04-21-2017, 01:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-21-2017, 03:13 PM by Eric the Green.)
A few people have posted about Spiral Dynamics by now. This is a 1990s theory that has continued to circulate through the world of ideas, and our friends Rags and Chas and others have posted about it on 4T sites. Even Bob Butler, who doesn't want to look at it, actually proposes and argues for it, although in somewhat different terms.
![[Image: spiraldynamics2.jpg]](http://philosopherswheel.com/spiraldynamics2.jpg)
Mr. Beck and Mr. Cowans wrote the book in 1996 that has spread the theory around, based on earlier work by psychologist Dr. Clare Graves, and with a background that includes many traditions going back to late Roman times at least.
Other authors have updated the work, including Steve MacIntosh in his great book:
http://www.stevemcintosh.com/books/integ...ciousness/
And this is a wonderful site that explains the theory:
http://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/
In brief, it proposes that history unfolded in developmental stages, also called successive values memes, which some people today still occupy even if others have moved on and "transcended and included" them in a more-advanced stage. Each phase has a color as well as an alpha-numeric label. The colors are more recognizable:
Beige = the phase when the instinct for survival was still uppermost, and people associated in families. Circa the times from when we became homo sapiens sapiens until about 40,000 or 30,000 years ago.
Purple = the phase when we organized into tribes and told stories around the campire, worshipped and feared spirits and ancestors and relied on magical thinking. Circa the time of cave paintings up until about 4,000 years ago.
Red = the phase when war lords and emperors conquered territory, when people worked with metals also used for weapons, sought personal fame and glory, and worshipped male power gods; up until about 300 AD.
Blue = the phase of authoritarian mono-theist tradition when righteous morals were imposed to control behavior and enlist loyalty to the group. Up to about 1650 AD.
Orange = the "Enlightenment" phase of individualism and rational science enlisted to achieve material progress, and of secular humanism, the free market and the advance of democratic republican government. Up to the 1960s, or about the 1890s-1900s, depending on the author.
Green = the phase when feelings and respect for diversity are valued more highly, greater community is sought, and peace and environmental movements are happening. Since the 1960s, at least.
Yellow = a new phase, now emerging since the 1990s among a minority of people, who are interested in theories like Beck and Cowan proposed; called "integral," in which a hierarchy of values and excellence is recognized again, in an adaptable way in which all the value traditions are recognized as valid on their own level in a systemic order. "The world is a complex, self-organizing, natural system that requires integral solutions." People develop "Authenticity, systemic thinking and skills to become an instrument for the greater whole and access to a free (holistic) consciousness."
http://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/
Turquoise = a proposed future phase in which dedication to the whole and spirituality will predominate over individual quest for excellence in systemic thinking. Perhaps an updated version of blue.
From MacIntoch's book:
![[Image: spiraldynamics.jpg]](http://philosopherswheel.com/spiraldynamics.jpg)
Mr. Beck and Mr. Cowans wrote the book in 1996 that has spread the theory around, based on earlier work by psychologist Dr. Clare Graves, and with a background that includes many traditions going back to late Roman times at least.
Other authors have updated the work, including Steve MacIntosh in his great book:
http://www.stevemcintosh.com/books/integ...ciousness/
And this is a wonderful site that explains the theory:
http://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/
In brief, it proposes that history unfolded in developmental stages, also called successive values memes, which some people today still occupy even if others have moved on and "transcended and included" them in a more-advanced stage. Each phase has a color as well as an alpha-numeric label. The colors are more recognizable:
Beige = the phase when the instinct for survival was still uppermost, and people associated in families. Circa the times from when we became homo sapiens sapiens until about 40,000 or 30,000 years ago.
Purple = the phase when we organized into tribes and told stories around the campire, worshipped and feared spirits and ancestors and relied on magical thinking. Circa the time of cave paintings up until about 4,000 years ago.
Red = the phase when war lords and emperors conquered territory, when people worked with metals also used for weapons, sought personal fame and glory, and worshipped male power gods; up until about 300 AD.
Blue = the phase of authoritarian mono-theist tradition when righteous morals were imposed to control behavior and enlist loyalty to the group. Up to about 1650 AD.
Orange = the "Enlightenment" phase of individualism and rational science enlisted to achieve material progress, and of secular humanism, the free market and the advance of democratic republican government. Up to the 1960s, or about the 1890s-1900s, depending on the author.
Green = the phase when feelings and respect for diversity are valued more highly, greater community is sought, and peace and environmental movements are happening. Since the 1960s, at least.
Yellow = a new phase, now emerging since the 1990s among a minority of people, who are interested in theories like Beck and Cowan proposed; called "integral," in which a hierarchy of values and excellence is recognized again, in an adaptable way in which all the value traditions are recognized as valid on their own level in a systemic order. "The world is a complex, self-organizing, natural system that requires integral solutions." People develop "Authenticity, systemic thinking and skills to become an instrument for the greater whole and access to a free (holistic) consciousness."
http://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/
Turquoise = a proposed future phase in which dedication to the whole and spirituality will predominate over individual quest for excellence in systemic thinking. Perhaps an updated version of blue.
From MacIntoch's book: