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The 9 Stages of human development

In his book Ken Wilber gives us an explanation of how the world’s societies can differ depending on their stage of development. One of the reasons we have many wars is that governments are rarely aware of these stages and the globalization of today’s world is pushing other societies up towards the highest stage without giving them the time they need to develop in their own pace. This of course are generalizations, not answers, just a method to look at the world and it’s movements at large. Each following step does include the former steps. 

The spiral of development

The 1st level is the Survival Sense, the so called beige meme, which refers to the basic human instincts which can be sharpened and the innate senses like we get them with birth, touch, taste, hear and so on into the 2nd level is that of the Kin Spirits, the purple meme, which is where the child, or the adult seeks harmony and safety in a mysterious world. The 3rd level is the red level which deals with the Power of Gods, expresses it self impulsively, wants to be free and strong. The 4^th level of development is the blue meme, The Truth Force , we need to find purpose, bring order into an insure future. That gets the development to the 5th level, Strive and Drive , the orange meme, who analyzes and strategize in order to prosper. The 6th Is the green wave , the Human Bonding kind of types, who emphasize on exploration of inner self, and tend to equalize others . Now the 7th is the Flex Flow, which puts in effort to integrate and align systems, what Wilber tries to do with these books and theories of his.  Leading to (Inshallah) the 8th level is called Whole View Synergize and macro manage to get to 9 some day which is the Integral Holonic. The downward causation aligned.

Add      1 Survival Sense, The beige meme =the basic human instincts which can be sharpened and the innate senses like we get them with birth, touch, taste, hear and so on into The beige meme is the level of basic survival, food, water sex, warmth h and safety have priority. Uses habits and instincts just to survive. Distinct self is barely awakened or sustained. Forms into survival bands to perpetuate life.Where seen; First human societies, newborn infants, senile elderly, late-state Alzheimer’s victims, mentally ill street people, starving masses, shell shock. Approximately .1 % of the adult population, 0 % power.

Add to The 2e Kin Spirits, the purple meme, is where the child, or the adult seeks harmony and safety in a mysterious world. Magical-animistic (Old Javanese worldview). Thinking is animistic, magical spirits good and bad, swarm the earth leaving blessings, curses, and spells which will determine events. Forms into ethnic tribes. The spirit exist in ancestors and bond to the tribe. Kinship and lineage establish political links. Sounds “holistic” but is actually atomistic:” there is a name for each bend in the river, but no name for the river.” Where seen: Believe in voodoo like curses, blood oaths, ancient grudges (Bosnia), good-luck charms, family rituals, magical ethnic beliefs and superstitions; strong in third world settings, gangs, athletic teams, and corporate “tribes”. 10 % of the population, 1 % of the power. 

Add The 3rd level is the red level which deals with the power of Gods, expresses it self impulsively, wants to be free and strong.Power Gods. First emergency of a self distinct from the tribe (Julian Jaynes); powerful, impulsive, egocentric, heroic. Magical-mythic spirits, dragons, beats, and powerful people. Archetypal gods and goddesses, powerful beings, forces to be reckoned with, both good and bad. Feudal lords protect underlings in exchange for obedience and labor (Afghan warlords). The basis of feudal empires-power and glory. The world is a jungle full of threats and predators. Conquers, outfoxes, and dominates; enjoys  self to the fullest without regret or remorse; be here now. Where seen: the terrible twos, rebellious youth, frontier mentalities, feudal kingdoms, epic heroes, James Bond villains, gang leaders, soldiers of fortune, new-Age narcissism, wild rock stars, Attila the Hun, Lord of the Flies.  20% of the world population, 5 % of power. 

