Event_Horizon, those are good questions, particularly about the directionality of development.
If you look at Spiral Dynamics by Beck and Cowan, they explain that the vMemes emerge in response to life conditions and that it is not necessarily a one-way progression up the spiral. Someone who is a hippie in their youth can become a capitalist given certain conditions.
Evolution in general and the evolution of consciousness in particular (as explained by Spiral Dynamics) proceeds in the direction of less complex to more complex. However, individuals, companies and countries can devolve. This can happen to a country during war or after a natural disaster. A highly evolved individual can return to Beige after a head injury.
As regards to point 2, a lot of this development as part of normal childhood development so it may not seem quite as obvious. But I think it's accurate to say that all individuals go through each stage before reaching the next.
