Spiralectics- Tom Murray 11.10

AN EXPLORATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL LEVELS:

Tom Murray The Graduate Institute, November, 2010

Embodied Understanding, Uses, And Limitations

SECTION I: INTRO TO DEVELOPMENTAL LEVELS

Q RE the readings (Wilber, Beck, Torbert): What did you learn or find noteworthy? What curiosities, questions, potentials are

alive?

Murray, November 2010 2

THE EXPLANATORY (AND NARRATIVE) POWER OF DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES

US ‘culture wars’ (& what was the sixties?)

Foreign policy with underdeveloped nations

Leadership development and job placement

Giving critical (and supportive) feedback

Convention vs. evolution vs. revolution Pitching ideas to multiple stakeholders Psychological pathologies and

regressions Is humanity, society, or consciousness

evolving?

Predictive (not!) vs. normative vs. meaning-generative models – science vs. narrative (story telling) 3

EVOLUTION OF MIND/CONSCIOUSNESS

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:


Instinctive/Sensate

Magical

Warrior (& Subjugate)/ Mythic

Traditionalist/Believer

Rationalist/Modernist

Pluralistic/Sensitive

Integral/Vision logic

5(From Beck & Cowan figure: see www.spiraldynamics.net)

____ Second Tier: ____

… …

FROM FORMELESSMOUNTAIN.COM 6

Magical

Warrior/Mythic




7

ACTIVITY: QUICK EXAMPLES OF DEVELOPMENTAL “MEME” LEVELS

Purple

Red

Blue

Orange

Green

Create a 30 second play:

“Deciding where to go

out to dinner”


Ego: Ego-centric > Ethnocentric (us/them) > World-centricCulture: Pre-conventional > Conventional > Post-conventionalTruths: Black & White (either/or) > more complex & nuancedPerspectives: Tunnel-vision & short term > larger contexts,

time frames, and ’big picture’ systems


WE INTUITIVELY RANK PEOPLE DEVELOPMENTALLY

People responding to a story about someone breaking a promise:

My dad would get mad. It is bad to break promises. Breaking a promise is

lying. It is fairer to keep promises than to break them. When a parent breaks a promise it teaches the child

to break promises. You should not make promises that you can’t keep. Keeping promises maintains order in society. When you keep a promise, you reaffirm the concept

of mutual trust.


(From Beck & Cowan figure: see www.spiraldynamics.net)

10

Ken Wilber’s Model

13wilber.shambhala.com/.../ excerptD

INTRODUCTION TO DEVELOPMENTAL LINES

Action Logic hasAdditional Level here


16

Instinctive/Sensate

Magical

Warrior (& Subjugate)/ Mythic




Integral/Vision logic

____ Second Tier: ____

… …

“SPIRALECTICS” ACTIVITY

“SPIRALECTICS” ACTIVITY

The activity takes about 2 hours; moves through 6 levels with one or two enactment games of micro-worlds at each. The goal is to experience how developmental levels live inside of us, and reflect on our relationships to each one. The activities bring in both the individual interior and group dynamics for each level. It shows how the needs and values at each level create the conditions for the next. It illustrates not only the progression of values and world-views, but a progression of complexity in cognition, interactions, rules, and role taking.


OVERALL INTENTION: WHAT DID YOU LEARN; WHAT DEEPER INQUIRY IS CALLING YOU; WHERE COULD YOU TAKE IT NEXT?

Post-Activity: Reflection (write and/or draw; work alongside another if you want).

Specific questions:1. Select an area of personal strength, ease, skillfulness, or grace

revealed by the Spiralectics activity.Reflect on how it shows up in your life. How have you used this gift? What practices give you access to it?

2. Select an area of challenge, fear, confusion, stagnation, or blankness revealed in the Spiralectics activity. Reflect on its role in your life. Do specific memories come up? Is anything wanting to shift or transform? What seems in the way? What needs are met and unmet by the current way of being?

3. Think about how you can bring your area of strength or ease in to help with the area of challenge or stagnation. What other forms of support might be available in your life? Is there anyone in this group who you would like to arrange future brainstorming or supportive check-in with?

4. Were there any other themes that seemed 'juicy' or calling for deeper inquiry from the Spiralectics activity?


END OF SECTION 1

Section II: Caveats on Developmental Models – what users should know

Section III: New Age vs. Mythical Thinking (and “post-metaphysics”)

Section IV: What is Second Tier Thought and Culture? – a look at skills and capacities


SECTION II: CAVEATS ON DEVELOPMENTAL MODELS – WHAT USERS SHOULD KNOW


DEV-THEORY CAVEATS/PROBLEMS

Map/territory confusion (its just a model, know its limits)

Dangers of labeling and quick-comparisons of individuals and cultures

People “need” to develop only if their abilities in cognitive/emotional/social/etc. “intelligence” do not meet the demands placed on them by their situation, and they suffer because of lack of capacity.


