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.
Why it works
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.
How to do it
- Name the change in one plain sentence — for example, "I don’t take criticism personally any more."
- Write down the conditions in which you last noticed it: after practice, on holiday, with people you trust.
- Over the next two weeks, look for it in the opposite conditions: tired, under deadline, with someone who irritates you.
- 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.
- Revisit the same sentence a month later without rereading your notes first.
Evidence
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.
Common mistake
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.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for States vs Stages of Consciousness: Wilber, Combs and O’Fallon
- Notice the story you told about the experience
Separate what you actually experienced from the meaning you gave it, because the meaning comes from the stage you interpreted it through.
- Compare how different people describe the same kind of state
Read or listen to several descriptions of a similar experience and notice how the vocabulary changes with the person’s way of seeing.
- Train the state regularly and look for the trait
Practice consistently, and judge it by what changes between sessions rather than by how good the sessions feel.
- Integrate an experience by tracking the weeks after it
Choose one ordinary situation and watch how you behave in it for several weeks after a strong experience or a period of practice.
- 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.
- Run two tracks: state training and stage work
Pair regular state practice with deliberate work on how you make meaning, because O’Fallon proposes the first is necessary but not sufficient for the second.
Related concepts
- Terri O’Fallon’s STAGES Model, Made Practical
Twelve stages built from three repeating questions, and how to work with the one you are in
- Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory (AQAL), Made Practical
Five elements for catching what your view of a situation leaves out, held as a map rather than a truth
- Non-Dual Awareness, Made Practical
Effortless mindfulness and the recognition of open, aware presence
- Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Moving from being run by your assumptions to being able to examine them
- Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical
Choiceless awareness, open presence, and the science of receptive attention
- Peak Experiences and Self-Actualization
Maslow’s moments of aliveness — and how to make them more frequent
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