Life’s learning mechanism is such that as the world around us changes we evolve new bio-psycho-social coping systems. And it’s really evident once you get how it works.
Clare Graves, a research psychologist, mapped the structure of the evolution of human emergence from the time of primitive man into a future beyond his own death. Not only did he explain how we got where we are today, but he offered a logical futuristic look at what will come next.
Graves was no Nostradamus. The ‘predictions’ in the model are not about what will happen but what’s the next logical shift in emergent human coping systems given where we are right now.
Harmonic Emergence is the name we give to what is happening as people evolve through the 3 latter levels of bio-psycho-social shifts that Graves outlined. Here’s a brief lowdown on the Graves’s model and how it can help us understand our current situation and what has to happen for us to truly evolve and emerge into Global Harmony.
Level 1 – Primitive Sole Survival
Once upon a time the earth was populated by primitive man struggling on his own with his mate against the elements on a quest to find, sustenance and shelter, scavenging like wild animals to merely survive. Everyone else was a predator, a competitor or an enemy.
There are still people on this earth who are surviving with this level of coping strategy and some of them are living right here on our streets.
Level 2 – Ritualistic tribal societies
Level 2 of emergence sees our primitive man, motivated by a desire for security and safety, emerging from a solo existence and banding together with others in an interdependent way.
At this level there is a fear of the sacred, spirits, things that are inexplicable and in shared ritual the fears are allayed. The individual contributes his or her skills to the group and feels safe knowing that others will pick him up when he falls, and vice versa.
It is the forming of basic tribe, sharing everything as we learn to trust but with a lack of knowing of how the world works, hence the fear of gods and the unknown.
Level 3 – Rebellion and Me Me Me
Level 3 of emergence is where caring and sharing breaks down where the individuals rise up and question the laws of the tribe or the rules of the family. That individual develops their own identity apart from the tribe and becomes more egotistical, competitive and self centered seeking instant gratification, stuff, land, oil fields. It is the beginning of the ‘private private private’ ‘me me me’ culture.
Level 3 is the culture of ‘greed war’ motivated by a desire to control people and or resources. World War 2 was Hitler’s Greed War. The Iraq War is ours. The level that emerges next, Level 4, is as are all levels of the model, a ‘knock-on’ effect from the previous stage. At Level 4, people band together once again to protect themselves from the rampages of the rape, pillage and greed of Level 3.
Level 4 – Rules, Regulations and Righteousness
Thus we witness the emergence of a ‘rule bound society’ where right and wrong appear crystal clear, the law is respected, extreme levels of behavior are suppressed and frowned upon and people live a structured routine life in their desire to maintain ‘order’ and ‘rightness’. And as it continues order slowly evolves into restriction and rightness becomes righteousness.
This was the kind of psycho-social culture that existed here in America and the UK immediately after World War 2 from the fifties onwards. At it’s healthiest, level 4 thinking helped people recover from the traumas of war and turbulence by providing a structured cradle-like system.
Level 5 – Pioneer Entrepreneurs to Gordon Gecko Grab it all
As the individual begins to feel more bound and limited by the rules and regulations we see the devleopment of material ambition and entrepreneurship. This emergence often occurs from a situation of abundance where resources are rich,the living is easy and it seems as if the world is there for the taking as long as we are crafty, clever and ambitious enough to get to the party early.
Level 5 consciousness also represents the invididual break away from the rule-bound group conformist thinking of level 4.
Level 5 consciousness was epitomized in the Reagan/Thatcher era with their ‘free markets’ ‘self motivation’ and survival of the sharpest. Capitalism was [and still is] the religion, profit is the Promised Land and bankers and lawyers are the holy men. And at it’s most unhealthiest, we are overstuffed with greed, extravagance and workaholism and a technology fest of ‘toys’ and ‘gadgets’ where status takes precedent to utility. And this is for the most part the prevalent paradigm that dominates the US today.
At it’s healthiest level 5 is the emergence of individual entrepreneurship and the ability for humans to break out of a paradigm. And there is hope…
Level 6 – Caring Kindness Our Way
As more and more people start to get that their own riches don’t make them feel any better about world poverty, hunger, poor education and extortionate or non existent health care a more ‘other’ based caring consciousness emerges. This way of thinking slipped in as an anomaly in the hippie era, but sank back into obscurity as it was overtaken by Level 5 More for Me Capitalism.