MOST GROWTH IS HORIZONTAL


DEVELOPMENT OF PRIOR LEVELS

It is usually more important work to create health and mastery at all prior levels than topush on to try to reach the next level. 23

MICRO-TRANSITIONS AT/BETWEEN EACH LEVEL

(From Beck & Cowan’s Spiral Dynamics)

(Mature version)(“Convert” version)

(hold tight…fall apart…)


MEMES AS BELIEFS VS. SKILLS

Is “Mean Green Meme”about belief or skill?

25Murray, November 2010 25

ASYMMETRICAL LINE DEVELOPMENTMODERNIST VS. NATIVE CULTURE: WHICH IS MORE “EVOLVED”?

• Higher is not necessarily better or happier (just more complex)• Do we valorize certain developmental lines and minimize others (“line absolutism”)?

Many developmental lines Many developmental lines


EMOTION AND CONTEXT(PERFORMANCE ≠ COMPETENCE)

Ego & emotion (desire, fear, stress, anger, uncertainty…) play a large role in apparent developmental level

Beware of: high certainty, importance, urgency, exaltation

And regression to Black & white (either/or) thinking Narcissism, group-think, or us-vs-them thinking Reliance on authority; peers & norms “Misplaced concreteness” (ideas as reality)


CONTEXT-FLEXIBILITY & EMOTIONAL DOWNSHIFTING

Green

GreenOrange

Common interpretation

Context-flexibleinterpretation <-- CONTEXT -->

Orange

Most groups can function much higher, regardless of “center of gravity.”Murray, November 2010 28

WEAK AND STRONG LAYERS OF THE ONIONEACH LINE IS LIKE AN ONION; SOME ONION LAYERS MAY BE MORE DEVELOPED

Ego

Emotional

Cognitive

Moral

Social

Time / development


SKILL THEORY: MOST DEVELOPMENTAL “LINES” ARE NOT REAL!


CULTURAL VS. INDIVIDUAL WISDOM

Intelligence and wisdom can be created and stored at the levels of genes/biology, culture, and individuals. Culture A over many generations may have developedwisdom beyond what individuals in culture B know. But, the individuals in culture A mayonly be doing what everyone has done for generations, and not understand the reasons or value of their actions. Such wisdom is stored in the culture, not necessarily in most members.


END OF SECTION II


SECTION III: NEW AGE, MAGICAL, AND METAPHYSICAL THINKING

What criteria do we use to justify what we think is real and true at different developmental levels? Does it make a difference? What’s the difference between what we believe and how we hold a belief?


SOME NEW AGE VS. INTEGRAL BELIEFS

New Age/Cultrl Creative

UFOs and lost ancient advanced civilizations; the healing power of crystals; the earth is a living conscious being (Gaia); we can manifest our wishes through intention alone; astrology, and other prognostication systems; various schools of mystical and occult beliefs; "all you need is love" (and peace); everything is perfect as it is.

New Age & Integral

Channeling and the existence of non-physical beings; ESP and psychic phenomena; intuitions can offer sturdy truths and directives; existence of a soul/spirit (and constructs such as Over-soul, Authentic Self), reincarnation and past lives; synchronicities are real; psychic energy and the chakra system; the reality of collective consciousness and parts of the self such as ego and shadow; all is one.

Integral

The universe is evolving – through us; Eros, Agape, involution, morphogenetic fields, Omega Point; objects/events fit into 4 ontological quadrants (or 8 zones); cultures and people can be categorized in terms of “memes”; there is a non-dual ground of being beyond space, time, energy, matter, and mind.


NEW AGE / GREEN MEME /CULTURAL CREATIVE BELIEFS

We are all one; collective mind We can manifest intentions (The Secret) All you need is love The New Age is a special foretold time in history The earth is a being (Gaia) Crystals etc. have healing energy Divination: I-Ching, Tarot, dowsing, etc. Non-physical beings: channeling, angels, spirits Personality typing: astrology, Myers-Briggs… Intuitions bring sturdy truths, directions Prana/Qi, ‘energy’ through & outside the body

Values: inclusive, ecology, human-rights & potential, freedoms, feelings Tom Murray | www.perspegrity.com | May

201035

How do we argue for what is Real or True?

