Spiral Dynamics - Stage Orange Notes

[Daniel Balan]

Re-watching @Leo Gura's spiral Dynamics stage Orange video, I've manually taken notes on my OneNote Commonplace book about everything Leo explained about stage Orange in his video. Thus making a thorough and compressive summary for everyone interested in spiral dynamics stage orange. No AI was used whatsoever. Hope it helps! Enjoy!

 

What is the essence of Orange?

 

It's individual achievement. Improving the self. All the actions you undertake are only for your own personal gain.

This is a shift from the blue worldview which was about sacrificing yourself for the good of civilization. Orange is not concerned with the afterlife. All it matters is that it lives the good life here on earth.

 

With Orange comes the rise of:

• Business
• Consumerism
• Secularism
• The separation of church and state.
• Popular culture
• Scientism (Like science turned into the new religion)
• Success oriented self-help.
• The rise of secular democracies. As opposed to blue which had a more theocratic form of government.

Stage Orange values

• Achievement, Success and excellence
• Climbing to the top of the hierarchy
• Obsessed at being number one. Striving to be the best, a winner.
• Improving one's position in life
• Efficiency, progress, productivity and optimization
• Manipulating the system and win maxing.
• Orange can be extremely manipulative.
• Orange has no problem exploiting a person or a situation
• Orange values action, results and pragmatism (Orange doesn't care about the afterlife, about spirituality, about metaphysics! Orange cares about tangible goods and material profit).
• Orange values never ending growth.
• Orange values capitalism and libertarianism
• Competitive marketplaces, deregulation, denationalization
• Orange values hard work, business and entrepreneurship
• Orange values competition and winner takes all situations
• Orange prides himself as being a strong competitor
• Orange values self-improvement
• The rise of the self-help industry which before was substituted with religion at the stage Blue level of development
• There is also green and even yellow self-help but the orange way of doing self-help is along the lines of how to manipulate the marketplace better so you get the best position in life.
• Orange values skills, knowledge and education
• Orange values confidence, optimism and charisma
• Entertainment and showmanship
• Personal freedom, self-reliance and independence (To orange being dependent for income from the welfare state is just a crutch)
• Free speech
• Money, sex and luxury
• Net worth (To Orange the more net worth it accumulates the more successful it is)
• Orange values looks, beauty, sexiness and coolness
• Consumerism (buying the newest Iphone, the newest Gucci bag, the newest shoes)
• Orange loves brands (BMW, Gucci, Iphone)
• Loves pop culture, celebrities and social media
• All the orange culture basically represents the worshipping of celebrities because to orange celebrities symbolize the pinnacle of success.
• Orange values quarterly profits, mass markets and sales. It is all about how to market a product to as large as a marketplace, to as many people, to make as much profit as possible.
• Orange is all about mass production and industry
• Orange values rationality, logic, secularism, science and humanism  (This is huge for Orange because it takes it away from the Blue worldview which encompassed religion, traditions and authority. Thus Orange becoming rebellious and swinging the pendulum in the completely opposite direction)
• Orange is a full on skeptic. Values skepticism but fails to be skeptical of it's own skepticism and of course orange is not skeptical of orange itself or to science.
• Orange hates metaphysics and thinks that it doesn't need them. When in fact Orange's metaphysics represent atheism, reductionism and utilitarianism.
• Orange doesn't recognize the limits of rationality or science.
• Orange values technology, analysis and facts
• Orange values data, analytics, charts and it wants to measure and quantify everything.
• Orange values fact based education as opposed to blue who valued religious indoctrination.
• Orange values scientific methods and IQ.
• Orange values strategic thinking and risk analysis, innovation and creative thinking and results.
• Maintaining a competitive edge
• Competence over rank or bloodlines
• Orange will stab you in the back with no remorse if it can sense that it can get a favourable outcome which would be a win for himself.

When does orange emerge?

