Don’t use states as proof of development

Keep the depth of anyone’s experiences — including your own — separate from judgments about how mature they are.

Warum es wirkt

O’Fallon (2020) summarizes research in which people selected for their state attainment were given a developmental assessment, and reports that so far there seems to be little or no relationship: practitioners with prominent state development score all over the map. A broad meta-analysis of meditation found medium average effects, yet meditation experience only partially tracked long-term impact. Both point the same way: having deep states, or many hours of practice, does not by itself tell you how someone makes meaning in daily life.

So gehst du vor

1. Notice when you use an experience as evidence — "I’ve had an awakening, so I see this more clearly", or "she hasn’t, so she can’t understand."
2. Replace the claim with an observable one: how did I, or they, actually treat people this week?
3. If you admire a teacher for their states, also ask how they handle money, criticism and power.
4. When someone cites their experiences to win an argument, respond to the argument itself.

Evidenz

O’Fallon (2020) reports that research on state practitioners given developmental inventories indicates little or no relationship between state attainment and stage, consistent with the Wilber–Combs view. Sedlmeier et al. (2012) meta-analyzed 163 studies of non-clinical adult meditators, found medium average effects (r = .28), excluded nearly three quarters of an initial 595 studies for methodological problems, and found that meditation experience only partially covaried with long-term impact. (observational)

O’Fallon summarizes the state-attainment research without detailing the studies, and stage measures have their own limits. The finding is "no reliable link", not "states are irrelevant".

Quellen

• O’Fallon, T. (2020). States and STAGES: Waking up Developmentally. Integral Review, 16(1).
• Sedlmeier, P., Eberth, J., Schwarz, M., Zimmermann, D., Haarig, F., Jaeger, S., & Kunze, S. (2012). The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(6), 1139–1171.

Häufiger Fehler

Swinging to the opposite conclusion — that deep experiences are worthless or a sign of ego. States can matter a great deal; they just cannot stand in for evidence about character.