ACTIVITY: REFLECTIONS ON THINGS SAID TO EXIST

Integral Holon (Collective) consciousness LL, UR…quadrants Green, orange… meme The True, Good, the

Beautiful.. Gross, Subtle, Causal states Subtle energies and

chakras Spirit; Authentic Self Ground of Being; The non-

dual Involution; Eros & Agape Universe is evolving

through us

36

Does it exist? In what way?

How sure are you? How would I

explain/argue for (against) it?

Why is it important for others to believe?

Pick something you have tried unsuccessfully to explain to a colleague or friend


MAGICAL THINKING

Nonliving things have an animate life force; intentions, can hurt & bless

Powerful beings (gods, spirits…) can punish or reward; we are vulnerable

I have the psychic power to effect the world; bless or curse; pray, manifest (omnipotency)

I hear inner messages; I use special objects and rituals to access divinations

Impulses and emotions and power dynamics determine my actions (not abstract ideas or plans)

All is one; boundary-less; we are all connected Wishful thinking (the unwanted is unreal)

Very in touch with imagination; Imagination as reality; subtle phenomena


MAGICAL/MYTHICAL CRITERIA FOR WHAT IS TRUE (AND GOOD)

Authority figures and charismatics Magical or sacred books and objects Social norms, habit, they way it has

been Peer identification; what everyone

does/says My own experience


TO BLUE, ORANGE…o Blue meme: ideals, rules, principles, predictable

patternso Orange meme: systematic, possibilities/probabilities,

logic; rigor, efficiency & perfection drives

o Differentiating/discriminating: Feelings vs. thoughts Interiors vs. exteriors (self reflection) True / Good / Beautiful Self vs. group/culture Belief vs. truth Past/Future

o Statement validity: o observation, repeatability, logico Scientific method


IDEAS AS REALITY“MISPLACED CONCRETENESS” THROUGH DEVELOPMENTAL LEVELS

Magical thinking – imagination as reality

Mythical thinking – stories as reality

Conventional thinking – norms as reality

Modern thinking – concepts/models/abstractions as reality

(Postmodern? – mirror/paradox as reality?)

(Integral?...)

Concepts:- Freedom- The economy- Green meme- Eros- UR quadrant-- …

Whitehead


PROGRESSIVE TO INTEGRAL TRUTHS (ALLOWING POLARITIES) “…ITS MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT…”

We are all one (yes, and…?) All you need is love (what if they don’t agree?) Come together now (but: more complexity) The system must change! (-> creating better

systems) We can do it! (plus reality check) Getting myself together (all about me??) Save the whale/rainforest; eat vegan,

meditate (I’m starving!)


MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

Methodological Pluralism is about dealing with Multiple Perspectives

-- an opening that leads to increased Uncertainty, dissonance, social

vulnerability Which calls for compensating:

More deeply ethical approaches Increased epistemic wisdom


PROBLEMS/PARADOXES OF THEGREEN CULTURAL LEVEL

Inclusive & caring but hates orange, blue ways Ecologically minded & open to new/different but

mistrusts money, hierarchy, systems, rules, logic, power

Egalitarian & sensitive but narcissistic ‘me generation,’ spiritual materialism, sex/drugs/rock’n’roll

Activist & collective but can be stagnant/impotent due to in-fighting, process-orientation, feelings-orientation

Performative contradictions: no theory/perspective is privileged (except this one!)


END OF SECTION III


SECTION IV: WHAT IS SECOND TIER THOUGHT AND CULTURE?

Images illustrating complexity


WISDOM SKILLSFOR SECOND TIER ENACTION

Ego awareness (self/ego/will and being/spirit/essence; "I" dimension)

Relational awareness (emotional/social/ethical/interpersonal intelligence; "We" dimension)

Construct awareness (cognitive; "It" dimension)

Systems awareness ("Its" dimension; context, cognitive capacity RE dynamic systems

and networks of relationships)46Murray, November 2010 46

DEVELOPMENT, DISEQUILIBRIUM AND HUMILITY(AT GREEN MEME MANY OPENINGS THAT BECOME OVERWHELMING—YELLOW ADAPTS TO THESE)

Heart/Empathy: Relationally aware -- opening to the suffering of ever wider circles of relationship

Mind/Cognitive: Construct aware -- foundations of certainty in knowing are shaken

Spirit/Self: Ego aware -- awake to the profound levels of chaos and vulnerability in life

External world: Systems aware – chaos: radical connectivity, unpredictability


ONTOLOGICAL HUMILITY TO EPISTEMIC WISDOM

Ontological Humility: “I don’t know” “I’m not sure” “I was wrong” “what is your

perspective?” My beliefs and perceptions are shaped by my mental

models (biases, world view..) Epistemic Wisdom (..sophistication, awareness…)

From working under uncertainty to working with uncertainty What method/criteria will we use to decide what is true, or

right? How do we anticipate “indeterminacy”?

