I decided I didn’t have enough to do what with working full-time, running a consulting/coaching business and seeing clients at night, running a literary magazine, and writing poems, so I thought I’d start a blog while I’m at it. People often ask me how I do all this. Requests. I make a lot of requests.
Ken Wilber has been on my mind as of late. I’ve read one of his many, many books. It’s not easy to summarize a book called “A Theory of Everything,” yet I’ll discuss some of the ideas. Wilber has been said to have created a “unified field theory of consciousness.”
Here’s an explanation of unified field theory from wordiq.com:
“In physics, unified field theory is an attempt to unify all the fundamental forces and the interactions between elementary particles into a single theoretical framework. The term was coined by Einstein who attempted to reconcile the general theory of relativity with electromagnetism in a single field theory. His quest proved elusive and a unified field theory, sometimes grandiosely referred to as the Theory of Everything (TOE, for short), has remained the holy grail for physicists, the long-sought theory which would explain the nature and behavior of all matter.”
In TOE (the book), Wilber uses Clare Graves’ Spiral Dynamics to help prove his point. According to SD, we progress through various stages (called memes): beige, blue, orange, red, etc. In beige, we are essentially helpless babies and we may return to this as we age. In blue, we are guided by mysticism and religion. In “green,” we are more universal and likely to desire consensus. In “orange,” we see things from the point of view of science and technology. As we move from one “meme” to another, we have the ability to transcend and include. In other words, we keep some of what we learned from mysticism and consensus-related memes as we move into higher ones.
How does this apply to life? You might work in an aerospace organization (like I once did) and find the environment is extremely orange. Technology is prized above all else; it’s prized above humans in some cases. You might work for an environmental nonprofit and green values such as consensus and humanity are prized above all else. Knowing the meme in which the organization dwells can be extremely helpful in navigating the corporate/nonprofit landscape.
When I was first learning about Spiral Dynamics, someone explained it terms of how China is progressing. They were red, which is feudal. Now they are moving into orange (technology and science), and they care more about technology than the people. Eventually, they may one day move into green–a meme in which they would care more about the people and consensus. The United States is supposedly “green,” but we could argue that. *smile*
Every time I crack a book discussing human consciousness and the noetic sciences, my head begins to hurt. I consider that a good sign.
