I am out of wits on how to measure progress for this attribute. For now I am using habit tracker to track my meditation practice, which I do 4 times a day but what more can I do to measure actual spiritual development and strengthening.
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“Spiritual development” can probably be measured with these indicators.
Expenses.
- Time spent on “spiritual development” (minutes, hours, days).
- Financial costs for “spiritual development” (buying books, payment of courses, …)
Result.
- The enjoyed pleasure from “spiritual development” (regarding other actions).
- Financial result from “spiritual development” (in money).
The result can be positive or negative - direct damage and losses.
Addition.
About the measurement of “faith and spiritual development.”
In recent years, much has been studied and measured in “faith and spiritual development.”
The study of “faith and spiritual development” of citizens was especially intensive during the recent pandemic.
Entrance to most establishments was limited to the QR code.
What is there in your spiritual life that can be explored?
- If you are a reader of libraries, then you can see what you read in libraries and when.
- If you are a book buyer, you can find out the list of your purchases and the amount of purchases.
- If you go to church and make donations by bank transfer, you can find out the frequency of visits to the church and the amount of donation.
- If you are an Internet user, you can find out a list of sites that you visit, how often you visit them and how much time you spend on them.
- Entrance to concert halls, museums, theaters can be seen using your payment card.
- Even in nightclubs there was an entrance code and cash payment did not make visits anonymous.
- Users of social networks often talk about their lives and post photo reports.
- Smart TVs collect information about what channels you watch, for how long, when, and what recorded movies you watch.
…
You can measure a lot about spiritual life, hundreds or thousands of parameters.
Much can be measured objectively.
You can study what information is collected about you and choose what is useful for yourself.
Many organizations maintain journals of your life.
Spirituality is subjective. With that in mind, my reply should be taken with a grain of salt!
Growing your spirituality takes abundant mindfulness, so I focus on self-reflection and journaling. It helps with being more present as well. I measure how often I self-reflect and appraise that reflection/journal entry with a sentiment to gauge how I interpret that entry’s subject matter.
Spirituality can help bolster emotional resilience, allowing someone to control their emotional responses more effectively. I measure my own emotionality to track this over time.
I’ve found that people can also track their level of empathy and compassion for others, especially during a personally difficult time where you’d rather focus on yourself than others. If you experience different levels of empathy and compassion due to spiritual practices, this is helpful to measure.
Of course, you nailed it with tracking meditation but also tracking energy levels and fatigue.
If you relate sleep quality and energy levels in your tracking, try to avoid your health tracker sleep score before determining if you had a good/bad night’s sleep. It has been found that the external appraisal of your sleep quality impacts your personal appraisal of it.
TL;DR
Other variables to track that could measure your spirituality include self-reflection/journaling, sentiment analysis of your journaling, empathy and compassion levels, and energy levels.
Perhaps because I follow a different spritual path to you it is difficult to undertand what you mean by
The closest approximation to your development idea that makes any sense to me is the Engel scale - Wikipedia although the version present there has a larger granulatity than some other versions I have seen. Although the problem with this scheme is that like Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs it is arbitrary in its classifications, ordering of them, and its goals and ultimately unprovable in practice.
Other scoring systems especially those from the medical domain might provide better models to base your own metrical system on for example Apgor score, Glasgow coma scale, or one of the several pain scales as these are more objective than copying Engel or Maslow.
Spiritual Health:
Spiritual health transcends the material realm, encompassing our sense of purpose, connection, and inner peace. From severe spiritual distress marked by existential crisis to divine health representing profound alignment with higher principles, this scale offers a holistic evaluation of our spiritual well-being.
1-5: Severe spiritual distress, feeling completely disconnected from any sense of meaning or
purpose, and experiencing profound existential crisis.
6-10: Very poor spiritual health, struggling with significant inner turmoil, lack of direction, and
feelings of emptiness.
11-15: Poor spiritual health, experiencing frequent doubts, confusion about values and
beliefs, and a sense of disconnection.
16-20: Below-average spiritual health, feeling somewhat adrift in life, with occasional
glimpses of meaning or purpose.
21-25: Suboptimal spiritual health, grappling with questions of meaning and purpose but
lacking a clear sense of direction.
26-30: Fair spiritual health, having some sense of connection to inner values or beliefs, but
still seeking greater clarity.
31-35: Adequate spiritual health, experiencing moments of peace, inspiration, and
connection to something beyond oneself.
36-40: Good spiritual health, feeling grounded in personal values, finding purpose in life, and
experiencing a sense of inner peace.
41-45: Very good spiritual health, actively engaging in practices that foster spiritual growth,
such as meditation, prayer, or reflection.
46-50: Excellent spiritual health, experiencing deep fulfillment, connection, and alignment
with one’s values, beliefs, and purpose.
51-55: Exceptional spiritual health, living with a profound sense of meaning, purpose, and
interconnectedness with all life.
56-60: Superior spiritual health, embodying qualities of compassion, gratitude, and wisdom,
and contributing positively to the world.
61-65: Outstanding spiritual health, radiating inner peace, love, and authenticity, and
inspiring others through example.
66-70: Exceptional spiritual vitality, embodying transcendent qualities of grace, serenity, and
enlightenment.
71-75: Exemplary spiritual health, serving as a beacon of light and wisdom, guiding others
on their spiritual journey.
76-80: Spiritual health virtuoso, revered for mastery in spiritual practices, teachings, and
embodiment of spiritual principles.
81-85: Peak spiritual condition, achieving profound union with the divine, and experiencing
states of transcendent awareness.
86-90: Spiritual health guru, recognized as a leader in the exploration and cultivation of
spiritual well-being.
91-95: Spiritual health prodigy, demonstrating unparalleled insight, wisdom, and
enlightenment in spiritual matters.
96-100: Spiritual health genius, a pioneer in advancing the understanding and practice of
spiritual growth and enlightenment.
www.beacons.ai/poakess
I’m still developing it I have an entire growth suite that measure every metric of human capacity like this.
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If we were to understand spiritual development as contemplative development specifically, such as seen in insight meditation, then there are traditional maps that can be used to track progress. In Theravada Buddhism, there are four steps (called ‘paths’). The roadmap for the first step, called stream-entry, is very well documented, but this is not something you would usually experience outside a more hardcore retreat setting, with 10-14 hours/day of sitting and walking meditation for some 7-27 days).
This is, obviously, just a narrow understanding of “spiritual development”.