Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

1. p. 122: "Some researchers, such as IC member Jenny Wade..."

     Kim's margin notes say: "See Jenny Wade's Changes of Mind. See The Eye of Spirit, second edition for a critical discussion of Wade's model."

2. p. 127: "And now... the development of worldviews from orange to green to integral!"

     Kim's margin notes: "All Deirdre Kramer quotes in this lecture are from 'Development of an Awareness of Contradiction Across the Life Span and the Question of Postformal Operations,' in Michael L. Commons et al., Adult Development, vol. 1, Comparison and Applications of Developmental Models (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1989)." Kim's margin notes also cryptically say: "For a fuller overview of Kramer's work, see the Introduction to CW4."

3. p. 127: "It is just that... formal operational cognition (orange by any other name)--assumes a great deal of importance."

     Margaret Carlton continued (from Kim's notes): "We have seen that development in general proceeds from preconventional ('me') to conventional ('us') to postconventional ('all of us'). Here is another way to say that: preconventional has only a first-person perspective (I or me). Conventional adds the capacity for second-person perspectives (you, which together with I, gives we and us), and thus conventional awareness can take the role of others in the same group. Postconventional adds the capacity for third-person perspectives (it and them), which also means that postconventional awareness can take multiple perspectives--first-, second-, and third-person, all at once--and thus I can take into account, not just my group, but all groups (not just ethnocentric, but worldcentric).

      "In other words, this is just another way of saying that the move to postconventional awareness is an astonishing advance in the capacity for care and compassion. I can show genuine concern, not just for my tribe or my race or my nation, but for all peoples, all tribes, all races. In fact, this is why Carol Gilligan calls this the move from the 'care stage' to the 'universal care stage.' This does not guarantee that I will love everybody, so to speak, but only that the suffering of others--the suffering of anybody--begins to deeply bother me: I can't help it. This will mature into the green sensitive self, and from there into an integral self that wishes to embrace all sentient beings with justice and compassion."

4. p. 128: "Of course rationality... has its healthy and unhealthy versions."

     Carlton's full statement (from Kim's notes): "Of course rationality can be misused--every meme has its healthy and its unhealthy versions. But that does not detract from the extraordinary accomplishments of orange reason, first and foremost of which is the capacity to take multiple perspectives and thus to truly begin to entertain a multicultural perspective. Even many of the harshest critics of the Enlightenment have slowly come to acknowledge that the principles of the universal rights of man, inaugurated by the Enlightenment, are in fact the same principles that eventually supported the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and multiculturalism: the right of every human being to freedom and equality. These principles are applied with more sensitivity by green, but let duly note that they begin with orange."

      From Kim's margin notes: "See M. Carlton, 'The Historico-Cultural Shift from Transcendental Signifieds to Sliding Signifiers as Exemplified in the Painterly Art of the Everyday in Early Eighteenth-Century Northern France,' Journal of Concrete Fabricated Theoria 17, 2 (2001): 34-67."

      Also from Kim's notes: "See the Introduction to CW4 for a detailed summary of worldview development."

5. p. 130: "However, when the richly textured relationships between multiple contexts are discovered... which we simply call integral."

     Margaret Carlton continued (from Kim's notes): "We saw that pluralistic relativism--the worldview of the green meme-- differentiates systems but cannot integrate them. However, when the richly textured relationships between multiple contexts are discovered, the next worldview begins to emerge, which we simply call integral. Deirdre Kramer notes that at the previous stage of pluralism (green), 'Systems are differentiated into meta-systems of culturally and historically relative, dynamic systems that cannot be explained apart from their immediate cultural or historical contexts. Finally, at the integral [second-tier] level, these contexts are reintegrated into a more encompassing structure where such contexts are seen as arising in relation to one another and evolving in a systematic fashion.' In other words, the holarchical Spiral comes into view.

      "What particularly separates this second-tier worldview (universal integralism) from its green predecessor (pluralistic relativism) is its increased capacity to hold multiple contexts in mind. Deirdre Kramer one last time: 'In a dialectical (or integral) system there is a relationship among such contexts. In a contextualist (or pluralistic) system there is no such relationship.... A contextual perspective would contend that the opposing value systems of two cultures or two generations are unrelated'--because they are supposedly incommensurable and purely relativistic. But a further growth of consciousness allows the recognition of deeper and wider connections, which discloses, among other things, a directionality to the changes that were thought to be random at the preceding or pluralistic level of development: 'At the (integral) level, perfect prediction is also impossible, because of the emergent quality of evolving structures. However, there is nevertheless a direction to such change, and a relationship among contrasting systems.' This directionality is dynamic, dialectical, developmental, and evolutionary--it is, in fact, the Spiral of development. 'Change occurs through evolution, where conflicts are resolved and redefined by newer, more encompassing solutions which yield new conflicts, and so on. People, groups and society naturally evolve through different phases. The whole of the organization transcends and gives meaning to its parts'--or, as we at IC put it, each whole transcends and includes its parts."

