Humans are complex organisms who enter the world with inherited and life-enhancing instincts. Like nearly every form of life, our instinctual inclinations are modified by our experiences and education as we form our personal beliefs and views of the world, from childhood throughout our entire lives.

Human babies, like most organisms, are born with urges to eat, drink, seek protection and socialize, among our many instincts. Our inherited urges continue as we mature from infants into adulthood and beyond.

Instincts encoded in our genetic material to consume food and water, to seek comfort and to interact with others contribute to another basic drive, which is to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves and others. This basic instinct is called the agrarian imperative.

Given favorable life circumstances, we advance through stages of development to formulate core values and views of the world that guide our life choices. Not everyone gets opportunities to advance optimally during life, such as impoverished people and those affected by strife, such as war and disasters.

A discussion group led by a Methodist minister helped me understand how this occurs. Besides the minister, our early-morning monthly meetings (6-8 a.m.) from 1980 through 1983 included two attorneys, a Lutheran pastor, a house contractor and me.

Our discussions often centered on how people form core beliefs and how these beliefs change as we age. We read and discussed a 1981 book by Dr. James Fowler entitled Stages of Faith. Decades later, it is still the best explanation, in my opinion, of the formation of belief systems.

Fowler’s stages of development of beliefs draw on psychological theories of cognitive development formulated by Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg and Eric Erikson, which made sense then and still today. Infants, behavioral scientists say, advance through stages of development into childhood, then adolescence and into adulthood and beyond.

Most everyone can observe these stages in ourselves and others. The stages of development of core beliefs are listed below, but in my language rather than Fowler’s complicated descriptions:

•In the earliest stage of faith, children up to around age 6 emulate people who are important in their lives, such as their parents and caretakers; youngsters practice similar habits of prayer, sharing and fairness

•Children in the second stage, from about age 7 to around age 12, develop their own concrete literal faith and follow their consciences

•During their teenage years most people adopt accepted religious beliefs and practices that make them feel secure in a world that has increasing conflict and uncertainty, but they begin to explore their own views

•From about age 21 to their late thirties, individuals’ views of faith and the world tend to be increasingly independent, and sometimes rebellious toward former beliefs; they try out philosophies of life for direction and to find personal meaning

•During mid-life and when encouraged by freedom of expression, adults usually adopt even broader views of the world and practices of faith that are shaped by their experiences and education, unless curtailed; adults usually feel an obligation to make the world a better place, but many never achieve fully mature stages and retain juvenile beliefs, says Fowler

•The final stage for people who have opportunity to achieve sufficient maturity is what Fowler calls enlightenment – in this stage people focus on humility, unselfishness and hope for succeeding generations

Do stages of development of our beliefs and knowledge affect formation of our agrarian imperative? Only somewhat, I think. Our agrarian urge is even more basic to our survival than our beliefs, although not everybody gets full chances to carry out agrarian urges to feed our families and communities.

Rich or poor, we all require food, clothing, warmth and protection. Without food, clothing, shelter and fuel, humans would not survive. About half of the world’s population currently lives in poverty, defined as living on $2.50 or less per person daily by UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), and without modern agricultural advances the rest of us experience.

Acquiring food, clothing, shelter, medical assistance and fuel consume most of their time and energy. The efforts of the poorest people in the world validate that everyone has an agrarian imperative.

Even people who are not directly involved in agriculture display an agrarian imperative. We all indicate our homes, offices and sometimes our vehicles with our names in prominent signs and personal markers, such as photos of loved ones, favorite pieces of artwork and memorabilia. Most of us grow plants in our homes and offices.

That we all carry a genetic imperative to produce life’s essentials has scientific support in the disciplines of behavioral genetics, anthropology and psychology. It’s mostly certain we humans hearken back to our territorial ancestors as we enact our agrarian imperatives.

I welcome comments about the agrarian imperative. Our knowledge advances when we consider alternative explanations and refinements as science determines the most correct explanations and laws of nature.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Dr. Mike Rosmann is a psychologist and farmer in western Iowa. Readers may contact him at mike@agbehavioralhealth.com