Spiral Dynamics stage Coral explained

[GreenWoods]

This is my view on coral.

My view on turquoise and coral differes from the mainstream view, but I think it makes more sense lol. It is based on research, contemplations on and what I've been noticing in myself and others. 

 

•  Stage Turquoise 

So first about turquoise, it is mainly about enlightenment imo.

It's about dissolving the seperate sense of self and realizing your true nature and thus oneness with everything. 

All of that is turquoise:

• the self doesn't exist
• No free will
• Nothing to do
• Nothing matters
• No one to become enlightened
• Teaching enlightenment is pointless 
• Everything is perfect 
• Everything is love
• Everything is one
• Infinity
• You are God 

And attitudes are:

• Being in flow and alignment with life
• No resistance
• Accepting what is
• Bowing down to reality
• Surrender
• Being rather than doing
• Passive, saintly, feminine, harmonious

The more awake you are, the deeper you are into turquoise. And here is a major crossroad. Some decide to go deeper and deeper into turquoise and become more and more enlightened until they do mahasamadhi and merge with God. The other option is to go to the next stage, which is coral. 

So coral is not about becoming more enlightened (that is turquoise) but about human evolution post awakening.

 

• Stage Coral

- Awakening is relative 

In my opinion, the main cause for the progression into coral is the realisation that most insights from awakening are not absolute but relative. A lot of you will disagree about that. I'm just giving my perspective based on my awakenings and contemplations.

At turquoise you reach states of consciousness where it is seen that realisations of no-self, love,... are absolute, but in my opinion they are not.

Let's take the example of love. Love is regarded as absolute because it is seen that even pain and evil is actually love. 

And that is true RELATIVE to very high states of consciousness. 

But relative to other states of consciousness that is not true. 

If a tortured person doesn't regard torture as love, then love can't be absolute, because if it were absolute, pain and evil would be regarded as love from every perspective. 

Love not being absolute is also in alignment with "truth is what is". If in one perspective evil doesn't feel like love, then evil is not love in that perspective, and that is truth (because that is what is).

Another argument for love being absolute is "everything is made out of love (and even you feeling love as evil is still love) and the only reason why you can't see it is because you are biased and selfish"

That is again true relative to that state of consciousness. 

Infinity has infinitely many states of consciousness, and includes all possible states of consciousness. 

Some of these states are infinite consciousness and are love and it is seen that everything (even evil) is actually love.

BUT there are also states that are infinite consciousness and are evilness and it is seen that everything (even love) is actually evilness.

That's just a consequence of Infinity. Both of these opposite states of consciousness essentially cancel each other out, so they are only true relative to themselves.

So we are left with everything is what it is, love is love and evil is evil.

Enligtenment is true relative to high states of consciousness.

(I think the only absolutes are: Reality is Infinite, Truth is what is, and Reality/everything is Consciousness)

And things like evil exist, things matter, the self exists, the self is important ... are true relative to other states of consciousness. 

Nothing is inherently more or less true.

So when all that is realised, that all these things that were previously considered illusonary are indeed real, then an interest for all these things once again arises and that is the step into coral.

 

- Self Centered 

During hardcore turquoise all personal desires were neglected or dissolved. It was an extreme into ego-unimportance. So in coral there is a natural desire to indulge in a lot of ego pelasures. Almost an extreme into ego pleasures in order to compensate for the previous extreme.

Coral is tier 2 stage red, and red is ego centric, so that behavior makes sense from that perspective too.

But coral is also very different from red, because it is far more evolved, it contains all the wisdom from previous stages and in most cases also an increased and nondual state of consciousness from turquoise, so it is a more evolved form of red, without all the negatives of red. So while personal pleasures are important, pleasures of others are also important. That means personal well being is pursued but in a way that it doesn't take from others well being.

At coral it is important for you to increase the wellbeing of others and you take action towards that, but your own wellbeing is likely even more important, so you spend more effort on that (because you got so depleted during turquoise). So that is the flavor of stage red again.

