Why do you humans have so much conflict with one another?
How can two intelligent beings be unable to see eye to eye?
What’s at the root of so much of our internal conflict and our frequent inflexibility to adopt different perspectives?
Spiral dynamics addresses all of these questions and more.
If you’re interested in understanding human behavior, psychological development, cultural dynamics, leadership, and communication, the spiral dynamics stages can be insightful.
Let’s dive in…
Disclaimer: To be clear, I am not the originator of this Spiral Dynamics Integral model. What follows is my understanding and commentary on this material as it relates to integral theory and humanistic psychology.
What is Spiral Dynamics?
Clare Graves created a psychological model, originally referred to as the “levels of existence,” that highlights stages of development, specifically those related to values.
This hierarchy of value structures consists of eight levels that individuals express in their psychological lives.
These eight stages are developmental in that we each grow through them, and society has also evolved through these stage structures.
I know this may seem a bit abstract, but hang on for a minute. This model will become entirely practical once we start exploring the individual stages below.
The Origins of Spiral Dynamics
While Abraham Maslow was formulating the hierarchy of human needs, psychologist Clare W. Graves was examining what makes people different in their behaviors, values, and worldviews.
Over 20 years of research yielded what Graves called the levels of existence.1https://www.clarewgraves.com/articles_content/1974_Futurist/Futr74_tbl.pdf
Questioning thousands of participants in longitudinal studies, he found there are specific stages of development in human values.
Graves and Maslow were contemporaries. Graves initially sought to validate Maslow’s conclusions. Grave’s detailed research, however, revealed many psychological insights that went beyond Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
However, Graves passed away in 1986, before he completed and published his work. This partly explains why his work is less well known than Maslow’s, even though, in many ways, this research is equally rich and instructive for understanding human psychology.
Grave’s research was picked up by Christopher Cowan and Don Beck who coined the term “spiral dynamics®” and published Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change in 1996.
Don Beck later joined forces with philosopher Ken Wilber who integrated spiral dynamics into his work, published in A Theory of Everything (2001), helping to popularize this model.
In the integral community, spiral dynamics is referred to as “spiral dynamics integral,” and each stage has a different color code.
Source: Brandy Agerbeck, Loosetooth.com
The Eight Stages of Spiral Dynamics Integral
As you scan the stages of spiral dynamics, look at them as “expressions” within the human experience.
It’s important to note that a particular stage of development doesn’t define an individual.
Instead, developmental literature uses the term “center of gravity,” which means that each person has a center of gravity that is predominantly in one stage of development. However, people also express other value structures.
From the bottom up:
Beige: The Instinctive Self
Driven to survive. The Instinctive Self is archaic, basic, automatic, and instinctive. It thinks and acts in a needs-driven, wish-fulfillment manner.
The primary theme of the Instinctive Self is to “do what you must just to stay alive.”
Purple: The Magical Self
The Magical Self wants safety and security. It is tribalistic, magical, and mystical. Looks to gods and higher powers with rituals for protection.
The underlying theme of the Magical Self is to “keep the spirits happy and the tribe’s nest warm and safe.”
Red: The Impulsive Self
The Impulsive Self drives for power, glory, rage, and revenge. It is egocentric, exploitative, impulsive, and rebellious. The Impulsive Self believes it can take what it wants by aligning with power.
The basic theme of the Impulsive Self is “Be what you are and do what you want, regardless.”
Blue: The Rule/Role Self
The Rule/Role Self seeks the ultimate peace, locked in the battle of good and evil. It is absolutistic, obedient, purposeful, and authoritarian. By following the rules and exceeding its given role, it will know the fundamental truth. Most religions and religious values are rooted in this stage.
The theme of the Rule/Role Self is that “Life has meaning, direction, and purpose with predetermined outcomes.”
Orange: The Achiever Self
The Achiever Self desires autonomy, achievement, and self-interest. It is materialistic, strategic, ambitious, and individualistic.
The purpose of the game is to compete and win: material pleasure, acquisition, and the advancement of civilization. How? By learning how to excel at everything it does, setting and achieving goals, measuring success, and so on.
The Achiever Self builds businesses, science, medicine, and most of modern society. It creates hierarchies of domination (comparisons, “better than,” etc.). Orange became the dominant wave during the Industrial Age and continues through the technological and information age.
The primary theme of the Achiever Self is to “act in your self-interest by playing the game to win.”
Green: The Sensitive Self
The Sensitive Self lives by connection, community, egalitarianism, and consensus. It is relativistic, personalistic, pluralistic, and sensitive. Green appreciates diverse views and focuses on the needs of the many.
The Sensitive Self wave first emerged during the hippy movement in the late ’60s. With the “green wave” came awareness of human and animal rights, which gave birth to feminism, racial equality, postmodernism, and other movements. Liberalism and activism are expressions of the sensitive self.
The underlying theme of the Sensitive Self is to “seek peace within the inner self and explore the caring dimensions of community.”
Yellow: The Integral Self
The integral self seeks to become whole and synthesize all the levels that came before it by awakening as many lines of intelligence as it can and integrating them into a cohesive whole. It is systemic, ecological, flexible, and conceptual. By learning and adapting, it can incorporate the levels that came before it.
The primary theme of the integral self is to “live fully and responsibly as what you are and are learning to become.”
Turquoise: The Holistic Self
Compassion and harmony guide turquoise. It seeks peace in an incomprehensible world by developing a more profound receptivity of multi-dimensional perspectives without privileging any of them.
The main theme of the Holistic Self is to “experience the wholeness of existence through mind and spirit.”
Okay, so now let’s make sense of these stages.
The Relationship between Grave’s Spiral Dynamics and Maslow’s Model
At first glance, the stages of spiral dynamics don’t look too similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. But let’s take a closer look.
The Instinctive Self focuses on doing what you need to do to survive. This is the same as Maslow’s physiological needs.
The Magical Self and the Impulsive Self seek protection and a safe environment. Those are Maslow’s safety and security needs.
The Achiever Self is interested in achievement, which hits on Maslow’s external esteem needs.
Affection and connection with others guide the Sensitive Self; Maslow’s “love and belonging needs.”
The Integral Self is about becoming the best version of yourself—another way of describing self-actualization.
