Questions to Assess the Lines of Development (Spiral Dynamics)

[Dan Arnautu]

Leo mentioned the lines of development in the new video:

• Cognitive Development
• The Values Line
• The Moral Line
• Career and Livelihood
• Health, Nutrition and Diet
• Personal Relationships
• Metaphysical/Spiritual Line
• Education Line
• Political Dev. line
• Sexual Dev. Line
• Kinesthetic Dev. Line

How does one assess where he is at when it comes to each line?

I kind of intuitively assessed my own level on most, except the Spiritual and Kinesthetic line because I don't even know what those would look like. What are the questions I should ask myself?

Or is there a resource I can use to find these out?

Thanks in advance.

[Nahm]

1 hour ago, Dan Arnautu said:

How does one assess where he is at when it comes to each line? The assessment is relative - comparisons (mental competition) to other people,  so just listening to Leo’s SD video’s, reading a book about it, etc will reveal one’s relativity (filtered by honesty). Ultimately, each is ‘done’ so to speak when it’s collapsed into Self / realized to not actually be happening  (it was always just a thought / full circle to being), similar to laughing right now about how ‘this entire life’ you thought there were sensory processes happening, without any direct experience of. 

I kind of intuitively assessed my own level on most, except the Spiritual and Kinesthetic line because I don't even know what those would look like. What are the questions I should ask myself? Why do I continue thinking there is a me and things are happening / why haven’t I seen that thinking is the smokescreen? (Because thinking). What is meant by materialism?  What would this day be like with zero thoughts? Are thoughts material / materialism?  If that’s ‘out of reach’, then there is still the full spectrum of “emotions”, and one can simply listen to the relativity of their “inner being” (Truth). 

Or is there a resource I can use to find these out? NO. It is enough time spent mindful of breathing from the stomach (eventually awareness is obvious without the thinking) wether that takes meditation, yoga, psych’s, retreats, etc. The illusion, the trick, is that there is a resource, which is thinking one’s way right back into the loop of SD’s. 

 

[Dan Arnautu]

@Nahm You totally missed the point of the question, and totally the point of today's video.

We know the assessment is relative, we know the models are conceptual constructions that collapse in nonduality. 

Yet the concepts are still useful in the relative domain. You can go sit in a cave otherwise and forget all about them.

But for those of us who are trying to understand the dynamics of the ego and the collective, these are useful. Don't throw the raft until you get to the other side... so they say.

Much love though.

[Aimblack]

Get the book integral life practice which gives you a couple of distinctions that spiral dynamics doesn't have on it's own. Let's take the sexual dev, line for instance you would break down your experience down into 4 quadrants. And then ask yourself questions fitting for each of the for quadrants.

 

Questions I would ask would be: 

I: How do I relate to sex mentally and emotionally, what does sex mean to me mentally/emotionally

It;How does my body relate to sex ? 

Etc..

The answers you give will show how you view sex and what it is for you at the moment(Is it about power and dominance( or about is it mainly a physical need? Is more focused on you pleasure or a tool for communication? Is it a mundane mechanical act or is it something spiritual? 

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Aimblack

[Dan Arnautu]

8 minutes ago, Aimblack said:

Get the book integral life practice which gives you a couple of distinctions that spiral dynamics doesn't have on it's own. Let's take the sexual dev, line for instance you would break down your experience down into 4 quadrants. And then ask yourself questions fitting for each of the for quadrants.

 

Questions I would ask would be: 

I: How do I relate to sex mentally and emotionally, what does sex mean to me mentally/emotionally

It;How does my body relate to sex ? 

Etc..

The answers you give will show how you view sex and what it is for you at the moment(Is it about power and dominance( or about is it mainly a physical need? Is more focused on you pleasure or a tool for communication? Is it a mundane mechanical act or is it something spiritual? 

 

Thank you. This is helpful. Yeah, the lines of the development Leo mentioned are from Wilber. 

[Aimblack]

@Dan Arnautu You are welcome. Yea I definitely recommend that you buy the book if you like actualized.org you will love ILP.

 

[Nahm]

@Dan Arnautu I’m sure you’re right, and it requires more thought. Much love to you as well! 

You have the cave analogy backwards, SD’s is in the cave, I was pointing to what is, outside of the cave. 

[Dan Arnautu]

@Nahm

24 minutes ago, Nahm said:

@Dan Arnautu I’m sure you’re right, and it requires more thought. Much love to you as well! 

You have the cave analogy backwards, SD’s is in the cave, I was pointing to what is, outside of the cave. 

I wasn't talking metaforically, as in Plato's allegory of the cave

[Nahm]

@Dan Arnautu What did you mean then, “You can go sit in a cave otherwise and forget all about them“ ?  Seems like you might mean - ‘you can go sit in nonduality, this is about duality’.  But duality isn’t resolved in duality. Are the colors of SD’s not the back and forth of self realization, then recontextualization relatively with others (society), self, others, self, others, etc (duality (knowing society) / nonduality (knowing self)?  If assessment is kept to only relative, it could literally go round and round forever, or stay at the first step. 

[Leo Gura]

It takes a lot of research to understand the details of how each of those lines evolves.

Some of the lines are not very well documented.

Although the Metaphysical/Spiritual line is very well documented and I've basically addressed it in my Spiral Dynamics mini-series whenever I talked about religion, spirituality, or mysticism.

• Stage Blue is dogmatically religious
• Stage Orange turns materialistic science & rationality into a religion
• Stage Green is "spiritual but not religious" -- hippie spirituality
• Stage Yellow is open to mystical ideas but doesn't have direct mystical insight yet. Sort of a conceptual spirituality.
• Stage Turquoise is having lots of mystical experiences and very aware of the oneness of everything

[Dan Arnautu]

@Leo Gura Thank you, Leo.  The spiritual line must be at Green then. I'm gonna do some more research.

My worldview seems to be mostly green with some orange needs and yellow cognition. I still haven't integrated orange fully yet. Not even close. 

Gotta get to work.

[Leo Gura]

@Dan Arnautu That's where many of you are. It's a decent place to be.

[Dan Arnautu]

@Leo Gura My country is heavily blue with lots of red actually. It's a shit show here. 

I consider myself very fortunate to have gotten into green because of the internet.

I read books and follow teachers from all stages and by bombarding myself everyday with those. It's the only thing that's counteracting the downward pull. 

I found very few people that are at green in my country, even in Bucharest. I can count them on two hands.

I only found them by virtue of the law of attraction.

That's why I want to relocate soon. I see no other choice and I don't want to stiffle my development. 

I'm thinking of the Netherlands.