mature? I could see each type of person taking a different path toward maturity. I have found Hagberg and Guelich's model of life stages more helpful than the one presented in this book because it's not applied in a linear fashion and seems to present a model of maturity that is more inclusive of all stages. (See their book, The Critical Journey, Stages in the Life of Faith, Second Edition.)

Among the other problems I had with this book, I didn't find it to be a very Christ centered approach to spiritual direction. There is very little or nothing in the way of examples drawn from Jesus' life and teaching. The best I can say is that the book reflects a kind of "spilled Christianity", indistinct, rubbed into the fabric of society and a politically and theologically "liberal" value system. There is nothing that seems distinctively Christian in this book's approach to spiritual direction, perhaps because such distinctiveness is not seen as a good or helpful thing.