Friday, September 12, 2014

Sooner Than Later

Briefly, what I am proposing is that the psychology of the mature human being is an unfolding, emergent, oscillating spiraling process marked by progressive subordination of older, lower order behavior systems to newer, higher order systems as an individual’s existential problems change.

Each successive stage, wave, or level of existence is a stage through which people pass on their way to other states of being. When a human is centralized in one state of existence, he or she has a psychology that is particular to that state. His or her feelings, motivations, ethics, and values, biochemistry, degree of neurological activation, learning system, belief system, conception of mental health, ideas as to what mental illness is and how it should be treated, conceptions of and preferences for management, education, economics and political theory and practice are all appropriate to that state.

Clare Graves, a professor and originator of a Level Theory of Human Development, does an excellent job explaining the diversity that exists in this reality. His theory is the foundation for the concept of Spiral Dynamics. Human nature is an ever emergent open-ended system of awareness.

Graves' theory is used throughout the field of psychology today. His work opened the door for Ken Wilbur and others to establish a Theory of Everything, which is an integral vision for Business, Science, Politics and Spirituality.

Graves' theory explains the different levels of consciousness that are interacting in human form at the same time. We have a tendency to use race, religion, and politics as tools to define the thoughts of individuals, but it is the level of awareness of being that defines us from those around us. Our individual beliefs in each stage create the reality we experience.

When we apply Graves’s theory to the present conditions that exist around the world, we clearly understand why peace is such an elusive state. Different levels of consciousness are interacting with each other at the same time. The first stages or levels are interacting with higher stages, and the result is conflicting viewpoints of reality. The beliefs in each stage are valid to the believer until they move to the next level of awareness. That movement may take centuries, or it may happen within a particular century. As we know our awareness is moving at an accelerated rate, so we may see a change in the way we interact sooner than later.

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