As we move into a Level 6 consciousness, we notice what devastation we have created in our greed, destroying the natural bounty of the earth. Oceans are polluted from chemical wastes. Food has become toxic from irradiation, chemical fertilizers and genetic modification. The air we breathe is filthy and the water more polluted because we have cut down all our trees. And in our shame we get that we must give back some of what we have taken and so profited from.
Level 6 thinking is what gives birth to free medical clinics, food programs and the ‘green’ movement. The values are more other- considerate and spiritually based. Social responsibility is embraced with almost religious fervor as people rush to start groups, volunteer, give to charity, promote worthy causes, send out petitions and recycle plastic bottles.
We band together with others in internet social groupings such as Facebook and ‘tut-tut’ over films like An Inconvenient Truth, and join and form community and global action groups, like Save the Whales and Replant our forests. There is a revival in in alternative therapies and spiritual movements. And somewhere in all this ‘peace and love’ we get a little lost..
At it’s unhealthiest the level 6 mentality deteriorates into preciousness about ‘my personal cause’ tendency towards a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality with those who don’t join their groups or are not as politically correct as they deem proper.
This is the level of consciousness that has been building in small pockets around the USA. The green movement has become trendy and people talk about eco-this and eco that. And that’s good and there is more. Even as level 6 consciousness expands, something else is cooking behind the scenes.
Level 7 – The Lone Spiritual Warrior
This very different kind of consciousness . Until this level of thinking is reached, all the levels perpetrate a rejection of the previous paradigms. At level 7 there emerges a recognition of each level of development as a part of a vital puzzle for saving the world. It is at this level that the human is able to generate new thinking and radically different ways of living.
At this level we see the emergence of the lone spiritual warriors, moving away from the pack to boldly go where no man or woman has gone before. Level 7 consciousnesses is emerging in tiny pockets from the current world of chaos where resources so abundant at Level 5 and 6 are rapidly depleting and despite well meaning efforts.
There has been an increase in poverty and depravation as we continue to gather resources for the rich few, leaving the poor poorer than ever while we blatantly destroy the earth that harbors us… A need to right the imbalances in the current system is coupled with a strong integrity whereby someone at this level would rather go without than compromise or remain silent when they must speak out. Level 7 consciousness is apparent in those brave individuals who right now are daring to expose the horrendous machinations behind the scenes of corrupt political power through docu-info movies like Zeitgeist, Loose Change and more latterly Food Inc.
Through the appreciation of how technology interacts, the ability to hold different viewpoints and see the relationship between unrelated concepts and a fearlessness in approach to the world and it’s challenges the level 7 consciousness is driven to seek unique and unusual global answers to the problems of our time .
And when the warriors return they begin to evolve into and spread a breed of individual thinking globally aware spiritual warriors, who will lead the way in these troubled times. History tells us that today’s whacko’s are often tomorrows spiritual warriors.
Level 8 – Peaceful, Free Flowing Global Community
These pioneering, innovative, warriors show us new ways of bringing all mankind together in truly global community where there are no boundaries and the land belongs to the people and we are free to roam our planet, treading lightly on her as we enter into a brave new world.
H.E.R.E. – Harmonic Emergence – Return to Earth
Harmonic Emergence is the process of consciousness evolving through the last three levels to true global unity. And this will be the focus of many awakened people in the next few years. And as we do so we embrace the qualities of the previous paradigms including the ability to survive, create a safe environment, seize opportunities, create and follow system-aware rules, be abundant, get things done accept, develop and encourage others and think out of the box.
Return to Earth – When we return to earth, stripped back to basics, living simply we find the inner quietand groundedness necessary for us to put together all the pieces of the puzzle . Like this we harness the best qualities from each evolutionary level to generate a truly innovative global lifestyle where no one goes without and all life exists in symbiotic relationship to all that is. And like that true harmony reigns in the global tribe of We The People,All of Us, One Mankind
RECOMMENDED BOOK
Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change
is the clearest and most comprehensive reference for this model. Not only will you understand why you focus on what you focus on but why others are irritating or why you are beyond all that,.. know who you are, accept it and know that you are evolving… knowing this stuff can speed it up.
© 2009 – 2010, Pierre Soleil. All rights reserved but relaxed Pierre Soleil We like to pass on the word so YOU are welcome to use this document in accordance with the Creative Commons license. That is, you can tweet, facebook, repost, excerpt and even adapt it so long as you don’t pretend it’s yours for commercial purposes
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