[This is part 3 of a 3 part article on the basics of Spiral Dynamics and their relationship to the Science of Mind.  An edited version of this article appeared in Science of Mind magazine's April 2008 issue.  Please read the previous posts to put the following in context.]

Ironically, Beck says that this second tier emerges in response to the chaotic life conditions of a modern world where all these “competing” worldviews battle for control.  With a higher awareness, we recognize that the solution to moving humanity up the evolutionary spiral is to help people meet the needs of their current life conditions.  We can only do this with an awareness of where they are on the spiral of life. Their meeting their current needs allows the natural evolutionary process to bring the necessary emergence into their lives of the next level of the spiral.  

Interestingly, it is in these second tier levels of existence (yellow, turquoise, and the continuous development of still higher ones) that Spiral Dynamics’ research finds human values emerging that are very much in alignment with the teachings of Science of Mind.

Spiral Dynamics shows that at these higher levels of consciousness we begin to understand the big-picture view of living systems and the evolutionary flow of life where chaos and change are a natural part of life. We begin to see the role that we each play in our own evolution.

At these higher levels, we begin to honor and respect others beliefs and worldviews without necessarily agreeing with them.  We acknowledge the connection between spirituality and physics.  We focus on and see the good in all living entities.  We expand our use of brain and mind tools for developing consciousness.  We see the individual self as part of a larger, conscious, spiritual whole that also serves the self.  And, we value the spiritual beliefs of all the other levels as we stand in awe of the overall cosmic order.

Spiral Dynamics shows us that as man evolves, so does his view of the divine.  The spirits that we saw in all of nature was a proper view for our purple mythic worldview.  The “old man God in the sky” who judged us on our death met the needs of a blue worldview desiring a life of control and rules.  Even the denying that God exists which frequently comes with a fundamental scientific worldview serves our needs at that level of understanding. God presents God to us in a manner that our level of consciousness can understand.   This is part of the natural process.  For as Holmes says, “Evolution is the awakening of the soul to a recognition of its unity with the Whole.” This is where both Science of Mind and Spiral Dynamics says our consciousness is evolving.

Using Spiral Dynamics in connection with Science of Mind gives me hope.  They both  affirm for me that there is a natural direction in which our collective consciousness is ultimately evolving.  And they both affirm for me that we will ever be evolving.  For as Holmes said,  “What we must avoid, however, is the confusion which arises from a belief in final revelations, from the belief that all truth is at last discovered, or that some one person or some one system of thought has delivered the last word.  There are no finalities in any science, any philosophy, or any religion.  Through the continual emergence of the creative Principle any last finality proves to be but the beginning of a new creative series.  This eternal spiral, finding its base in the everlasting Reality, will never cease to emerge.”

[This is part 2 of a 3 part article on the basics of Spiral Dynamics and their relationship to the Science of Mind.  An edited version of this article appeared in Science of Mind magazine's April 2008 issue.  Please read the previous posts to put the following in context.]

We do not all have the same life conditions, therefore we don’t all have the same worldview.  Ultimately, this is the crux of our differences.  By looking at the differing level of needs of individuals, groups, organizations, cultures or countries, we can see that they are often operating with different views of what is important.  This unfortunately is usually invisible to us.  For as Graves stated the error most people make  “is that they assume the nature of man is fixed and there is a single set of human values by which he should live.” 

Beck and Cowan suggested that these levels of existence are DNA-like codes called “value-memes” or “v-memes” which reside in the mind or brain.  They stated that their potential lies available to all of us and that they are “awakened” as life conditions outside us interact with these latent systems within us.  In Science of Mind terms we might consider that these v-meme codes are a part of the One Mind which is subjectively available to all of us.  Holmes reminds us that, “This Mind contains everything that was ever thought or perceived.  From it flow all ideas that are now inherent within it.  Any demand made upon it creates a new idea.”  Hence, the demands of new life conditions brings forth from within our subjective minds the creation of the new inherent worldview to deal with them.  This is part of our evolutionary nature.

So what are these Spiral Dynamic levels of existence and how do they show we have and are continuing to evolve?  Let’s look at them briefly.

First, early man was faced with life conditions of basic survival.  This “beige” level of existence gave rise to a worldview related to purely meeting biological needs. We became aware that we were distinct selves, began to sense cause and effect in the outer world, and developed heightened sensory abilities to best survive in that world.  As we began to meet these needs, we sensed a desire to foster group effort to support meeting our challenges.  Hence, there arose the second or “purple” level of existence wherein we formed tribes to create safety and stability.  Here,  there emerged the belief in mystical spirits in nature, a seasonal sense of time, and the development of myth and tradition.  However as needs were met at this level, the security of the tribe was disrupted eventually by the emergence of the personal ego and the sense that the self was more powerful than the tribe.

The third or “red” level of existence brought forth our power impulses; “might is right”; a  spontaneous, guilt-free, daring nature; desire for immediate gratification, and a lack of concern for consequences.   Historically, these were the powerful warlords creating a system of those in power and those who submitted to the powerful.  Yet as our needs were met at this level we began to reflect upon the unfairness of the system of haves and the have nots.  This gave search to our belief that there are forces guiding our destiny and a need to understand the underlying rules of life giving rise to the fourth or “blue” level of existence.  Here we find a desire for meaning and purpose, a sacrifice now for rewards later, order and rules, and a need to control impulses causing our newly found guilt.  Historically, this level gave rise to our major religions and our systems of laws.  However, as the needs of this level were met, we began to question the cost we paid in our loss of individual freedom due to absolutistic rules.