 

- Spiritual Teacher

Someone at turquoise is unlikely to teach about enlightenment because nothing matters anyway and all is already perfect.

At coral you have a different view, and teaching becomes very reasonable. 

If someone decides to be a teacher then the teaching style might be arrogant and agressive (the flavor of stage red again).

Leo seems to be at coral. And that is reflected in his teaching style:

• Saying that any methods apart from psychedelics will most likely never awaken you
• Saying he is one of the most conscious humans ever
• Saying that other teachers are not awake
• Saying that religions and other spiritual teachings are inferior and mostly useless for awakening and that all that stuff should just be thrown away
• Being blatant, direct, and using more aggresive language

(I don't know whether he said these things like that, I just wrote what I think he would say)

 

- State of Consciousness 

At coral you are most likely enlightened, you don't lose your baseline from turquoise.

But it also doesn't mean that because you are coral that you now are more enlightened. You could, but turquoise people could easily be more enlightened. The most enlightened people are probably at turquoise (and going for mahasamadhi).

So at coral, you are still conscious of God, Oneness, no-self,... 

A hardcore turquoise person has dissolved the illusonary sense of self to a very large degree.

It is possible to continue in coral with this dissolved sense of self, with this depersonalization, but I think for most people it is more likely that they again form an illusonary sense of self. They will have both. A strong sense of self, of being a human, that person, and at the same time the awareness that this is an illusion. 

Relative to nondual consciousness the self is an illusion. Relative to ego consciousness the self is real.

Now at coral, both of these awarenesses can co-exist. So relative to that state of consciousness at coral, it is true that the self is an illusion and it is true that the self is no illusion at the same time, simultaneously.

At least that's my current baseline state, and I think this might be similiar to others. When I put my attention on nondualness I'm very conscious that the sense of self is an illusion, not just knowing but actually being is that state of consciousness. And when I put my attention on being a human self, then that becomes real.

The sense of self is made of appearance, but these appearances are real, they exist and form a self, so focusing on them I can experience a strong  sense of self, and at the same time I can be fully conscious of how I am consciousness and these appearances are illusionary. I'm essentially in an altered state of consciousness (both in terms of void dimension and pure consciousness dimension), in a state where most people would have only a very small sense of self, even when focusing on these illusonary appearances of the self, but I've reconstructed the solidity and realness of the sense of self that you usually have in ego consciousness, but that solidity doesn't decrease my altered state of consciousness. So in a weird way I'm having both at once.

Based on my understanding of coral, you can have such a co-existing awareness, but if you prefer, you can maintain the dissolved no self from turquoise. But I think most people at coral prefer that co-existing awareness.

 

- Masculine Energy

A natural side effect of becoming enligtened at turquoise was that you become passive, feminie, selfless, submissive, accepting, ...

This went very far into an extreme, so there is now a need to go into the other extreme to compensate for the extreme of turquoise.

So there is a tendency to be active, masculine, results oriented, direct, blatant, productive, efficient,.... so that's the stage red flavour again.

At stage red you disliked your suffering and took aggressive actions to combat that.

At coral you dislike the suffering of yourself AND all other beings and take aggressive actions to combat that.

At turquoise you had the attitude of surrendering and bowing down to reality.

At coral you might even become angry at reality (particularly if you had awakenings into Infinity at turquoise and realized the consequences of that, like that there exists infinite suffering in some realms). Rather than bowing down to reality you want to dominate it, almost like wanting to play god, a better god than the unbiased Infinity god (which allows suffering because it is unbiased), and to bring happiness and wellbeing to all.

And to actualize that, you are very active, results oriented and a go-getter. 

Essentially, in order to actualize that goal, you take whatever approach is most effective, and that means you take the energy, power and force from red, the productiveness and results orientedness from orange, the empathy from green, the systems thinking from yellow and the awareness of oneness from turquoise.

 

- Happiness

At turquoise most have attached detachment. At coral you have detached attachment.

Attachment because you very much care about things. But it's different from pre-awakening, because you have the awareness and maturity and detachment skills from turquoise, therefore it is detached attachment. 

