From my blog:
http://agnosticgnostic.blogspot.com/2006/10/theology-and-process.html
"Theology" and process
Though it may sometimes sound like I write about "theology," I really don't. As I've alluded to in a few posts, my approach to religious symbolism, language and ideas is mythological and psychological, but also non-Theistic. So when I talk about a "Spirit" I mean it in the sense of a "state of awareness" or "interpretive template" that governs the way I think about who I am. In short, the "Spirit" is a symbolic construct to represent certain progressive milestones along the spectrum of
moral awareness.
The pioneering psychologist Jean Piaget performed extensive research on the spectrum of cognition, which he theorized consisted of an arc of development in identifiable stages. Others since Piaget have applied a similar methodology to the understanding the development of ego and
moral awareness.
For example,
Lawrence Kohlberg's research led him to conclude that moral development could be understood in essentially six stages grouped into three levels:
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation
2. Self-interest orientation
Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity
(a.k.a. The good boy/good girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(a.k.a. Law and order morality)
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles
(a.k.a. Principled conscience)