Interesting Spiral dynamics case study: Wes Watson

[Nightwise]

Some of you may know Wes Watson. He has around 430K subs on Youtube now. For those who don't know him, let me give you a quick overview 

He's probably one of the most extreme people you will ever witness. He's an ex-convict who now is an entrepreneur, a fitness coach, and Youtube personality where he usually shouts, screams, yells and swears at you with his shirt off, showing his ripped, bulging, vein-covered torso full of prison tattoos. He can come across as extremely aggressive and angry, yet there's a silver lining in his over-the-top appearance and that is the things he talks about and the way he talks about it

I stumbled upon his channel I think about 2 years ago. My initial impression? I think it is an impression or an initial reflex so many of us have when we're familiarized with the higher stages (green, yellow, turquoise): "Wow... this guy is waaaay too much over the top". Nevertheless, I was intrigued because I could also sense that despite or irregardless of his extremely aggressive style and his constant swearing this guy has a lot of integrity and has an important message to share with the world.

Over time, when I let go more and more of the biases that come with the (self-)conditioned habits of valuing a soft, gentle approach to life over a more tough, militant approach to life, I started to appreciate the character of Wes Watson more and more, whilst still being aware of his limitations and his partiality.  To me, Wes Watson is exemplary of what an (extremely) strong and (generally) healthy combination of stage Red (Energy, Vitality, Aggression), stage Blue (Integrity, Discipline, Virtue, Work ethic) and stage Orange (Ambition, Purpose, Achievement-orientation) is supposed to look like.

His (stage) Blue makes sure that his Red isn't totally chaotic, impulsive and out of control. With discipline, integrity and virtue, he makes sure that his stage Red energy and vitality finds a pathway in which it supports and strengthens both himself and people and society at large rather than destroy it with his impulsiveness and blind selfishness creating a dystopia. Likewise, his Red energy makes sure his Blue isn't dull, uninspiring and mediocre, giving you the jolt that may just be required to get you to see the significance of what he's saying.

His Orange ambition makes it so his Red vitality finds an extrinsic meaning and purpose to life (whereas blue was about finding intrinsic or 'spiritual' meaning and purpose) and makes it so he can be strategical, creative and clever with the Red energy that he has. Meanwhile, his Red energy and vitality gives his Orange ambitions an extra edge, makes it so he can push himself even harder towards his goals and therefore making him evolve and grow faster than he otherwise would have. It also makes him a much more effective motivator and source of inspiration because his free-flowing aggression, passion and emotionality can strike people much more at their core than rational, cold logic could do on its own.

And his Orange ambition also makes it so that his Blue integrity and discipline can expand and manifest something great into the world, rather than stay stuck in a mediocre 9 to 5 job or alike. Meanwhile, his Blue integrity and discipline for one makes sure that his Orange doesn't become overly self-indulgent, narcissistic and indifferent towards other people, and it also makes his Orange ambitions more structured, stable and secure rather than making long-term (or even short-term) errors because of greed and myopia. 

I think both conservatives and progressives can learn a lot from Wes Watson, but I think progressives in particular can learn a lot from him because it is not uncommon for progressives to have failed to properly integrate lessons that needed to be learned from the stages lower on the spiral. I also think he's a very good example to teach the mid-range stages of the spiral properly (assuming Red falls into that category, which it may not but lets assume it does). He's not a careless, selfish entrepreneur who acres about nothing but his own gain, because Wes has integrity and strong sense of personal and collective responsibility. He's also not a religious ascetic who is very keen on adhering to moral dictates and being disciplined, because Wes has materialistic ambition. He also doesn't even fall into the category of a responsible, integral entrepreneur, because due to his stage Red traits, Wes has the vitality, embodied passion and emotional impact on other people that those other entrepreneurs don't have.

Wes Watson also made me think about the difference between being mature and being evolved.

Wes Watson isn't super evolved. He primarily oscillates through the regions of stage Red, Blue and Orange. Although interestingly, I've also seen him talk about vibrations, energy, love, law of attractions and other topics that would suggest he would have some proficiency in one or more of the higher stages (Green/Yellow/Turquoise). This is however hard to pinpoint for me because his Red/Blue/Orange is so overshadowing that it makes it very hard to detect expressions from the stages above it. If he's got some Green, Yellow or Turquoise energy present at all within him, it's at the very least not very dominant. I'm at least not going to treat him as a teacher or embodiment of stage Green/Yellow/Turquoise lessons.

But even though he's not super evolved, I do think he's far more mature than most people, including most people who have a lot of proficiency of the higher stages within them. You're not going to convince me that a neo-marxist hippie who lives in his parents' basement smoking weed all day is going to be more mature than Wes Watson (and by the way, I myself actually live with my parents being kinda hippie-like), even though he may be in some way more conscious and spirally evolved. I myself don't consider myself more mature than Wes Watson, even though I know I'm quite deep into stage Yellow.

I do consider him to be more mature than me, even though I feel there's also a lot of lessons he could learn from me. But I feel like there's just as much lessons I could learn from him.

What I would wish for Wes Watson over the coming years and decades is that he starts to let go of his obsession with being extremely tough and hard on himself, and that he would allow himself to explore his feminine side more, and to soften and loosen up a little bit and become more compassionate both towards himself and towards other people. I wish for him that he would start to see the value of being more soft even as a man (he actually has made several video's saying that people and especially men should never allow themselves to become soft), without him necessarily losing his capacity to be really tough and hard if he feels like that's what's called for. I wish for him that he would stop seeing the world so black-and-white and that he would start seeing that there's value and meaning in every perspective.

In essence: I wish he would start to embody more stage Green and Yellow qualities in himself without him necessarily losing his Red/Blue/Orange edge, and I feel like this is what's required for him to make the greatest possible impact on the world.

Let me know what you think of the character that is Wes Watson.

Here's a link to his Youtube channel, by the way. Seems like he's just bought a new mansion at the time of writing this. Good for him

https://www.youtube.com/@GPPenitentiaryLifeWesWatson

Edited January 1, 2023 by Nightwise

[Realms of Wonder]

Love this analysis, This is my first exposure to him, and watched his video 

"I would not like to get into a fight with this person"

"Is it necessary to be so aggressive, loud, and "over the top?"

As I listened though, I am hearing a wisdom in his words built though challenging experience, I also see a level of inspiration in him, motivation to actualize his purpose, that inspires me. Very interesting character, Now I wanna watch more