You are attached to things, but ideally (if you fully integrated turquoise) your happiness doesn't (fully) depend on your attachments being fulfilled. 

So at coral you get both, the unconditional happiness from turquoise (being happy independ of your life situation) and at the same time the conditional happiness from orange and green (having your desires fulfilled).

 

 

• Stage Blue 2

The stage after coral is 2nd tier stage blue, so I'm just gonna call it blue 2.

- Focus on Others

After sometime your desires got largely fulfilled and the extreme lack of that at turquoise could be compensated, at that point you naturally progress to blue 2.

At coral the wellbeing of others was important for you, and you took action towards that, but your own wellbeing was more important (because you got so depleted during turquoise). 

At blue 2 it's the other way around. Your own wellbeing is still important (unlike at hardcore turquoise) but the wellbeing of others becomes more inportant, so the focus is on others.

So from being focused on the individual (coral) you again focus on the collective. 

Turquoise and coral were very extreme, now blue 2 is a progression that takes the best of both.

Here you again might become saintly and feminine (but without neglecting your own wellbeing).

 

- Spiritual teacher 

Somone who became a teacher at coral, had an agressive teaching style and dismissed less effective spiritual teachings.

At blue 2 it is recognized that a more inclusive approach is better. For example, rather than a fundamentalist christian that all his dogma is bs and he should forget all that, you try to awaken such people with the inclusion of their dogma. So a fundamental christian might be guided towards mystical christian dogma (and people like Meister Eckart, Francis of Assisi,...) or gnosticism and to awaken through that. 

So blue 2 is an inclusion of dogma, which shows a paralell to blue 1, because in blue1 dogma is important (blue 2 uses dogma in a more conscious way).

So spiritual teaching styles evolved from new agey teaching (green), to conceptual teaching (yellow), to no teaching (turquoise), to agressive teaching (coral), to inclusive teaching (blue 2).

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by GreenWoods

[GreenWoods]

I'm actually quite curious what you guys think about this view on coral.

Edited May 7, 2022 by GreenWoods

[Leo Gura]

You are seriously confusing Turquoise and Spiral Dynamics with mysticism and nonduality. That's not how the model works.

[Terell Kirby]

Just now, Leo Gura said:

You are seriously confusing Turquoise and Spiral Dynamics with mysticism and nonduality. 

Turquoise / Spiral Dynamics - conceptual model of human cognitive development.

Mysticism / Non-Duality - first person phenomenon that cannot be conceptualized or understood outside of one's own direct experience.

@Leo Gura is that an appropriate summary of the distinction between the two?

[GreenWoods]

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You are seriously confusing Turquoise and Spiral Dynamics with mysticism and nonduality. That's not how the model works.

Hmmm yes that's true.

I know my view on turquoise is quite different from the mainstream one. But the mainstream one just sounds so boring.

But yeah I'm essentially changing spiral dynamics into what I consider a more accurate model of human development. 

But then I should probably just stop calling it spiral dynamics and call it something else, because it has nothing to do anymore with the original model.

[_Archangel_]

@GreenWoods All of this is way too idealized and put in a box, no offense but it seems like some horoscope descriptions haha.
Many old school stage Blue teachers fit your description of Coral and beyond.

 

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, GreenWoods said:

But yeah I'm essentially changing spiral dynamics into what I consider a more accurate model of human development. 

But then I should probably just stop calling it spiral dynamics and call it something else, because it has nothing to do anymore with the original model.

That is correct.

Spiral Dynamics is not a spiritually advanced model. When it comes to spirituality and awakening you just gotta drop Spiral Dynamics. Otherwise you will create more confusion than clarity.

[thisintegrated]

This is just silly??

[GreenWoods]

1 hour ago, _Archangel_ said:

@GreenWoods All of this is way too idealized and put in a box, no offense but it seems like some horoscope descriptions haha.
Many old school stage Blue teachers fit your description of Coral and beyond.

 

Hmm yeah.

