Spiral Dynamics Integral

The speed of personal and societal change can seem bewildering, and there have been many attempts to try and make sense of what is going on in the world.Spiral Dynamics is one very interesting model that was originally developed by the psychologist Clare W. Graves. He was a friend and colleague of Abraham Maslow, who had developed the well-known Hierarchy of Needs, ascending from basic biological needs to the more complex psychological motivations - belongingness, esteem, cognitive, esthetic and self-actualizing - once the basic needs have been satisfied. In Maslow's scheme, the needs at each level need to be at least partially satisfied before the needs of the next level start to determine action. But Graves' research lead him to believe that there were levels beyond self-actualization, and that different people achieved different kinds of development at different times in their lives. Over the last 30 years, Spiral Dynamics has been developing in a number of new directions. Ken Wilber has been working with Don Beck and has incorporated many of the ideas into his Integral Psychology, and I have recently shown how some of the ideas are immensely helpful in the field of health and wellness.One of the important concepts of Spiral Dynamics is the meme. The word meme was first introduced by the Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins, who used the word to mean things that are transmitted or broadcast through culture. Good examples would be songs, ideas or fashions in clothes, which are quickly disseminated through a culture, rather like a virus spreads around a population. These are now called "little memes." Spiral Dynamics takes a broader view. Each level of development is represented on a spiral and is called a "Value Meme" (vMeme), which expresses itself through the "little memes." You will normally see "vMeme" abbreviated to Meme, with a capital "M" to distinguish it from the "little memes." Each Meme is a code, or a system of information. We are each composites of memetic levels.I was very interested to hear what Don Beck - one of the most important figures in the development of Spiral Dynamics, and heir apparent to Clare Graves - had to say about the current state of the model. There is one thing that marks out Spiral Dynamics from many other models: it has been successfully applied in some very difficult situations around the world, most famously in the post-Apartheid era in South Africa.On the first CD, which Don has entitled The Dance of the Double Helix: How Humans Emerge, he begins with a broad overview, which includes a recoding of Clare Graves himself. For people not familiar with Spiral Dynamics, it might be necessary to go back and listen to the first CD again later: he uses a small number of terms without defining them.On the second CD - The Codes by Which We Live -Don Beck provides a lucid description of the first six developmental levels. This is the clearest description that I've ever heard or read.The third CD - The Leap into Second Tier - discusses a quantum jump in consciousness and the emergence of new moral codes and ways of thinking and behaving that promise t revolutionize the world around us.On CD Four - The Dynamics of Leadership - Don gets very practical, in applying the model to leadership, natural organizations and the importance of understanding that people and organizations often have multiple bottom lines.The Fifth CD - The Many Dimensions of Change - is the most dense of all of them in terms of concepts: Don discusses the phenomena of human emergence, the eight change variations, and the three components of change. His discussion of alpha fit, beta condition, gamma trap and delta surge is terrific for anyone who has ever tried to negotiate changes in relationships or in organizations.Finally, CD Six - Stitching Together Our Wounded World - is a series of very practical lessons in how Spiral Dynamics can and has been used, and some pointers for the future.These CDs are well produced and come with a small booklet and color chart. All the materials are of the same high quality that we have come to associate with Sounds True who produced and published the CDs.If you are a complete beginner in the field of Spiral Dynamics, these CDs are sure to get you oriented very quickly, and you should be able to see how the theory applies in your life. The booklet contains some precise questions for helping you map your vMemes. It can be immensely helpful to do this exercise with people with whom you are in relationship. If you are already familiar with some of the concepts of Spiral Dynamics, you will likely still find some interesting material and a stimulating discussion. You may want to use the CDs to flesh out you understanding, before going on to the book Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan.Whichever group you are in - beginner or more advanced student, you may well need to listen to some parts of the CDs more than once.Highly recommended.

