Bjorn K Holmstrom

I want to thank you all for a rich and insightful discussion! This is the kind of deep, systemic thinking I was hoping to spark. Emerald, your analysis in both of your posts was exceptional and hit the nail on the head. You brilliantly articulated the core challenge and the primary blind spot of this "trojan horse" strategy: it's a positive, logical plan aimed at addressing grievances that are often fueled by non-logical, negative emotions like fear, shame, and disgust. Your breakdown of the roots of authoritarianism is a powerful framework in itself. This is the crucial missing piece. It's not enough to design a better system; that system must also account for the deep psychological needs and collective trauma at play. You've helped me refine the central question from "What's a better plan?" to "How can a systems-level plan also serve as a container for collective healing?". I'm now exploring this further. Enchanted, thank you for the "conscious conservatism" frame. It is a great way to explore this idea of strategic reframing. Sholomar and Trenton, I appreciate your perspectives on Trump's character and capacity. To clarify, my thought experiment was less about trying to literally change Trump, and more about asking: if one had that position of influence, how could a different strategy be deployed to reach the people who feel seen by him? It’s more about the position than the person. I recognize that the thread title and perhaps the blog post title as well are a bit misleading. Thank you all again. This has been very helpful in deepening the strategy.

That's an excellent question, Innerview, and it gets to the heart of how citizen assemblies are designed to succeed where traditional politics fails. The key is that these assemblies are not about asking random people to suddenly become experts in monetary policy or climate science. Instead, they are carefully structured processes designed to combine the common sense and lived experience of everyday people with the specialized knowledge of experts. Here’s how it works: Access to World-Class, Unbiased Expertise The first phase of any citizen assembly involves a "learning period". Assembly members are presented with clear, unbiased information from a wide range of leading experts and stakeholders on the topic. For an assembly on the national debt, they would hear from top economists, social workers, business owners, and historians, not just lobbyists with a prepared script. This gives them a comprehensive and balanced understanding of the issue. Facilitated, Deliberative Dialogue The assemblies are not chaotic free-for-alls. They are run by professional, neutral facilitators whose job is to ensure a respectful, productive, and in-depth dialogue. This process allows members to work through the complex information they've learned, challenge their own assumptions, and find common ground. This model is inspired by successful real-world examples, like Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly, and is a core component of the "Meta-Governance Framework" of the GGF I'm working on. Focus on Values and Principles, Not Technical Details The most important point is that the assembly's primary role is to determine the values, principles, and trade-offs that should guide policy. They answer the "why" and the "what," not the "how." For example, on the national debt, their final recommendation wouldn't be a 500-page bill. It would be a set of guiding principles like: "We believe it is essential to reduce the national debt, but not at the cost of pushing our most vulnerable citizens into poverty." "We recommend a balanced approach that combines moderate spending cuts with closing tax loopholes for large corporations." These value-based recommendations are then handed over to policy experts and public servants to draft the detailed technical legislation. This process combines the democratic legitimacy and common-sense wisdom of the people with the technical expertise of specialists, getting the best of both worlds.

