RoninWolf

The potentially counter-intuitive nature of propagating tier 2

3 posts in this topic

I'm almost finished reading Ken Wilber's "Theory of Everything", and for the last few chapters this has been on my mind. Wilber speaks of green's desire to destroy blue at any cost, which, without knowing, is self-sabotaging (as it cuts those in that level and below off from reaching Green); but in teaching tier one thinkers the model of spiral dynamics, are we not doing something similar? If integral thinking is introduced prematurely, I wonder if this would interrupt the natural progression through first tier stages where pluralist, rational etc worldviews are supposed to be present in a pre-integral framework. If we are supposed to progress through each stage naturally and absorb the entirety of its content, is yellow any different? If, for example, (somehow) a racist stage blue person suddenly understood and embraced spiral dynamics completely, he would no longer have any reason to be prejudiced to different races or cultures. Is this even possible before green? Whatever the answer, this person will have begun thinking in stage yellow without having even set foot in either orange or green. This is undoubtedly unhealthy for the spiral. While resources on various models of cognitive development and internal theory are freely available online, these are mostly relegated to upper class academia and those of us deeply interested in self-actualization. Still though, I'm sure many of us have had an influence on some friends and family with our talks of spiral dynamics. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you for reading.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's about minimizing the toxic and unhealthy aspects of the lower stages. The healthy aspects should be encouraged.

Squashing entire stages wholesale is itself dysfunctional and not Tier 2.

Think of it like good parenting. You want to encourage the child to be free and pursue their passions, but you need to also minimize toxic and excessive behavior like hitting other kids.


You are God. You are Truth. You are Love. You are Infinity.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In my experiences with friends whom I told about the model, for those in stages below Yellow the model didn't stick. It simply went in one ear and out the other. So, my hypothesis would be that being in stages below highish-Green the value of Spiral Dynamics can't really be comprehended. In this way, only individuals in Yellow will seriously accept & integrate the model into their thinking. Imo Blue doesn't have the structural capacity to run Spiral Dynamics-Software, 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now