Spiral Dynamics vs Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Differences Between the Two Models
The Holistic Self in spiral dynamics represents the stage of consciousness where an individual transcends their ego, identifying instead with the collective whole.
Maslow called this stage in his later work, self-transcendence.
The primary distinction between the two models is that in Grave’s version, the Sensitive Self (green) develops after the Achiever self (orange), while in Maslow’s model, love and belonging come before self-esteem. (See the image above for comparison.)
This likely depends on the individual. Women may more often develop their “Green” value structure first while men more often build their achievement values structure first.
The Importance of Integration
From the perspective of psychological development, understanding the difference between the two tiers is the most critical aspect of Grave’s model.
The first tier of spiral dynamics includes all the stages through the Sensitive Self. That is, the initial six of the eight stages of values are in the first tier.
When your center of gravity is in one of these six stages, you tend to identify exclusively with that particular value structure.
So, for example, if your center of gravity is in the Achiever Self, you likely identify yourself as an achiever (even if you don’t use that term).
You also tend to believe that the values of achievers—pleasure, material things, acquisition, achieving goals, money, capitalism—are what’s most important. And you’re convinced that everyone should value these things too.
The second tier represents a radical shift in how an individual perceives reality. While in the first tier, the individual’s ego identifies with a particular stage of development, in the second tier, there’s an expansion of consciousness.
Now, we can perceive these stages of development and their related value structures. We can understand each stage’s benefits and inherent limitations. We can begin to integrate each stage without making one value structure “right” and the others “wrong.”
The Dance of Masculine and Feminine Energies
One particularly beautiful aspect of Grave’s model is that it illustrates the constant tension between masculine and feminine energies, one of the hallmark concerns of the individuation process.
The masculine energy seeks autonomy and independence. The feminine energy drives toward communion and togetherness.
Each stage within spiral dynamics toggles between these two energies.
- Survival: individual survival (masculine)
- Protection: tribal (feminine)
- Power: power and dominance (masculine)
- Rule/Role: follows moral precepts of the group (feminine)
- Achievement: autonomy and achievement (masculine)
- Sensitivity: egalitarianism and community (feminine)
- Integration: integration and personal responsibility (masculine)
- Holism: collective individualism (feminine)
Isn’t that interesting?
The emphasis shifts repeatedly between masculine and feminine, individualism and collectivism. Is it any wonder that we are divided as a people and as individuals?
Holding the opposites—the Yin and Yang energies—together is no easy feat in this continuous dance.
(For more on this topic, see Jung’s theory of Anima and Animus.)
How Spiral Dynamics Explains Human Conflict
In my coaching practice, I often referred to spiral dynamics when I saw conflicts occur between individuals.
According to this research, only approximately 1% of individuals are integrated.
80 percent of individuals have a center of gravity in either Rule/Roles, Achievement, or Sensitivity.
These percentages help explain interoffice, political, and marital conflicts.
Take politics as an illustration. Republican or conservative value structures express rules and roles, while Democratic or liberal value structures are in the “green.”
Rules/Roles and Sensitivity values can not see each other’s viewpoint.
In fact, research suggests that liberal and conservative viewpoints stem from different parts of the brain.
One Value Structure Isn’t “Better Than” Another
Incidentally, the above doesn’t imply that one value structure is “better” than another.
Each stage of development represents a more complex structure in consciousness.
When you have a system of greater complexity, it means that more things can go wrong. And they often do!
So each value structure can go to extremes. And the more complex the value structure, the more destructive the extremes become.
For this reason, Wilber calls the out-of-balance greens the “Mean Green Memes.”2Ken Wilber, Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free!, 2003.
Right now, the Mean Green Memes are wreaking havoc on the Western world.
When two individuals disagree, they are stuck in one of the first six value structures.
For example, someone seeking achievement perceives the world through a different lens than someone driven by equality and community.
How Values Influence Psychological Development
In an “ideal” social and cultural environment, we would naturally progress through these stages of development in our first two decades of life.
This natural progression, however, rarely occurs.
Instead, individuals tend to get stuck or fixated on a particular stage of development and subconsciously struggle to move beyond it.
For example, individuals in strict religious households whose parents teach them that their religion is the “right one” and everyone else is going to hell will likely get stuck in the Blue stage.
If they come to value personal achievement, they may begin to push into Orange.
Achievement (orange) versus the Sensitive Self (green)
Most individuals in New-Age spiritual communities are expressing “green” values.
The Sensitive Self tends to resent achievers because the achievement value structure hasn’t developed a value for human care or the environment.
Achievers are mainly interested in personal acquisition and growth for growth’s sake.
Individuals at the green stage (sensitive self), however, forget that a part of them is driven by achievement values too.
Achievers compete. Green individuals seek cooperation. These two have a difficult time coexisting.
Even though green individuals want cooperation, they tend to be dissociated from their shadow (achievement) and unaware of how they want to be victorious too.
Including versus Dissociating
In healthy development, Wilber often explains, we “transcend and include” the level that came before it.3Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy, 2000.
Meaning we develop to a higher stage of consciousness while incorporating the essential aspects of the prior stage.
But, generally speaking, this isn’t what happens. Instead of “transcending and including,” we, as Wilber explains, “transcend and disassociate.”4Ibid.
That is, we adopt a later stage of development while cutting off and discarding the previous structure.
The fundamental religionist at the Rule/Role self may become an atheist when they enter achievement mode. Or, an Achiever may become an anti-capitalistic environmentalist.
Much of my 30s was marked by the struggle to integrate achievement and sensitivity. When we begin to embrace spiritual values in green, it can sometimes be difficult to incorporate the orange values of achievement.
Many entrepreneurs wrestle with this tension, and it can take years to resolve.
The Vital Shift Toward Integration
As the literature states, just becoming aware of these stages of consciousness (which you’re doing by reading this) helps considerably. Without a language for these stages, our conscious minds don’t have a handle on what’s going on.
Once you familiarize yourself with this model’s eight stages, you will begin to notice their expressions in yourself and those around you.
The primary goal of self-development is to establish our center of gravity in the second tier, which is integration (yellow).
The Integral Self is “transpersonal” in that it includes the previous personal stages while also moving beyond them. The transition from the Sensitive Self (green) to the Integral Self (yellow) represents a significant shift in consciousness.
