(This is one of a series of posts exploring EC Theory / Spiral Dynamics. If you read this post alone you will get a very distorted view as to what spiral dynamics is as the post is written from one particular viewpoint. To read them in sequence, please start in the Spiral Dynamics introduction.)

It has come to me recently that in the past I did not consider the consequences of my actions. I would just see something that I wanted and take it. I am glad I have found the Party. I have been given my rightful station and a task to complete. I am to study the truth of the Spiral Dynamic

There are religious heathens on our border who believe in God being the ultimate source of wisdom and knowledge. Infidels. Do they not know that wise party member Claregreve knew the truth. Using the ancient way of consulting the Spiral Dynamic at midnight. Claregreve has the esteemed honour of being prime amongst us mere mortals before the absolute truth of all.

A few years have passed. Party be blessed. I still hold the esteemed position in the order of all things. The party has successfully eradicated the godly heathens to the west. We have conquered their land and brought it under the true rule of the Party. We tortured the animals who would not repent. They clearly have not evolved enough to see the one truth.

No sooner than we put down the godly heathens that a faction has broken away to the south claiming that there is a new way divined though the way of the Spiral Dynamic. They claim that our way is inferior. We will win, as defined by the true Spiral Dynamic. The faction is not far from our location. I have been commanded to write down the truth so that it can be saved should our position be temporarily overrun.

The Spiral Dynamic commands thus:-

There are two kinds of human. Those that follow the true way of the Spiral Dynamic and those who do not. Of the heathens there are four subtypes.

1. The savage. These are designated the colour beige. They wander the wilderness looking for food and shelter. They are rare even beyond the borders of the empire of Spiral Dynamic.

2. The tribespeople. These are designated the colour purple. They live in the far reaches of the known lands. On an expedition last year we encountered one such tribe, their heathen ways were very strange. I suggested that we put them to the stake, but my leader said that we should study and catalogue them and see if they could be saved by the Spiral Dynamic. He was a wise leader, his words were true, praise him. These people speak backwards. They see the past in front of them when clearly the future is what lies before us, as the great spiral ticks forwards each unit of time moves one more step into the future. Purple people are always found in small tribes together. The heathens believe that their dead ancestors talk to them in their dreams, but we that they are heathens and they will have no place in the glorious Spiral Dynamic.

3. The barbarian. These people are designated the colour red. They do as they please. They know no law and just take as they wish. Sometimes when the purples go hungry they head to our cities and are red when they arrive. This transformation is beyond my humble mind but the Spiral Dynamic will reveal its truth when I am worthy. Often they band together into small gangs, raiding the villages. They have no care for the future and no care for each other beyond what is useful to them at the time. The Spiral Dynamic states that one of them will take great risks to save one of his own gang, only to turn around and beat the saved man to a pulp for making himself vulnerable.

4. The lost peoples. These people are designated the colour blue. They claim to know the one true way, they claim that God or some other ideal provides the ultimate law of truth. They are wrong. The one and only true way is described by the law of Spiral Dynamic. People who live this way have laws and order, they form towns and cites and the people within them know their places, yet they are heathens and for all their similarities to the one true way they are idiots. Blue peoples, like the godly peoples to the west that we recently vanquished, form civilisations, they understand that the future must be considered in all the actions that we make, yet they do not consider that future in the true way.

I have been trying to place this new faction into the four heathen groups. I am having trouble doing so. The cities they have taken over are reportedly not burning to the ground as they would if red elements had taken over, yet they do not easily fit into blue because the reports say that they do not follow a fixed law. Instead they have people they call ‘lawyers’ who fight with words to decide who describes the truth the most accurately. I cannot envision how this could be so, surely they would just break down into anarchy and start killing each other, yet reportedly this is not what happens. My superior has told me not to worry about it, the Spiral Dynamic will show the true way, but I can not help but feel concerned. I am not trusting my superiors wisdom. This is not good, I will loose my way from the Spiral Dynamic if I keep questioning in this way.