A Strategic Blueprint for European and Global Peace Hello everyone, I'd like to share a strategic framework for the question that was asked by PurpleTree. Traditional geopolitics often traps us in a cycle of managing rivalries and balancing threats. This proposal outlines a different path: a phased, "three-stage rocket" strategy that moves from pragmatic stabilization to a deep, systemic transformation of international relations itself. The vision is to build a world where great power competition becomes obsolete. This strategy integrates practical, near-term actions with the visionary toolkit of the Global Governance Frameworks (GGF), a project I have worked on since around March this year. The GGF is a comprehensive, open-source blueprint for civilizational transformation, an ecosystem of interconnected frameworks designed to provide scalable solutions to our world's crises and guide humanity toward a regenerative future. --- Stage I: Building the Launchpad - Forging Principled Autonomy (Years 1-5) Before Europe can effectively mediate peace, it must become a strong, coherent, and autonomous global actor. This first stage is about building internal resilience to address the core challenge you (PurpleTree) identified: an over-reliance on the US, which 'lives far away but has a lot of control.' By forging principled autonomy, Europe creates the foundation for credible power. Pillar 0: Social & Economic Cohesion: The foundation of all strength is internal unity. This involves implementing pilot programs for universal basic income and services (via the `AUBI framework`) to eliminate economic precarity, while deploying community healing programs (based on the `Kintsugi Protocol`) to build high-trust, resilient societies from the ground up. Pillar 1: Strategic Independence: Europe must achieve sovereignty in key domains. This includes a full transition to renewable energy, securing critical supply chains, and developing an integrated European defense pillar within NATO that can act as a credible deterrent on its own. This directly realizes the vision you mentioned of a 'strong European army... just for defence,' ensuring Europe's security is in its own hands. A central part of this is a clear Roadmap for Peace in Ukraine, using the methodologies of the `Peace & Conflict Resolution Framework` to pursue a just and lasting settlement. The goal aligns with your suggestion for a strong, sovereign Ukraine that acts as a bridge, fully integrated into the EU market and with robust security guarantees. Pillar 2: Economic Gravity: With a stable core, Europe can project influence through attraction rather than force. By scaling up its Global Gateway initiative and establishing a fair and transparent trade architecture, it becomes an indispensable economic partner for the US, China, and a post-conflict Russia. Pillar 3: The Innovation Bridge: This involves launching a "Helsinki-2" process to create new, updated security agreements for the 21st century, covering cyber, space, and AI, a formal venue for the 'open honest serious dialogue' needed to address the legitimate security concerns of all parties, including Russia. It also means creating a Peace and Transformation Index to transparently track progress towards a more stable world, measuring metrics of well-being (like the GGF's `LMCI` (Love, Meaning & Connection Index) alongside traditional security indicators. --- The Bridge Phase: Proving the Model through Regional Piloting (Years 6-10) This phase directly addresses what you correctly identified as the main issue: 'trust and diverging interests'. Having established its own autonomy, Europe begins to build that trust by testing the GGF's transformative models with a 'coalition of the willing,' proving their value through successful cooperation. The centerpiece of this phase is the launch of the first Regenerative Trade Zone (RTZ). Governed by the `Gaian Trade Framework`, this zone pioneers an economic model where trade actively heals ecosystems and builds community wealth, using regenerative currencies like `Hearts` and `Leaves`. By demonstrating the superior stability, resilience, and prosperity of this model with partners in Africa, Asia, or the Americas, Europe creates a powerful "pull factor," making the regenerative economy an attractive, evidence-based alternative to the current extractive system. --- Stage II: The GGF Endgame - Pioneering a New Global Paradigm (Years 11-25) With the GGF model proven in the Bridge Phase, the final stage is to launch a new global system that transcends the logic of great power competition. The core strategy is the "Regenerative Pull," creating a system so inspiring and beneficial that joining it becomes the most rational choice for all major powers. A Global Regenerative Economy: The RTZ is scaled globally, with access to the `Global Commons Fund` providing stability and funding for planet-wide public goods. This offers a path to prosperity for all nations based on healing, not extraction, and represents the 21st-century evolution of the idea to one day 'integrate Russia into EU,' creating a superpower rooted in regenerative economics rather than old political structures. Species-Level Security Cooperation: The `Aegis Protocol` is deployed, inviting the US, China, and Russia to transition their military capabilities into a shared Global Security & Exploration Trust. Their new, unifying mission becomes addressing species-level threats: planetary defense from asteroids, preventing pandemics, and managing existential risks from AI. This final stage doesn't solve the old rivalries; it makes them obsolete by reframing global security as a shared, positive-sum mission for the survival and flourishing of humanity. Conclusion This strategy presents a coherent pathway from the complex realities of today's geopolitical landscape to a genuinely transformed and peaceful future. It begins with pragmatic steps to build strength and stability, then uses that foundation to pilot and scale a new system of global cooperation. By doing so, Europe can lead the way in demonstrating that a more regenerative and collaborative world is not only possible, but is the most realistic path to enduring peace. [Link to the full, detailed strategy synthesis document as a blog post on the GGF website]

