A Spiral Dynamics trap we should pay attention to

[Nivsch]

A misinterpretation of the model can easily distance us from others and make us stop listening to them, as we may believe we already know where they are on the map. However this is an oversimplification. Here are a few examples.

1. "A Blue person (center of gravity) must first become 'fully materialistic and secular' (a narrow wrong view of Orange) before they can become really Green."

2. "A new Green person must first be 'fully pacifist' (a narrow wrong view of Green) before they can become Yellow."

These statements are completely wrong because they cherry-pick only one characteristic of a given stage out of many others, and interpret it as the condition for transitioning to the next stage. This is a conflation of content with neural cross-contents processes.

You may say "But Yellow listens to every view" but you can't truly listen if you engage with these mistakes. The truth is that a blue person can develop through many other different contents and areas through which is perhaps already conquered parts of those stages you can't know about.

In addition, one can be Yellow and understand the limits of Pacifism without even never be a fully pacifist himself. Connecting the dots does not always require stepping on each dot seperately with you own legs.

This means, be humble and recognize that people are capable of developing more fluidly than it may seem, which will allow you to genuinely listen to and understand their point of view, not from a place of superiority or inferiority.

Edited November 8, 2024 by Nivsch

[Happy Lizard]

I don’t see this in pacifism with Green, but would you unpack the number 1. For me ?

Also I think people are confused cause no one here shares how stage yellow works and thinks in small steps and 1-1 conversations in some thread or something, so you only have your own experience of how you moved through a level, I think it will be the most useful content here if it was done for every stage with serious effort. 

[enchanted]

SD runs the risk of inappropriately placing people into boxes and feeling superior to others I think. 

A stage blue 60 year old can be much wiser, smarter, more mature, more emotionally developed, have better relationships than a 25 year old stage green person. Yet the stage blue person is still "less developed". It's a little confusing. 

 

[Nivsch]

13 minutes ago, enchanted said:

A stage blue 60 year old can be much wiser, smarter, more mature, more emotionally developed, have better relationships than a 25 year old stage green person. Yet the stage blue person is still "less developed". It's a little confusing. 

But he isn't blue then.

[enchanted]

31 minutes ago, Nivsch said:

But he isn't blue then.

Interesting

[Nivsch]

1 hour ago, Happy Lizard said:

but would you unpack the number 1. For me ?

For example, a religious person at stage Orange can start trying to be the most expert in the holy book teaching and to understand things better than his friends.

Or Another example, at stage Orange he can try to answer more rationally and less emotionally when faced with a question like "Why did God say this and not that?" and no longer accept traditional answers like anger, right and wrong, etc. Instead, he tries to understand why one way is considered wrong and another way is considered right.

Edited November 8, 2024 by Nivsch

[Nivsch]

"A right winger must first be a passionate leftist before he can have a decent amount of system thinking".

An another misconception.