Spiral Dynamics

Ever heard of “Spiral Dynamics”? Here’s the quick overview: People and cultures go through different stages of development. The Spiral guys like to color-code them to make it easier to keep track. It goes something like this:

RED. Think: Terrible twos. I’ll blow you up if you piss me off. (Yikes!)

BLUE. Think: Ten Commandments. Fundamentalist anything. Rules are paramount. Literal interpretations of the Bible are absolutely correct.

ORANGE. Think: Wall Street. Academia. Science and ambition are key here.

GREEN. Think: Environmentalism. Pluralism. All is one. Non-violent.

So, the idea is that we evolve through these stages of development. All of those stages above are part of what they call the “first tier.” Here’s the funny thing about those perspectives: they’re all convinced they’re *100%* right. It’s a big food fight.

GREEN looks at ORANGE and says, “You greedy capitalists!!! You’re good for nothing and totally destroying our planet! And, my non-violent self HATES you!”

ORANGE looks at GREEN and says, “You tree-hugging, New Agey hippies!! Get a job and contribute to the economy, will ya?!? And quit gazing at those crystals.”

BLUE looks at everyone and says, “You’re all going to hell because you don’t believe in [insert favorite God here]!!”

RED looks at everyone and says, “You don’t agree with me? Fine. I’m blowin’ you up.”

Everything is “either, or.” No one can see the validity of the other perspectives. Not so good. The ideal? Let’s consciously evolve as individuals and as a culture to a “second-tier” level of consciousness. Here, for the first time, we can hold multiple perspectives. We can see that, in Ken Wilber’s words: “No one is smart enough to be 100% wrong.” :)

What’s that look like? Well, we can see the truth in the need to take care of our environment AND the need for a powerful economy AND the need for rules and regulations AND the need to take aggressive action when the situation demands it.

Every stage has a PARTIAL truth. To embrace the whole we need to transcend AND include and start saying “yes, and...” a lot more than “either, or...” Powerful schtuff.

Spiral Dynamics = Very cool stuff integrated into Ken Wilber’s work and developed by Don Beck and Chris Cowan from the work of Clare Graves. (That’s a mouthful! :)