peace
May 2007 
Knee-Slapping Spiral Dynamics Humor
Posted on May 7th, 2007
by 
Michael
Michael
My kind of humor, from Chris Cowan's Spiral Dynamics' FAQ:
These days, students often come into our seminars having been pre-exposed to some variation on the theme of Spiral Dynamics®. While there are some good representations of the point of view which begin to equip them, other spin-offs are misleading in that they program participants into the typology trap or worse. Some versions foster obedient belief in the dogma of a quasi-religion swathed in cultish saffron yellow robes more than critical thinking about emergent systems in human nature, how complex we are, and how much we still don’t know.
That is to say, derivative renditions frequently impart an over-simplified, types-of-people, color-coded view of SD which relies on ‘altitude’ or ‘verticality’ to point to idealized end states: “Enlightened people are Turquoises, at the least, and travel the Yellow brick road to get there.” When followers of these approaches come to us, they often have the impression that ‘up’ is good and ‘down’ is deficiency, and that to be at least ‘second tier’ or ‘turquoise’ is the necessary goal of any sensible human being or organization. They aren't seeking to understand SD and Graves as a window on human nature: they want their faith in their own 'turquoiseness' to be confirmed since a sensation deep inside irks them with, “I’m not there yet.” So, they put on a mask and try harder to be something that has no substantial definition.
Very well-meaning people are sometimes so highly ego-involved in preserving their high-status colors, even to creating an identity around 'living the spiral' just as others might organize their lives around the sacred words in a holy book that mundane facts become heresies. De-programming this pre-frame in favor of a clearer understanding of what the model is and is not, as well as demonstrating that all the systems have both strengths and weaknesses in their times and places, is not simple.
Appreciation for all the levels is easy to say, hard to do. For people stuck in New Age versions of the DQ/ER transition in search of purpose, meaning, and empowerment with missionary zeal, it's nearly impossible. Too much integral indoctrination seems to fixate rather than open their minds. And the self-centric certitude of many struggling to break out of ER and into FS (while proclaiming theirs to be a Yellow-to-Turquoise conversion) makes understanding of the whole spiral profoundly difficult and the elegance of each level difficult to discern.
http://www.spiraldynamics.org/faq_overall.htm
These days, students often come into our seminars having been pre-exposed to some variation on the theme of Spiral Dynamics®. While there are some good representations of the point of view which begin to equip them, other spin-offs are misleading in that they program participants into the typology trap or worse. Some versions foster obedient belief in the dogma of a quasi-religion swathed in cultish saffron yellow robes more than critical thinking about emergent systems in human nature, how complex we are, and how much we still don’t know.
That is to say, derivative renditions frequently impart an over-simplified, types-of-people, color-coded view of SD which relies on ‘altitude’ or ‘verticality’ to point to idealized end states: “Enlightened people are Turquoises, at the least, and travel the Yellow brick road to get there.” When followers of these approaches come to us, they often have the impression that ‘up’ is good and ‘down’ is deficiency, and that to be at least ‘second tier’ or ‘turquoise’ is the necessary goal of any sensible human being or organization. They aren't seeking to understand SD and Graves as a window on human nature: they want their faith in their own 'turquoiseness' to be confirmed since a sensation deep inside irks them with, “I’m not there yet.” So, they put on a mask and try harder to be something that has no substantial definition.
Very well-meaning people are sometimes so highly ego-involved in preserving their high-status colors, even to creating an identity around 'living the spiral' just as others might organize their lives around the sacred words in a holy book that mundane facts become heresies. De-programming this pre-frame in favor of a clearer understanding of what the model is and is not, as well as demonstrating that all the systems have both strengths and weaknesses in their times and places, is not simple.
Appreciation for all the levels is easy to say, hard to do. For people stuck in New Age versions of the DQ/ER transition in search of purpose, meaning, and empowerment with missionary zeal, it's nearly impossible. Too much integral indoctrination seems to fixate rather than open their minds. And the self-centric certitude of many struggling to break out of ER and into FS (while proclaiming theirs to be a Yellow-to-Turquoise conversion) makes understanding of the whole spiral profoundly difficult and the elegance of each level difficult to discern.
http://www.spiraldynamics.org/faq_overall.htm
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