Locating Authority Within Oneself
As we saw in the guide to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic Human Needs, we can only meet our basic needs in relation to other people.
Then, with the shift to self-actualization, our attention becomes inwardly focused.
Graves found the same thing to be true with values: The levels below integration are expressed relative to others.
Then, there’s a radical shift to the second tier. Here, our focus isn’t on the personal, but on the transpersonal.
The quest becomes to “live fully and responsibly as what you are and are learning to become.”
If you’re reading this, e your center of gravity ilikely s between achievement and sensitivity.
Topics like improving mental performance and achieving financial freedom relate to achievement (orange).
If you’re interested in discovering your values and learning about your shadow, these topics only become relevant at “green.”
Transcending and including these value structures is the primary function of integration.
How to Use Spiral Dynamics Integral for Shadow Work
Many of the self-development guides on this website offer methods and insights to help individuals become more integrated (yellow).
Most of the reasons that the majority of us get fixated on first-tier value structures are external.
Culture and society are fragmented and compartmentalized, so it’s natural that our internal structure reflects this fragmentation.
To avoid the ambiguity and tensions of holding opposites and paradoxes without taking sides, we tend to cut off aspects of our humanity. When we cut off a part of us, we relegate that part to our shadow.
This dissociation is what enables various archetypes to hijack our psyche.
So here’s one way we can use this model to support shadow integration: Examine each stage and see if you can determine where and how you have divorced yourself from that level.
For example, if you’re generally not conscious or present within your body (beige/instinctive self), you’re likely divorced from your instincts.
Overeating and other compulsive and addictive behaviors are signs of disconnection. Qigong and Zhan Zhuang are methods for body-mind integration to help integrate this stage of development.
How to Use Spiral Dynamics Integral for Self-Development
Ultimately, the goal here is to develop a more integrated consciousness.
How do we do this?
We awaken as many of the intelligences of body, mind, emotion, and spirit as we can. Essentially, we develop the innate potentials that are currently lying dormant within us.
Learn how to find your Center
In our center, we are neutral. From neutrality, it’s easier to catch when we’re stuck in a limiting perspective or denying a particular value structure.
Get to know your Shadow
Use the stages of this model as a kind of assessment tool to determine the areas you’re currently dissociating from or ignoring (as I described above).
See: How to get to know and integrate your shadow
Develop your Observing Mind
This concept is similar to centering, but ultimately, the key is to develop self-awareness so you can stay open to different perspectives without shutting down based on old programming.
See: How to meditate
Using Spiral Dynamics for Business
The key to effective leadership is to first understand your team members’ backgrounds and then help them achieve higher levels of development.
If you are interested in this topic, I recommend reading two books: Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan and Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux.
Beck and Cowan’s Spiral Dynamics illustrate the colorful dimensions and subtleties of each stage.
Laloux’s Reinventing Organizations provides a detailed study of organizations at each stage of development. He further highlights what we need to do to cultivate a second-tier (Teal) organization.
Brian Robertson’s Holacracy also offers a system to construct holistic businesses. Numerous innovative companies, including Zappos, adopted this model.
But ultimately, to become better leaders, we must each develop our own second-tier structures in our consciousness (integration).
So let’s turn our attention here.
Reading List for Spiral Dynamics
Spiral Dynamics by Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan
A Theory of Everything by Ken Wilber
Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux
Holacracy by Brian J. Robertson
What Do You Think?
Where do you think your center of gravity is currently?
Are you aware of where you might get stuck?
Do you see what stages you need to integrate?
Share your thoughts, reflections, comments, and questions below.
Great, very interesting. New to psychology but find these new ways of thinking extremely powerful. Having recently begun to fully integrate my shadow and comprehend meaning is exciting and challenging. Keep writing!
Indeed these psychological models can be very useful for our development and interesting to explore. Best wishes on your journey, Christopher, and thank you for your comment.
I already integrate my shadow and I already know my life’s meaning and purpose. Learned a lot from you. Tnx!
Thanks for your comments. Great to hear you’re finding the material useful.
I can now by using and by trying to remember what each color represents move on to a more fulfilled life ,more understanding,male and female needs
That’s great to hear, Vaughn.
great and thank you – can see that I have been dismembering myself from orange – it’s as if I gave orange a wide-berth my entire life, probably because my family are all orange, and seems to wish to remain so.
Yes, that’s very common. When most people in the family are dominated by a first-tier value structure (like Orange), there’s usually one member that becomes the “black sheep” that pushes into a higher value structure while cutting themselves off from the dominate value of the family. Usually, this occurs when the family tends to express a more extreme version of that particular value, which makes us push away (dissociate) from it entirely.
Thank you for the comment, Angeline.
liked this spiral dynamics. found it very powerful.
Is it safe to disassociate form the family members that remain stuck in the orange when they have no desire or sweetness of the need for development?
I don’t know if “disassociate” would be the best term, but it is common to have to psychologically (and sometimes literally) part from one’s family (at least temporarily) in order to individuate and become an actual adult.
This is the departure motif in every “hero’s journey” as Joseph Campbell describes. An individual has to depart from their conventional world (which includes their family and their beliefs, customs, and conditioning), go out on their own and enter a “special world” of uncertainty to find themselves. Then, they can return home transformed.
This motif can be taken both metaphorically or literally. It probably depends on the context of that individual’s family dynamics.
That said, from your question, it sounds more like you’re judging your family for not wanting to move beyond “orange” values. This would suggest that you have dissociated yourself from this value structure and now you’re looking down on your family from the “sensitive self.”
So if this is the case, then you have already dissociated from yourself. And the issue has less to do with your family.
Thanks for helping me figure this out. I believe you are correct, I never wanted to judge but that is what I am doing. I hope to be able to integrate that I once was in the orange and took self-awareness to move pass that. I will give them and myself some grace and create space for them and their development.
Perhaps what’s not clear is that the sensitive self (“green”) is usually hypocritical and dishonesty with itself.
So, for example, it’s not that you were once in “orange” and now you’re at “green.” It’s that you’ve cut yourself off or divorced from “orange” and are not looking down at “orange.” (If this was not the case, you wouldn’t be judging orange. Judgment is a sign of dissociation.)
