Do you believe in levels of consciousness?

Loudzoo wrote: I posted the following in my degree journal but not many people can see it there, so I thought I'd throw it on here. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as it is long and will take effort to understand!! Its also a work in progress so don't hold back on criticism

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Developmental psychologists have identified numerous features of an individual’s consciousness, such as cognition (what one is aware of), values (what one considers most important), and identity (how one self-identifies, and how others identify you). These features of consciousness develop through recognizable stages, each stage revealing a markedly different understanding of the world. The following is heavily based on this: https://integralwithoutborders.net/sites/default/files/resources/Overview%20of%20Developmental%20Levels.pdf

This is going to be a long [...] and all I ask is that people read it thoroughly before commenting or judging it. If that means that nobody comments, then fair enough! However, I believe this analysis can be a powerful tool in understanding why the Temple suffers from the drama it does. The analysis provides a crude map to navigate the level of consciousness that we, and anyone else may be operating at – at any given time. Once we can identify a level of consciousness from which a comment is made, or a forum post originates, perhaps we can respond more appropriately and more constructively.

If we are to be sincere in our study, and in our wish to understand ourselves and other people better, then an hour or two spent considering this work is a small price to pay.
Described below are eight stages of consciousness as understood through research about the unfolding development of values and identity. There are other developmental lines besides the values and identity lines selected here; however, these are two of the most important. Each stage of consciousness is identified with a colour, for easy reference.
It is important to recognize that these “stages” are not strict levels, like rungs on a ladder. They are more like loosely delineated areas along a spectrum of development. Thus, a stage is more like a probability wave than a concrete level of consciousness.

Its also important to realise that an individual can operate at multiple levels at the same time and can move across the spectrum through choice, practice, or through reaction to environmental stimuli.

The stages below are divided into egocentric stages (Infrared, Magenta, and Red), ethnocentric (Amber), worldcentric (Orange and Green), and cosmocentric stages (Teal, Turquoise, and Indigo).

Before we start, a few health warnings:
- Later stages are not necessarily ‘better’ or more effective at dealing with what existence throws at us
- Society, until it fully evolves, probably ‘needs’ people to operate at different stages to function effectively
- Those who typically operate at a ‘later’ stage should not look down on those typically living on an ‘earlier’ stage. Rather, those at a later stage often rely on those at an earlier stage
- Earlier stages of consciousness are not completely discarded at later levels of consciousness, rather they should be integrated
- There is significant diversity in how consciousness manifests in behaviour at any given stage which is moderated by personality type, education, culture, age, experience, competence etc
- This analysis is far from complete or perfect. It can and should be improved on.
- People typically self-identify 1-2 stages later than they actually are!

Loudzoo wrote: EGOCENTRIC STAGES

The Infrared Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Staying alive.

Basic theme: Do what you must just to stay alive

What’s important: food, water, shelter, warmth, intimacy, and safety; the use of habits and instincts for survival
Where seen: early humans and other hominids; some animals, new born infants; senile elderly; late-stage Alzheimer’s victims; certain mentally illnesses; victims of war, natural disaster etc; Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear

Method: Scavenge what you need

Identity: The Instinctive Self

Age: 0 – 1.5 years

Description: The self is undifferentiated, meaning that it cannot take a perspective on itself and the other is seen as fused with—or not distinct from—the self. Adults at this stage are may be pre- or nonverbal and often institutionalized or completely dependent on the protection and care of others.

How influences others: Engenders pity and caring behaviours in others

Pitfalls: desperation, destruction, psychological pathologies

The Magenta Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Safety and security.