 

• Orange emerges when Blue starts to recognize the limitations of itself. It is when blue realizes that this absolute truth that he was holding on to, maybe it is not as certain as it initially believed and maybe the world isn't as black and white as it initially thought it was.

 

• Maybe the divisions between good and evil are not so clear. Maybe it's religion isn't as intelligent and good as it initially thought. Maybe the bible didn't contain only good information. Maybe the people that wrote the bible didn't understand some aspects about reality.

 

• There happens a shift in blue's mind to where it starts to think more independently and starts to do away with the old conformist and authority driven way of thinking.

 

Characteristics of Orange

 

• A drive for personal results and success and status.
• Autonomy and independence
• Tries to do away with blue's bureaucratic system
• Seeks the good life and material pleasures
• Orange is characterized by manipulating the earth's resources mercilessly.
• For Orange society evolves from strategy, technology and competition.
• Orange thrives on outdoing other orange individuals
• There is an aversion within orange against religion, spirituality and mysticism. To orange religion is just silly superstition
• To Orange there is nothing we cannot demystify about reality as long as we do more and more science.
• To orange reality is impersonal and it doesn't care about you, and the only reason a rock from space hasn't hit your head is just by pure luck.
• Orange believes that if you cannot quantify a thing therefore it doesn't exist
• Orange likes to point out the hypocrisy of religious blue people
• Orange is characterized by strong logical thinking and critical observation( Orange is quick to poke holes within religious theories or books)
• Orange values certificates and diplomas like PhD's and experts.
• Orange is focused on direct experience rather than dogma or speculation
• Orange believes that the world is his playground and he is very optimistic and eager to go out and make something out of himself.
• Orange believes that the losers in life totally deserve what they got. Because those losers were lazy.
• Orange has an aversion to fuzzy thinking, emotions and to love.
• Orange is highly logical and rational. Left Brained. All head over heart. Orange hates femininity and is all macho and tough alpha male like.
• To orange success is mechanical like factories, assembly lines etc.
• Orange is obsessed with making profits. Regardless of the means.
• Orange is extremely self-centred. He doesn't care about his employees or his community or the environment. All it cares is himself and his wife and children.
• Orange is characterized by the mantra Image over substance. If we can fake being rich then we are rich!!
• Orange is obsessed by physical appearance.
• Women are viewed as sex objects, are objectified. Orange doesn't have the capacity to exhibit love or compassion to a woman. Orange doesn't like looking weak or exposing his emotions.
• Orange can be blind to the suffering of other people. Can be blind by the suffering it causes to other people.
• Orange likes partying and living life to the full extent.
• Orange tries to monetize everything
• Orange has a more vulgar vocabulary and often speaks unfiltered and loosely.
• With orange comes comedy, poking fun at the status quo
• Orange uses intelligence rather than force. So instead of directly attacking you he will try to buy you to do whatever he wants.
• Orange takes calculated risks.
• Seeks loopholes to see how he can manipulate the rules for his own good.
• With orange it comes the rise of the middle class which tends to not exist in blue or red
• A rise with knowledge workers rather than manual laborers.
• With orange the churches of blue get replaced with corporate boardrooms
• With orange the traditions and heritages of blue become irrelevant. Who cares about them when I can forge a path just for myself.