Though the difference between such a stage blue teacher and my stage coral person would be that the stage coral person's approach includes/has integrated the value of science (orange), empathy (green) and multiperspectivalism (yellow).

At some point I'm gonna make a model of human development that includes awakening and post awakening human development in a more nuanced way.

[VeganAwake]

2 hours ago, GreenWoods said:

At some point I'm gonna make a model of human development that includes awakening and post awakening human development in a more nuanced way.

You definitely seem like the right person for the job. 

"Freedom to do and not do"

Thanks for the share!

❤ 

[mmKay]

@GreenWoods beautifully eloquent. You managed to put into words a lot of my own experience that I hadn't conceptualized. 

20 hours ago, GreenWoods said:

So when all that is realised, that all these things that were previously considered illusonary are indeed real, then an interest for all these things once again arises and that is the step into coral.

 

This made me tear up a bit. It definitely struck a chord.  It's exactly what had been happening after a year+ dark night of the soul experience but I had not realized. 

 

20 hours ago, GreenWoods said:

At turquoise most have attached detachment. At coral you have detached attachment.

That's some words used properly right here. 

Thank you for sharing. ?

Edited May 7, 2022 by mmKay

[herghly]

You're using spiral dynamics as a map of awakening. It's not. 

[amanen]

Even that supposed pain, evil, and torture is still love.

Love is the only thing that exists, it is absolute. 

It is not a quality but the fabric of consciousness itself.

Edited May 7, 2022 by amanen
Added a line

[_Archangel_]

9 hours ago, GreenWoods said:

At some point I'm gonna make a model of human development that includes awakening and post awakening human development in a more nuanced way.

@GreenWoods That it'd be a cool project

[Carl-Richard]

11 hours ago, GreenWoods said:

But then I should probably just stop calling it spiral dynamics and call it something else, because it has nothing to do anymore with the original model.

Call it "The Levels"   

But yeah, mysticism has existed for thousands of years, and Tier 2 barely started existing in the last century.

[GreenWoods]

@VeganAwake @mmKay 

Edited May 7, 2022 by GreenWoods

[Kksd74628]

@GreenWoods

I would say that what you tried to explain is correct in certain sense. It doesn't matter if everything is made out of love if the product is suffering. Pain is love, if you could accept it and that is what love is, acceptance. In the case you don't accept something it becomes suffering and calling suffering as a love is little bit misleading, if you ask me. Although even suffering is made out of love.

-joNi-

[Nivsch]

@GreenWoods Nothing can replace the #1 tool to development which is processing your uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.

Not meditation and not psychedelics even tough they are still very helpful but can never replace the primary tool.

I really think there is no "final stage" and every awakening is also just a stage.

I agree that spiral dynamics is limited but it can evolve and will be.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Nivsch

[Inliytened1]

@GreenWoods nice insights.   Yes I would equate this more as natural human development.  Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water.  After enlightenment chop wood carry water - only reality has been recontexualized now.  Also I tend to agree with your views on Turquoise and Coral - I tend to also equate Turquoise with becoming a mystic - and Coral with your pendulum swinging back towards this human existence- and not shunning the beauty of mortality itself (not shunning  attachments but embracing them, for example).  I include choosing to be selfish here as well, though you are conscious of it at a deep level.  As well as to realize things like that there is both no self and self simultaneously.     

And yes - some great insights.  What you are presently conscious of is what is.  Or you can say reality is an Absolute Relativity.  The only thing Absolute is that it is 100% relative.   

Good stuff.  As you mentioned this is basic human development and really requires no labeling or stages unless you just want to zoom out and look at it.  But as a human I think it's important not to get caught up with "stages" because then that becomes some type of ego thing.   Also, since reality is 100% relative, it of course means that human development is also relative - i.e some Individuals may never become mystics or never access a state of God Consciousness - and that is perfectly fine.

Good stuff!

[Spiral Wizard]

Ken Wilber‘s models are supposed to be more accurate for the higher stages of development.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Spiral Wizard