Hiya! I'm Krisena. Nice to meet you! I was inspired by the newest video on Spiral Dynamics and Leo's advice to find mentors to reach higher stages. What if we could also compile a list of art that roughly corresponds to the various stages to help us understand as well? Indeed, maybe art is the best way to inspire you to take steps forward into higher stages? Film, literature, music, painting, architecture, poetry, video games... All is allowed. I will analyze some pieces of art that are very dear to me in high detail, as well as add some easy entries into the lists to get us started. So when suggesting art for the different colors, I would like you to ask yourself some questions about the work: Consider the whole work of art. A piece of art may use ideas from one stage to demonstrate another stage. The main character can start out materialistic, but change into a person that values their fellow man - in which case it's green, not orange. If there's a narrative, what kind of value does the protagonist use to win over the antagonist? The power of friendship (green)? The power of maturity (probably yellow)? The power of non-violence (yellow/turquoise)? Pure power (red or orange)? Is mythic imagery invoked? Mythic stories tend to convey archetypal truth and in general be closer to archetypes. This may or may not mean that the story in question jumps to stage yellow and above, under the right circumstances. Stories about "good and evil" can either be on a really low stage, where "evil" is demonization of the other (tier 1), or really high one, where "evil" is presented as a large-scale pattern or "ocean current" that emerges from countless small acts of malice (yellow). You really have to judge on a case by case basis without generalizing one way or the other. Argue as well as you can. Please keep in mind that there can be value dissonance between the surface and subtext of the story. The Wolf of Wall Street lets the indulgent protagonist off the hook, but this may or may not, depending on your interpretation, be a critique of a society that lets people like this have their way. Could be orange, could be green. Please clue us in on the interpretation you choose. As for music without lyrics, I would like to make some observations: Romanticism in classical music is not unambiguous. Both intense expressions love (green) and "worship of the genius" (orange) are part of it - so don't generalize based on genre. Try your best to put into words what the particular piece in question is conveying. If you think these guidelines are flawed or you have a unique interpretation, go for it! I'm here to expand my horizon so I would like that. You can argue whether the stage you're personally at hinders you in seeing the truth in certain works of art. Leo did say that you can only see two stages up. Maybe that's a limitation we should be conscious of.   Turquoise: Tree of Life - Terrence Malick (film) Yellow: Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Luo Guanzhong (novel) Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder (novel) The Ring of the Nibelung - Richard Wagner (music drama) Green: Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë (novel) Before Sunrise / Before Sunset / Before Midnight - Richard Linklater (film) Birdman - Alejandro Iñárritu (film) Wild Strawberries - Ingmar Bergman (film) Avatar - James Cameron (film) Interstellar - Christopher Nolan (film) Symphony No. 9 - Ludwig van Beethoven (music) Orange: Advertisements (film/visual arts) Blue: National anthems (music) Propaganda movies (film) Red: War marches (music) Purple: Totem poles (sculpture) Beige:   ...yeah, good luck finding lower than green fine art. I have some questions for you that I hope you can help me with as well: Where does art that only has the purpose of stimulating the senses belong? If any of you are familiar with the impressionists in music or painting... Where do you think they belong? What about modernistic psychological dramas that show the dangers of subconscious drives and urges?   Finally, here's my elaboration on one of my entries: Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been. The story of an empire that falls apart and the warlords that strategize and fight for power in the ensuing chaos. The main characters are Liu Bei "I will restore the rightful order and hierarchy" (blue), Cao Cao "I am destined for great things and will rule the world" (orange) and Sun Quan "When others gain power, we become an easy target, so we too must expand to survive" (???), who eventually establish three minor kingdoms that all try to conquer the others. On the local level, the story is about power and ambition (orange) as the different warlords try to get the upper hand on each other. On the large scale however, the picture that is painted is one of "cycles of nature". In the end, as it seems like one of the warlords are about to triumph, one of said warlord's own generals overthrow him and put their own clan on the throne. In the next years, they conquer the other two kingdoms - restoring stability to the land after 50 years of war. The ending is shocking, but powerful, as it reveals to the audience the futility of the main characters' struggles. The story starts with order, descends into chaos and in the end, returns to order, with a final remark of the narrator: All down the ages rings the note of change,
For fate so rules it; none escapes its sway.
The kingdoms three have vanished as a dream,
The useless misery is ours to grieve. I experience the story as a meditation on the laws of cause and effect (the string of constantly shifting alliances and battles that follow logically from one another) and the patterns that emerge from them (the rise and fall of social structures). In the end, the impression I'm left with is that the actions of humans are just a part of the larger system of nature, that is impossible to transcend. Clearly a yellow piece of art, and truly one of the greatest stories I've ever read.   With that I hope I can stimulate some discussion. I'm happy to answer any questions, and I don't mind feedback either. I posted a lot of fine art, but that's because I'm just into that. Please talk about the art you care about!