From: reciting “the map is not the territory” -- to -- what are its limits, assumptions, alternatives?


SPEECH ACTS SHOWING (BASIC) EPISTEMIC WISDOM

I really don't know. But my current best guess is… I have two seemingly opposing thoughts or impulses going on here,

… I was wrong about that. Thanks to your comment I checked it out

and … I felt some frustration and anger upon reading your comment. Let

me try to explain… What assumptions are we making…? Would you be willing to tell me what you think I am saying, as you

understand it? Both perspectives seem valid to me, but in different ways, as

follows…. What is our purpose here? Is our process aligned with it? Would some of you like to start a separate discussion about how we

can make this dialog more productive?


POSITIVISM/CERTAINTY VS. FALLIBILISM/INDETERMINACY

Positivist attitude: clarity, certainty, action knowledge/meaning-generative;

problem solving, theorizing Negative capability: awe,

humility, curiosity Limits of language & knowledge &

method Tolerance for ambiguity, uncertainty,

unknowing Dealing with the above


EPISTEMIC LANGUAGE GAMES

Positivist epistemics: It IS… (foundational, essential, ultimate) It always is/was (eternal, given,

primordial,..)

Negative (epistemic) capability It is as if ; (what if; suspension..) “Chances are”…“as far as we can tell,” To the extent that… (in this context) In this sense/way… (from this perspective)


CERTAINTY & COMMITMENT IN BELIEF & ACTION

52

Ecstatic urgency!

Action (to do)

Stable base for growth

Commitment

Faith: Choose to believe

Epistemic wisdom

to know / not know

Deconstruct for growth

Vulnerability

Suspend beliefMurray, November 2010 52

UNDERSTANDING THE MIND

David Bohm: "underneath [humanity's dilemmas] there's something we don't understand about how thought works" and that what is needed is a "very deep [and] very subtle" awareness of thought itself.

Albert Einstein: "the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

Deeper understanding mind, thought, language, knowledge, belief…=> the (epistemic or) “post-metaphysical turn”


SECOND TIER - GOING “META”(FROM ITC-2008)

Meta-cognition (thinking about thinking) Meta-knowledge (knowledge about the nature and

limitations of knowledge); META-BELIEF! Meta-learning (learning how to learn, also called

triple-loop learning) Meta-dialog (dialog about how we engage in dialog) Meta-decision making (making decisions about

how we will go about making decisions) Meta-affect (investigating the feeling of our

feelings; somatic awareness of feeling states) Meta-leadership (supporting leadership in others)


PERSPECTIVE-TAKING THROUGHDEVELOPMENTAL LEVELS

Formal-op/OrangeMultiple verifiable data sources;> collect, analyze> find the/best truth> (quality, rigor)• suspend judgment• consider possibilities• control uncertainty+ skeptical of traditional authority and ‘common sense’

Inclusive/GreenMultiple opinions, values, world-views;> empathize & understand

> Many/no ‘truths’> (authentic, fair)• avoid judgment• include everyone• thrashing in uncertny+ skeptical of experts and all authority and leadership

2nd Tier/IntegralSystems, systemic;

> Nature of: mind, ego, ‘truth,’ knowledge, belief, power, dialog…> (truth about truth)

• balance reason, emotion, intuition…• work with uncertnty+ skeptical of ego, method, skepticism?


THANKS!…

[email protected] | www.tommurray.us

END OF SECTION IV

….…


FRIDAY EVE – BOHM DIALOG & U-THEORY


FIVE PART CONVERSATION TOCHOOSE A TOPIC FOR EXTENDED DIALOG

“U” dialog #1 … in 15 minutes

Brainstorm Group reflections Silence (guided mediation) Bohm dialog Summary and reflection


FOUR QUADRANT CONTEMPLATION

(it) Sensation; 5 senses & interior (its) Physical environment (I) Thoughts, intentions, (we) Group sense


AWARENESS OF THOUGHT ITSELF

David Bohm: …a pervasive incoherence in the

process of human thought is the essential cause of the endless crises affecting mankind…

underneath [humanity's dilemmas] there's something we don't understand about how thought works" and that what is needed is a "very deep [and] very subtle awareness of thought itself.