     Kim's margin notes: "See the Introduction to CW4 for a detailed summary of worldview development."

6. p. 133: "I don't know... but research has not supported those claims at all."

     From the lecture of Dr. Lesa Powell, Integral Center, Nov. 14, 2000 (taken from my and Kim's notes):

      "A major objection might be that stage conceptions are oppressive, marginalizing, patriarchal, sexist, racist, and Eurocentric, and have little cross-cultural research supporting them.

      "These charges have especially been leveled against two of the green meme's whipping boys, Piaget and Kohlberg. I have my own reservations about those theorists--in particular, I believe that their schemes, although valid for what they cover, are simply a small slice of a much bigger picture of integral development. But for the areas that they do cover, they appear to be quite sound, at least in general claims. Although I am not specifically using either Piaget or Kohlberg in the arguments of this lecture, they are the hardest cases to argue; and thus, if we can show that their work is generically sound, then major objections to stage theories in general will be defused.

      "Start with Piaget. After almost three decades of intense cross-cultural research, the evidence is considerable: Piaget's stages up to formal operational are universal and cross-cultural. As only one example, Lives Across Cultures: Cross-cultural Human Development is a highly respected textbook written from an openly liberal perspective (which is often suspicious of 'universal' stages). The authors (Harry Gardiner, Jay Mutter, and Corinne Kosmitzki) carefully review the evidence for Piaget's stages of sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. They found that cultural settings sometimes alter the rate of development, or an emphasis on certain aspects of the stages--but not the stages themselves or their cross-cultural validity.

      "Thus, for sensorimotor: 'In fact, the qualitative characteristics of sensorimotor development remain nearly identical in all infants studied so far, despite vast differences in their cultural environments.' For preoperational and concrete operational, based on an enormous number of studies, including Nigerians, Zambians, Iranians, Algerians, Nepalese, Asians, Senegalese, Amazon Indians, and Australian Aborigines: 'What can we conclude from this vast amount of cross-cultural data? First, support for the universality of the structures or operations underlying the preoperational period is highly convincing. Second, ... the qualitative characteristics of concrete operational development (e.g., stage sequences and reasoning styles) appear to be universal [although] the rate of cognitive development ... is not uniform but depends on ecocultural factors.' Although the authors do not use exactly these terms, they conclude that the deep features of the stages are universal but the surface features depend strongly on cultural, environmental, and ecological factors--what we call the four quadrants. 'Finally, it appears that although the rate and level of performance at which children move through Piaget's concrete operational period depend on cultural experience, children in diverse societies still proceed in the same sequence he predicted.'

      "Fewer individuals in any cultures (Asian, African, American, or otherwise) reach formal operational cognition, and the reasons given for this vary. It might be that formal operational is a genuinely higher stage that fewer therefore reach, as I believe. It might be that formal operational is a genuine capacity but not a genuine stage, as the authors believe (i.e., only some cultures emphasize formal operational and therefore teach it). Evidence for the existence of Piaget's formal stage is therefore strong but not conclusive. Yet this one item is often used to dismiss all of Piaget's stages, whereas the correct conclusion, backed by enormous evidence, is that all of the stages up to formal operational have now been adequately demonstrated to be universal and cross-cultural.

      "I believe the stages at and beyond formal operational are also universal, including the postformal stages (green and second-tier), and various books by many IC members have presented substantial evidence for that.

      "The same is true for Kohlberg. Although his moral stages do not cover all facets of morality, they have proven cross-culturally sound for the ground they cover. 'Similar findings have emerged from studies in Mexico, the Bahamas, Taiwan, Indonesia, Turkey, Honduras, India, Nigeria, and Kenya.... So it seems that Kohlberg's levels and stages of moral reasoning are "universal" structures...[and] Kohlberg's morals stages do seem to represent an invariant sequence.' (D. Shaffer, Social and Personality Development, 1994, 417-18.)

     "As another researcher summarizes the evidence: 'Comprehensive reviews of cross-cultural studies suggest that Kohlberg's theory and method are reasonably culture-fair and do reflect moral issues, norms, and values relevant in other cultural settings. Further, these data also support the developmental criteria implied by his stage model [giving] impressive support for his developmental theory and its nonrelativistic stance....' (J. Vasudev, 'Ahimsa, Justice, and the Unity of Life,' in M. Miller and S. Cook-Greuter, Transcendence and Mature Thought in Adulthood, 1994, 241.) This does not mean that Kohlberg's model covers all the relevant morals issues in various cultures, only that it has proven to be universal in those stages that it does address. It is nonrelativistic because it is universally accurate, as far as evidence can determine.