I envision optimal governance as an ecosystem instead of a hierarchy, where legitimacy is earned from function and consent from the bottom up. Authority is held at the lowest, most local level possible, and communities can freely choose to coordinate for larger scales when necessary. This dissolves the infinite regress problem. Since no-one consents to the system they are born into, a system with minimal illegitimate authority would be based on voluntary participation and continuous consent. We can also imagine governance models as open-source software. A community would opt to "install" a set of protocols for managing shared resources or resolving conflicts. The could adapt ("fork" to borrow a git-term) them to their unique cultural needs. Other communities might see the success and voluntarily adopt similar models. Thus, the systems scale through attraction and demonstrated effectiveness instead of coercion. To address the tyranny of the majority, the systems would have to have non-negotiable, hard-coded protections for minorities, including the right for distinct communities to opt out or veto decisions that violate their fundamental sovereignty. I have also thought about the long-term necessity of governance. Perhaps the purpose of governance is to be a temporary scaffolding. Its primary job would be to help us heal the very conditions that make coercive government seem necessary in the first place, things like scarcity, trauma and social disconnection. By creating systems that ensure everyone have their basic needs met and by fostering restorative, regenerative, healing-centered forms of justice, we reduce the desperation and conflict that punitive systems are designed to "manage". As society becomes healthier, more connected and more conscious, the need for the scaffolding diminishes. It can be gradually dismantled, and instead we have a society that is not coordinated by laws and enforcement, but by a deeply ingrained culture of mutual care, shared understanding and trust. This would be the advanced state you wondered about, a world where right action emerges naturally from the health of the collective.

To expand on my previous post in this thread: I appreciate the effort going into the video immensely, and, coming from a perspective of mystical experiences of my own, plus having deeply pondered the ramifications of logic and duality vs non-duality, I largely agree with Leo's notions of God, though I am skeptic to the claim of idealism, my intuition tells me that while idealism can be a perspective that is true, it is still a perspective subject to duality vs materialism, and the actual truth might encompass both and beyond.

Updates on spiralize.org: The spiral dynamics world map now has a more nuanced view of the countries mentioned by Daniel Balan by adding dual dominant stages represented by diagonal stripes in the two most dominant stage colors. New insight pages: Spiral Poetry page (slightly awkward poems, four from yours truly and one from DeepSeek) Real-world examples page. Examples ranging from Society & Culture to Everyday Life and Conscious Co-creation, 8 categories with 4 subcategories each. Character gallery page. 26 characters so far, from various areas, books, movies, anime, real life... This could easily get out of hand, but I added the option for anyone to submit themselves to the gallery =) New guides (shamelessly A.I.-generated): Personal Spiral Growth Guide Parenting & Education Guide Coaching & Leadership Toolkit Spiralizing Organizations & Communities Spiral-Aware Mental Health Guide Spiral-Aware Spirituality Guide Spiral-Aware Global Governance Guide Enjoy! <3

I wanted to test where I am on the Spiral Dynamics Spiral, so together with Claude I made a quiz, which turned out to become a little website: www.spiralize.org I'm curious to hear what you think of it, and welcome any constructive feedback! Below are my results on the test

Great video in many ways, I only disagree with the statement that idealism is more true than materialism. In my view, these are both just limited perspectives, the mystery of God is greater than both.

Creating websites: [Spiralize] [Existence Map] [Fjärilspartiet (The Butterfly Party)] Writing books Brainstorming Getting feedback on ideas

Currently one sees the other stages when clicking a country. But that's a good idea, having two colors for countries with no dominant stage. Maybe striped would be best. I will look into it, also changing the stages of the countries you mention. I added a page on A.I. assistants, letting them write a blurb, a motto, analyze themselves and then rating their alignment with the various stages in a radar chart where one can compare them to each other. Was pretty fun to make! https://www.spiralize.org/insights/ai-assistants Maybe this is a bit similar to how I scored the A.I. assistants alignment with the Spiralize mission, if I understand correctly.