Basic theme: Keep the spirits / gods happy and the ‘tribe’ warm and safe

What’s important: allegiance to chief, elders, ancestors, and the clan; obeying the desires of spirit beings and mystical signs; preserving sacred objects, places, events, and memories; rites of passage, seasonal cycles, and tribal customs; kinship and lineage

Where seen: Belief in voodoo-like curses and good-luck charms; family rituals; ancient grudges; magical ethnic beliefs and superstitions; strong in some less developed countries, gangs, sports teams, and corporate ‘tribes’

Method: Petition to Spirits, Gods or Powers with ritual

Identity: Magic / Anamistic Self

Age: 1-3 years

Main focus: safety and gratification of basic needs; following one’s impulses

Description: Often found in very young children, who are governed by their impulses; adults at this stage have an inadequate conception of the complexities of life and may easily feel confused and overwhelmed; have an expedient morality (actions are only bad if one is caught)

How influences others: Temper tantrums, taking (stealing) what they want, withdrawal

Pitfalls: tribal conflicts, narcissism, omnipotent fantasy


The Red Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Power and action.

Basic theme: Be what you are and do what you want, regardless

What’s important: Power, spontaneity, heroism, immediate gratification; standing tall, calling the shots, receiving respect, and getting attention; being daring, impulsive, and enjoying oneself without regret; conquering, outsmarting, dominating

Where seen: The ‘terrible twos’; rebellious youth; frontier mentalities; feudal kingdoms; epic heroes; wild rock stars; gang leaders; soldiers of fortune, the Sith?

Method: align with power, take what you need, power over others, force, violence

Identity: The Power Self

Age: 3 – 6 years

Main focus: Own immediate needs, opportunities, self-protection

Description: First step toward self-control of impulses; sense of vulnerability and guardedness; fight/flight response is very strong; very attack-oriented and win/lose in nature; short-term horizon; focus on concrete things and personal advantage; sees rules as loss of freedom; feedback heard as an attack

How influences others: Takes matter into own hands, coerces, wins fight

Pitfalls: gangs, anxiety, depression, phobias, bullying, terrorism

Loudzoo wrote: ETHNOCENTRIC STAGE

The Amber Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Stability and purposeful life.

Basic theme: Life has meaning, direction, and purpose with predetermined outcomes

What’s important: Sacrificing self for a transcendent Cause, (secular or religious) Truth, Mission, future reward; laws, regulations, and rules; discipline, character, duty, honour, justice, and moral fibre; righteous living; controlling impulsivity through guilt; following absolutistic principles of right and wrong, black and white; being faithful, maintaining order and harmony; one right way to think/do; convention, conformity

Where seen:Puritan America, Confucian China, Dickensian England, Singapore discipline; totalitarianism; codes of chivalry and honour; charitable good deeds; religious fundamentalism (e.g., Christian and Islamic); “moral majority”; patriotism

Method: Fit-in, follow rules, don’t exceed rules, discipline, faith

Identity: Rule / Role Self

Age: 7-8 years

Main focus: Socially expected behaviour, approval

Qualities: Emergence of capacity to see and respond to what others want; self-identity defined by relationship to group, whose values impart strong sense of “shoulds” and “oughts”; values that differ from one’s own are denigrated or avoided; conform to norms of whatever group they want to belong to (including gangs and peer-groups); avoid inner and outer conflict; think in simple terms and speak in generalities and platitudes; attend to social welfare of own group; “us vs. them” mentality; feedback heard as personal disapproval

How influences others: Enforces existing social norms, encourages, cajoles, requires conformity with protocol to get others to follow

Pitfalls: archetypal role identification, script pathology, literal interpretation, fundamentalism, fascism

Loudzoo wrote: WORLDCENTRIC STAGES

The Orange Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Success and autonomy.

