@Ya know I don't take spiral dynamics for granted. Seeing your question has clicked an insight for me. So I want you to entertain that Spiral Dynamics is false, or that it contains some lies.*  Now with that openness in mind, consider what was emperically looked at, what was conceptually looked at, to formulate those different stages. Consider each stage.    This next point is also very important. I'll be stating the obvious, in case it isn't obvious to someone.  Consider the myriad of associations, images and memes you associate to each colour. If we take as our starting point that no single model/representation contains the truth, what we can do is consider the myriad of associations and other images/ideas that we are reminded of. We consider the associations because we understand that singular models as, at best, being like a 2D Snapshot of a 3D object.  In summary, by not assuming the model is true, you start to see what they're trying to talk about better. [Insert further faggy ramblings about shadows and plato caves]  -- So the forces of "purple" and "red". What was studied to form those memes? What's that associated with? Primal shit, biological human nature. Anyone who's ever done any shadow work, delved into their psyche, knows that man is inherently instinctual and primal.    *The lie then comes in treating different stages as qualititivaly equal in essence. They are not equal at all, and I laugh if you think they are.  The higher up you go the spiral, the more abstracted it is. The higher up you go, you end up talking more about particular ideologies, learned conceptual systems of behaviour, as opposed to the ultimate/general realities about the fundamental principles behind human behaviour and the psyche.  The higher stages are more phantom-like in substance, simply because they are more abstracted.