Using the level of spiritual curiosity to categorize people is a powerful way to understand human psychology. It is neutral about what you believe. It does not consider other socioeconomic, ethnic, or racial differences. It focuses on how deeply we are involved in seeking spiritual truth.
Before we discuss the levels of spiritual consciousness, let’s talk about why we categorize. We categorize for several fundamental reasons. The short answer is that it helps us understand things more easily. Our brains do it naturally, so we don’t get overwhelmed by too much information. It helps us feel safe, make quick decisions, and talk to others clearly. So, let’s take a closer look at how this works.
Understanding Why We Categorize People
Although we are wired to categorize and generalize, if we rely too much on this way of thinking, we can make mistakes. We miss the truth about people and judge them unfairly.
The key to effective categorization is understanding when and how to use it. We need to see them as tools to help us understand, not to limit or label. Let’s look at the reasons we naturally categorize things.
1. Cognitive Efficiency. Our brains are designed to process vast amounts of information quickly. Categorization helps reduce complexity. Grouping similar items, ideas, or people helps us decide quickly. We don’t need to analyze every detail each time. For example, when you see a chair, you don’t need to reanalyze what it is. You recognize it as a category of things we can sit on based on prior knowledge.
2. Survival Mechanism. Evolutionarily, categorization helped early humans survive. Identifying whether something was safe or dangerous—friend or foe—was essential. Grouping animals, foods, and even people allowed for quicker responses to threats. “Is that snake venomous?” becomes a life-saving split-second categorization.
3. Sense-Making. Humans are meaning-makers. Categorizing helps us make sense of the world and our place in it. We group emotions, experiences, and beliefs into stories. These stories help us understand ourselves and others. Religions, political ideologies, and social roles help shape identity.
4. Communication. We use categories to communicate effectively. Shared categories create a common language. For example, calling someone a “spiritual seeker” instantly conveys a profile of behaviors and values. The same goes for terms like “Liberal” or “far-right conservative.” However, categorizing people can create boundaries to communication rather than bridges.
5. Control and Organization. Categorization gives a sense of control. It allows us to organize knowledge, people, and systems in ways that feel predictable. Control and organization are essential for fields like science, business, medicine, and education.
The Dark Side of Categorization
While categorization is a natural, necessary cognitive process. However, it carries significant risks for misuse. At its worst, it becomes a tool for marginalization. We can use categorization to make scapegoats of people and groups, casting blame or suspicion based on traits rather than actions. History is filled with examples where categorization has been misused. Grouping people by race, gender, religion, sexuality, or class leads to prejudice. It reinforces stereotypes and justifies discrimination.
Categorization can entrench social hierarchies. When we categorize people, we put people in boxes. Then, we often assign value to those boxes, elevating some while devaluing others. Over time, these categories become more than just descriptors. Categories become determinants of opportunity, dignity, and belonging. This is where the practice shifts from functional organization to harmful reductionism. To categorize people is to seek differences or similarities, but often with an unconscious agenda. Whether we seek to understand or to control, to empathize or to exclude, depends on the motive behind the categorization.
The psychological effects are just as troubling. When we reduce people to a label, such as “addict,” “illegal,” “privileged,” or “undesirable,” they internalize these messages. Categorization shapes not only how others see us but also how we see ourselves. This can limit personal growth, damage self-esteem, and prevent authentic connection. People are more than their categories. Over-categorizing simplifies human experience. It ignores how fluid and evolving identity can be.
Moreover, categories often oversimplify what is inherently nuanced. For instance, labeling someone as “spiritually immature” may overlook the depth of the experiences. Such labels can create spiritual elitism or judgment, rather than compassion and understanding. In both religious and political arenas, categorization is frequently weaponized. It is used not for clarity, but for control. It is used to draw lines between “us” and “them,” the “saved” and the “lost,” the “worthy” and the “unworthy.”
In conclusion, categorizing people can be useful. However, it should be done with care, humility, and self-awareness. The dark side of categorization emerges not from the act itself, but from how we use it and why.
When used with compassion, categorization can help us understand one another. But when driven by fear, superiority, or dogma, it becomes a tool of division. We must remain vigilant in asking ourselves not just who we are categorizing, but why, and what we risk losing in the process.
