Life’s Dynamic Spiral
a Brief Introduction to SDi (Spiral Dynamics Integral)
by Rosemary Wilkie
With the best will in the world, it is sometimes hard to understand why people think the way they do. How can she believe this? How can he think that? They must be mad, bad or very stupid . . . . Ring a bell?
I had the same problem until I discovered SDi, the result of rigorous academic research begun sixty years ago in the US by Professor Graves, a friend of Maslow’s, and continued by Dr Don Beck. They were determined to find out why people see the world so differently, why some change and some don’t, and why they react in such varied ways to physical, emotional and social challenges.
Firstly, psychology is a process. Human nature is not fixed – as our life conditions change, our thinking can evolve to handle new and more complex problems.
Every baby as it grows recapitulates human cultural history. Individuals, organisations and civilisations all go through the same progressive stages. Each stage is a container for our values, beliefs and way of thinking. It attracts some and repels others. We are so immersed in the one we inhabit that we are not usually aware of it.
Most major conflicts stem from clashes between different ways of thinking, so once we learn to recognise these, we have the key to resolving disputes.
The stages have been allocated colours for easier comprehension.
BEIGE. Survival, existing in a dependent state. Babies, street people, refugees.
PURPLE: Parental bonding: crucial for healthy development of children. And tribal life: banding together for safety, sharing food, obeying the chief, and worshipping as gods natural forces outside our control.
RED: When Purple begins to feel stifling, we think ‘what about me?’ and assert ourselves ruthlessly. This is the ‘terrible twos’ of childhood and the worlds of warlords, James Bond villains and street gangs. Instant gratification, no sense of guilt, no thought of consequences. Any failure is someone else’s fault. When thwarted our rage is excessive – a child’s tantrum or a Colonel Gadaffi. Yet Red is also very creative, gets things done, and inspires heroic acts.
BLUE: When we become desperate for order to replace anarchy, and a reason for our suffering, we find it in a Blue movement that may be nationalistic, religious or political. Absolute rules and laws, obey or be punished, strict hierarchy, all sacrificing for the common good. Good versus evil, faithful versus unbelievers. We learn guilt, delayed gratification, the difference between right and wrong, that actions have consequences and that others have rights. The discipline of Blue – in family, good school or the army for instance – enables us to learn self-discipline, Many law-abiding people with a Blue mindset provide stability and order in our society.
ORANGE: Eventually, having mastered that collective world, we again think, ‘what about me?’ and seek better ways of doing things. Tired of waiting for future reward in heaven, we compete to create the good life for ourselves here and now and reward success. This is the mindset that has enabled the growth of materialism and new technology. We can now keep track of multiple interests. We are independent and in control of our own lives. The child has grown up and is earning a living.
GREEN: Eventually we notice the downside of Orange: the waste, the disastrous effect of economic ‘progress’ on the environment, and realise that money can’t buy happiness. We campaign to save whales and the rain forests, build charities to help the starving and under-privileged, and turn inwards to rediscover non-denominational spirituality.
Each step above represents new thinking for new times. Transcending and including what has gone before.
Beige, Purple, Red, Blue, Orange and Green form the First Tier of the evolution of consciousness. People immersed in the beliefs, habits and customs of one of these cannot understand the thinking of those in other first tier stages.
For example: the peasant clearing a patch of rain forest thinks of feeding his family, the buyer of his cows fights to keep his job, the corporation that employs him thinks of its profits, westerners campaigning to preserve the rain forest worry about global warming and the future of the planet. Different life conditions. Different ways of thinking
So how can we learn to understand each other?
By shifting up to Second Tier, starting with Yellow and Turquoise, and gaining the broad perspective that enable us to understand all the First Tier stages. This shift is momentous and few have achieved it so far – meditation and observing the stages in the world around us will help. We can then understand how everything fits together in the great spiral of life, and see for example why we cannot impose democracy on a tribal society. Instead we must help people everywhere evolve to what is the next stage for them.
These are challenging times, with wars and terrorism arising endlessly between peoples with conflicting values and belief systems. We are being forced to question everything we took for granted and at the same time expand our awareness to the entire world. As Einstein said, problems cannot be solved using the same level of thinking that created them.
There is a great deal more to SDi than this brief introduction. There are links to longer articles on my website: www.rosemarywilkie.co.uk that will help you to see yourself and those around you with greater clarity and compassion, and to gain profound insight into the challenges of life in the twenty-first century.
Copyright Rosemary Wilkie 2011
Author and Senior Practitioner of Spiral Dynamics Integral
www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wilkiebooks.
DID YOU RECOGNISE YOURSELF?
First Tier
BEIGE. Do what you must to survive.
PURPLE. Your tribe comes first, before job or partner.
RED. Do what you want regardless of others, and demand respect.
BLUE. You are committed to a school of thought or politics for which you sacrifice your personal interests.
ORANGE. Act in your own self-interest, taking risks and playing to win.
GREEN. You seek peace, protect victims, care for the environment, foster communities and reach decisions through concensus.
Second Tier
YELLOW. Live fully and responsibly. Global awareness.
TURQUOISE. Experience yourself as both distinct and part of a larger, compassionate whole.
