Ask of any shift: is this a state or a stage?

Test a change you have noticed in yourself against the difference between something that comes and goes and something that holds on an ordinary day.

Pourquoi ça marche

O’Fallon (2020) defines states as temporary vantage points or experiences and stages as successive, relatively stable perspectives, each transcending and including the last. The practical difference is persistence: a state depends on conditions such as rest, setting or practice and fades when they change, while a stage shows up even when you are tired, rushed or challenged. Checking a shift against those conditions turns a vague sense of "I’ve changed" into something you can actually observe.

Comment faire

1. Name the change in one plain sentence — for example, "I don’t take criticism personally any more."
2. Write down the conditions in which you last noticed it: after practice, on holiday, with people you trust.
3. Over the next two weeks, look for it in the opposite conditions: tired, under deadline, with someone who irritates you.
4. If it shows up there too, note it as a candidate for a lasting shift; if it only shows up in good conditions, note it as a state you can return to.
5. Revisit the same sentence a month later without rereading your notes first.

Données probantes

The definitions of states as temporary and stages as stable, successive perspectives are set out in O’Fallon (2020), which traces them through Wilber’s and Combs’s work on the Wilber–Combs matrix. The persistence test is a practical reading of those definitions, not a validated measure. (mechanistic)

Persistence is evidence, not proof: a lasting change can still come from new habits, circumstances or relationships rather than a change of developmental stage, and only a scored assessment estimates stage.

Sources

• O’Fallon, T. (2020). States and STAGES: Waking up Developmentally. Integral Review, 16(1).
• Wilber, K. (2006). Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World. Integral Books.
• Combs, A. (2002). The Radiance of Being: Understanding the Grand Integral Vision; Living the Integral Life (Rev. ed.). Paragon House.

Erreur fréquente

Running the check only in good conditions. A shift that appears on a quiet retreat morning tells you about the state you were in; the test that matters is the bad Tuesday.