Now that we’ve looked at why we categorize, let’s focus on how this applies to spiritual development.
Levels of Spiritual Consciousness
Osho questions traditional categorization and suggests a new way to group people. This grouping is based on the element of curiosity for spiritual development. It is not based on external traits, but on their level of spiritual curiosity. In this model, curiosity acts as a spiritual compass. It guides us through five levels of growth. These levels represent different ways we manifest the expansion of awareness.
Osho’s Levels of Spiritual Maturity
First, Humanity is divided into three parts. One part, the major part, almost ninety-nine percent, never bothers about truth. Then there is the second part of humanity: a few who inquire. But they don’t know how to learn. The third type can become a disciple. And only this third type, when they have attained, can become masters. — Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Osho
Osho’s quote adds urgency and challenge to the discussion of the levels of spiritual consciousness. It invites us to ask not just “Am I curious?” but “Am I willing to be transformed?” That is the actual difference between wandering in curiosity and walking the path to mastery.
Osho’s framework, based on the levels of spiritual maturity, provides a developmental trajectory. It is a path that takes us from indifference to questioning, to disciplined seeking, and finally to mastery. We can expand upon Osho’s insight by adding extra transitional levels to explain the transitional points. It gives us the following five levels of spiritual consciousness.
Categorizing People by Level of Spiritual Curiosity
Level 1: Passive Wondering
The first level encompasses a wide range of people who are not awake or just waking up. Curiosity begins as a vague sense of awareness, sometimes manifesting as dissatisfaction. There is no conscious seeking, only an intuitive feeling that something deeper might exist.
Passive wondering starts with answering the call to awaken. Here we find the awakening of the Joyful Explorer. They find joy in spiritual exploration, are open to new philosophies and belief systems, and value surprise and openness. This mindset corresponds with Level 1 (Passive Wondering) and also Level 2 (Seeking Information). The Joyful Explorer can cycle back through the early levels many times. This helps them regain their sense of insight and wonder, even after moving on to deeper stages.
Some aspect of awareness is attempting to break through. Many people remain at this stage their entire lives. They hear the inner voice that urges them to awaken, but they ignore it or become distracted by other things. Many fall prey to capitalism. At this level, they can be moved by beauty, awe, or questions they can’t quite name.
Experiences at this level of spiritual curiosity may be momentary: a sunset, a dream, or a song that evokes mystery. There’s no framework to contain the experience—just wonder. Their curiosity is open-hearted, non-linear, and often experience-driven rather than system-driven.
Adults envy the open-hearted and open-minded explorations of children… — Gabor Mate
This group contains two of Osho’s groups. It includes those who do not seek spiritual truth, and those who inquire but lack direction or tools. Categorizing people as passive wanderers aptly describes their depth of curiosity.
Level 2: Seeking Information
Curiosity becomes active. The person starts reading, watching, and asking questions. This is often the stage of spiritual tourism. People dabble in different traditions, attending retreats and experimenting with practices. The superficial involvement in organized religion appeases their curiosity.
Here is where we find the Problem Solver. They focus on analyzing, decoding, and solving. They apply both rational and intuitive tools to spiritual and psychological riddles. This level corresponds with Level 2 (Seeking Information) and Level 3 (Personal Practice). It is where the Practical Learner thrives. They seek self-improvement and gain knowledge through travel, reading, or learning new skills. It is a mindset that aligns with Level 2 (Seeking Information) and sometimes Level 3 (Personal Practice).
The beginning seeker of information focuses on gathering tools, ideas, and experiences. They look for tools and teachers to assist in personal growth, healing, or understanding. While this stage is more intentional than Passive Wondering, it often remains superficial.
Listen to your beliefs, think about how you learned them... and question everything. — Charlotte Sophia Kasl
Many confuse this level with “being spiritual,” but it is only the beginning of deeper transformation. Still, this is the critical shift from passive to active seeking. In Osho’s second group, this level of spiritual curiosity relates to those who don’t know how to learn.
