One Map

ONE MAP

Map of the Spirit takes the radical view that there is a universal framework—a common process with common stages—through which we all pass in the process of constructing and living out our spiritual beliefs.

This approach emerged from my work as a holistic physician at the Health and Healing Clinic of the Institute for Health and Healing in San Francisco, CA—a nationally recognized holistic medicine referral center, where we tend to treat complex, difficult, and often “incurable” patients. Many of my patients arrive quite ill despite extensive prior treatment of their Bodies and Mind, which led me to wonder if the roots of their diseases lay even deeper—in their Spirits.

As we began to explore the connection between spirituality and health, however, my patients and I soon realized that we had no unified way to talk about, diagnose, or treat the spiritual aspect of disease. Map of the Spirit evolved to fill this void. We wanted a framework that was:

1) Universal – applying to all individuals regardless of their particular spiritual beliefs or stage of spiritual development—a framework that worked for everyone—Existentialists, Agnostics, Deists, non-Dualists, and even individuals whose spiritual beliefs didn't fit neatly into any particular category or weren't yet clear.

2) Simple – with discrete, easily recognizable markers and stages, and

3) Useful – for facilitating the diagnosis and treatment of spiritual disease.

The first, and perhaps most conceptually challenging, aspect of Map of the Spirit is simply to hold open the possibility that there is just One Map of human spiritual development—a framework that applies to everyone.