The marriage of science and spirit: dynamic systems theory and the development of spirituality

Abstract

The adherence of traditional developmental theories to a linear paradigm is incompatible with the nature of ‘spirit’. Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), a recent contributor to understanding child development, offers an alternative which avoids these paradigmatic limitations. Concepts of agency, ‘top‐down’ causality, emergence and attractors transcend the limitations of reductionist science yet retain the rigour of scientific investigation. Most of what is said about spirits holds for Integrative Dynamic Systems, which allows them to serve as a powerful explanatory metaphor. Through a DST lens, spiritual development exhibits sudden phase transitions from less functional to more functional organisation of the whole person, driven by system parameters, organised by attractors, and responsive to the child’s free choices. While children resist spiritual change, such transitions may be precipitated by the most trivial of events. This framework can be applied across a range of definitions of spirituality.

Keywords:

• Dynamic Systems Theory
• Spiritual development
• Agency
• Phase transition