      "But, another objection will go, Carol Gilligan demonstrated that Kohlberg's stages are biased against women. That charge has not held up to research, either. 'At this point there is little support for the claim that Kohlberg's theory is biased against females.... Nor is there much evidence that females travel a different moral path and come to emphasize a morality of care more than males do. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary: when reasoning about real-life moral dilemmas that they have faced, both males and females raise issues of compassion and interpersonal responsibility about as often as or more often than issues of law, justice, and individual rights' (their italics). In short, 'Research has consistently failed to support the claim the Kohlberg's theory is biased against women.' (D. Shaffer, Social and Personality Development, 1994, 423-24, 435.)

      "This does not mean that men and women do not have characteristically 'different voices' in certain life situations. The claim of research such as Deborah Tannen's, for example, is that men and women tend to speak in different voices in many circumstances. This is summarized in the book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality as follows: men tend to translate with an emphasis on agency, women with an emphasis on communion; men tend to transform with an emphasis on Eros, women with an emphasis on Agape. But I have also emphasized the fact that all of the basic levels of development are themselves gender neutral --they are not biased toward either sex, and research strongly supports that claim. The fact that men and women might navigate the basic waves of development with a different voice, does not alter in the least the fact that they both face the same waves."

      End of Lisa Powell's lecture. Kim's margin notes say: "Powell recommends the book Integral Psychology for an extensive overview of the relation of Piaget and Kohlberg to a more comprehensive and integral psychology."

7. p. 135: "In other words, many feminists confused the idea... according to Gilligan herself."

     Kim's margin notes: "For Carol Gilligan's strong embrace of a hierarchical model--her phrase--see Gilligan et al.'s chapter in Alexander and Langer, Higher Stages of Human Development, as well as the editors' introduction."

8. p. 140: "And then to yet even higher, transpersonal waves, which we will discuss later."

     Carla Fuentes (from Kim's notes): "Cook-Greuter also includes 'post-autonomous' and 'integrated' stages, which are stages leading into the transpersonal. See Melvin Miller and Susanne Cook-Greuter, Transcendence and Mature Thought in Adulthood (Lanham, Md.: Roman and Littlefield, 1994). As important as these higher stages are, they are incidental to the main topics of this seminar. For the ways in which they do significantly impact development, see Integral Psychology. Susanne Cook-Greuter is a founding member of Integral Center."

9. p. 140/41: "As Susanne Cook-Greuter puts it, 'With the conscientious self... scientific methods will eventually lead to the discovery of how things really are, to the discovery of truth.'"

     Carla Fuentes (from Kim's notes): "Unless indicated, all quotes from Cook-Greuter are from 'Maps for Living' in Michael Commons et al., Adult Development, vol. 2. Although described as 'analytical,' this conscientious stage is analytical within a very high level of cognitive integration; it is simply less systematic/integral than its successors. Still, it does not yet grasp the contextuality of knowledge. Compare Deirdre Kramer's summary of this general (conscientious) stage: 'Change occurs in an orderly, chainlike fashion. Any event or behavior can be traced to a cause. Causes can be isolated. There are absolute, correct principles which must guide action in all situations; they are universal and hold for all people regardless of differences in background. There is one correct or ideal solution to a problem; one person or group has the right to impose his or her will on another'--in order to enforce the one right universal standard with no reference to any cultural differences.

      "When Cook-Greuter describes the worldview of the conscientious self, she is basically referring to what we are calling universal formalism , the belief that the only truth fit to know is scientific positivism, which, in disclosing some universal truths, which it certainly does, imagines that all truths must therefore be scientific, in the narrow sense of formal, empiric-analytic, and monological--all fancy words for pretty much what you think 'science' means. (This orange rationality is also, as we saw, the general worldview of the western liberal Enlightenment.) In thus failing to differentiate scientific facts from its own cultural presuppositions, it tends to mistake its own cultural prejudices for universal standards that can be imposed on the world at large. This does not mean that formal science can produce no truths of any sort: after all, it managed to land a human on the moon, something poetry has yet to match. It simply means that formal science can be harshly insensitive to truths other than its own.

      "Formal rationality can be oppressive; but, in fact, preformal memes are much, much harsher; and, in fact, much of the 'oppressive' power ascribed to orange-reason is actually due to mythic-blue. As Kramer said, universal formalism believes that 'there are absolute, correct principles which must guide action in all situations; they are universal and hold for all people regardless of differences in background. There is one correct or ideal solution to a problem; one person or group has the right to impose his or her will on another.' Note, however, that this absolutism is even more intense at the previous mythic stage, because the preformal stages are much more aggressive when it comes to exclusionary practices, for they involve their own ethnocentric prejudices imposed on the world at large (e.g., blue-meme Bible fundamentalists wish to impose their values on virtually everybody).