The green movement does that via shame. The message from “green” is: “How can you be like that?” (Racist or material, for example.)
However, the reality is that we’re ALL like that — including those at “green” (they just don’t know that about themselves yet).
Green also tends to be hyper-arrogant too as it feels superior to “orange” (even though the same beliefs are in each of us). So be careful with green memes like “create space for them.” It has nothing to do with them. This game is all within.
Just things to watch out for …
This was amazing. Looks like some curtains falling ang I see what is exactly going on with me and others. Loved it and will read more about this. I think this is where the 9 personality types come from.
By 9 personality types, I’m assuming you’re referring to the Enneagram. It’s an interesting idea, Neda.
If there is a connection between the two models, instead of each value representing a type, my sense is that all of these value stages are represented in each of the 9 personality types.
Thanks for the comments.
Spiral Dynamics is a so called vertical typology, while the Enneagram is a horizontal typology, like MBTI, CliftonStrengths, and many more.
Horizontal typologies describe the types within a vmeme or value stage, while we all grow through the vertical stages or vmemes.
Each person has a CoG, a center of gravity, a vmeme that we act from most of the time, but have all the vmemes living in us up to the level we grasped (our cognitive line, as we first cognitively have to understand what we want to grow into).
This shows you another difference to horizontal typologies: we usually are of a horizontal type (Enneagram 5, for example), but we express a bundle of vertical vmemes or value stages in different situations or times.
What’s terrific about the Enneagram is that it has both horizontal and vertical dimensions. The 9 levels of development within each type are the vertical typologies. This makes the Enneagram system far more robust than other typological systems like MBTI.
But the Enneagram and Spiral Dynamics are addressing two different “lines of intelligence” (in the language of integral theory). Spiral Dynamics represents the progression of values. The Enneagram is more closely related to ego development overall.
I found similarities between the tiers and colors here and the colors of “Aura”… are they related?
I don’t have much experience with the colors of aura so I can’t comment on that. But what I’ve gathered from integral theory, these same basic stage levels are somewhat universal throughout a wide range of fields of human dynamics.
Dear Scott, I’ve been reading your digests all along, but was reluctant to post a comment. You are doing great work and basically “the” work. I on a similar path, but in distant Germany, where luckily the challenges faced by humans are the same. I am also a big fan of Taoism, sexual transmutation and meditation. Meditation was my key to transcendence of many personal topics and is now my tool for doing “the” work out there (www.soulmastery.de/en). I am grateful for your articles and really appreciated this one, as it spared me time, while giving a really comprehensive insight. Hugs from Munich, Michael
Thank you for your comment, Michael. Great to hear you found this guide useful.
Indeed, meditation can be an ongoing transformative practice when it’s placed in the proper context and within the appropriate conditions.
Best wishes to you in Germany.
I can’t see when I moved through the colours. All I can remember seems to be yellow going on to turquoise – collaborating with others to get the best possible information for the task. When my Mum wanted me to be confirmed in the anglican church at 13 I remember I refused as I could not swear to something I didn’t believe in which seems to be a yellow integrity. I have no memories of blaming people as I could see they were just patterns unravelling – although mental talk accusing myself of being inadequate in society was probably there a lot. I always believed that everything was made of energy. I also came up with a mechanical physics theory in my 20’s that if particles are moving along according to any energy acted on them then, in order for there to be any possible outcomes other than what we get, there would have to be something acting from outside the universe of everything there is to catalyze a change; as there is no outside everything there is, then we would only ever have gotten what we get. I’ve also always, from the what memories surface, felt that ‘agency’ was superfluous. Why fight what we have or need to imagine someone/thing/source agent created it. I only have memories of resisting goals and did not see myself as on a path, just at the centre of a expanding circle. I’m curious to know where some of these things might fall in spiral dynamics.
I now hold no belief in information being the answer and simply feel a pull to go straight to go – the non-dual moment. Free-will is meaningless to me now although it never did make sense, along with values, morals etc. What does occour though is a hypersensitivity to the environment which triggers in endless yellow explanations/defences to blue and orange. This takes up well over 90% of the brain space leaving little for the non-dual moments. There is an automatic turning up at several in-person and online satsangs (self-inquiry and some transmission for awakening approaches) a week. However when not live there is no desire to look at non-duality – block removal takes place. My other curiosity is if enlightenment is only a parallel to the ever increasing awareness of the details of manifest reality as grouped by SD. My experience of seeing things finely is that there are only moments of clarity or moments with filters. The levels of enlightenment people talk about seem to be gross representation of the after-effects of a release of a belief, when those people haven’t seen the thoughts/sensations and other details showing up at the time. My experience is no-thought then thought.
The other conversation I would love however am drawing blanks, is around the idea of a novel where Harry Potter in terms of accessibility to audiences meets enlightenment. What are the SD audiences of Harry Potter – Rowling said he was definitely about freewill, and what SD audiences could you write to and still have a decent sized audience?
Hi Toni. Thanks for your comments. I can’t tell, however, if you have any specific questions here or if you’re just sharing your experiences/perspective.
If there is a specific question, please clarify.
Scott, thank you for this brilliant article. I love how you mapped the male/female energies over the 8 levels of spiral dynamics.
On a personal note… I myself found (and still find) it challenging to let go of the orange paradigm. The world is ruled by achievers, and to let go of the belief that bigger is better… has been my resolution since years and I still catch subconscious processes using this rule almost daily.
(Same with the belief that popularity equals quality.)
I’d love your view on two question that o have on my mind:
Would you consider it “every human’s purpose” to “climb this ladder of consciousness”?
And can the achievers mind of the orange paradigm be used to “trick itself” and find motivation to let go of that same paradigm?
Alexander, thank you for your thoughtful comments and questions.
First, be careful not to try to “let go of the orange paradigm,” as you said. Remember that the goal is integration — transcending this level while retaining what’s of value in it. It’s my understanding that it generally takes about 5 years to develop to the next level of development. Orange is challenging because it’s the predominant value structure in modern society.
In terms of purpose, I’m not certain. From what I can observe, these stages of development would be natural and organic if there weren’t so many outside forces inhibiting it. So I wouldn’t say it’s every human’s purpose to “climb the ladder” since I believe it’s simply our birthright.