Basic theme: Act in your own self-interest by playing the game to win

What’s important: Progress, prosperity, optimism, and self-reliance; strategy, risk-taking, and competitiveness; goals, leverage, professional development, and mastery; rationality, objectivism, demonstrated results, technology, and the power of science; use of the earth’s resources to spread the abundant “good life”; advance by learning nature’s secrets and seeking the best solutions

Where seen: The Enlightenment; Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged; Wall Street; emerging middle classes around the world; colonialism, political gamesmanship; sales and marketing field; fashion and cosmetics industries; Chambers of Commerce; the Cold War; materialism; The Riviera, Rodeo Drive

Method: science, learn to excel, set goals, measure success

Self-Identity: The Rational Self

Age: 9 - 14 years

Main focus: Delivery of results, effectiveness, goals; success within the system

Qualities: Primary elements of adult “conscience” are present, including long-term goals, ability for self-criticism, and a deeper sense of responsibility. Interested in causes, reasons, consequences, and the effective use of time; future-oriented and proactive; initiator rather than pawn of system; blind to subjectivity behind objectivity; feel guilt when not meeting own standards or goals; behavioural feedback accepted

How influences others: Provides logical argument, data, experience; makes task/goal-oriented contractual agreements

Pitfalls: scientism, identity crisis, consumerism, ecological crisis, workaholism, goal-fixation, denial of spirit

The Green Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Community harmony and equality.

Basic theme: Seek peace within the inner self and explore, with others, the caring dimensions of community

What’s important: Sensitivity to others and the environment; feelings and caring (in response to the cold rationality of Orange); harmony and equality; reconciliation, consensus, dialogue, participation, relationships, and networking; human development, bonding and spirituality; diversity and multiculturalism; relativism and pluralism; freeing the human spirit from greed, dogma, and divisiveness; distributing the earth’s resources and opportunities equally among all

Where seen: Frequently visible in the helping professions (e.g., health care, education, and feelings-oriented business activities); John Lennon’s Imagine; Netherlands’ idealism; sensitivity training; cooperative inquiry; postmodernism; politically correct; human rights and diversity issues

Methods: appreciate diverse views, listen well, consensus, emphasize group needs, aim to marginalise nobody

Identity: The Sensitive Self

Age: 15 – 21 years

Main focus: Self in relation to the system and in interaction with the system

Qualities: Makes decisions based upon their own view of reality; aware that interpreting reality “always depends on the position of the observer”; more tolerant of oneself and others due to awareness of life’s complexity and individual differences; questions old identities; more interested in personal accomplishments independent of socially sanctioned rewards; increased understanding of complexity, systemic connections, and unintended effects of actions; begins to question own assumptions and those of others; talks of interpretations rather than truth; systematic problem solving; begins to seek out and value feedback

How influences others: Adapts (ignores) rules when needed, or invents new ones; discusses issues and airs differences

Pitfalls: nihilism, inauthenticity, excessive relativism, lack of discernment, endless consensus, lack of irony, can easily be reverted to Red Stage when provoked

Loudzoo wrote: COSMOCENTRIC STAGES

The Teal Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Qualities and responsibilities of being.

Basic theme: Live fully and responsibly as what you are and learn to become

What’s important: The magnificence of existence (over material possessions); flexibility, spontaneity, and functionality; knowledge and competency (over rank, power, status); the integration of differences into interdependent, natural flows; complementing egalitarianism with natural hierarchies of experience and competence; recognition of overlapping dynamic systems and natural hierarchies in any context

Where seen: Peter Senge’s organizations; W. Edward Deming’s objectives; Stephen Hawking’s Brief History of Time; chaos and complexity theories; eco-industrial parks (using each other’s outflows as raw materials)

Methods: Introspection, Contemplation, integration of diversity with discernment, informed action

Identity: Integral Self

Age: any

Main focus: Linking theory and principles with practice; dynamic systems interactions

Qualities: Comprehends multiple interconnected systems of relationships and processes; able to deal with conflicting needs and duties in constantly shifting contexts; recognizes the need for autonomy while parts of a system are interdependent; recognizes higher principles, social construction of reality, complexity and interrelationships; problem identifying, not just creative problem solving; aware of paradox and contradiction in system and self; sensitive to unique market niches, historical moment, larger social movements; creates “positive-sum” games; aware of own power (and perhaps tempted by it); seeks feedback from others and environment as vital for growth and making sense of world.