      "As we will see in Seminar II, under a pre/post fallacy, many intellectuals (especially in cultural studies) have simply assumed that, since universal formalism can be absolutist, it was itself imposing all absolutisms, whereas formalism was actually a lessening of the absolutism and lack of worldcentrism that marks all preformal stages. (As with narcissism and egocentrism, increasing development generally means decreasing absolutism, in the sense of increasing perspectivism and greater decentering). This pre/post confusion lead many scholars to blame formal rationality for something that it was, in fact, in the process of overcoming. The postformal stages do not so much undo the absolutist damage that was imposed by formal rationality, as simply carry on the de-absolutizing job begun by formal rationality (more precisely, since every stage is marked by relatively decreasing narcissism/absolutism, development itself is a process of de-absolutizing and decentering: myth has less narcissism/absolutism than magic, formal has less than myth, postformal has less than formal, and transpersonal has less than postformal). Thus--and I intend to emphasize this--what many scholars take to be the 'Others of reason' are really the 'Others of myth.'

      "At the same time, formal rationality, precisely because it transcends (and ideally integrates) the preformal stages, can therefore, in pathological forms, repress and oppress those stages. Such repression is not inherent in rationality, but it is a very real possibility. Even so, the mythic structure is also capable of strong and extensive internal repression and external oppression; in fact, it is the mythic structure that institutes most forms of Freudian repression, as well as most of the repression of sexuality, life vitality, organic richness, and élan vital (see Transformations of Consciousness and Integral Psychology). Again, what superficially appeared to be the 'Others of reason' are actually the 'Others of myth.'

      "Thus, many scholars combined an assumption that rationality is inherently repressive with a pre/post fallacy (which assumed the preformal stages possessed postformal pluralism), and that mixture of partial truth (rationality can repress preformal domains) and two massively false assumptions (rationality can only repress and pre/post confusion) underwrote virtually all attempts to resurrect the Others of formal rationality (almost all of which were actually the Others of preformality). We will examine each of those points in Seminars II and III."

10. p. 142: "Development, we have seen, proceeds by differentiation and integration... thus [the green-meme's] self, and its worldview, tend to remain fragmented, pluralistic, inchoate."

     Fuentes continued (from Kim's notes): "This is not to say that this stage of dynamic relativism (green) has no integration. Each stage of development is 'transcend and include,' and early postformal cognition manages to integrate an enormous number of formalistic elements into coherent systems and contexts. It simply cannot take the next higher step and integrate those systems into meta-systematic/paradigmatic unities, which would usher in the integral dialecticism of second tier. As such, the stage of dynamic relativism is referred to by many researchers as 'fragmented' or 'disjointed,' but it is fragmentation within a very high level of other integrations. See Integral Psychology, written by one of my IC colleagues, for a further discussion of this theme."

11. p. 143: "But these waves of consciousness are potentials... so no human being is ever ranked."

     Carla Fuentes continued (from Kim's notes): "Notice that, like 'hierarchy,' 'universal' is present in blue and orange, disappears at green, then reappears in a kinder, gentler, softer version in all post-green waves. Mythic absolutism (blue) is extremely harsh and dogmatic: there is one, and only one, way to do things, and that is according to the Book (the Bible, the Koran, Mao's Little Red Book, etc.). Formal rationality (orange) is a truly universal, postconventional, worldcentric reason, but due to its static nature--not to mention its tendency toward scientific materialism and positivism--it tends to exclude items that do not fit its logical net. Green postformal awareness is in fact universal and worldcentric--its claims are made on behalf of all peoples--but it is so sensitive to the marginalizing tendencies of rationality that it consciously defines itself as local, pluralistic, anti-universal, and anti-hierarchy. Universal anything drops out of the conscious picture for green. But then, with the emergence of second-tier integral awareness, universal returns, but now--like hierarchy--in a softer fashion, fully cognizant of the damage that can be done with false claims of 'universal truth.' But just as there are dominator hierarchies and actualization hierarchies, so there are dominator universals and actualization universals. This becomes apparent at second tier, which--precisely because it comes only after and through green--can use universals in a more compassionate and self-actualizing light, as we will continue to see in Seminars II and III. Jay Ogilvy, who has been understandably suspicious of many universals (see Many Dimensional Man), also fully acknowledges these softer, second-tier universals, which he wonderfully calls 'good enough universals.'

      "In the meantime, whenever you hear an attack on universals, hierarchies, or stage conceptions, you are almost always in the presence of the green meme--and you are probably being lectured to about how insensitive you are in comparison to the wonderful pluralism of the green meme." Kim's notes bizarrely add: "See Boomeritis for further discussion."

12. p. 145: "Thus, as consciousness evolves... the self has moved from a stance of individualism to one of autonomy."

     Carla Fuentes continued (from Kim's notes): "Of course, the green meme and its pluralistic worldview are in fact postconventional and worldcentric, as we just saw, because the green meme wishes to extend pluralistic freedom to all peoples everywhere. But because this is the phase of differentiation, and not yet integration, the green structures are highly unique and subjectivistic, and this gives rise to the 'individualistic self' (Loevinger). This is a type of 'higher narcissism' occurring within universal structures, but not yet capable of integrating them fully. When this higher (green) subjectivism is infected with a reactivation of lower emotional narcissism, especially purple/red--that explosive mixture is known as boomeritis.