BOHM “ON DIALOGUE”

Dialogue is a powerful means of understanding how thought functions. [One becomes] aware that we live in a world produced almost entirely by human enterprise and thus, by human thought.

In Dialogue, a group of people can explore the individual and collective presuppositions, ideas, beliefs, and feelings that subtly control their interactions. It provides an opportunity to participate in a process that displays communication successes and failures. It can reveal the often puzzling patterns of incoherence that lead the group to avoid certain issues or, on the other hand, to insist, against all reason, on standing and defending opinions about particular issues.

Dialogue is a way of observing, collectively, how hidden values and intentions can control our behavior, and how unnoticed cultural differences can clash without our realizing what is occurring. It can therefore be seen as an arena in which collective learning takes place and out of which a sense of increased harmony, fellowship and creativity can arise.


BOHM DIALOG

Thought habits determine our reality Thought is more collective than individual;

more unconscious than conscious Problem with fragmentation (vs. wholeness) Dialog vs. debate Understand thought by witnessing our own Power of coherence of thought Impersonal fellowship The group as a collective consciousness is

meditating; aware of itselfMurray, November 2010 63

BOHM/INSIGHT DIALOG GUIDELINES

Suspend and reflect on thoughts and feelings Observe assumptions, judgments, reactivity,

desires, impulses, sensations (“proprioception”) Listen deeply; soften to allow many

perspectives; suspend certainty Feel into the whole; the context beyond yourself Slow down, enjoy silence: decide to speak or

not; trust emergence Usually: speak to the center or group and avoid

two-person dialogs Speak your simple truth in this moment


“U” DIALOG #2

Brainstorm Group reflections Silence (guided mediation) Bohm dialog Summary and reflection


U-THEORY – OTTO SCHARMER


U-THEORY – OTTO SCHARMER


END – FRIDAY SECTION

….…


A FEW EXTRA SLIDES…


A HEURISTIC SPECTRUMOF DEVELOPMENTAL NARRATIVES

70

Beliefs &World Views

Skills &Capacities

WHAT one believes HOW one believes/thinks

What on does/can DO

(Values, Identity,) (Virtues, Habits)


SOME PROBLEMS WITH DEVELOPMENT AS A WORLDVIEW OR BELIEF SYSTEM Beliefs: perspectival, culturally bound,

fallible Attached to identity and support in/out group Beliefs can “clash” in struggles of power and

identity; skills are “cognitive tools” Beliefs-systems can be ideologies/dogmas

(manipulation/misconception/misuse) Charismatic propaganda, peer pressure

(inculcation/adoption vs. teaching/learning)


THE VALUE OF BELIEF SYSTEMS

Motivation, intention, vision!

…when and why to USE skills/capacities

Power of story, myth, narrative

Shared world-view

Synergetic action, solidarity, meaning-generation

Stable base for new levels of cultural evolution

Need shared beliefs (community) to create skills(?)


INTEGRAL & POST-METAPHYSICAL INJUNCTIONS

>> TOWARD CONSTRUCT AWARENESS <<

Don’t confuse map with territoryAvoid the Myth of the Given

Beliefs are perspectives:

“Things are getting better”“Things are getting worse”“Things are always perfect”

73

Belie

f …. S

kill

}Murray, November 2010 73

INTEGRAL POST-METAPHYSICS

Kosmic address: altitude + perspective (of S,O)

Who x How x What Who: adequatio (developmental level(s) of

perceiver) How: method / tool; relationship of S,O;

zone What: quadrant (I,we,it,its)

74

the dog, Santa Claus, √-1, Emptiness, ecosystem,…- where/how do the referents to these signifiers exists?- “ecosystems exist only in a worldspace of turquoise or higher”


INTERDEPENDENT MODES OF STATEMENT JUSTIFICATION/CRITIQUE

First hand experience Deep intuition (or gut feeling) Most people (peers in my group) believe it Support of experts/authorities

Reasonable assumptions/bases/premises Logical inference (supporting truth) It is ethically right It is pragmatically useful (it works) Consistent with other knowledge Trusted sources (journal, NPR, etc.) I used a trusted method Aesthetic or elegant


IMP’S PRIMORDIAL PERSPECTIVES/ZONES


FROM COOK-GREUTER


WHEN MORALITY OPPOSES JUSTICE: CONSERVATIVES HAVE MORAL INTUITIONS THAT LIBERALS MAY NOT RECOGNIZE –HAIDT & GRAHAM

Five foundations for morality


Haidt--Liberals 2 channels, Conservatives 5En

dors

emen

t

Harm

Fairness

IngroupAuthority

Purity


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