I’m not entirely sure I understand our second question, but I am intuiting the meaning correctly, I would say, no. The achiever isn’t able to let go as the achiever is designed to strive. What’s beyond Orange is a fundamentally different way of being.
Excellent article. I have to sit with the chart for a bit but….. I have definitely left orange behind and think I have progressed through green. I am curious how established I am in the yellow. Have i embraced and “mastered” all those characteristics yet. question: I am a solo preneur helping women with transformational processes in their lives and trying to get clearer on my target client. Does it makes sense to work with the previous tier we were in e.g. if I am in green I work with orange, if I am with yellow I target client from the green category ?? Thoughts?
Hi Alexandra. Truthfully, arriving at a center of gravity in “second tier” / Yellow is no easy feat. The more shadow work you do, the more you discover how many aspects of yourself (in this case, value structures), you’ve cut yourself off from.
Each of us has the expression of all of these value structures. It would be incorrect, for example, to say, I’m green and so I’m going to work with orange. We express these value structures in different ways and in different aspects of our lives.
To more toward yellow, the key is to watch out for all of your judgments of the other value levels. These judgments are signs of dissociations and things that need to be integrated.
See this guide for more insights: https://scottjeffrey.com/shadow-work/
Very helpful explanation, thank you!
You’re welcome, Diana.
Thank you Scott for your wonderful resources, and also for your generosity in providing them. I have lots to work on and get my head and heart around, and I look forward to journeying with you further! :)
You’re most welcome, Grace. Thanks for your comment. To the journey …
I’ve been waiting for someone to explain spiral dynamics in this way for a long time. Thank you for taking the time to gain the knowledge and the understanding, and to share it.
Most certainly, Ali. Glad to hear you found the explanation straightforward. Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Hi Scott,
Inspiring to read and feel the work you do. Thank you for that.
My person journey in regards shadow integration and becoming ‘whole’ again is mostly about Integrating my (golden) shadows that suddenly ‘show up’ like shapeshifters, unrecognisable, but still the same shadow from and creatief in the past.
Strangely they show up every time I experience growth and thought I’d overcome my shadows, a new form of expressing these ‘old friend’ shadows comes ‘alive’,
living on life edges, then expanding (pure) consciousness from my essence within connected with all that is and therefore have and feel more love, compassion and connectedness with all that is.
I’m not sure I follow all that you’re saying, Anna. But it sounds like you’re experiencing the ebb and flow of inner work …
Hey man, What I find truly interesting is how we tend to perceive these things almost intuitively, that there is a certain pattern to the way people develop, yet so few people actually seek a more complex framework to describe their experience in life. I really like to stumble upon these corners of the internet, where the people who are genuinely seeking interesting ideas to describe their experience meet. Going through a similar development myself I can clearly see the points in life when I aspired to the meme i was centred in. I feel like I was stuck in the orange meme for most of my life because I felt like I had something to prove. After a while I raised the question, if aspiring to generate wealth and respect is my ultimate goal in life. I know that right now I frequently drown in my EGO and all of the countless forms it takes. I was always praised for my achievements, so I had associated them with my ultimate goal – “to achieve so that I am more liked”. Many summers ago I tried Acid, and then took it quite frequently for about a couple years or so. Every trip showed me an aspect of my ego that was harming me, that I didn’t even know about at the time. It showed me the beauty of science and nature but it also showed me all the sh–it that I didn’t even know was clogging up my mind and making me unhappy. The strange things about these altered mental states is they can rocket you up into the second tier and make you truly understand the vast meaning of what interconnectedness truly means and how we all are inherently similar at core. It also made me discover certain aspects of spiral dynamics before I was familiarised with the theory itself. I imagined these colourful segmented circles as the visual representation of my friends personalities, where some had only a few colors and some had many. I liked to imagine them as the balance of character traits. The interesting thing was when I discovered this theory It was quite emotional for me because it was such a part of my life that i couldn’t put into words. At the time i was gradually realising how every meme in my life I went through had a strong point, and that I wanted to learn from all of these memes I went through and forsaken. It just all clicked. I feel like there is irony everywhere and the beautiful irony with spiral dynamics is that the people who discover it are the people who are subconsciously looking for it.
All valid perspectives, AyJay.
One thing I will add for anyone else reading this discussion: As a general rule, psychedelics can help you see new perspectives and illuminate things you aren’t conscious of, but it will not help you jump to “Second Tier.”
That is, these substances might show you what you’ve dissociated from by taking you to a new state of consciousness, but your overall stage structure will not change as a consequence of your experience. The integration process takes time and daily “inner work.”
Thank you so much! i try hard to understand other humans through personality types, hindi philosophy, and talking to people, but this approach is promising. i would love to find out how to speak especially with people who believe strongly in empathy, consideration of others and harmony. How can i communicate with them? (i live in a very liberal cohousing community which uses consensus for decision making. i would like to move to something more efficient like sociocracy/dynamic governance/holicracy, but am running against a wall with some members who believe all decisions must be made by all in large meetings. Do you have tips how to communicate? How do i use my own green side to speak?
There’s little you can do with people who “believe strongly in empathy” because these individuals don’t actually have it. Those who have empathy just have it. And they will understand those who don’t.
Keep in mind that Green tends to be the most confused, contradictory, and hypocritical of all the value structures. I realize there is supposed to be “healthy Green,” but I personally haven’t observed it in any social structures. Perhaps that’s why integration doesn’t happen until Yellow, which is more individualistic as opposed to communal like Green.
So, unfortunately, I don’t have any communication strategies to suggest.
Perhaps whatever we discover is what we are subconsciously looking for, such as your use of
Acid was helpful at the time.
In my experience Life seems to present exactly what I need to see, to accept, to love. On the occasion when the emptiness of myself is noticed, laughter spills.
How can I discover my center of gravity? I have some intuition, but I wonder whether there is a test one can undertake…
I’m not aware of a publically-available assessment, but as you said, you can probably trust your intuition. If you read the book “Spiral Dynamics,” the authors provide far more context for each stage. There are also “in between” stages, for example, Blue-Orange.