      "Does this violate the rule that increasing development is marked by decreasing narcissism? Not really, because the 'higher narcissism' is actually occurring within very advanced structures that can take multiple roles--and are therefore much less narcissistic than preceding structures--but within those higher capacities, the self focuses on its own newly-emergent interior, often to the exclusion of others. The result is not an integrated and autonomous self, but an atomistic and isolated and individualistic self, absorbed with its own existence, and often skeptical or critical of everybody else's--the individualistic self taken to extremes."

13. p. 145: "They can integrate previously compartmentalized subidentities... into a coherent new whole."

     Carla Fuentes continued (from Kim's notes): "This further integration we at IC often call the mature 'centauric self.' Again, it is not that the previous stage of individualism has no integration, for in fact it integrates a enormous amount of material. In particular, in transcending conventional/conformist modes, the individualistic self differentiates a number of abstract causal relations (based on formal operational) and then integrates those that hold utility for the self (using early postformal or what we also call early vision-logic). This is a dramatic increase in the capacity for integration of perspectives, moral drives, and worldviews. The autonomous self simply goes further (using middle and late vision-logic) and integrates emergent aspects of the self that do not fit the utilities of the individualistic self; among other things, this means that value systems, arising from meta-systematic and paradigmatic cognition, can start to emerge (e.g., dynamic dialecticism). See Integral Psychology for a further discussion of this theme.

     "Also note that researchers such as Carol Gilligan have suggested that the mature integral (centauric) self increasingly transcends and integrates stereotypical male and female traits. These male and female traits, according to some theorists, include (respectively) justice and care, agency and communion, rights and responsibilities, autonomy and relationship. In the model we use at IC, the centauric self does indeed dialectically integrate those traits (to a greater degree than its predecessors); but whether a particular trait is associated more with males or females is a matter of empirical research, which to date has been, at best, inconclusive. Should research demonstrate that, for example, agency is more typically masculine than feminine, then that finding is easily incorporated into this model; until then, we simply have to await more research."

14. p. 146: "Cheryl Armon... 'The focus is on the self and enabling the self... This individualistic self produces... its own little planetary system of values.'"

     Kim's margin notes: "All Armon quotes are from 'Individuality and Autonomy,' Commons et al., Adult Development, vol. 1."

15. p. 149: "This is the... positive side of postmodernism."

     Dr. Morin continued (from Kim's notes): "Boomer intellectuals especially focused on the shadow elements of Enlightenment rationality, which often involved the tendency of universal formalism to reject or marginalize those realms and values that escape its logical net. Put simply, formal rationality can repress the body, nature, woman, and anything else not of its liking at any given time. The tendency of formal rationality to repress the 'three great others' of body, nature, and woman was first pointed out by one of our IC members almost twenty years ago, in a book called Up from Eden. Of course, few of those repressions are inherent in rationality, but many of them have been carried out by rationality (a fact to which we will return). And, let us note, the capacity and likelihood of such repression--and especially the repression of the 'three great others'--is much greater at mythic blue than at rational orange.

      "In its restrictive mode, universal formalism is also known as 'uniformitarianism,' the belief that all truths that are fit to know are fit like a straightjacket for everybody. Scientific positivism is the best (or only) way to find all truths, and anything that does not fit that scheme is ruthlessly suppressed, or at least ignored to death. It is not science, but scientism (as it is not rationality, but rationalism), that is the real culprit, a fact missed by most Boomer intellectuals, but the good news is that some of the limitations of universal formalism (and mythic absolutism) were indeed brilliantly exposed by Boomer scholars."

16. p. 149: "If all truth is relative... none of them have any power over me."

     Dr. Morin continued (from Kim's notes): "But notice: I am not claiming, as do most critics (such as Christopher Lasch), that the Culture of Narcissism is pure and simple a case of fixation/regression to preconventional narcissism. The actual 'narcissistic personality disorders' are an extremely primitive developmental pathology (fixated and fragmented at beige-to-purple). To claim that an entire generation was stuck at that early developmental level is a thesis impossible to support. This is why so many of the charges of 'narcissism,' although intuitively appealing, have been theoretical pasta that did not stick to the wall.

      "I am suggesting, rather, that the Culture of Narcissism is in fact an extraordinary mixture of very high and very low. There is nothing that says a pluralistic culture has to be a narcissistic culture. The green meme invites, but does not demand, narcissistic extremes. But the general narcissism that has dogged Boomers--we have been called everything from the 'Peter Pan generation' (an unwillingness to surrender childhood narcissism) to the 'Woodstock nation' (hedonistic narcissism) to the 'Me generation' (rampant narcissism)--was an emotional charge looking for a home, and the green meme supplied it, encouraged it, inflamed it, championed it."

17. p. 151: "Let us not forget, my friends:... second tier emerges."

