Spiral Dynamics

"...

Spiral Dynamics® [is a] meta-model ("a model about other models") of evolving perceptual, thinking and values systems within people, groups, organizations, nations and subcultures.

This research originally derived from the psychologist

Clare W. Graves, and has been spearheaded by two students,

Dr. Don Beck and

Chris Cowan....The best source for this meta-model, while not a "quick" read (which the authors admit), is Beck and Cowan's book

Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996)...

There are several other Gravesian interpretations around, notably by Jenny Wade and an introductory overview that discusses more "real-world" applications within Ken Wilber's "Wilber-4" model (I always advise people to utilize Beck and Cowan's book first, to appreciate SD's full scope). A

mini-course was recently posted in Adobe Acrobat PDF, by Chris Cowan and Natasha Todorovic, his colleague.

Spiral Dynamics® has also been featured at the

World Future Society conclave, and has been successfully applied within Fortune 500 companies, to resolve geopolitical crises (such as South Africa's transition to a post-apartheid society), sporting teams, and to revitalize local communities."

Clare Graves original stages

It is worth giving these, as they have been rather radically re-interpreted by Don Beck and Ken Wilber, and to a lesser extent Chris Cowan (Cowan, who co-founded the popular colur system and vMemes terminology with Beck, has since broken from Don Beck, and

strongly disagrees with Beck and Wilber's use of the Spiral Dynamics Model, and supports a more traditional, Gravesian interpretation)

Spiral Dynamic stages according to Clare Graves (I can't recall where I got these and the other images here from).

Note that Graves' interpretation is far more subtle and profound then that of Beck, Cowan, or Wilber. But being more profound it is harder to understand, and hence the simpler interpretations become more widely known. Moreover, the interpretations become increasingly simpler and less nauanced with each iteration. Basically, Beck and Cowan focus only on a spiral of vertical developmental systems, and apply it to business management and social development. Steve McIntosh also focuses mostly on a Beck style developmental spiral of stages, which, although useful (as is the work of Wilber and others) does not convey the full nuanced depth of Graves work. Finally, after an original flirtation with Spiral Dynamics, Wilber - who has almost certainly not read any of Graves original work - flattens the whole system into a one dimensional altitude scale.

Spiral Dynamics Stages according to Beck and Cowan

Don Beck and Chris Cowan greatly simplified Clare Graves original model, changing it from a profound and truly integral system of human development and self-transformation to a single developmental series, with applications for business management and a curiously archaic model of socio-cultural evolution. They also introduced - purely as a mnemonic system - a simple colour-coding system, with warm colours representing the extrovertive tendency of development in the world, and cool coulurs introvertive self-transformation. Actually Beck and Cowan showed suprising intuitive sensitivity in their choice of colours, as they for the most part very closely match Christopher Hills Rainbow Chakra typology. This isn't the case with Wilber's post-Spiral Dynamics altitude spectrum.

It is unfortunate that this useful system has been so abused, especially to attack critics of Beck and Wilber, who are denigrated by being placed in the green category. It is hpowever wotrth pointing out that one of the two main advocates pof Spiral Dynamics - Chris Cowan - strongly disputes his former co-worker ion this matter, and rejects both the hierarchical and elitist interpretation of "tiers" and the idea of a "mean green meme" championed by both Beck and Wilber.

In the following pages, each of the eight stages are described in a little detail, along with comments.

Tiers and Stages interpreted by Wilber

One thing Wilber contributed to regarding Spiral Dynamics, and Beck incorporated, is the theory of quadrants, or four primary perspectives. While stifling if taken too literally, and containing various shortcomings, it still provides an additional perspective. The following shows the Tiers and Stages interpreted by Wilber according to his AQAL model. Note that this colour scheme has since been replaced by a simple spectrum, but the descriptions would remain the same.

