CRISIS – OPPORTUNITY OR THREAT TO THE SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSON?
CRISIS – OPPORTUNITY OR THREAT TO THE SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSON?

Summary/Abstract: This study aims to present in parallel the spiritual growth from the perspective of the existential analyses and the theological one, and to search for points of reference between the two. One of the points of reference is the crisis, which is the indispensable condition of genuine development as presented in Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development model. According to Alfried Längle the developmental stages in existen¬tial analyses are structured by the fundamental existential motivations: the first 15 to 20 years of one’s life are characterized by the shaping of vital space; the next period (15 to 30 or even 35) is characterized by the contradictions and the joys of emotional relationships; between 30 or 40 to 45 years the main theme in life is identity, and the last period of life is characterized by the search for meaning and of that which we leave behind us. Each period has its question – its crisis. The development of the spiritual life (in a theological sense) also goes through its periods: conversion, growth, self-giving, perfection.

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