     Dr. Jefferson added (from Kim's notes): "Jenny Wade, who is a valued member of IC and a good friend of mine, has made a careful study of Graves, and she believes that orange (achievement) and green (affiliative) are not two different levels but two different choices offered to blue (conformist), so that both orange and green can advance directly to second-tier (authentic). See Sidebar C for the extensive debate on whether or not this branching occurs. Wade's book, Changes of Mind, is a fine overview of the spectrum of consciousness; it is discussed at length in the second edition of The Eye of Spirit."

18. p. 154: "Rather, as Ray's survey results suggest... pluralistic values and subjectivistic warrants."

     Dr. Jefferson added, "See One Taste, Sept. 23 entry, for a discussion of Ray's integral culture as an example of the newly emerging Person-Centered Civil Religion."

19. p. 154: "As IC member Don Beck himself points out... there are few second-tier memes in most of the cultural creatives."

     Don Beck, personal communication to Mark Jefferson.

20. p. 154: "And, in fact, Loevinger's research shows that less than 2% of Americans are at the autonomous or integrated stage."

     Dr. Jefferson added, "This research is summarized in The Eye of Spirit. This also fits very closely with Beck's research (less than 2% of adults are at second-tier); the rest are at individualistic or lower, and that means, by simple arithmetic, at least 92% of the cultural creatives are less-than-integral. See The Eye of Spirit for references and discussion of this data; see Integral Psychology for an overview."

21. p. 156: "Paraphrasing Clare Graves, 'The green meme must break down... This is where the leading edge is today.'"

     Dr. Jefferson added, "Of course, by 'break down,' Graves means that the fixation to green has to be transcended. The green meme itself remains as a crucial component in the overall Spiral."

22. p. 155: "The major reason I am talking about boomeritis... by highlighting some of the obstacles to this integral transformation, it might more readily occur."

     (From Kim's notes): "When Mark Jefferson first proposed the concept of 'boomeritis,' he outlined it to Don Beck, who subsequently gave these reflections during a lecture at Integral Center in May, 2001. From Don Beck's lecture:"

Let me offer a few words about Mark Jefferson's concept of "boomeritis," which I think is a very important contribution to understanding cultural development and its stagnation points at this time in history.

     (1) The entire boomeritis initiative is only part of a much larger strategy to kick start the Spiral into moving beyond the First-Tier systems, especially among the elite, in the academy, and certainly in pockets where versions of what Jefferson calls the MGM--the Mean Green Meme--dominate the intellectual conversations. No doubt area code 415 is such a place. It should be noted, as Jefferson does, that the MGM does not represent the totality of the FS vMEME but only a specific version that often appears in the infancy stage of an emerging value system. Typically, MGM has elements of a blue moralistic high horse that claims it, alone, can separate saints from sinners, the "sensitive" from the "insensitive," and the right views of history vs. those that support the oppressors over the oppressed. When it morphs into a malignancy phase, it is "mean" indeed.

     (2) In terms of a quick analysis of the meaning of "boomeritis," consider the following metaphor. Think of the eight value systems (vMEMEs) awakened thus far as the upstream movement of water through dams, locks, and filters with each representing a different level of complexity. Ideally, the water will run through all of the levels since each step and stage adds what is necessary to deal with shoreline Life Conditions. One of the threats at Station Six (Green) is that because of its rejection of Station Four (Blue) and Station five (Orange) codes (while forgetting that it depends on Daddy Orange and Granddaddy Blue for its life comforts) it often suppresses them, interferes with their essential functions, thus allowing the flow to bypass their filters. So, what you have is the flowing of human emergence directly from the Station Two (Purple) and Station Three (Red) zones into Station Six (Green), thus bypassing the Blue and Orange vMEME codes. This "deconstructionism" is too heavy as Green works out its own unresolved problems in Stations Four and Five; becomes vested in the zealous rejection of "good authority" and "individual ambition" because of academic careers, books, statements, and other social bromides. (This is not to discredit the valuable contributions FS-Green makes to cleansing the Spiral, softening the tones, affirming the intrinsic value of human rights, and constructing social bridges over the artificial divides of race, culture, class, affluence, generations, etc.--positive contributions that Jefferson also emphasizes in any discussion of boomeritis.) Unhappily, with the pathological version, the Station Six pumps stop working and human development is thus blocked as final state thinking descends like a menacing green smog.

     Evidence of this rejection can be seen in highly emotional attacks on morality codes (nuns with rulers or Bible-thumping evangelicals) and indiscriminate forays against anything that rings of the free market, capitalism, or "materialism." This is also quite clear in education as "green" antidisciplinary initiatives have compromised the teacher's capacity to keep order in the classroom as well as the use of the underclass as victims to be held in chains for self-serving ambitions. I can cite far too many examples of this paralysis, especially from my years in South Africa.

     Until the natural progression of minds and cultures is facilitated through the Fourth (blue) and Fifth (orange) Stations, this boomeritis condition will persist. I completely agree with Jefferson on this. You will note how African-American parents are insisting that schools be returned to the historic roles to provide what the kids are lacking in preparation for life in the 21st Century.