" Spiral Dynamics. Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change."Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan.Don Edward Beck has been an inspiration to many of us engaged in the process of Change during the long transition we experienced in South Africa as the old regime gave way to the New Order after the elections in 1994. Don Beck consulted with those in the political, social, private sector, and even the South African Rugby team, that required to move through the MEMEs he describes in his book.Change was about understanding the coping mechanism that we all had to deal with in our own very different internal fears and aspirations and externalize these with behaviors to align with the changes that we went through, and still having to deal with 20 years later. "The Crucible: a Forging South Africa's Future" by Don Beck and Graham Linscott, published in 1991, also addresses the challenges we faced in South Africa.  The Crucible: Forging South Africa's Future This book is a must read for all who have to deal with or manage any change process, where ever it may exist, and what ever country or environment we find ourselves.Dr Edward Beck presented me with a signed copy of his book, published in 1996, that I cherish and read it many times over to remind me of how to address change, and aspire to be a Spiral Wizard, that is described as a key Change Agent.John CluettPast President, Value Engineering and Management Society of South Africa

I wish that everyone in the United States-no, everyone on the planet- Would it least read an executive summary.Powerful insights into the various phases of our cognitive perceptions of the world over the last hundred thousand years. In less than 500 years we have utterly transformed virtually every EXTERNAL aspect of humanity.Unfortunately, human beings are no longer taught to suppress the most base emotions at our powerful unconscious core, the seat of our id, and instead embrace it. The decline of our culture is inevitable unless a large minority of people begin to fully embrace ourhave hundreds of thousands of years of biological imperative in their DNA- and without a culture that punishes behaviors that endanger the propagation of “good ideas”, ideas that reaffirm our biases but have been total failures due to their inability to accurately predict the future of a complex system like Earth, or the individuals living here.Michael Krieger at Liberty Blitzkrieg has a dozen articles about how Spiral Dynamics (filtered through Rothbard) points to a better, safer, cheaper, more just and Radically Decentralized near future.

Interesting and informative not updated

Ever listen to two people argue and realize that they don't really disagree, they just can't understand each other? Ever contemplate two mutually contradictory perspectives that seem to have equal validity? Spiral Dynamics is a powerful and beautiful psychological/philosophical theory that explains the above everyday phenomena better than any other theory I've encountered. It simply posits that humans develop through different, all-encompassing views of life as they mature. Unfortunately, in the book "Spiral Dynamics", Beck and Cowan have apparently tried to market this theory to a management market by dressing the terms up in CAPITAL LETTERS, bold type, and the ridiculous superscripted "v"-MEME. I assume this is to make them seem like scientific acronyms, like DNA or H2O. Why? Have faith in the theory guys, it's a good one. I just hope they don't screw up the Clare Graves book that they are currently editing. Of course, I'm sure that it will be exorbitant, like the volume under review. Again, why? I suppose, in SD terms, the authors are merely writing for an orange audience, but between that and their exorbitant prices, they come off as rather first tier.

Good ideas, but writing style is too new age, over-reliant on emotionally charged waffle, unscientific, with little hard data to back up conclusions and no counterpoint in its discourse. There is an undercurrent of doom-mongering and an implicitly negative assumption of a broken society, which is highly distracting and grating in its attempts to provide emotional weight to a theory. I give an extra star, as SD itself is a meaningful and holistic lens through which to interpret the world, but like most theories in this space a bit overly simplistic / idealistic, and does not fully point to practical solutions for untying the complexities at the root of some of today's pressing issues (e.g. Israel-Palestine). Interesting, but not a silver bullet.

As other reviewers have said, this book is not well written, yet even so I couldn't mark it down because the concept of Spiral Dynamics is one of the most powerful ideas I've ever come across. I genuinely see people, businesses, and whole societies through a different lens having read this. It took me a long while to get through but it was more than worth it. If you're less patient and want a much quicker, easy to read introduction to Spiral Dynamics, this is a great 43 page e-book: Emergence Vol 1 - Introduction by Rosemary Wilkie. However if you want much more depth I do recommend reading this original book.

The book has helped me understand societies as they really are. It provides a new psychology that helps one understand Humanity and offers a very practical guide for local politicians and world leaders alike. But furthermore, it is not a cynical analysis of facts with guidance on how to control societies, but instead it offers the practical tools on how to help societies move to their next level of existence. It has helped me understand the socioeconomic and political crisis in my country (Cyprus) and explained the failure of the Arab Spring revolutions in the area.It has helped me get rid of my extreme criticism of 'bad behavior' and recognize the fact that we are all moving to our next level of existence by understanding where we are today and how to participate in the development of a better society and a new world order.

This is a must read for anybody who is interested in the understanding and application of the deeper motivational drives of people and how these interact with each other and within a holistic perspective.

These cd's are fabulous and so easy to understand as a starts to this massive area of study. I have the book too, but I keep going back to the cd's. For anyone serious about studying spiral dynamics you won't go far wrong with this set.