Comparison between Wilber, Beck & Cowan, and myself

table and references by Frank Visser. These refers to the developmental stages only; for the sake of fun I added my own stages :-)

WILBER	SD	This site
nondual	"fourth tier"	Realisation
transpersonal	"third tier"	Esoteric
existential	second tier	holistic
(pre)personal	first tier	Egocentric, Ethnocentric, etc

" S E C O N D T I E R "
Centauric Late vision logic	TURQUOISE, GlobalView Holistic/Experiential	Experientialistic Existence Second Being Level
Centauric Middle vision logic	YELLOW, FlexFlow Systemic/Integrative	Cognitive Existence First Being Level
" F I R S T T I E R "
Centauric Early vision logic	GREEN, HumanBond Relativistic/Sociocentric	Personalistic Existence Fifth Subsistence Level
Mental-egoic	ORANGE, StriveDrive Materialistic/Achiever	Materialistic Existence Fifth Subsistence Level
Mythic-membership	BLUE, TruthForce Absolutistic/Saintly	Saintly Existence Fourth Substence Level
Magic-typhonic	RED, PowerGods Egocentric/Exploitative	Egocentric Existence Third Subsistence Level
Magic-typhonic	PURPLE, KinSpirits Animistic/Tribalistic	Tribalistic Existence Second Subsistence Level
Archaic-uroboric	BEIGE, SurvivalSense Automatic/Instinctive	Automatic existence First Subsistence Level
KEN WILBER¹	BECK/COWAN²	CLARE GRAVES³

1) K. Wilber,

Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy, Shambhala, 2000.
2) E. Beck & C. Cowan, Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change, Blackwell Business, 1996.
3) C. Graves,

"Human Nature Prepares for a Momentous Leap", The Futurist, April 1974, pp. 72-87.

note on the above: Spiral Dynamics does not include Third Tier, which is Wilber's term. As far as I know, Wilber does not use the term "fourth tier". In a paper submitted to the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, I argue that gnosis and esotericism proper constitutes "third tier". I would then include Realiztion as "fourth tier" (although this isn't mentioned in the article), although use of "tier" in this case becomes problematic. Therefore I refer to "stages of transformation". I have included my equivalent stages in the table provided by Frank Visser. Although Frank includes Clare Graves name and a reference on his original page, as mentioned above, the current interpretation of Spiral Dynamics developmental levels seems to have little to do with his work, apart from the idea of progressive developmental stages. Continuing to invoke his name in this context, as Wilberians do, reminds me of Christians who invoke the name of Jesus although their current belief system and ethos has really very little if anything to do with the teachings of the original historical Jesus.

I cannot but feel that current Integral Theory would be greatly enriched if Graves' subtle insights were incorporated alongside those of Wilber. It would also help to displace the unfornuate Wilbocentric bias of the current Integral movement with a less monolithic, more multidimensional and multi-perspectival approach.

Books

Spiral Dynamics : Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change by

Don Beck and

Chris Cowan, Blackwell, 1996. Shifts the emphasis from Clare Graves' original profound psycho-socio-ecological model of human development to one more limited to business management. Introduces the vMEMES colour classification. Extremely influential within the Mainstream Integral Movement, mainly via Wilber's A Theory of Everything, published several years later.

Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution by

Steve McIntosh, 2007, Paragon Press. The third of the trilogy of Integralist works on this subject. McIntosh draws from Wilber, Beck, Teilhard, and Whitehead, and focuses mostly on a Beck style developmental spiral of stages, which, although useful (as is the work of Wilber and others) does not convey the full nuanced depth of Graves work. . The book serves not only as a primer for mainstream Integralism, but also provides a detailed but readable account of psycho-social developmental stages (I myself find this widely used linear model of psycho-social evolution a bit simplistic, but it is still useful regarding understanding these archetypes), discussing the use of metaphysics in integral theory, integrating the spiral with a novel application of lines of development. (Will, Thought, and Feeling, the same three as used by Rudolf Steiner, but it seems independently arrived at), and being the first work to seriously

apply Integralist ideas to world government. This latter itself is not too far from, even if not as disciplined as, Plato's Republic with its admirable concept of rule by enlightened philosophers; the only difference being that the Republic would be ruled from a "third tier" rather than a "second tier" level of consciousness - see tiers table for difference).

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