Level 3: Personal Practice
The seeker transitions into a practitioner, which encompasses several levels of spiritual consciousness. Curiosity becomes embodied through meditation, rituals, journaling, or dedicated study. Spirituality is no longer something to consume—it’s something to live.
At this level, the seeker begins to share their knowledge. The Social Learner is curious about others, relationships, and cultures. They often see spirituality as something lived through connection. This mindset matches with Level 3 (Personal Practice) and Level 4 (Integration and Transformation).
This level integrates the Problem Solver with greater depth, now directed inward. The practitioner asks, “How can I transform myself?” There is often deep work with shadow, trauma, and subconscious beliefs. This mindset uses curiosity to explore questions like:
- “What practices work?”
- “How do I overcome inner resistance?”
- “How does the unconscious affect spiritual development?”
The Social Learner is also involved in personal practice. They form or join spiritual communities or use dialogue as a method for deep inquiry.
Here, too, we often find the spiritual Thrill Seekers who thrive on boundary-breaking experiences. They are driven by soul hunger, excitement, and transformation through intensity. This mindset corresponds with Level 3 (Personal Practice) and Level 5 (Radical Surrender).
The Thrill Seeker dives into deep spiritual practices. These may include mystical states or intense spiritual experiences. Sometimes they venture into psychotropics and pilgrimages. Their edge-pushing can catalyze great insight—but also demands discernment and humility.
Problem solving is hunting. It is savage pleasure, and we are born to it. — Thomas Harris
Be the person you are. Never try to be another… — Osho
Osho would say these are the true disciples—the few who begin to truly learn how to learn. They are not yet masters, but are on the path that can lead to that goal.
Level 4: Integration and Transformation
Spiritual insights and practices begin to reshape the person’s entire life. Values shift. Relationships evolve. Purpose and clarity emerge. Spirituality is no longer compartmentalized; it permeates work, love, decision-making, and perception.
Here is where the social learner is completely activated. The joyful explorer has shifted from chasing novelty to appreciating presence. The thrill seeker becomes internalized: one seeks transformation, not adrenaline. At these levels of spiritual consciousness, we find the levels of spiritual maturity we call enlightened and evolved.
Here is where personal practice becomes a way of life, and deeper mystical experiences begin to emerge. Surrender begins.
I have this extraordinary curiosity about all subjects of the natural and human world… — Ian Hacking
Maturity is accepting the responsibility of being oneself… — Osho
Transformation is the bridge from disciple to master.
Level 5: Radical Surrender
The final level is marked by letting go of the self as the center. Curiosity dissolves into direct experience. There is no longer a search—only presence. Truth is not something to be grasped; it is something to be lived.
This is the highest refinement of the Thrill Seeker archetype—not chasing sensation, but risking ego, identity, and belief. Radical surrender may involve ego death, mystical union, or total presence in the now.
A premature attempt to explain something that thrills you will destroy your perception… — Edwin Land
This is the realm of the masters Osho speaks of—the few who not only seek but dissolve into truth.
Conclusion: From Curiosity to Consciousness
These five levels of spiritual curiosity mark a profound inward journey. They encompass self-inquiry, exploration, commitment, personal growth, and surrender. Osho’s threefold categorization of humanity becomes a map:
- Levels 1–2: The many who wander but often stay on the surface.
- Level 3: The few who develop a disciplined path.
- Levels 4–5: The rare individuals who embody the path and become teachers through their presence.
To categorize in this way is not to judge, but to invite self-reflection. Where are you in this model? More importantly, where are you willing to go?
In the end, curiosity is not just a tool for learning—it is the flame that ignites awakening.
References
- The Origins of Social Categorization, Social Sci LibreTexts
- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Osho, Wikipedia
- GMU Ed, Studies on Curiosity, George Mason University
- Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, on Wikipedia
- The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination. www.taylorfrancis.com
- Spiritual Growth – Inquiry – Curiosity?, OSHO Online Library
- How We Sort the World: Gregory Murphy on the Psychology of Categories, MIT Press Reader
- Categorical Thinking, The New Yorker
- Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotyping, Open Maricopa Social Psychology
- Maturity: The Responsibility of Being Oneself, Osho via Google Books
- The Psychology of Racism, Verywell Mind