Hi there, Scott. Curious as to where the “feminine/masculine” energies connected to the levels comes from? I don’t remember seeing that anywhere in regards to these. Seems like it might perhaps make sense in Tier 1 but essentially, if one is starting to integrate, then would Yellow and Turquoise even have these energies separate, wouldn’t they also start to integrate? Would it even be possible then to say that Yellow is “masculine” or Turquoise “feminine”? Thank you!
Hi HUK,
The feminine/masculine energies mainly relate to first-tier levels that toggle back and forth from individualism (masculine) to communion (feminine).
Personally, I haven’t seen sufficient research to suggest that Turquoise and the other levels that the integral community speak out necessarily exists. My sense is that Turquoise is an assumption the researchers have made based on patterns from the earlier stages.
In the literature, Yellow is considered individualistic (and therefore more masculine) and Turquoise is communal (and therefore feminine) — as you surmised. But to me, it makes more sense (from both my observations and personal experience) that Yellow is simply about the integration of all of the prior levels including the masculine and feminine energies they contain.
Hmm, that’s interesting. I don’t remember seeing anything around the feminine/masculine other than those being maybe States or Lines. It’s an interesting thought. I can see those qualities in First Tier if I think about it. Red being so egoic and individualistic, those are more “masculine” qualities. Blue, with its insular communities (although it’s really into order and right vs wrong, which may have more “masculine” qualities), maybe more “feminine”. Orange with rationality, abstraction, scientific mindset, maybe more “masculine”. Green, definitely more “feminine” with its plurality and acceptance.
But Second Tier is a whole different animal. If Tier Two is the start of “Integration”, I don’t really see how they can be seen as more masculine or feminine. I don’t see how Yellow is individualistic. It’s interested in and values the systemic, the holoarchy, it’s more inclusive (because it’s starting to integrate everything). If anything, I’d say then that both the feminine/masculine exist together and are starting to balance and integrate.
Same with Turquoise. Which, if humans seem to keep developing, why wouldn’t there be levels above Yellow? A Buddha isn’t in Yellow. They probably aren’t in Turquoise either, but maybe whatever those upper levels are… Coral or Ultra-Violet or whatever. If Beige is the beginnings of First Tier and its subsequent development into these levels that cannot see outside of their own level, then I kind of see Yellow as the beginnings of the Second Tier levels. You’re just starting to realize and integrate all the levels previous and you can actually see them. Then you start systems and how everything interlinks and is integrated. You’re starting to be flexible and adaptive. From what I understand, Turquoise is about holism, more integration, etc. And then I assume the continued levels include even more integration, dissolving ego, oneness, etc.
Wilber discusses the masculine and feminine dimensions of each stage in one of his books. I don’t recall which one.
Yellow is most definitely individualistic. With the transition from Green to Yellow, all of the drives for community and “togetherness” of Green tend to fall away. Yellow is more closely related to what Jung called individuation, which he characterized as a “lonely” path. Yellow is also aligned with what Maslow called self-actualization / self-transcendence. And in both cases, there’s an inward emphasis toward oneself with less social interaction. (In fact, privacy was one of the 13 qualities Maslow found in self-actualizing individuals.)
Yellow might be able to perceive the entire system, but that doesn’t imply that it wants to take an active role in it (which is part of the reason I believe holacracy is mostly a projected ideal and not reality — at least, yet.)
And again, beyond Yellow, I’m not convinced there’s sufficient data to say something else exists yet. All the material I’ve seen on Turquoise seems mainly academic.
From my observations, even with communities who speak on these topics, most individuals are rooted in Green while believing they are “second tier.” Green tends to be highly deceptive.
What is the shadow energy of Orange?
Orange is the destroyer of worlds. That’s why Green hates it so much. It’s purely selfish, self-interested, and narcissistic (in its extreme form). It will do whatever it takes to win and acquire what it wants without care or consideration to the feelings or wellbeing of others. It will destroy people, families, cities, countries, and the earth itself.
The Tyrant and Detached Manipulator (the shadow of the Magician) archetypes live and breathe at Orange.
Thank you. I had noticed that in the How to Use Spiral Dynamics in Shadow work you had not included Blue or Orange….so was wondering how those two could work with their shadow.
This is really interesting, thanks!
Is it a possibility that when moving from one stage to another a person can find it unsettling and a real challenge? Can early unresolved development stages (beige through to red) start to manifest themselves as problems in their life as they struggle to transition in the here and now?
Kind regards.
There’s nothing in the structure of society that supports healthy development through these stages. Developing through these value stages takes conscious effort and is often met with resistance.
Anything that is disowned in the course of one’s development needs to come to light and that process can be messy and create problems that were lying beneath the surface before.
Wonderful life practice initiatives
You are Magical!
I don’t know how you got into my life, but it was in a very difficult moment and many of your thoughts were imperative to my reconstruction!
Thoughts => Teachings
The magic is inside each of us. Don’t give me or anyone else your Manna (magic). Hold it close within you.
The right information has a way of finding us at the right time. Jung called it “synchronicity.”
an excellent summary of complex concepts. Thank you
You’re welcome, Stanley. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Scott,
Thank you for so many very well expressed topics. You make it easy reading. Great links and follow ups. No excessive wording and to the point.
Thank you for your comments, Bjorn. Easy, concise reading is one of the aims in my writing.
LOVED this explanation. Realized how I’ve been disassociating from previous stages. I’ve got a lot of work to do!
That’s great, McKenzie. Integrating previous stages is mainly about becoming conscious of what you’ve cut off from and bringing it back into you. Instead of making it “work” (which no one likes to do), just watch your prior tendencies and be mindful of your judgments and attitudes. With clear observation, you’ll begin to integrate these prior stages.
Thanks a lot Scott for all what u said
I have a question , how to get free from my addictions to prior stages like addiction in red stageand to get free from some allergies I have to the blue stage because I was very addicted especially to the blue level
Hi Momo, I don’t understand what you’re asking. How can you be “addicted” to a value stage? And what does a value stage have to do with allergies?
Addiction means the things that still I am stuck and attached to in a lower stage and allergies means the things that are in a state I transcended from but now I am alergetic to some of its values or the people in this stage and I can’t accept them or their values
That explanation doesn’t clear anything up. It’s too abstract. I would need a specific example in order to reply.