Examples of Orange

• United States as a whole
• Capitalism
• Emerging China
• Businessmen
• Wallstreet
• Business
• Lawyers
• Business suits
• The move Wolf of Wallstreet
• Hedge fund managers
• Goldman Sachs
• Big Pharma
• Big Oil
• Big banks
• Tobacco companies
• Advertising
• Fortune 500 companies
• Entrepreneurs
• Libertarians
• Professional sports
• High fashion like Rolex and expensive watches or purses or jewelry
• Nightclubs
• Pickup
• MGTOW, the red pill, the manosphere
• Republicans
• Donald Trump
• Ronald Reagan
• Plastic surgery, Botox, breast implants
• Pornography
• Hollywood as a business
• Supermodels
• Silicon Valley
• Start ups
• Bill Gates
• Warren Buffet
• Casinos
• Theme Parks
• Walmart
• Amazon
• Coca Cola
• McDonald's
• Disney
• Microsoft
• EA Electronic Arts
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Steam (Gaming company)
• Video Games as a whole. As a culture
• Bodybuilding
• Arnold Schwartzeneger
• Steroids
• Corrupt politicians
• NBA
• UEFA Champions League
• Anti-Unions laws
• Western Medicine
• Oracle
• Steve Ballmer
• Outsourcing, deregulations tax cuts
• Used cars salesman
• Energy drinks
• Marketing
• Sales and PR
• Television as a whole
• News outlets like CNN and MSNBC
• E-commerce
• Software engineers
• Technical scientists
• Nuclear weapons
• Luxury yachts
• Private Jets
• Real estate tycoons
• Cocaine
• Alcohol
• Pop music
• Rock music
• Club music
• Rap music
• The trophy wife
• The gold digger
• Oil drilling in Alaska
• Champagne and caviar
• Fancy restaurants
• Luxury resorts
• Cruise ships
• Gated communities
• Mansions
• Success magazine
• Poker players
• The self-help industry
• Business books
• Marketing seminars
• Dan Kennedy
• Tony Robbins
• Tai Lopez
• Brian Tracy
• Andrew Tate
• Dan Lok
• Success coaches
• Millionaires
• Net worth
• Sports cars
• Celebrities, paparazzi's
• Las Vegas
• Palm Springs
• Honk Kong
• Dubai
• Atheists
• Skeptics
• Separation of church and state
• The founding fathers
• The Renaissance
• Henry Ford
• The World Trade Organization
• Kim Kardashian
• Kanye West
• Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll
• The midlife crisis
• Nasa
• Space X
• Elon Musk
• Universities
• Get rich quick schemes
• Online Millionaires
• Bitcoin, forex, day trading
• Utilitarianism
• Logical positivism
• Behaviourism
• Darwinism
• Gun rights
• The whole military industrial complex
• Sigmund Freud
• Harvey Weinstein
• The 2008 financial collapse
• Billboards
• Birth control
• Condoms
• Viagra
• Stem-cell research
• Robotics
• Computers
• Sex education
• Alex Jones
• Howard Stern
• The movie House of cards
• The movie Avatar
• The movie Boiler Room
• Sam Harris

 

Statistics for stage Orange

 

• About 30% of all adult global population is in stage Orange.
• 50% of the total world influence, cultural and behavioural represents stage Orange.
• The government style of Orange is technocratic, capitalist, oligarchic and corporatist

 

 

 

Unhealthy manifestations of stage Orange

 

