Over the years I've come to see that growth and maturity (being considerate of others) can be expressed in many ways. Here are some examples of the stages of growth shown by different materials or books that I have read. This chart is my attempt to show how the different growth stages connect and overlap with one another. This is not to say that these are the only growth indicators.
| Various aspecs of growth, maturity, and leadership compared Under idea circumstances. |
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| Growth | Godly | Stephen Covey See a description here: 7 Habits |
Tribal Leadership |
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infancy & |
Immaturity | Unrighteous | Dependent | Stage 1: Despairing Hostility "Life is bad" |
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Puberty and |
Stage 2: Apathetic Victim |
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| Young Adulthood |
Independent |
Stage 3: Lone Warrior |
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getting |
Repentance i.e. conversion |
Epiphany |
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| Middle Adulthood |
Maturity | Interdependent | Stage 4: Tribal Pride "We are great" (and they're not) |
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| Late Adulthood |
Righteous |
Synergy | Stage 5: Innocent Wonderment Doing what people think can't be done, "Life is Great!" |
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While the concept of tribal leadership is focused towards leadership, the concepts of the stages seem very applicable to stages of growth from immaturity to maturity. One important thought explained in Tribal Leadership is that everyone has to pass through all the stages. No one can skip any of the stages. For example, Stage 3 is all about "Look at Me! I'm Great!". Part of this stage is beComing very good at something. Before anyone can progress into Stage 4, he must have owned stage 3, trying to... and finding out that it doesn't work. Until someone deeply realizes that stage 3 "It's all about ME" doesn't work, they can't go into Stage 4. Stage 4 principles won't work for someone who is still embedded in Stage 3.
None of us can instantly become mature.
Trials come to us for a variety of reasons. Some trials come because we caused it, some we didn't cause. Some trials we can do something about. Some we seeming can't avoid.
The intensity and length of the trial is often .... in our minds. Once we accept a trial, it cease being a trial. As long as we fight the trial in our minds, we .... Once we accept the trial, we begin to say, "This is life, how can I make the best of it."