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I'd say this type of situation (Green seemingly regressing into Orange) might be described as The Achiever stage in Susanne Crook-Greuter's ego development model (which Leo has a video on). The Achiever stage is a mix of Orange/Green. This describes where I was starting in late high school through age 26 during the time I worked in advertising. Yes, the "system" certainly incentives this behavior since America has been mostly Orange, but bluntly speaking I truly did love making a lot of money and experiencing material success, so I'd say it was equally as much if not more my stage of development.

This is pretty much my story in a nutshell. I remember in high school I was all into the Green Party and Ralph Nader. I was super against the Iraq War and would also read spiritual books like Eckhart Tolle. In many ways I was all the stereotypes of Stage Green. Then in college I fell in love with a stage Orange woman who later became my wife. I remember one of our first major fights was when she told me I should work in advertising. At the time, I was studying photojournalism in college and interning at NPR and wanted to save the world through my photojournalism. I was furious at her for suggesting such an ego-centric toxic career such as advertising. A week after graduating college I was hired by...you guessed it...an advertising production company. At the time they were doing a lot of non-profit work and documentary projects that were very stage Green. My very first project for them was for American Express. I didn't think anything of it at the time, and my next project was for a climate change ngo, so I saw it as trade offs - needing to build my career and make money from the corporate stuff in order to fund the "for good" projects. A couple years later, the production company took off and so did my career, and suddenly I found myself directing soda commercials and fast fashion garbage. I knew in my gut that what I was doing was wrong, but I basically didn't want to turn down the money, life opportunities and career "success." I continued to balance commercial gigs with documentary projects (often for non-profits), but it wasn't long before I was living the cliche Hollywood material life (the opposite of my Green values). I clearly hadn't fully integrated my Orange yet, so I was half Orange half Green during all this time. After 7 years in advertising, I was burnt out and felt I had lost my soul (aka my Green values). I quit my job, left LA, and fully transitioned into Green. My guess is the woman in the Spiral Dynamics book, like me, had not fully moved through Orange yet, even though her center of gravity was Green. When the "real world" caught up to her, she settled for Orange despite what I'd assume was a deep down feeling of unease in her gut, which I felt every time I walked onto a commercial film set. But in retrospect I don't regret anything. It was all part of my journey, and the money I made from my Orange career has afforded me the time off work to move through Green and into Yellow.

Fascinating documentary about an "Amish Atheist" who leaves his Amish community after his rational mind could no longer overlook the contradictions in the Bible. He mostly maintains his lifestyle but now has an electric car and iPhone. Amazing example of Blue moving into Orange.

The comments on YT are pretty depressing. Leo, I'd be curious to know what percentage of viewers actually watched the full video before posting comments. Probably 1% or less? Not sure if you have that analytics information. Some commenters even said they only watched the first minute before writing the entire thing off. Yikes!

Anyone know what the main differences between Resource-Based Economy and Doughnut Economics are? Seems like a lot of similarities, but unsure if there's large scale differences between the two models.

Dustin DiPerna. Student of Ken Wilbur. I've read Streams of Wisdom which is a great overview of integral spirituality. https://www.dustindiperna.com

I'm interested in learning more about folks who made the leap from Green to Yellow. When did this happen? Were there any specific events that you attribute to this center of gravity jump? Was it slow and gradual, or a sudden shift in perception? I'm asking because I'm studying the life forces that allow one to transition as it relates specifically to the Green into Yellow jump. Potentially making a documentary about the subject. Thanks in advance for sharing.

@Forestluv Do you have any books you'd recommend on the structure of the mind?

@UDT What books were most influential for you? @WonderSeeker Thanks for sharing your story! Regarding the emotional baggage, curious to learn more. Would you say this is baggage that you have from Green that you need to work through / let go of before fully transitioning into Yellow?

@Forestluv Thanks for sharing! I resonate a lot with your story. I also feel like I've always seen the world in a more holistic, big picture sense; however, I did so via the prism of humanity and analyzing people's behaviors, group dynamics and perspectives on religion, politics, consciousness, etc. I've never been the science/math type, and while today I have a much greater appreciation and integration of those realms, they're simply not my forte. I was a documentary filmmaker who traveled to all different types of cultures (different memes), and my job (and passion) was to see the world through other people's perspectives and synthesize world views into a coherent narrative. I think the main shift that took place was that I was doing all of this subconsciously and without any awareness of the magnitude of what I was doing. But now I see what I always understood intuitively and can fully grasp it on all levels, not just intuitively. It's wild! Thanks again for sharing!

@aurum Yes love Charles! Went to his retreat this past March at Esalen. Daniel and Charles have interviewed each other for their podcasts. Just listened to this - excellent conversation, particularly starting around 37 mins when they start taking Q&A questions. The last 30 mins are super powerful in particular. Have you read Reinventing Organizations? Might be of interest to you given your focus on economics.