• Environmental destruction
• Pollution
• Deforestation
• Global Warming
• Overfishing
• Endangering various kinds of species
• Depletion of resources like water aquifers
• The indoctrination within secularism and scientism and materialism
• Capitalism turned into a religious ideology
• The misuse of evidence and scientific studies
• Orange is ignorant to spirituality, god, consciousness, emotions, femininity, intuition, love and magic
• Orange is intellectually arrogant ( Because orange looks at how primitive blue is and because Orange is championing logic and science and skepticism, it thinks that it is better than blue)
• Stage Orange lacks the metaphysical and epistemic ability to self-reflect in an unbiased way
• Orange mistakes stage blue religion with higher post rational levels of mysticism
• Stage Orange cannot understand the true origins of religion and why religion is so persistent. Orange can't understand that religion comes from mysticism and from non-duality
• Orange cannot have a deep spiritual connection to reality
• Stage Orange cannot crack the problem of consciousness
• Orange cannot overcome the duality of mind and body
• Orange cannot understand post rationalism
• Orange can become narcissistic and self-absorbed, can lack compassion for others
• Stage orange first world countries exploit 3rd world countries for cheap labour.
• Orange can be oppressive in a corporate manner. Like when a boss overworks his employees or when companies use manipulation and schemes to false advertise a product or when they companies over-inflate their prices just for profit, or when those companies don't pay fairly their employees.
• Gross levels of income inequality
• Inhumane working conditions
• Orange blames the people who work in slave like conditions for being lazy and for being religious and that's why they have the job that they have because they weren't smart enough to have a better job. And the job they currently have is the one that they truly deserve.
• Orange is very legalistic, will use lawsuits frivolously as a weapon against it's enemies.
• Orange engages often in disaster capitalism which entails massive deregulations and a unchecked free marked which in turn creates a huge income inequality.
• Orange is prone to instable economies. Example the economic collapse in 2008.
• Orange can lead towards war for other nation's resources. Also the military industrial complex benefits from wars because it creates huge profits for the owners of the factories that produce weapons.
• Orange can lead to the corruption of government and to corporate lobbying.
• Orange can lead to arms races and in it's most horrific form it can lead to world wide nuclear Armageddon
• The greatest danger to the world is stage orange itself, because only orange could trigger a nuclear holocaust, not the religious people of stage blue
• Orange can architect factories than abuse the hell out of animals and subduing the animals to horrific cruelty
• Stage orange leads to monopolies which prevent small businesses from flourishing
• Stage orange leads to shallow consumerist culture
• Orange leads to all sorts of nasty addictions like porn, sex, drug, videogames and food addictions.
• The treating of women as sexual objects.
• Leads to those cringe alpha male posturing.
• Stage orange leads to depression and lots of suicides
• Orange leads to stuff like ulcers, ADHD, heart attack, insomnia, chronic fatigue disease and a bunch of difficult to diagnosticate auto immune disorders.
• In it's excesses orange leads to unbridled ambition and competitive stress
• Orange leads to workaholism and burnout
• Orange leads to a sense of isolation and loneliness
• Excessive orange leads to a stifling of creativity, art and beauty
• Orange leads to a cold technocracy where human beings become like cogs in a machine
• Orange leads to a loss of connection with nature
• Orange leads to a dysfunctional health care system

 

Common mantras of Orange!

 

• Greed is good!
• Just do it!
• The sky is the limit!
• Win at all cost!
• Survival of the fittest!
• Nothing ventured nothing gained
• Can't take care of yourself? Grow up! Stop being lazy!
• I made a killing in the market today!
• Trickle-down economics!
• Each is responsible for him or herself
• You never get a second chance to make a first impression
• There is more than one way to skin a cat
• We can kill two birds with one stone
• Every man for himself
• Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!
• Fake it till you make it
• Work hard play hard
• To orange reality is impersonal and it doesn't care about you, and the only reason a rock from space hasn't hit your head is just by pure luck.

 

What triggers orange?

 

Orange is triggered by:

• Blue, Green and Turquoise
• God, religion, creationism, myth and superstition
• The new age. Like spirituality, mysticism and woo-woo pseudo-science.
• Hippies
• Alternative medicine triggers orange, like chakras, or healing an illness using your mind
• Reincarnation, UFO's ,intelligent design, flat earth, auras, past lives, paranormal stuff, cult leaders
• Astrology
• Feminism
• Irrationality
• Intuition
• Philosophy and metaphysics
• Constrains on business and entrepreneurship
• Following the rules, by red tape, and by bureaucracy
• Big government intervention, and government regulation and the welfare state
• Losers, bums and freeloaders(Orange tends to be blind of it's own privilege)
• Socialism, communism and communal thinking. Orange doesn't like being part of a community
• The thought that the universe may have human qualities like love.
• Identity politics and political correctness
• People who take too long to get to the point
• People who have a lack of ambition to rise above average
• Lack of focus on results and in action taking.
• Too much talking, too much planning. Orange likes to get to the point.
• Archaic, overly religious societies like the middle east.
• Hillbillies and rednecks.