     (3) Rather than defining people as single colors or isolated musical notes, it is clear that systems exist in people (companies and cultures, too) in the form of chords and progressions. Jefferson is often kind enough to quote me here: "It is not types of people, but types in people." When a new vMEME first joins the chorus, it will be under the influence of the previous vMEME codes, often in an adversarial display. I recently explained this as the tug of basement vMEMEs. Once it gains experience and moves into a nodal phase, it will be released somewhat from the basement influences and begin to sense messages from the attic vMEMEs-those on the verge of awakening. So, we exist in these tension zones rather than in pure tones.

     (4) The real message of Spiral Dynamics is not about vMEMEs per se. Rather, it describes the MASTER vMEME MAKER--that is, the complex, adaptive intelligence that generates vMEMEs (value systems, life priorities, and bio-psycho-social-spiritual codes); monitors their strengths/weakness ratios, ebbing and flowing tendencies, and arranges them into compounds, admixtures, and alignments. From the Second Tier (Yellow) Systemic 7th Level perspective, one must be able to scan over the entire Spiral and strive to (a) facilitate the healthy expression of each vMEME so that all of the awakened vMEMEs can be vibrant and robust; and (b) assist the whole Spiral to remain flexible, adaptive, and open so that if and when vMEMETIC change is naturally inclined to occur, the awakening will be relatively positive. No guarantees here, since people cannot be until they are and all we can ever do is help folks become what is next for them to become. (This is pure Gravesian in its philosophy, perspective, and systemic prescriptions.)

     So, the healthy expression of a vMEME code serves the overall interest of the Spiral (human emergence); the unhealthy blocks that development, attacks the earlier vMEME codes, and claims to be the final state. (The current example can be seen in the Taliban's destruction of the "heresy" Buddha statues.) Both Marxism and unbridled global capitalism have the same effect of pouring acid on the indigenous cultural vMEMEs. A Theory of Everything uses the expression "transcend but include" to reflect the importance of bringing the past with us. Yet it is quite natural for those who are moving through the Delta change stage to convince themselves that they have discovered the utopia and pity the future generation for having nothing to think about of note. In short, one of the distinguishing characteristics of Second-Tier systemics is the capacity to sense the whole Spiral "elephant" so one can address issues (blockages) up and down the spine of the Spiral. This is one of the primary reasons we are forming Vital Signs Monitors in various communities and countries, so we can develop a more refined sense of "allness."

     (5) With that as a background, now to the FS: Sensitive/Egalitarian/Communal (Green) vMEME code. Healthy Green has done wonders: it softens the boundaries that have plagued societies for generations; cleans up a lot of the dehumanizing poison; and, at least in the healthy version, welcomes in each vMEME code into the "warm, inner circle."

     Note, in addition, how A Theory of Everything describes the positive contributions from Green: "the pluralistic relativism of Green has nobly enlarged the canon of cultural studies to include many previously marginalized peoples, ideas and narratives. It has acted with sensitive and care in attempting to redress social imbalances and avoid exclusionary practices. It has been responsible for basic initiatives in civil rights and environmental protection" (TOE, pg. 14).

     In short, the FS "GREEN vMEME" is not under attack by the author of A Theory of Everything, nor by me. Case closed. (It should also be noted that an interest in Clare Graves is on the rise thanks to the popularity of the book A Theory of Everything and the role its author has played in introducing these ideas to millions of people. He has been careful to give proper credit; always checks with me regarding interpretations; and has helped me foster the Gravesian/Spiral Dynamics message near and far. He is the very first writer to have done this, so I appreciate him greatly.  So should the whole Spiral Dynamics community.)

     That's healthy Green. In an early phase, however, Green often knee-jerks negative reactions to DQ:Blue (or any authority system) and ER:Orange (greed, materialism, and elite-ism) since, logically, it has arisen to solve the problems that the earlier vMEME(s) created. Just as we are isolating the MGM from the FS System, Green voices do the same thing to DQ:Blue and ER:Orange. Blue and Orange are "bad" while only Green is "good." Obviously, these voices will view any criticism of Green to be an attack on their on highly prized system. This is called assimilation and contrast but that is a topic for a later day.

     (6) Thus, to repeat, our attempts to isolate the MGM (or Mean Green Meme) are not an attack on the FS 6th Level at all but upon that version of same that fails to "include" the essential steps and stages of development. What you see is the unholy bonding of the CP-RED (we are victims and have been oppressed by Big Blue and Selfish Orange) with FS egalitarianism (that says "we will rescue you because we need you to join with us in attacking evil Blue and divisive Orange)." Thus, it is the RED-GREEN hybrid, devoid of healthy and responsible Blue-Orange, that especially creates elements of the MGM and boomeritis. The "moral drench of closed-system Blue" can also turn Green into a MAD vMEME DISEASE.