In the fifth or “orange” level of existence we begin to question these rules, authority and the delayed gratification of our needs.   We began to strive to conquer the world, unlock its secrets, and achieve personal material success.   We sought pleasure in life now, not in the future.  This level saw the rise of goal oriented planning, economic competition and the pursuit of scientific truths.  But alas, our material success did not give us true happiness and we began to turn inward to find our truth.  The sixth or “green” level of existence saw us begin to seek consensus for decisions, pursue humanitarian efforts and display a tolerance of personal differences.  We sought harmony through belonging, acceptance, community, unity, and understanding our inner nature.

These six “first tier” levels are characterized by the fact that if you look at life through one of them, you don’t recognize that there are other valid ways of looking at life.   We can see this playing out in the world today as the various religious fundamentalists (blue) have conflict with one another over whose “truth”, order and God is the “right” one.  We begin to understand why popular books written by scientists (orange) are driven to deny that God (or more accurately the God as defined by the blue level) exists.  We start to understand why often well intentioned humanitarian efforts (green) to assist the conditions in certain third world countries often are confiscated by the local leaders (red) who have not developed the conscience and rules that only come in the higher blue system.  

When we start using the map offered by Spiral Dynamics, we begin to see why people often don’t understand one another.   We recognize why the solutions developed at one level of thinking do not always work when they imposed onto the life conditions that exist at another level.  And you can’t just tell people to think differently because their thinking is generally appropriate for them given their experiences.  As Don Beck often says, “you can’t say don’t think that way, because they do think that way”.

So how do we begin to heal these differences?  It is only with what Graves called the “momentous leap” into “second tier” consciousness where you begin to see the validity of these different worldviews.  You come to understand not only that each person has the right to believe what they want, but that there is a good reason for why they believe as they do.  Their beliefs are serving to assist them with their current life conditions.  To put this in Science of Mind terms, we begin to see perfection and wholeness in all of life as it plays out before us.  Everything is in right and divine order even if it is not what we may personally choose.

[Concluded tomorrow]

[This is part 1 of a 3 part article on the basics of Spiral Dynamics and their relationship to the Science of Mind.  An edited version of this article appeared in Science of Mind magazine's April 2008 issue.]

One of the first things that attracted me to the Science of Mind was its view of God.  The idea that God is a power that moves in and through everything as that thing totally resonated with me.  I also loved that Ernest Holmes’ philosophy blessed all paths to God seeing how they serve the whole of life.  I often think that if everyone studied and applied the concepts of Science of Mind, we would bridge the differences of separation that appear to exist in the outer world.

But then I am hit by questions such as why do people think so differently?  Why is there so much conflict in the world between religions and between those of faith and science?  Why is it that people cannot see beyond their differences to their common unity?  Why do people have such drastically different visions of God?  In Spiral Dynamics, I found a theory that helps me answer those questions.  

Spiral Dynamics is a scientific theory derived from the work of Dr. Claire Graves in the early 1970s and popularized in the last 10 years or so by the work of Dr. Don Beck and Chris Cowan.  It describes a process by which humanity develops and moves through an upward spiral of emerging values or ways of looking at the world that come forth in response to our changing life conditions.   Applying the model can be useful (and has been) in the areas of breaking down cultural barriers, assisting in organizational leadership, meeting varying educational needs and more.

Moreover, I believe that understanding Spiral Dynamics allows us to enhance our use of Science of Mind principles.  We know that how people think creates their lives.  The better we understand how we and others think the way we do, gives us insight as to the underlying beliefs that may be limiting us.  It also opens us to compassion and understanding when confronted with the limited beliefs of ourselves and others.  And most importantly, Spiral Dynamics can help us bridge our differences in how we see God.  

Ernest Holmes repeatedly stressed that we were evolving and described where that evolution was taking us.  He stated both  “Evolution is the emergence of that which already is in form, in an ever-upward spiraling” and that “the whole process of evolution is to produce a being who can consciously co-operate with the Evolutionary Principle, which is Pure Spirit.”  Spiral Dynamics supports this.

Just as Holmes developed the cross-disciplined philosophy of Science of Mind based on the golden thread of truth he saw between science, religion and philosophy; psychologist Graves first developed his theory of human development based on years of research into human values that crossed into the areas of psychology, sociology and biology.  His data indicated that human beings exist at different “levels of existence” where we exhibit behavior and values that are characteristic of people at that level.   We learn our behavior and values in order to meet the needs of the life conditions which surround us.  Yet, as we meet our needs at one level of existence there emerges new life conditions which require us to grow. As Einstein said, “the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” 

Spiral Dynamics maps a system of nine or more levels of consciousness or worldviews through which humans move in order.  For ease in describing the levels, they are color coded, although the colors assigned have no particular significance. These levels alternate between a focus on the external world and attempts to change it and a focus on the inner world and attempts to come to peace with it.   When charted, this pattern of evolutionary consciousness resembles a spiral.  New life conditions bring new levels of thinking which bring new life conditions in an ever repeating pattern.

[Continued tomorrow....]