Also, please reply in the thread instead of starting a new thread. Thank you.
This is the easiest to read analysis of human development I’ve ever seen. It informs a lot of my frustrations growing up with parents stuck in lower stages and bosses I’ve had at work that I can’t seem to get through to. Excellent, Scott. Well done! It is a great compass for my own development as well.
Sure thing, Bryan. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi Scott! I love your articles, I mean your guides! I discovered them about a year and a half ago and the way you explain things and put together concepts and information fascinates and inspires me! Thank you for all the great work! Now I still discover articles that I didn’t read yet and this is one of them. And I am awestruck! Earlier this year I went on a guided meditation to meet my Higher Self. And all I saw and all I was told to do is… yellow!!! I have a cryptic Higher Self! :)) Now I see that yellow is the color for integration in Graves’ model and I wonder what is the meaning behind this color coding. You don’t mention it in the article. Is there a reason for the choice of color for each stage or I just found breadcrumbs leading to my purpose?
Hi Emilia,
I’m not aware of any meaning behind the color-coding. Graves himself didn’t use this color scheme. Beck and Cowan introduced the colors in their modified version called “spiral dynamics.” And then the integral community (Beck, Wilber, etc.) changed the color scheme to match the visual spectrum (yellow turns into teal in the “spiral dynamics integral” model). So I don’t think the colors have meaning in themselves in the context of this model.
Hi Scott,
Thank you for your answer! Then I guess that this falls into the category of synchronicity and has a personal meaning for me. It’s awesome!
Scott, thank you so much for such a powerful post, the way your have linked these knowledge areas together is amazing.
Re: “Many entrepreneurs wrestle with this tension, and it can take years to resolve.”
I have been struggling with this though for years, it was such a relief to find the answer for it.
I am grateful for your articles and really appreciated! Ehsan
You’re welcome, Ehsan.
Is it possible to be between Impulsive, sensitive and Integral?
Everyone expresses these levels to varying degrees — and in different areas of their lives.
So although it would be technically inaccurate to be “between” impulsive, sensitive, and integral, you can express all of these levels in a given context (but not at the same time).
As described above, the term used in the literature is “center of gravity” — that is, where you most often reside.
Scott, thank you for sharing and amazed that you have been kind enough to respond over past two years (very rare thing to see these days!). Bookmarking this page to take the inputs in more & more as the concepts looks highly useful/relatable and something to apply (work on). I just hope i get the ‘separation’ needed to view the self with clarity
You’re welcome, Shine.
All that’s needed is “reflecting back” — clearly observing yourself (including thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors) whenever you can — throughout the day.
Thanks for sharing this knowledge Jeffrey! Do you believe that if one judges someone who has different values, one obstructs his/her own path to integration?
It’s not so much what I “believe.”
By definition, if you’re judging someone who has a different value structure, it’s a sign that you are dissociated from those values. (The more you know your shadow, the less you judge others.)
What Grave’s model is highlighting is that we all share the same values on a developmental scale. But we tend to only identify with a particular range of values — until we reach the level of integration.
At integration, there’s no more judgment because you know the part of yourself that shares the same values as those who are expressing the values you once judged.
Thank you for all the amazing wisdom you share!
I just reread this article. Im practicing Integral life theory through Integral Life Practice book, reading Ken Wilber books, as well as therapy with Jungian analysis.
The big question for me has been always how to integrate tier one levels. Your example of the benefits of each level helped me but to make sure Im understanding it correctly, Ill word it here.
Personally I have all those levels in me. Integration means to understand the difference between the benefits and limitations of each level as you explained. For example, It’s okay to have a well paid job but also making sure the company you work for is not creating a big contamination on environment.
Socially, I need to understand that there is a background on each person and even if I disagree with that person’s behavior or opinions, I accept him as a person. But I could do activities to stop a person who is an abuser like a terrorist. By feeling empathy instead of rage, I should use critical thinking to deal with that person.
Would love to hear your advice on my understanding to develop it deeper. Thank you so much!
You have the right idea, but you need to be careful that you’re not intellectualizing the process.
The key thing is to observe what you judge. Do you judge someone because they like earning a nice living? Do you judge someone who isn’t environmentally conscious? In both examples, it’s the Sensitive Self (green) looking down at the Achiever Self (orange).
Most people who resonate with this material and who get into Integral studies are either in green or moving to green. And so the main thing is to see how you’re consciously and unconsciously judging those who are expressing the levels that are below green — all of which are still a part of you.
Thank you very much Scott! To observe myself whether and how I judge others is a very valuable tool. I do catch myself sometimes. But I do need to pay more attention to it. It could be very subtle. Sometimes intellectually I don’t judge but emotionally I struggle and other times emotionally the judgement happens before I know, then I have to reflect. Hopefully overtime I become more aware. Thank you!
That’s very true, Shabnam. More often than not, we are unconscious of how we’re judging someone else’s actions and behavior — especially when our identity is such that we say to ourselves “Well, I’m not like that. I don’t judge …”
yes, thank you so much! It is very tricky and needs awareness and time to learn that.
So much to unpack. The flyers vaguely, remind me of the indigenous concept of Wetiko.
I’m digging into this worm hole now. Thanks for being.
Jane
Thank you for this. Along my journey I have felt to be changing so much, adapting new view points while completely like you mentioned leaving others behind when in the moment I had been so thankful for the perspective I once had. I don’t want to repress or ignore any part of my process, be it in the “past”. I was just not grasping the concept, Thank you for this, I can now see and understand the world inside of me and finally cultivate peace. For we are all striving for the same destination of wholeness, it’s just competitiveness has been something we’ve been taught. There is no such thing as a human being (or point of view) that is “better” than another and vise versa, why would It be any different in the levels of the psyche. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We will have peace in this vessel lol. We will work together. ♾
You’re welcome, Carolina.
I’m Renée, and I’m 25 years old. I’m very conscious of the way I grow and develop. I was always wildly interested in psychology and spirituality.
I believe I’ve crossed over to Yellow, recently. I went through all of the stages. I was able to pinpoint a certain time in my life when each stage had it’s own importance; not like it is now. Now I feel like I act out on them all, and don’t focus on one way of thinking.