The true way of the Spiral Dynamic is lost. The faction has over ridden us. My supervisor jumped from his window this morning. He said he would rather die in truth than have to live under false rulers. I am hesitating from taking such action myself. It seems that when I think about it, there may be some truth in what the faction has to say. The claim that they are working under a new paradigm, one that they call orange, they also claim that what I saw as the true way is in reality just another expression of blue.

This makes some sense to me now. I need to think about it for myself some more before I come to a conclusion.

(This is one of a series of posts exploring EC Theory / Spiral Dynamics. If you read this post alone you will get a very distorted view as to what spiral dynamics is as the post is written from one particular viewpoint. To read them in sequence, please start in the Spiral Dynamics introduction.)

The way of spirits is failing me. The tribe has grown, many strangers have moved amongst us, one of them took me without the blessing of the ancestors and I am lost now.

The gods have given me the desire to take what I wish from the ancient lore of Spiral Dynamics. My brother told me that I was walking the path of the snake, fool. He is stupid and does not do as I tell him. The others are attacking the tribe this morning. I pick up the boiling pot and kill a man as he is aiming a spear at my brother. My brother is grateful and thanks the spirits. I told him he was a fool and that it was me he should be grateful too, he told me not to disrespect the ancestors and I clobbered him too. I did not mean to kill him, he was useful to me, but never mind.

The elder said that the snake had possessed me and I was dead to them. I am leaving the tribe. I am travelling to city to take what is mine.

As I travel I seduce a man and take his food and, then slit his throat, I will not let a foul beast such as that posses me.

There are many people here in the city. Many men to seduce, the good ones I let take me – for a good price, the bad – I just take their money. I have some women under me who do as I say and I am to be sure they are fed. There are many riches to be had in the city, I just have to take them. A man came today and became violent with one of my woman, I had my pimp take him and dump him in the river, no one does that to me. My woman was grateful to me.

My pimp let me seduce him, the fool. I am boss now and he knows his place. One of my woman tried to drown me when I was having a bath. How could my own do that to me? Never mind she is dead now. I have looked up the lore of Spiral Dynamics and created a few rules. No killing the boss is rule number one.

I must pay taxes to the church for God. It is a good racket that they have there. Everyone obeying the master, even when he is not looking. I do not like paying, but I am told I must or they will bring the law down on me. I am not afraid.

They came to get me this morning. They have locked me in a cell and told me that I am charged with article 127. I do not know what I did.

I have been in the cell for a long time now. I felt confused for a long time, but feel better now. There are three others in my cell. We fought at first but the warden would punish us whenever we did and we could not get back at him so we are getting on now. It is nice in a way, not to have to be the boss any more. I do not like being in here, always having to follow the rules, but I am given food every day that I do not have to kill for.

I have found God. The priest has shown me the holy way of Spiral Dynamics and I obey its every law now, we will all be better for it. I am no longer in prison, God be praised, I can serve my true master now with my devoted brothers and sisters.

(This is one of a series of posts exploring EC Theory / Spiral Dynamics. If you read this post alone you will get a very distorted view as to what spiral dynamics is as the post is written from one particular viewpoint. To read them in sequence, please start in the Spiral Dynamics introduction.)

Spiral Dynamics is a gift from the ancestors through which the clouds of the future become a little clearer behind us. The ancestors have given us this knowledge that we might best know how to live.

The ancestors bring love to our hearts that we may share with one another the spirits of desire as they sing though us whilst the hollow tree beats out its heartbeat upon our hands.

The ancestors show us that when the goddess of the loins wishes to bring more among us than the deities of the forest are willing to share with us, then the spirit of the monkey may come amongst us and we will fight with our blood and entrails and feast upon those who walk the path of spirit.

When the snake speaks through a young man who is possessed to walk alone, then he is no longer of our family and he dies even though his ghost still walks and breathes in the forest.

The man snakes attack us, they do not fight in the way the ancestors proscribe. They kill all, and only to eat the fish that the spirits had deigned to us, then move on, leaving the spirits unrecognised.

I am alone now. The man snakes confuse me. But I feel I am becoming one of them.