 

 

How to transcend Orange?

 

• Read in-depth about the limits of Orange. (The limits of capitalism, the damage that's been done to the environment etc)
• Read in-depth about Green (It is progressivism, caring about other beings, empathy, femininity)
• Stop judging stage Green
• Also ask yourself this: What is the price of my success? Who has to suffer so that I can bask in beauty and luxury and goods.
• Notice that success doesn't equate to happiness.
• Notice that more technology doesn't make you happy either.
• Acknowledge community and that you are part of a community. Mankind is a tightly knit community.
• Start to study spirituality
• Stop conflating religion with spirituality
• Start to see that there is more to life than pragmatism and that pragmatism doesn't make you happy at all.
• Notice the limits of science and technology
• Notice that Orange societies are unsustainable
• Acknowledge the damage that business does
• Acknowledge the gross inequality in the world
• Acknowledge environmental destruction
• Acknowledge animal cruelty in factory farming
• Acknowledge that socialism isn't bad
• Make a distinction between communism and socialism from the soviet era and all the evils that came from that and recognize that wasn't green it was actually blue.
• Find a heart centred life purpose
• Stop working so much. You work too much. Enjoy life too!
• Start deepening your relationships
• Stop treating women just as sexual objects
• Start to actually care about the people you are relating to.
• Stop buying shit that you don't need.
• Start taking psychadelics
• Reconnect with nature. Enjoy life in more rural settings!
• Go to music festivals
• Try alternative medicine
• Start recycling
• Start treating your employees like humans and not robots
• Acknowledge the limits of of analysis, logic and quantification
• Become a more holistic thinker rather than a narrow minded technical analyst.
• Surrender control and the desire to manipulate the system and to exploit the game.
• Embrace your emotions and your feminine side more
• Embrace your intuition
• Start to become more compassionate, more empathic, and more loving
• Cut out videogames, television and social media
• And lastly the master key to transcending any stage is contemplation and self-reflection, analyse your behaviour!

 

Edited Saturday at 11:21 AM by Daniel Balan

[Daniel Balan]

I've also done the same for stage Blue: 

 

[Daniel Balan]

And not to mention about the stage to which I belong the most. Stage Red:

 

Edited Friday at 09:55 PM by Daniel Balan

[aurum]

@Daniel Balan great work! Studying the spiral in depth is absolutely crucial.

[Leo Gura]

3 hours ago, Daniel Balan said:

No AI was used whatsoever.

Good work.

[joeyi99]

This seems like a higher spiral value:

"To orange reality is impersonal and it doesn't care about you, and the only reason a rock from space hasn't hit your head is just by pure luck."

[Daniel Balan]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Good work.

Thank you Leo! I've watched in-depth all your videos on spiral dynamics in the summer of 2020. But I noticed that 5 years in I forgot a ton of valuable information on each of the stages. Almost like I haven't watched the series at all. So I decided that from now on, when I watch a video of yours I will do so by taking notes thoroughly on my commonplace book. Thus I will make sure that whenever I forget something I can just open my commonplace book and refresh my memory. I've noticed that unless I do that, I forget almost within a week the content of your videos.

Edited Saturday at 08:39 AM by Daniel Balan

[Daniel Balan]

6 hours ago, joeyi99 said:

This seems like a higher spiral value:

"To orange reality is impersonal and it doesn't care about you, and the only reason a rock from space hasn't hit your head is just by pure luck."

I've gotten goosebumps when I've read that on Leo's blog. It was such an Aha moment. In my subconscious I've always knew that the only reason I wasn't killed by something thus far was only because of pure blind luck. Reality is merciless and will take your life regardless if you are a rat or a human. To god there is no difference between a rat or a human.

[Daniel Balan]

8 hours ago, aurum said:

@Daniel Balan great work! Studying the spiral in depth is absolutely crucial.

Thank you! I love so much spiral dynamics because in a way I owe this model the fact that I am alive today!