Spiritual evolution is the philosophical/theological idea that human beings and/or human culture evolve along a predetermined pattern.
Philosophers that have posited theories of spiritual evolution include Friedrich Schelling, Hegel, Aurobindo, Jean Gebser, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Ken Wilber. Spiral Dynamics, based on the work of Clare W. Graves, is also a theory of spiritual evolution. These theories tend to be non-materialistic, and thus out of the intellectual mainstream. They can be Idealism (holding that reality is primarily mental or spiritual) or non-dual (holding that there is no ultimate distinction between mental and physical reality).
Reality is said to consist of several realms or stages, including more than one of the following: the physical, the vital, the psychic, (after the Greek ''psyche'', "soul"), the causal (referring to "that which causes, or gives rise to, the manifest world"), and the ultimate (or non-dual). Although terminology can vary, the realms are usually approximately equivalent to these.
Theories of spiritual evolution can be temporally or non-temporally based. That is to say, the realms can be the stages through which existence or spirit passes in time, or in a non-temporal, qualitative way. An example of a major non-temporal theory of spiritual evolution is Plotinus' Neoplatonism, which heavily influenced Augustine's and Aquinas' conception of the Great Chain of Being. The Great Chain of Being also had an under-acknowledged influence on the shaping of the ideas of the Enlightenment and subsequent theories of biological evolution.
The Hindu idea of the Chakra is also considered by some to be a non-temporal theory of spiritual evolution. Adherents to this line of thought would equate the root chakra with the physical realm, the crown chakra with the ultimate realm, and the five other major chakras with corresponding intermediate realms.
Theories of spiritual evolution tend to be either cosmological (describing existence at large), or personal (describing the development of the individual), or both. An example of a theory that falls into both of these categories would be Ken Wilber's Integral Ecology. Simplistically, Wilber sees humans developing through several stages, including magic, mythic, pluralistic, and holistic mentalities. But he also sees cultures as developing through these stages. And, much like Hegel, he sees this development of individuals and cultures ''as'' the evolution of existence itself.
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