Rather than just regurgitating material that is already published, I have decided to have some fun and am to try and explain what E-C theory is from each of the different values systems within the theory. When approaching clients I have to be able to explain the theory and I have to do it in a way that they will comprehend. A large part of this is finding the language of their values and then explaining it as best I can.

I am going to start with a B-O explanation. Which I have never had to do, as B-O as a dominant system simply does not really exist in the modern world. It is going to be a challenge and I will have to use a little creative licence.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what ‘value systems’ or the different letter pairs mean yet, that will come clear in time. It might be interesting for you to note down your response to each description, e.g. a) how much do you like/dislike the sound of it. b) did you have trouble wrapping your head around it. c) after reading it, how well could you explain it to someone else. I’ll be very surprised if you relate strongly to B-O, and I won’t be surprised if you wonder what I’m on about, stick with it and come back to this system later if it makes no sense to you now.

Important note: All of these different descriptions are biased and stereotyped towards one particular expression of the value system being expressed. They are not necessarily representative, I have to some extent purposefully veered away from the more common stereotypes – but all the expressions are still stereotypes. This will become clearer in the later value systems. These systems do not really exist, they are simply artefacts of the theory and the manner in which our minds latch onto information to make sense of it. There are many contradictions from one description to another. This is on purpose to highlight some of the contradictions within the theory; take all factoids with a pinch of salt and try to let the overall picture of the theory settle in.

(edited 22/05/08 – added important note)

(part of a series of posts introducing E-C Theory and Spiral Dynamics)

E-C theory was developed by a man called Clare Graves. In the early 1950s he was a psychology professor who had an itch to scratch, but he could not quite find the spot. His students kept asking him which of the psychological models that were prevalent at the time actually worked. The problem was, as far as he could tell, none of them did. This inspired him to develop an experiment that he hoped would shed some insight on the matter. It went something like this.

He set an assignment for for one of his new freshman classes. In this assignment he asked his students to write a description of what they considered to be ideal human behaviour. He then passed these papers to another group of freshman students who did not know the first group and asked them to group the papers into categories. The only condition on them being grouped was that the students thought that the papers were similar.

He then repeated, washed and rinsed the same experiment for the next nine years and then spent the next twenty years adding new variables, cross correlating with other psychological research and performing longitudinal studies.

The end result of all this was a pile of data and a theory with a schizophrenic name. At the time he stopped writing he referred to it as the ‘Emergent, Cyclical, Double-Helix Model of Adult Human Biopsychosocial Systems’, which is a bit shorter than some of his earlier names. Unfortunately, while Graves was writing his magnum opus he had a stroke after which he never managed to finish his book.

Fortunately his work did not completely die with him, several of his students including Christopher Cowan and Don Beck set up in business as consultants using Graves work to help people and in particular businesses. They needed a business name that would help them sell their wares and they came up with the name Spiral Dynamics.

The Spiral Dynamics team carried on where Graves left off, their studies expanding with a more cross cultural perspective and looking at the specific problems that their clients were faced with. Eventually, they wrote a book, published in 1996 called, ‘Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change‘.

A few years later Cowan and Beck parted ways. Both carried on in the same vein of business consultancy, however both also developed in new directions as well. Cowan, along with his new partner Natasha Todorovic managed to unearth a lot of Graves original manuscript and published ‘The Never Ending Quest‘, they also continued their consultancy, training and empirical studies. Meanwhile Don Beck had teamed up with Ken Wilber, a philosipher/psychologist who had used Spiral Dynamics as part of his AQAL theory. Beck and Wilber together renamed the theory ‘Spiral Dymanics Integral’ and this is also used in consultancy and training.