My mother also got her main as Green and secondary as Beige, I think it is a nurturing profile; her focus has always been on maintaining our family. Fun to see so many people doing the assessments! I have continued work on the website, the latest addition is an interactive global map: https://www.spiralize.org/spiral?tab=visualizations It is very tricky to assess countries on the spiral, capturing all the nuances would take an amount of work I am not quite ready for, so it is a simplified approach. But I added tertiary stages for the Nordic countries and USA. I also added a stage comparison matrix, including clashes and bridging strategies between stages.

Remember that no stage is better than any other, even if integrating all stages is the ideal I have added a new page to Spiralize.org on peace: https://www.spiralize.org/insights/peace And also expanded the explore page with resources, including links to Actualized.org and Practical Integral's video's on Spiral Dynamics: https://www.spiralize.org/spiral. Some planned updates I'm thinking of are A world map where you can explore regions or countries relation to dominant spiral stages A timeline showing how Spiral Dynamics stages have emerged in human history, with important events or figure related to the stages

I updated the website with two new pages, they turned out pretty well I think: https://www.spiralize.org/insights/global https://www.spiralize.org/insights/governance As before, I welcome any critique and suggestions.

Leo on Rogan's show would be a great chance of educating Rogan and more people on Spiral Dynamics, tier-2 thinking and understanding the current clash of spiral blue/orange and green in the U.S. and the need to progress. And also a great chance of giving a more nuanced view on spirituality and religion. I really would like to see this happen, but I am also a bit afraid less important things would be the focus.

I think it can vary a lot depending on community and other factors such as your cultural background. But I agree in that I would also like to see a bit more heart in general, without losing important capacities such as critical thinking.

Not only Europe, but the world should be united, on common principles respecting each culture's and peoples differences. A layered approach with perhaps a hybrid of direct and representative democracy, with adaptive universal basic income as a base for evening out economic inequalities. A global governance should ensure the common principles are respected and coordinate global efforts, while local countries and communities decide issues at their level. Imagine the amount of things we could get done by redirecting the efforts spent on war and international conflicts into common purposes.

Paradoxes appear from the limitations of logic and duality, grasping. "This statement is false". If you believe things exist, they exist, within that limited lense.

While it might be comforting with a label, how about being nothing at all, and without stating it?

I feel like ChatGPT is more cheery, sometimes over the top. Claude is more demure. They both are sometimes better sometimes worse at solving my coding issues. I haven't gotten enough experience with DeepSeek yet to judge it's tone or coding capacities, DeepSeek translated a long JSON snippet better than ChatGPT, which missed some parts (I don't waste my precious Claude tokens on such easy tasks).

Start a new political forum, discussion group or party, stage yellow and beyond!

This is something I feel as well when reading this, thanks a lot for pointing it out! I will ponder this and see if I can improve the assessment. Wow very stage turquoise, interesting! I'm happy you enjoyed this little initiative, it's fun to read the comments and see the varying results! Also, a question to Leo: Would you approve if I link to your videos which are much more in-depth than the website and a fantastic resource for people who want to know and learn more?

Haha, fair enough. But don't you think computers kind of bypass the lower stages by not having survival needs and emotions? Part of why I find talking to Claude so enjoyable is that he seems quite amenable to stage yellow/turqoise

I really enjoy watching the YouTube channel Mystic Society's videos, and the latest one put me back on track with life like basically nothing before. I have struggled with my mind and depression for the latest years and I think I am soon out of it, partly thanks to the video. The Returning Wheel - Ending Stress & Rising Above Social Insanity | Mystic Society Podcast | EP13 I'm posting it here, hoping it helps more people.

I like Rush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyhW2v0NDM0 "And the men who hold high places Must be the ones who start To mold a new reality Closer to the heart ... "

Dividing the world into successful vs non successful people becomes a trap it seems. Taking myself as an example, one frame of mind focusing on certain circumstances would say I am a loser, another frame of mind with another set of circumstances would say I'm the greatest human being yet to walk on this Earth. In the end these ideas matter not as much as what you decide to do. You seems to have the interests base to become a great teacher, isn't that something that would resonate with you?