Outcome Measure

An outcome measure is an agreed upon measure of success. If you build a bridge, then a successful outcome is that the bridge is safe and does not collapse. Bridge safety is thus an outcome measure.

You can apply outcome measures to any human endeavor from sex to spirituality. If the sex was good and both partners had a powerful orgasm, then you have a successful outcome. If the chocolate cake you baked is light and fluffy and everybody gobbles it up, then you have a successful outcome. In this case taste, texture, and acceptance by others are the outcome measures of cake baking.

In the case of religion and spirituality several obstacles, like low expectations, lackadaisical and/or relativistic attitude towards outcomes, anti-standards (such as Death Tests or Life Tests), indoctrination, even confusion, stand in the way of developing and applying appropriate outcome measures (Sharp, 2010).

In Rocket Scientists' Guide to Authentic Spirituality, Michael Sharp proposes three outcomes measures useful for deciding whether a religion, spirituality, esoteric school, or other spiritual path is successful, these being Awakening, Activation, and Ascension

Additional Reading

Sosteric, Mike. (RSGAS). The Rocket Scientists' Guide to Authentic Spirituality. St. Albert, Alberta: Lightning Path.