STAGES: Development and Typology

Two very important aspects of exploring human consciousness are the fields of typologies and development. When we take a meta-perspective look at typologies, we can see their developmental aspect.

The earliest style of typologies are typologies that test you, define your type, and lock you into that type for life. The original Myers-Briggs is an example of this kind of typology. The original Meyers-Briggs tests your type, claims you have been this type all your life, and you will be that type for the rest of your life. However, Terri O'Fallon PhD, has actually conducted an informal longitudinal study on the Myers-Briggs and discovered that it does change as people change their developmental level. And this brings us to the next understanding of typologies.

We have a type, the type does not have us. As we grow, we understand that we can move from one typology to another. With this understanding comes more advanced typology modeling. An example of this is the Enneagram. While we might have a core Enneagram type, there is at least a mechanism for revolving around the type sets so that you become all of them eventually. This provides for a more holistic exploration of human consciousness. 

Fig. 1: The Enneagram (from Co-Creative Journeys):

Another example of the inclusion of multiple types is Jung's 12 archetypes. With this typology, each of us has a multitude of archetypes within us.

Fig. 2: Jung’s 12 Archetypes (from Map and Fire):

Another step further from this is Pearson’s adaptation of Young's 12 archetypes. Pierce arranges Jung’s archetypes in a developmental format. Certain archetypes come online before other archetypes do. For example, the Innocent and the Orphan obviously must be developed before we can move into something like the Warrior and the Lover. And certainly these would be developed before you would move into something like the Sage and the Wise fool. With Pearson, we get both wholistic embracing of multiple archetypes and an understanding of archetypal human development over time.

Fig. 3: Pearson’s developmental model of archetypes (from Pearson):