There are differences between Graves original E-C theory, the early Cowan and Beck Spiral Dynamics, the Cowan and Todorovic Spiral Dynamics and the Beck and Wilber Spiral Dynamics Integral. I originally encountered this body of work while reading Wilbers ‘Theory of Everything’ and his other books. However, on reading some criticisms of Wilbers work, which I agreed with, I no longer ascribe to the Spiral Dynamics Integral model (I will go into detail about this in a later post). I later read the original Spiral Dynamics Book and The Never ending Quest, which I then followed up by attending the SD1 and SD2 training with Cowan and Todorovic. I now lean quite strongly towards the Cowan and Todorovic camp, but I do have my criticisms of their work as well. I will explore my criticisms and my own stance in more depth once I have finished fleshing out the main theory as it will make more sense then. I prefer to use the term E-C theory rather than Spiral Dynamics, which is the term used throughout The Never Ending Quest. Another name that is sometimes used is ECLET. Most articles on the web use the term Spiral Dynamics and few people would know what I am talking about if I never mentioned it so I sprinkle the term around here and there and always use it when specifically talking about work done after Graves.

(The source for this information is from the Never Ending Quest, the original Spiral Dynamics book, the SD1 and SD2 courses and the the three main websites to do with Spiral Dynamics: www.spiraldynamics.org, www.spiraldynamics.net and www.clarewgraves.com. This wikipedia article is also pretty good. )

This is a 3AM idea. (what is a 3AM idea? )

I actually woke up at around 2 last night. Worst night I have had in ages, but the ideas didn’t really start until 3 or so, which inspired the name for the 3AM category.

It started on the usual theme. Civilisation has come to an end. My immediate family is the only one left (me, wife and two kids). Started wondering what life would be like from a Spiral Dynamics, values perspective.

Essentially I decided that the life conditions would be an-BO. (Will try and remember to link all these terms up when I have the Spiral Dynamics intro written). This would mean that the mind conditions of our kids and subsequent generations would be severely limited. (assuming meet enough other survivors to tribe up and genetic variability is wide enough to survive.

In my semi lucid state I started planning ways that information could be encoded for them that would enable a swift transition up the values systems and enabling civilisation to restore itself.

By about 5AM I had moved on to DQ and ER.

By 6, I was thinking up to GT and how the same technique could work between ER and GT even though society is essentially centred somewhere between dq-ER and ER-fs at the moment.

By 7, I was planning a foundation in my head that would be setting up an international values treasure hunt for survivors should civilization collapse. The foundation would also be working in the present to promote civilisation to express all the systems in healthy expressions and also to help move the centre of gravity above ER (ER is crap at seeing the waste stream of society – need to write a post on that!).

And all this whilst half asleep.

For each stage of values development new knowledge would be hidden in the world in ways that it would not be obtainable with out some of the technology just before it. The treasure would be in the form of technological knowledge and information, but also warnings about the problems society faces when it has the values that develop with that particular technology ability. It would not be a precise process – but perhaps it could be close enough. Each ‘treasure’ would be in a form that would be hard for that values system to destroy completely. Each survival system would not concentrate on just one survival system but a cross section. E.G. BO to DQ.

BO - DQ : A series of tablets, mass produced out of very hard material that does not erode under the elements and is hard to destroy with any pre DQ technology and is not materially valuable. Some of these would be embedded in mountain sides, outcrops etc. Especially in places that are geologically stable. The plates starts with a single paragraph intro in modern language, explaining their purpose. The first thing on the tablets would be an oral story in BO language, in simplified phonetic language where all the letters are easily discernible from each other. The story includes guidance from the ancestors to remaster the written language on the tablets should it be forgotten, that this is the task the ancestors have set them. It also tells the story of the fall of the ancestors from godhood and a stark warning about the cause of failure, e.g. ‘The gods did not understand the importance of their shit. They did not care what they did with it or where they put it and in punishment they fell from godhood.’

Second would be a set of instructions for maintaining knowledge of the written knowledge which would be in two sections. The first instruction is to tell the story, that this is the job of the elder, but the skill is taught to all. The story would also include some clever help to aid that – not sure what at the moment. The second set of instructions would include instructions for teaching the written language, written with a DQ overview, but using BO and CP nouns and language structure. Essentially something along the lines of setting up a tradition, that every child has to master the letters and be able to duplicate the tablets. That everyone’s reproduction of the tablets should be kept and buried with them (extra backups). To write the reproductions on material that lasts a long time. EG. etch on bone. The ancestors have charged everyone with this task. The third section on the tablets would essentially be a language guide to help understand the meaning of words. A minimum number of words are used to communicate the learning. A very simplified language, but understandable to someone today. Only elders have to reproduce this section, incentivising it to a privileged position.