Being centered and neutral is something I’ve been occupied with for the past few months, as was it to express my feelings (impulsivity repression)
After reading most of this, I needed to go somewhere with my bike. I always listen to music and I always repress my own urges to playback and move along because I’m afraid of what others think of me. Now I’m completely comfortable with being the weirdo on the streets! I cycled past some batteries on the ground and at first, I thought I’d ignore them. Then I turned around and put those batteries in an empty can thrown beside the road, and on the way home I brought them to a gathering-point. I felt so good to act out of myself and not out of my environment. I feel free!!
Integration has been the key in my journey.
Going from blue to orange meant my idea of god needed to die. Atheism lasted for a few years as the integration kicked in and a new definition of god replaced the legalistic fear driven god that had been implanted.
It’s funny how I can see so many aspects of my life thru each meme and my disassociation leading to integration.
It’s almost uncomfortable labeling my self as a color. I believe different parts of my psyche are at different levels.
I would like to say that I am at yellow. Leaving judgement behind with the openness to see all colors as a beautiful expression of humanity… fill me with joy in this reincarnation.
Great Article!
Can I use some of the points in a talk I’m giving to my organisation?
Thanks
Alex,
I’m not the originator of this source material. As stated at the top of the article, I’m not affiliated with Graves or the authors of “Spiral Dynamics.” I simply communicated my understanding of their research and work in the context of other researchers and models that I’ve studied.
This is fabulous. It came to me just in time.
loved reading this and learning more about spiral Dynamics and Personal growth
Loving the worldwide Shadow site posts. Keep them coming.
Hi Scott,
Personally I’ve found my center and I’m working with it through meditation. That is the one enlightening practice tool that humans have so that we can transcend and understand the stages of development that most of us are totally unaware of. In these times I’m looking to express the energies of the Yin and Yang as you’ve already equated the masculine and feminine energies.
I enjoyed reading your work, thanks
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This was helpful tips to add to my knowledge.
I’m an older but novice student of psychology. I’m already familiar with Spiral Dynamics but found your guide insightful. I’m transitioning from Orange (40-year small business owner) to green but aspire to be Yellow. Wilber’s “Mean green meme” resonated with me. I hold Green values but find the Green solutions to our current problems simplistic and unrealistic. If one has either a masculine or feminine propensity, is it harder to integrate those stages you do not identify with?
Jack,
The truth is there are no legitimate “Green solutions” offered in the mainstream. None. Zero. Green is highly ideological, emotional, and easily programmable. That is, it’s easy to weaponize empathy and play on people’s emotions when their center of gravity is Green.
And sadly, that’s what the Powers That Be (globalists) always do in society. Hence, we have things like the Green New Deal, climate histeria, “social justice warriors,” wokeism, etc. All of these socially engineered agendas have an ulterior motive; but the initiatives themselves build momentum because the social engineers know how to manipulate those rooted in Green.
So you stated it correctly: holding Green values but rejecting Green hypocrisy, insanity, and ideology.
In terms of your question, every man has a feminine aspect in their psyche (anima) and every woman has a masculine part (animus). But yes, it’s challenging to integrate any stage you don’t identify with. Said another way, the reason a stage isn’t integrated is because the individual is cut off/divorced from the theme of a particular stage.
This is the kind of thing that would look like nonsense to me if I just stumbled upon it. It mixed some elements of spirituality and terminology that can be misleading. Wherever I go to try to look this up it’s always inconsistent and messy. However, my introduction to this was a tool which, believe it or not can psychologically profile people extremely well according to these levels except for the 8th level.
I think that if this were all cleaned up then something could be made of it. I often play around with text classifiers. I also use them as a tool. These scan text for statistical signatures of all kinds of things such as if the writing appears male or female. There aren’t many publicly available tools for a psychological evaluation of someone based on their text.
When I found one that assesses someone by this model, it really blew my mind, when acting in the capacity of a scientist. It gives an impression of being like Horoscopes when looking it up online. I was instead introduced to it by a tool which classified people psychologically extremely well, realistically.
I don’t find Briggs-Myers all that meaningful or useful. This tool is particularly useful in examine psychological maturity and pathology. I highly recommend checking out the text classifier on uclassify.
I do have one point of contention. I believe that the 8th level is potentially semi pathological and more certainly semi theoretical. There’s really not going to have been much data at that level. The scale is roughly increasingly less pathological as it increases. However, I think that the 8th level is at a point where it can represent the point at which the other extreme is reached where it can dance back and forth on the boundary of pathology.
This is the kind of tool that I suspect many people will reject. It can reveal more about people than they would like to be revealed.
I also don’t think that someone simply goes up a level. If someone is going to progress incrementally they might not go from level one to two. Instead they also unlock the second level possessing two capabilities rather than one.
It is then a matter of how appropriately they switch between these according to the situation. Progression could happen in various ways including in all capacities at once but the lower much more slower than the higher.
In the text classifier tool I think that level 7 can be inflated somewhat. It appears to overlap somewhat with plain technical, neutral and formal writing.
Yes, John, as I believe I stated above, I also think the 8th level is theoretical. And if we observe how it tries to express itself on the world stage, it is indeed pathological. The reason for this has to do with social engineering, which is a deeper topic than what’s expressed above.
And yes, we are capable of expressing different levels in different areas of our lives. So, it’s best not to think in terms of a strict linear progression through the stages.
You summarized the complex model very well. Appreciation for your efforts 👍
Thank you for the feedback, Athar.
Great article! I need to spend more time with it but it seems to make sense to me. I’m almost 65 years old and as I’ve moved into retirement and into a different stage of life, and especially by becoming more spiritually aware (hello mortality!), I feel very disassociated from my former “work” self; almost as if I don’t even know who that person was nor do I even want to know her. It’s very interesting to me to feel this way and I need to think more about how I might need to integrate and keep some aspects of that stage as I move forward. Thank you!
Hi Gail,
What you’re describing may not be related to the model described above.
Your “work self” is a persona; it’s a social mask you once wore for survival reasons (earning incoming to pay for basic needs, etc.).
If you’re no longer working, there’s reason to hold onto or identify with this persona. It served its purpose and now it can be let go.