There are no official lists of approaches to human development -- nor to their associated modes of awareness. The approaches to human development profiled here are derived from extensive literature searches across disciplines, cultures and spiritual traditions. In some cases what is named may not appear either like an approach to human development, nor a mode of awareness, but it may be interpreted as such by some within the culture or discipline concerned.

Naming

Approaches to human development may have a variety of names, especially through the manner in which they are translated between different languages and spiritual traditions. The alphabetic index list, based on a single name per approach, is therefore an essentially arbitrary ordering of the items in the database. As a random presentation of the contents of the database, it has the advantage of drawing attention to the variety of pathways and understandings which individuals may encounter during their personal and collective development.

Coding

Approaches to human development in the Encyclopedia have been coded into categories. These include concepts of human development (which are ways of understanding, or undertaking, human development, based on explicit concepts of human development and on therapies, activities or experiences in which a particular understanding of human development is implicit); and modes of awareness (used for experiential modes of awareness implying particular understandings of human development, or encountered during particular processes of human development). For more information on this coding system, see Human Development: Type Codes.

Profiles

Human development approach profiles contain name, a description or definition, and indication of the context within which the mode of awareness is recognized. This is followed by cross-references to other entries. Cross references are of two types: 'hierarchical' which include links to broader (or more comprehensive modes of awareness), narrower (or more specific modes of awareness) and related concepts (or associated modes of awareness); and 'functional' which includes links to approaches that are preceding or prior (for preceding modes of awareness in a succession or cycle), and following or subsequent (for subsequent modes of awareness in a succession or cycle). There are also cross-references to other database sections within the research area of the Encyclopedia including Human Values and Wisdom. Cross-references also extend to other databases and information deriving from the separate research areas of Bibliography relating to the Encyclopedia. For a more detailed overview of the problem profiles, see Entry Content and Organization.