The fourth section of the tablets would be written to talk to CP. Not sure how to do this. It is probably the hardest part. It would start off with another oral story, saying how the reader will know that their tribe has reached CP (population density + rebellion from BO. It will warn of the benefits of this and warn of the dangers in a constructive way. CP does not exactly take instruction, so this is a challenge. Further instructions and extra language definitions. Skills to encourage development to DQ, e.g. agriculture – communicated simply.

The sixth section would be in basic DQ language. And warn of DQ dangers and benefits, plus provide safe DQ technological information. It would use absolutist language such as commandments with promises to the promised land if the instructions are followed. It would include a global map with spots marked on it that contain another set of tablets. These tablets are only obtainable with advanced DQ technology. E.g. buried at least 50 meters deep through difficult to excavate material. With large markers on top, such as pyramids. These new tablets are also stored in places that are not quite so hard to access, but also not marked on the map, such as deep in caves, high up mountains etc.

The advanced DQ tablets contain basic ER information (safe technology) and stark warnings in DQ-ER language about the failings of the past and an understanding of the values needed to progress. They also include further instructions for accessing an even more advanced set of tablets of which only a few would be made. These would be buried very deep and be hard to reach. Eg 500 meters deep and would contain advanced technical knowledge and interpretation of all values as we now understand them. And it would wish the new civilisation better luck in moving forwards than we had.

The idea of this plan is that if society does collapse, it has a hand up from the point it collapsed to.

All the above would only be one branch of the Foundations purpose. It would also be promoting the healthy use of value systems and development to sustainable values in our current civilisation. I am not presuming that we will collapse, just putting in a multi level interlinked safety net in case we do. We need to shore advanced values up in ways that that are based in life conditions and mind conditions.

Relatively, I do not think this would cost all that much… a few hundred million at a guess. Convincing people we need it would be another issue. If civilisation does start going down the spout, there would probably be some wealthy financiers steeping forward. The challenge would be to design the templates before that.

It is now 09:40. I have been writing since 07:30.
Reminder: this is a middle of the night idea. There are bound to be some crazy elements, but I wanted to get it down in case there is a gem at the core. It is important to stress I am not a doomer, I just like covering all the possibilities. I hope we make through the peak resources/Ignored waste stream issues that is facing civilisation at the moment, but you never know. Best take a raincoat if there is a chance of rain, especially on a cold day.

Time to let it rest a bit and see if it breeds in my mind.

I have been wondering if it is wise to post so much personal history on the web, after all it is here for posterity.

Then I came across this.

I’ve also been a bit too attached to getting the personal history finished before I write all the other crazy ideas in my head. But even though I’ve only got one post to go, it is taking too long.

I’ve got two of my Spiral Dynamics certification clients to see this weekend so I am not going to have a great deal of time to update the site. It’s frustrating, my replacement at Green Dot Guides starts on the 1st of May, then there will be a handover period before I have much extra time, but my head is bursting with ideas. I’m not even managing to write rough notes on them all. To boot, I am burnt out from two very demanding years as a web site development manager.To sum up I am tired but not sleeping great. Sigh. I am just going to start posting ideas as they come up. They will be a little rough for now, but never mind.

Things I am planning/doing with the site.

• Working on the design for this site (current design is just the install default.) I’ve nearly finished a preliminary banner.
• Finish my work history posts. Important because I will have much less work soon and want to get the ball moving on my next move.
• Finish the ‘about’ pages. Write a post about how I want to organise the site; and why.
• Work out how to turn on the Firefox UK English dictionary…. done. Right click > languages > UK.
• Write posts introducing Spiral Dynamics and some of my thoughts/ideas about it.
• Finish several book reviews I have been writing (in my head and on the computer.) And post them here.
• Create a 3Am ideas category and start posting them.
• Link this site up to the web. It is live but as far as I know there are no links to it. Very unlikely anyone has found it yet <checks log>Can’t find password… do it later.</checks log>
• Write a post about discovering how people in Hebden Bridge are working towards us being a transition town.