My story: This past March I had an unexpected mystical experience that drastically altered something inside of me. The first month or two was very surreal - my fear was largely gone, very few of my previous passions, interests and rituals seemed to fit me anymore. It was like I outgrew my old self. I remember shortly after this experience going to a workshop that was very Green-centric, and I couldn't understand why everyone was spending so much time on processing emotions and reaching consensus (all of which were previously very important to me). All I wanted to do was to engage in long, intellectual yet practical conversations about systemic solutions to the major problems facing the world, but it seemed few others were interested in this. I couldn't understand what was going on. I hadn't heard of Spiral Dynamics yet so I didn't have any map to make sense of my new reality. After the workshop, COVID hit and the whole world was freaking out. All I could think about was what a blessing COVID could be, a catalyst to quicken the evolution of our species in an unprecedented fashion. Of course, I also felt heartbreak for the loss of life, but instead of getting fixated on the emotional perspective it was like I was able to see the bigger picture and the moving jigsaw pieces all realigning to meet the world's new reality. Meanwhile in my personal life I felt acutely aware of my Soul/Life Purpose and the gifts that I could bring to the world, and a series of synchronicities kept bringing me further and further into the core of who I am and how I can be of service to others. An intense focus on self-actualization and self-transcendence replaced my previous passions of politics, social justice, activism, etc. It wasn't that I didn't care about these topics, but rather I could now see clearly all the various Memes at war with each other, and I knew the best way I could help our species (and Life itself) was to embody a larger, more macro and inclusive perspective that synthesized the competing factions. Around May, I read about Spiral Dynamics as well as Ken Wilbur's Integral Theory and also Richard Rohr's "Falling Upwards." That's around when I found Actualized.org and started piecing together what shift took place in me. This summer I couldn't stop reading book after book about systems theory, evolution of consciousness, etc. Jenny Wade's "Changes of Mind" was a really helpful map as was Susanne Cook-Greuter. I still have a lot of Green in me but no longer my center of gravity.

Green/Yellow. Nowhere near Turquoise.

I agree, it's probably the most incredible work of art I've ever seen. Interestingly, apparently it's getting a lot of new pushback from some Stage Green folks for failing to discuss the slaughter of Native Americans, not condemning slavery enough, and even portraying the female characters as one-dimensional. Which is all valid on some level, but it's also funny because when Hamilton first came out it was the most woke thing ever, the Obamas being the biggest fans. Perhaps a sign of how much culture is changing in just the past few years.

Sam Harris sometimes baffles me. I just can't beg him. He seems to be a systems thinker and obviously is very intelligent. But he also has this seething anger just below the surface that feels very egoic and perhaps some shadow work that he's yet to work through? This podcast episode about "The New Religion of Anti-Racism" is a good example. Frankly, I just don't understand why he cares so much about the radical left, as if it's all some direct personal attack on him that he must defend against. He seems to be on a crusade to reign in the excesses of the Green Meme, which I guess is admirable to some extent, but again, it's the ego and anger that raises red flags for me. Full disclosure: perhaps I'm projecting my own shadows onto his shadows haha. Curious what others think about him and his perspectives. https://samharris.org/podcasts/217-new-religion-anti-racism/

Agree. Regarding intellectual dark web...I don't know too much about it other than Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris and some others are in that world. It seems to be an odd mix of mostly stage Orange thinkers? Again, don't know much about it, curious if you have insights into that movement and what they're all about.

This is the most hopeful thing I've read in probably my entire life haha. Thanks!

Blue/ORANGE mega church sermon.

Two years ago I contemplated suicide. Today I'm the most grounded, joyful and "alive" I've ever felt. I look back now on that time of immense darkness with nothing but love, for it created who I am today. Keep the faith, @Leilani. I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but one day you'll look back and see that what you're going through is all a gift in disguise. Remember that the universe works in mysterious ways. Thanks for sharing your heart. Love you.

How do I know that, say, an apple tree, slavery or New Zealand all exist if they're not presently in my direct awareness? It seems like these things are all stories that my ego has chosen to believe, but how do I know anything actually exist beyond my immediate sensorial experience in this singular moment?

@Batman Thanks for your great explanation. Yes, this is what's been unraveling in me the past few days - it's a total mindfuck (in the best possible way). 80-90% of my awareness is just focused on conceptual activity in the mind. Insane!

Enjoyed this article about the limitations of traditional mediation and instead "practice" non-meditation. https://www.lionsroar.com/meditation-only-goes-so-far/?fbclid=IwAR0MXcTOeldRKBtFPFpympOY2wWCwM59Ci49ay2vSE1Svo7nzKM5LOm8iJU

@Forestluv Yes, that's how I interpreted it, too. Right-wing militia groups unleashing when Trump claims the election was rigged and declares it invalid (which he almost explicitly said at the end of the debate that he'd do).

Doesn’t matter, Trump basically said flat out that he’s not accepting the results of the election (unless he wins of course). He’s already declaring the election fraudulent. He told white supremacists to “stand by.” It’s pretty clear to what’s going to go down. And it’s pretty frightening.