Add to The 4^th level of development is the blue meme, The Truth Force , we need to find purpose, bring order into an insure future. Mythic Order. Life has meaning, direction and purpose, with outcomes determined by an all powerful Other or Order. This righteous Order enforces a code of conduct based on absolutist and unvarying principles of “right’ and “wrong’. Violating the code or rules has severe, perhaps everlasting repercussions. Following the code yields rewards for the faithful. Basis of ancient nations. Rigid social hierarchies, paternalistic; one right way and only one right way to think about everything. Law and order, impulsivity controlled through guilt; concrete-literal and fundamentalist belief; obedience to the rule of the Order; strongly conventional and conformist. Often “religious” or ”mythic”, but can be secular or atheistic order or Mission. Where seen: Puritan America, Confucian China, Dickensian England, Singapore discipline, totalitarianism, codes of chivalry and honor, charitable good deeds, religious fundamentalism (Christian and Islamic), boy and girl scouts “moral majority, patriotism. 40% of the worlds population, 30% of the power.  

Add to 5 Strive and Drive , the orange meme, who analyzes and strategize in order to prosper. Scientific achievement. At this wave, the self escapes from the herd mentality of blue and seeks truth and meaning in individualistic terms hypotheticodeductive, experimental, objective, mechanistic, operartional-scientific in the typical sense. The world is a rational and well oiled machine with natural laws that can be learned, mastered and manipulated for ones own purposes. Highly achievement oriented, especially (in America) towards materialistic gains. The laws of science rule politics, the economy (John Nash), and human events (Behaviorism), the world is a chessboard on which games are played as winners gain pre-eminence and perks over losers. Market place alliances; manipulate earth’s resources for one’s strategic gains. Basis of corporate states. Where seen: The Enlightenment, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Wall street, emerging middle classes around the world, cosmetic industries, trophy hunting, colonialism, the cold war, fashion industry, materialism, secular humanism, liberal self-interest. 30% of the (worlds) population, 50% of the power. 

Add to 6 Is the green wave , the Human Bonding kind of types, who emphasize on exploration of inner self, and tend to equalize others. The sensitive self. Communication, human bonding, ecological sensitivity, networking. The human spirit must be freed from greed, dogma, and divisiveness; feelings and caring supersede cold rationality; cherishing of the earth, Gaia, life.  Against hierarchy, establishes lateral bonding and linking. Permeable self, relational self, group intermeshing. Emphasis on dialogue, relationships. Based on value communities (freely chosen affiliations based on shared sentiments) reaches decisions through reconciliation and consensus (downside; interminable “processing” and incapacity to reach decisions) refresh spirituality, bring harmony, enrich human potential. Strongly egalitarian, anti-hierarchy, pluralistic values, social construction of reality, diversity, multiculturalism, relativistic value systems; the world view is often called pluralistic relativism. Subjective, nonlinear thinking; shows a great deal of affective warmth, sensitivity, and caring, for earth and all it’s inhabitants. Where seen: Deep ecology, postmodernism, Netherlands idealism, Rogerian counseling, Canadian healthcare, humanistic psychology, liberation theology, cooperative inquiry, World counsel of churches, Green peace, animal rights, eco-feminism, post-colonialism, Foucault/ Derrida, politically correct, diversity movements, human rights issues, eco-psychology. 10% of the population, 15 % power.

With the completion of the green meme, human consciousness is poised for a quantum jump into second tier thinking.. Clare Graves referred to this as a “momentous leap, “ where a chasm of unbelievable depth of meaning is crossed”

