Where seen: Deep ecology, postmodernism, Netherlands idealism,
Rogerian counseling, Canadian health care, humanistic psychology,
liberation theology, cooperative inquiry, World Council of
Churches, Greenpeace, animal rights, ecofeminism, post-colonialism,
Foucault/Derrida, politically correct, diversity movements, human
rights issues, ecopsychology. 10% of the population, 15% of the
power. [Note: this is 10% of the world population. Don Beck
estimates that around 20-25% of the American population is
green.]
With the completion of the green meme, human consciousness is
poised for a quantum jump into "second-tier thinking." Clare Graves
referred to this as a "momentous leap," where "a chasm of
unbelievable depth of meaning is crossed." In essence, with
second-tier consciousness, one can think both vertically and
horizontally, using both hierarchies and heterarchies (both ranking
and linking). One can therefore, for the first time, vividly grasp
the entire spectrum of interior development , and thus see that
each level, each meme, each wave is crucially important for the
health of the overall Spiral.
As I would word it, each wave is "transcend and include." That is,
each wave goes beyond (or transcends) its predecessor, and yet it
includes or embraces it in its own makeup. For example, a cell
transcends but includes molecules, which transcend but include
atoms. To say that a molecule goes beyond an atom is not to say
that molecules hate atoms, but that they love them: they embrace
them in their own makeup; they include them, they don't marginalize
them. Just so, each wave of existence is a fundamental ingredient
of all subsequent waves, and thus each is to be cherished and
embraced.
Moreover, each wave can itself be activated or reactivated as life
circumstances warrant. In emergency situations, we can activate red
power drives; in response to chaos, we might need to activate blue
order; in looking for a new job, we might need orange achievement
drives; in marriage and with friends, close green bonding. All of
these memes have something important to contribute.
But what none of the first-tier memes can do, on their own, is
fully appreciate the existence of the other memes. Each of the
first-tier memes thinks that its worldview is the correct or best
perspective. It reacts negatively if challenged; it lashes out,
using its own tools, whenever it is threatened. Blue order is very
uncomfortable with both red impulsiveness and orange individualism.
Orange individualism thinks blue order is for suckers and green
egalitarianism is weak and woo-woo. Green egalitarianism cannot
easily abide excellence and value rankings, big pictures,
hierarchies, or anything that appears authoritarian, and thus green
reacts strongly to blue, orange, and anything post-green.
All of that begins to change with second-tier thinking. Because
second-tier consciousness is fully aware of the interior stages of
development--even if it cannot articulate them in a technical
fashion--it steps back and grasps the big picture, and thus
second-tier thinking appreciates the necessary role that all of the
various memes play . Second-tier awareness thinks in terms of the
overall spiral of existence, and not merely in the terms of any one
level.
Where the green meme begins to grasp the numerous different systems
and pluralistic contexts that exist in different cultures (which is
why it is indeed the sensitive self, i.e., sensitive to the
marginalization of others), second-tier thinking goes one step
further. It looks for the rich contexts that link and join these
pluralistic systems, and thus it takes these separate systems and
begins to embrace, include, and integrate them into holistic
spirals and integral meshworks. Second-tier thinking, in other
words, is instrumental in moving from relativism to holism, or from
pluralism to integralism .
The extensive research of Graves, Beck, and Cowan indicates that
there are at least two major waves to this second-tier integral
consciousness:
7. Yellow: Integrative . Life is a kaleidoscope of natural
hierarchies [holarchies], systems, and forms. Flexibility,
spontaneity, and functionality have the highest priority.
Differences and pluralities can be integrated into interdependent,
natural flows. Egalitarianism is complemented with natural degrees
of ranking and excellence. Knowledge and competency should
supersede power, status, or group sensitivity. The prevailing world
order is the result of the existence of different levels of reality
(memes) and the inevitable patterns of movement up and down the
dynamic spiral. Good governance facilitates the emergence of
entities through the levels of increasing complexity (nested
hierarchy). 1% of the population, 5% of the power.
8. Turquoise: Holistic . Universal holistic system, holons/waves of
integrative energies; unites feeling with knowledge; multiple
levels interwoven into one conscious system. Universal order, but
in a living, conscious fashion, not based on external rules (blue)
or group bonds (green). A "grand unification" [a "theory of
everything" or T.O.E.] is possible, in theory and in actuality.
Sometimes involves the emergence of a new spirituality as a
meshwork of all existence. Turquoise thinking uses the entire
Spiral; sees multiple levels of interaction; detects harmonics, the
mystical forces, and the pervasive flow-states that permeate any
organization. 0.1% of the population, 1% of the power.
With less than 2 percent of the population at second-tier thinking
(and only 0.1 percent at turquoise), second-tier consciousness is
relatively rare because it is now the "leading-edge" of collective
human evolution. As examples, Beck and Cowan mention items that
include Teilhard de Chardin's noosphere, chaos and complexity
theories, universal systems thinking, integral-holistic theories,
Gandhi's and Mandela's pluralistic integration, with increases in
frequency definitely on the way, and even higher memes still in the
offing....