     A similar idea was suggested in a conversation I had with Dr. Clare W. Graves in the early l980s when we were launching the South African initiative, first called "Strategic Evolution." He warned me specifically to plan for a personal attack from the FS system (Green) because (a) I was even in South Africa in the first place, thusly "selling out to the white, racist, apartheid regime" and, (b) I was advocating a different solution than what Green demanded, which was the instant redistribution of power since the only reason for the European-African gaps in development were the result of blatant racism. As I mentioned earlier, an unhealthy expression of Green egalitarianism is to "deconstruct" the Blue/Orange social, economic, and political architecture since it, alone, is supposedly the cause of human suffering. After such Green inspired "deconstruction" in South Africa, the place is in total shambles. The MGM deserves a great deal of the blame which, because of its intellectual arrogance, will never be able to understand the damage it has dumped on the entire African continent. I have considerable evidence to support this observation.

     Graves himself had been haunted by the MGM. I've spoken recently with one of his former students who gave a charming narrative of her relationship with her Professor Graves, and detailed the biting criticism he received from his colleagues because he was, in his long research effort, constructing a hierarchy. Further, when he would go to a meeting of the American Psychological Association that was into group hugs, he refused to take off his shoes, put them around the wall, and sit on the floor. He was often thrown out of the meeting because he was not "sensitive." So, my dear friend bore the scars from the Mean Green Meme. While he did not use memetic language since it had not then been coined, he did use a metaphor that stuck with me: "Don," he said, "it is like the painful passing of a kidney stone. Until that part of FS gets beyond us, the flow will not continue.  You best watch your backside when you are in South Africa." I got the message but failed to take the advice. I still bear the scars. I valued most highly his gentle counsel.

     Many of you are quite aware that the author of A Theory of Everything has suffered from the same venom. And, because the MGM claims to be morally superior because of its humanity focus, and is not above throwing racial accusations around to endear itself to those trapped in RED, it becomes a serious menace as it blocks the Spiral emergence. The very steps and stages necessary for upliftment, Blue and Orange, are rejected, often because the Green advocate has personal, unresolved subsystem problems in those domains. (As the author of SES independently put it, "My own observation is that these particular critics seem to gravitate to the past phylogenetic structure that corresponds with the ontogenetic structure in themselves that is immediately prior to their failed personal integration.") This is truly sad as our youth suffer from being ill prepared in their 4Q/8L interior development.  No wonder affluent kids with meaningless (translated: devoid of Blue) lives are empty and hollow and why so many  in the under classes fail to rise to greater prosperity (translated: trapped by anemic Orange).

     (7) I'm not at all concerned that Jefferson uses "meme" instead of vMEME since I've long held that the word "meme" carries with it both the coding process (the v) as well as the icon, idea, cause, place, etc., which have been permeated by the code. Jefferson always explains in various footnotes that Spiral Dynamics uses the vMEME language.

     Nor do I object to the use of polemic as a tactical device, because yellow will not react to the "tone" of the delivery, but green will often get infuriated. It's a good diagnostic device, as Jefferson says, when set in an overall Integral context.

     (8) I do not believe a specific vMEME code can solve the problems that it has created, at least at the same level they were generated. The Station Seven (yellow) equipment has the essential filters that were missed in the surge of water past the original Station Four and Station Five junctions. As yellow does its unique work, the boomeritis display within Green will be replaced by a much healthier version of the FS vMEME codes, as the Spiral returns to its evolutionary task in a robust and dynamic fashion. So, the initial Second-Tier work is to surf up and down the flow to repair the filtering system at each of the stations and keep the movement open if and when natural forces trigger the movement, opens the gates, and facilitates the continuation in the human stream of development. No doubt but that this Second-Tier function will uncover all kinds of bugs and beasties in each of the vMEME territories and filtering stations.

     (9) When Jefferson introduces the notion of boomeritis, he often uses a simplified "phase-2" model to explain it. We all understand that he actually embraces a "phase-4" model--a more complete model that includes all quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. But using a simple "phase-2" or "developmental" model allows a simplified introduction to this topic, and advanced students can then proceed to explore a more complete, phase-4 model (as outlined in, e.g., Integral Psychology).

     (10) Finally, introducing the concept of "boomeritis" is a specific intervention designed to unblock the natural flow and is simply part of a much larger initiative around Integral thinking itself. The virus of boomeritis itself is a natural enemy to this progression and acts as a vapor lock to arrest future emergence. We will have to either drain the swamp or remove the green sludge from the natural channel. This is beginning to happen, even in Washington DC, but also in many sectors in Europe as new perceptions are developing in France, certainly in the Netherlands, and in parts of UK. We expect the boomeritis virus to fight like hell to keep its privileged position, especially within affluent societies.

Don Edward Beck, Ph. D.
Founding Partner, National Values Center
CEO, The Spiral Dynamics Group
Box 797, Denton, TX 76202 USA
drbeck@attglobal.net