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Philosophers that have posited theories of spiritual evolution include 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 Idealist (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 ChakrasIn Hinduism and its spiritual systems of yoga and in some related eastern cultures, as well as in some segments of the New Age movement, a chakra (from the Sanskrit word for wheel, circle is thought to be an energy node in the human body. The seven main c 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 magicThis article deals with magic in the context of religion and the anthropology of religion. A belief in magic as a means of influencing the supernatural or natural seems to have been universal to all cultures and all religions prior to the advent of monoth, mythicMythology For the computer game, see Myth (computer game). A myth is often thought to be a lesson in story form which has deep explanatory or symbolic resonance for preliterate cultures, who preserve and cherish the wisdom of their elders through oral tra, pluralisticIn the social sciences, pluralism is a framework of interaction in which groups show sufficient respect and tolerance of each other, that they fruitfully coexist and interact without conflict or assimilation. Pluralism is arguably one of the most importan, and holisticHolism is the idea that the properties of a system cannot be determined or explained by the sum of its components alone. It is often regarded as opposite to reductionism, although proponents of scientific reductionism state that it is better regarded as t 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.