In this episode of the Personality Hacker podcast, Joel and Antonia break down Robert Kegan's Levels of Consciousness or Orders of the Mind into five stages of adult development.
- by Personality Hacker
5 Stages of Adult Psychological Development | Podcast 589
- by Personality Hacker
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I didn’t know anything about these “orders of the mind” before listening to this, but it put words to something I’ve felt for a long time and never really understood. I’m 23, and people have started calling me “old” or “wise”. For a while now I’ve struggled to connect with people my age. I don’t really resonate with them. I thought about it a lot and I made peace with the idea of never finding “my people”. Group identities and social games never really mattered to me I care more about the consequences of not following a group. This podcast made me realize that maybe I just outgrew my environment. Honestly I don’t like this idea or the idea that most people stay at stage 3 because it kinda felt too easy in a sense. Like I just stumbled into stage 4 so I don’t really understand why people can’t reach it since it wasn’t a conscious effort. I have a religion and I try to take it seriously. But I don’t believe in blindly accepting things—I question, I try to understand deeply. That’s kind of what I do with everything. That’s what I believe I do at least. And the way I understand stage 5 it just feels like my natural trajectory. Not something I’ve achieved, but something I’m moving toward, whether I like it or not. So yeah that was all my thoughts. English is not my first language so if there are any mistake don’t be afraid to correct me. Also I’d love to interact with people at stage 4 or 5 to exchange world views and perspectives. I have a lot to learn and understand I think. Feel free to respond with your opinions/ideas/perspectives/experiences. My best fit type is INTJ if that interests anyone.
(INFP) This was a very thought provoking podcast and I appreciate how it made me organize some ideas. I have to point out though that the 5 stages of development is dripping with irony as it’s asking us to buy into a very specific worldview and philosophy of amoralism and new age oneness when it tells us if we don’t have this philosophy then we are at an immature stage of development. Even in this podcast it was stated that you can’t use your religion as an identity and achieve the highest two levels of development. These 5 stages are a brilliant anti-religion propaganda tool wrapped in psychology and self-improvement. The rebuttal is also built into the system as any attempt to tie Robert Kegan or his followers into a specific political, philosophical, or religious worldview is instantly met with the “You’re stuck in the socialized mind” stage.
Non-conformity is its own category of conformity. The “I’m above politics” or “I’m above organized religion” crowds are just as dogmatic and closed minded as those that choose to participate in systems. A true independent thinker would be willing to identify with a religion or a political group if they arrive at the same conclusion of that group through their own research and critical thought. To definitively tell people they cannot share a group identity with others or are less developed or less enlightened humans if they do, is quite a radical philosophical idea. It’s also an ingenious way to break down and isolate people to prepare them for a totalitarian state. Commoners uniting and sharing culture and identity is how people historically effected change and stood up to corrupt power. To strip people of shared identity and community in the name of personal development is quite an isolating cruel path to send people down. I truly believe the ideas behind the final 2 stages of development are responsible for a large portion of the mental illness in today’s society as peoples roots, religions, families, and culture are stripped from them in the name of personal development and cold lonely nihilism.
Not sure if my rant is the critical thinking of my transformed mind or if I’m stuck on socialized. Either way I still choose to wear group identities because it is the logical and healthy thing for me, my family, community, nation, and the world. I refuse to conform to non-conformity.