Things I am doing off the web site.

• Pregnant wife
  • Helping with extra housework
  • Discussion
  • Reading up
  • Planning
  • Preparations
• Spiral Dynamics certification
  • Continue interviewing my volunteers for certification
    • Write about process
• Permaculture
  • Monthly day class – studying towards foundation.
    • March 28th – I am hosting.
  • Write about permaculture.
  • Look after seed bed. Continue planting experimental guild of sunflowers, beans + root parsley/chard/lettuce.
• Transition town
  • Network
  • Attend the next Climate Kitchen event at the Trades Club on Sunday 5th April
  • Write about it.
• Socialise and go to Zen meditation group and Quaker meetings.
• Exercise. Run. Run some more; burn off the sleepless energy so I can rest properly. I am crap at this.
• Ohh yea, my day job.
• Rest; please. And sleep.

I am at a stage in my life where I am trying to move my career, the purpose in my life, in new directions. For a long time I have been involved in the eco-sector, but usually in a support role and I have been getting frustrated with the need to push things in new directions. I can see so much that needs to be done in the world; so many problems with how we live that are causing the eco system and our social system to break down. I will write more extensively on the problems at a later date, the purpose of this post is to share a little of my vision with you. One of my purposes of attending the Spiral Dynamics training was to help me find some new direction. Marie Faire, one of the support tutors from the Beyond Partnership suggested that I write an idealised version of how I would like to work, without any of the practical constraints. It was a very useful exercise, which allowed me to clarify my ideas. I have re-written the dream several times, and will no doubt do so again, it is an ongoing work. But for the moment, here is a snapshot of where I am.

…………………

To work in a place with people where I can look into their eyes, hold their hands and hug them with an open, peaceful heart and be likewise embraced. To also communicate and interact with a global network of other people for exchange of ideas, methodologies and systems. Where the flow of information between us is intricate and accepted even when difficult, painful and conflicting allowing for ever more accurate and complex modelling and solutions. Yet also a place with the space and time to be alone to develop ideas, to rest in solitude, silence and peace. Time to develop my own identity and creativity. A place where, by being, I flow into people as they flow into me; and then flow out again as we continue onwards, each maintaining our own individuated uniqueness. A local place where we can share ideas and experience with our full perceptive field as well as though formal language and the constructs that form from that. To work with unique individuals, each with their own depth and breadth of flavour and sensation, enjoying that difference, enjoying exploring the boundaries between us that define our individual identities; the boundaries that without which we would have no identity. Our boundaries define us and in exploring the boundaries that we share we can do more than know each other, we in a very real sense become each other for a while, in becoming each other, we are peace with each other, before the flux and flow riddle on in their evolving dance. Our own changing identities ebbing and waning as we grow, evolve and die. There is a lot of flow in this description, yet the flow is structured and at times gritty, it can be organised and hierarchical. The structure has no ultimate form, no perfect form. This sounds idealised, and it is, for that is its intention; in reality it will be grounded and the edges will sometimes be rough and unknown.

Working efficiently and effectively with people towards resolving the major problems facing humanity and the environment from the excessive consumption and waste that we produce. Working with people systems and the institutions they reside within to create more efficient, effective, congruent, reliable, integrated, sustainable, holistic and people friendly environments. Doing so by walking my talk, keeping my resource use under a specific percentile on critical measures by home working and localising, but at them same time being globally networked with other localised groups. To work specifically with E-C and related psychological theories interactively with the support of the E-C knowledge community. To keep my career open ended and expanding into new areas as they interest me and become relevant.

To work in Hebden Bridge, where I am settled into the local community with good friends. To work congruently with the needs of raising a healthy family and be harmonious with the needs of my wife, Nicole.

I have just returned from a training course as part of becoming certified for SD1 & SD2. I