There was a recent discussion in the Spiral Dynamics pod at Zaadz on the Mean Yellow Meme. The discussion seemed to echo in many ways the Wilber/Earp posts of late in that it supposes that there is fairly large number of people at second tier, or even at Turquoise (according to Wilber). One person mentioned "the people I would consider to be Yellow," as if there are a whole mess of them running around in every town.
[Those unfamiliar with Spiral Dynamics Integral (or KW's newest approach, Integral Spirituality, which steals much of its terminology from SDi while also seeming to include it) can read this or this.]
Let's crunch numbers. Wilber proposes that either 2% or 5%, depending on what you read, of the population is at second tier. I won't even get into the absurdity of talking about third tier. So, if KW is right, there are between 6,000,000 and 15,000,000 second tier people in America (using a population of 300,000,000, which we won't actually [theoretically] hit until October 17 or so, but it's a good round number). That's not very many people. I personally think these numbers are more than a little high, but then I live in Arizona.
How many of them are on-line? How many of them know or care that KW has a blog? How many of them know or care about the Integral Institute? How many of them even know what second tier is?
On the other hand, how many of them are artists, scientists, doctors, writers, managers, or any number of other things, who devote their lives to being present and being themselves? And how many of these people do you think give a damn about Ken Wilber or Integral Theory?
I'm not guessing very high.
So, assuming that KW is capable of doing the same math, why would he be talking so much and so often about second tier people? Does he really believe that all the second tier people have gravitated to him and I-I, or is he trying to convince these people they are second tier as a marketing ploy?
And what effect do you think this has on the population of bloggers, readers, and students who know the theory and can get it intellectually? Do you think the rest of their developmental lines are also in second tier? No? But, they do.
The integral bloggers I read and know are clear about their own development, but I've seen others who are not so clear, who want to be part of the "cool kids" crowd in the Turquoise realm. I'm seeing this a lot at Zaadz, which is to be expected in many ways. Very good people, but many of them mistake second tier intellectual development with being second tier. KW's series of Earpy posts has only made that confusion more common and widespread.
Intellect nearly always leads the way in development, and many of us can think in Yellow flexflow systems, or even in Turquoise worldcentric networks, but very few people have the majority of their developmental lines centered in Yellow, which would require several of them to be Turquoise, Coral, or beyond to compensate for the ones that are Red, Blue, Orange, and Green. Ego and intellect are closely linked for most of us, and ego loves to think it is more highly evolved than the Smiths.
We all need to do a little reality check, an ego check. We need to look at all our developmental lines and be honest about where we are -- of central importance are cognition, affects, role taking, psychosexuality, socio-emotional capacity, worldviews, and various lines that can be called spiritual (openness, concern, meditative stages, and so on).
Where is our center of gravity when we factor in all these lines? More importantly, where is our center of gravity when those who know us best assess our position on these lines? And how much shadow stuff do we have dragging us down?
No person is one color in the SDi framework -- or even in KW's new system. Although it's a tempting shorthand to talk about people in terms of a color designation, it's really a terrible use of a complex theory. Don Beck has been adamant about this, and Chris Cowan (with all his faults, he knows SD inside and out) is even more militant in his position that no one is a color.
More importantly, the actual number of people who are second tier is very low -- and those who are second tier probably aren't hanging out talking about (or blogging about) being second tier. In fact, they probably don't even know or care what second tier is.
What do you think about this issue? What do you think about Wilber's efforts to create a vast and inclusive second tier (really using the elements of Turquoise language that echo Purple)? How many people do you know who you would consider second tier?
Technorati Tags: Spiral Dynamics, Integral Spirituality, Ken Wilber, Don Beck, Second Tier, First Tier, Yellow Meme, Turquoise Meme
I think there's huge misunderstanding, in the first place, about exactly what 2nd tier is. Some theorist seem to assert, by its strictest definition, no at all is 2nd tier (yet). Others seem to be saying that second tier is simply the developmental level which follows green, in which case there are plausibly millions of such people quietly doing their thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly true, your point about no one being a particular color. I am frequently astonished by the people I meet: folks who have a HUGE talent for states, or an enormously developed empathic capacity, or an intellect that boggles my limited little mind. But I've come to realize that holding second tier as a center of gravity (as opposed to having discrete lines developed to the 2nd tier), at a minimum development, really only involves having two or three crucial lines developed that far (role-taking, cognition, and [perhaps this is really only another aspect of role-taking] the observer). I have personally met many people who had cognition or the observer developed far beyond mine, but it's awesomely rare, apparently, for anyone to have all three equally developed to a high level. (By the way, in my observation and experience, "role-taking" seems to be the most difficult to develop and rarest to have developed to a high level).
As to what Wilber is on about: I can pretty much guarantee that the majority of 2nd tier folks are feeling like a voice in the wilderness wherever they are. I think Wilber speaks with the grandiosity and passion he does because he hopes to attract the attention of 2nd tier folks and be heard all the way in their outposts of isolation. Seems a reasonable approach to me.
Kai in NYC
Yeah, this whole second-tier/spiral dynamics business has troubled me for some time now. I understand that it's really no different from what Wilber has been saying all along, using different terminology (egocentric, worldcentric, etc.), but I've noticed a big difference in the WAY the SD terminology is being used. Wilber and others have pointed out time and time again that a person in not green or yellow, but rather these are just descriptive terms for various lines of development and "centers of gravity." But despite this lip service, we see the colors used to pigeon hole individuals time and time again, by Wilber and the rest of us. This SD shorthand is so prone to misuse, it seems like a case of highly unskillful means to rely so heavily on it.
ReplyDeleteI know some people who are deep, and this is just an intuitive assessment on my part. It's as simple as that, as far as I'm concerned.
--Bob
Kai,
ReplyDeleteI become increasingly convinced that you are right about the importance of role-taking. I see this especially in relationships, where being able to see through the other's eyes is so crucial to resolving conflict.
But, I think it is a requirement for any kind of 2nd tier awareness as you state. I tend to agree with your Big Three, but I might also include one of the "spiritual" lines -- Wilber seems to be big on "states" experience, something I feel I lack.
Bob -- I agree with you about the problems in using SDi colors as shorthand. Wilber has warned against it in the past, but he does it all the time. He has now rejected the SDi colors and created his own color scheme, so maybe in HIS scheme it's okay to refer to people as colors.
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Wilber has really confused things by implementing his own version of second tier.
So now when we use the term we have to distinguish between Wilber's scheme and SDi - which I'm guesing was intentional on Wilber's part. SDi is much easier to grasp and much more marketable, so Wilber had to find a way to squash it.
In terms of reality, Wilber is just employing Orange meme truth-claims to win market share, and it is a marketplace of ideas, isn't it?
Whatta ya gonna do?
Peace,
Bill
KW can quote texts from Zen masters all he wants and hang around with various celebrity Zen teachers all he wants--
ReplyDeletegaining mind (that is the pursuit of fame, fortune and power--even the desire to evolve oneself to a higher stage or color)--this 'gaining mind' is incompatible with practice.
You can follow all the forms, but if afflicted with these gaining mind agendas, you'll be unable to 'just sit.'
Thats the worry--linking authentic practice paths to a gaining mind agenda that will subvert these paths.
Jesus called it serving God and Mammon and warned that it was futile.