In essence, with second tier consciousness , one can think both vertically and horizontally using both hierarchies and heterarchies (both ranking and linking), one can therefore for the first time, vividly grasp the entire spectrum of interior development, and thus see that each level, each wave is crucial important for the health of the overall Spiral. As I would word it, each wave is “transcend and include”, That is, each wave  goes beyond (or transcends) its predecessor, and yet it includes or embraces it in its own make-up. For example, a cell that transcends, but includes molecules, which transcend but include atoms. To say that a molecule goes beyond an atom is not to say that molecules hate (LOL) atoms, but that they love them: they embrace them in their own make-up; they include them, they don’t marginalize them. Just so, each wave of existence is a fundamental ingredient of all subsequent waves, and thus each is to be cherished and embraced. More over each wave can itself be activated or reactivated as life circumstances warrant. In emergency situations, we can activate red power drives, in response to chaos, we might  need to activate the blue order; in looking for a new job, we might need orange achievement drives; in marriage and with friends, close green bonding. All of these memes have something important to contribute. But what none of the first tier memes can do, on their own, is fully appreciate the existence of the other memes. Each of the first tier memes thinks that its worldview is the correct or best perspective. It reacts negatively if challenged (11 September); it lashes out, using it’s own tools, whenever it is threatened. Blue order is very uncomfortable with both red impulsiveness and orange individualism. Orange individualism thinks blue order is for suckers and green egalitarism weak and woo-woo. Green egalitarianism cannot easily abide excellence and value rankings, big pictures, hierarchies, or anything that appears authoritarian and thus green reacts strongly to blue, orange and anything post green. All of this begins to change with second tier thinking. Because second tier consciousness is fully aware of the interior stages of development-even if it cannot articulate them in a technical fashion, -it steps back and grasps the big picture, and thus second tier thinking appreciates the necessary role that all of the various memes play. Second tier awareness thinks in terms of the overall spiral of existence and not merely in the terms of any one level. Where the green meme begins to grasp the numerous different systems and pluralistic contexts that exist in different cultures (which why indeed it is that sensitive self, i.e. sensitive to the marginalization of others) second tier thinking goes one step further. It looks for the rich contexts that  join and link these pluralistic systems, and thus it takes these separate systems and begins to embrace, include, and integrate them into holistic spirals and integral mesh works. Second tier thinking, in other words is instrumental in moving from relativism to holism, or from pluralism to integralism. The extensive search of Graves, Beck and Gowan, indicates that there are at least two more major waves to this second tier integral consciousness.

Add to the 7th is the Flex Flow, to effort to integrate and align systems, what Wilber tries to do with these books and theories of his.  Yellow: Integrative. Life is a kaleidoscope of natural hierarchies (holarchies), systems and forms. Flexibilities, spontaneity, and functionality have the highest priority. Differences and pluralities can be integrated into interdependent, natural flows. Egalitarism is complemented with natural degrees of ranking and excellence. Knowledge and competency should supersede power, status, or group sensitivity. The prevailing world order is the result of the different levels of reality (memes) and the inevitable patterns of movement up and down the dynamic spiral. Good governance facilitates the emerge of entities through the levels of increasing complexity (nested hierarchy) 1% of the population, 5 % of the power.  

Add to level 8 Whole View Synergize and macro manage. Universal holistic system, holons/waves of integrative energies; unites feeling with knowledge; multiple levels interwoven into one conscious system. Universal order, but in a living conscious fashion, not based on external rules (blue) or group bonds (green). A “grand” unification is possible in theory and in actuality.Sometimes involves the emergence of a new spirituality as a mesh work of all existence. Turquoise thinking uses the entire spiral; sees multiple levels of interaction; detects harmonics, the mystical forces, and the persuasive flow states that permeate any organization. 0.1   % of the population, 1% of the power. 

To get to 9 some day which is the Integral Holonic.

With less than 2 % of the population at a second –tier thinking (and only 0.1% at turquoise), second-tier consciousness is relatively rare because it is now the “leading edge” of collective human evolution. As example, Beck and Gowan mention items that include Teilhard de  Chardin’s noosphere, the growth of transpersonal psychology, chaos and complexity theories, integral-holistic systems thinking, Gandhi’s and Mandela’s  pluralistic integration, with increases in frequency on the way, and even higher mems in the offing…….Beck and Gowan point out, humanity is destined to remain victims of a global “autoimmune disease’ where various memes turn on each other in order to establish supremacy. This why many arguments are not really the matter of better objective evidence , but of the subjective level of those arguing. No amount of orange scientific evidence will convince blue mythic believers; no amount of green bonding will impress orange aggressiveness; no amount of turquoise holism will dislodge green pluralism-unless the individual is ready to develop forward through the dynamic spiral of consciousness unfolding. This is why “cross-level” debates are rarely resolved, and all parties usually feel unheard and unappreciated. Likewise nothing that can be said in this book will convince you that TOE is possible, unless you already have a touch of turquoise coloring your cognitive palette.