How influences others: Leads in reframing, reinterpreting situation so that decisions support overall principle, strategy, integrity, and foresight

Pitfalls: aborted self-actualisation, existential angst, bad faith, low energy

The Turquoise Stage of Consciousness

Values

Bottom line: Global order and renewal.

Basic theme: Experience the wholeness of existence through mind and spirit

What’s important: Holistic, intuitive thinking and cooperative actions; waves of integrative energies; uniting feeling with knowledge; seeing the self as both distinct and a blended part of a larger, compassionate whole; recognition that everything connects to everything else in ecological alignments; universal order, but in a living, conscious fashion not based on external rules (amber) or group bonds (green); the possibility and actuality of a “grand unification”; the detection of harmonics, mystical forces, and the pervasive flow-states that permeate any organization
Where seen: David Bohm’s theories; Rupert Sheldrake’s work on morphic fields; Gandhi’s ideas of pluralistic harmony; Mandela’s pluralistic integration; integral-holistic systems thinking

Method: Collective Individualism

Identity: Holistic Self

Age: any

Main focus: Interplay of awareness, thought, action, and effects; transforming self and others

Qualities: Highly aware of complexity of meaning making, systemic interactions, and dynamic processes; seeks personal and spiritual transformation and supports others in their life quests; creates events that become mythical and reframe meaning of situations; may understand “ego” as a “central processing unit” that actively creates a sense of identity; increasingly sensitive to the continuous “re-storying” of who one is; may recognize ego as most serious threat to future growth; continually attend to interaction among thought, action, feeling, and perception as well as influences from and effects on individuals, institutions, history and culture; treat time and events as symbolic, analogical, metaphorical (not merely linear, digital, literal); may feel rarely understood in their complexity by others

How influences others: Reframes, turns inside-out, upside-down, clowning, holding up mirror to society; often works behind the scenes

Pitfalls: Pathologies (Dark Night) of the Soul

The Indigo Stage of Consciousness

Values

Basic Theme: Integration of Paradox, no fear. Powerful action and non-action without attachment to outcome

Where seen: Jesus, Buddha etc

Method: Realisation as a verb, not a destination

Identity: Unitive Self

Main focus: Being, non-controlling consciousness; witnessing flux of experience and states of mind

Qualities: Emergence of a perspective that is ego-transcendent or universal; people holding this stage of consciousness seem to “…experience themselves and others as part of ongoing humanity, embedded in the creative ground, fulfilling the destiny of evolution” (Cook-Greuter, 2002, p. 32); consciousness ceases to appear as a constraint but rather as one more phenomenon that can be foreground or background; an integration of feelings of belongingness and separateness occurs; multiple points of view can be taken effortlessly; the pattern of constant flux and change becomes the context for feeling at home; one is able to respect the essence in others, no matter how different they may be; one is in tune with their life’s work as “a simultaneous expression of their unique selves” and as part of their shared humanity.

How influences others: inspiration and awe which may lead to persecution by those at earlier levels

Pitfalls: Everything and Nothing, perception of ‘unachievability’

Loudzoo wrote: Some basic initial implications / conclusions

Much of western society is trying to move from the orange stage to the green stage – this is painful for those operating at amber and orange stages. Adding to this growing pain is that some people operating at the red stage are being employed to facilitate this. It also seems that some of those at the green stage wish to discard, rather than integrate the earlier stages.

It can be very difficult, but not impossible, for those at different stages to communicate effectively. For instance, if a thread on TOTJO coming from the green stage isn’t aware of later stages, a critical response from the teal stage can be misinterpreted as coming from the magenta stage.

The later stages are much less well understood than the earlier stages as the number of people at these stages are so few.

Correct identification of stage will allow more effective communication, better judgment, and better behavioural outcomes.

The Star Wars movies superficially operate across magenta, red and amber stages although modest scholarship allows an obvious set of interpretations at Cosmocentric stages. Jediism is attempting to do this – but without the above framework, that work and its utility, will be more difficult than necessary.