Though I hope to return to a more detailed account of each stage, I am taking time out here to look at such development from a wider perspective. I have written before on the great influence that the writings of St. John of the Cross once exercised on my spiritual development. I also mentioned as to how I gradually began to see his approach in critical aspects as unbalanced with an undue emphasis - especially with respect to his formal writing - on the transcendent aspect of development. Of course St. John lived at an earlier time in a very different environment from what I was encountering during my adult development in late 20th century Ireland. So in this sense it is perhaps not surprising that I gradually was to discover that his model of spirituality could not properly serve as a comprehensive blueprint for my life. Indeed I would apply this likewise to all the great figures who most inspired me at various stages of development. So in scientific terms, I once marvelled a