Saturday 30 December 2006

Pic of the day: Screenshot from the anime Crescent Love. "When you notice you're not alone in this world..."

SD: The future is Green

In Spiral Dynamics each new "color" or major value meme arises as a reaction to the previous. In this at least, Hegel had a point of sorts. Then again, it is kind of obvious now that we know so much about history. It just happened very slowly in the past, so small wonder people thought the world was mostly fixed in a kind of eternal stasis or cycle. Each new vMeme solved at least some of the problems that plagued society, without going back to an earlier vMeme (always a temptation) and thus putting back on the problems from the past. And each time, we thought that this was the final stretch toward paradise. Now we would solve all problems past or present, and lead the world into a golden age. But of course, new (and often worse) problem arose. But one thing that always happened was that each new turn of the spiral gave new possibilities, more freedom of choice. And history shows that in the long run, people remember freedoms fondly and are unwilling to give them up. They may reluctantly give up their freedom for a while to face some disastrous challenge, but they will try to get them back as soon as possible. In this way, the spiral keeps spiralling upward toward more choices.

In the past, there was enough time that a new vMeme could fully replace the old (except for scattered cases) before the next arose. This seems to no longer be the case, probably because of the extremely much higher level of education, and the ever more complex society in which we live. So while most of the western world is still transitioning from Blue to Orange, Green is already clamoring for attention, and Yellow individuals are active and beginning to band together. There are even observations and conjectures of a possible new vMeme, Turquoise, of which little is known except that it is holistic and global. Well, little is known in the most conservative branch of SD, where Chris Cowan holds sway. But in the other branch, where Don Beck has teamed up with Ken Wilber to create SDi, they have not only pinned down the new stage but also begun mapping an entirely new level beyond that, a "third tier" that is far above modern consciousness. I am, I dare say justifiably, skeptical when something is so advanced that only someone and his friends can understand it. Time will show. But the challenge that faces us right now is to keep the planet from destruction under the ravages of the Orange vMeme. And for this we need to urgently get a lot of people over to the Green.

Let me elaborate this. Anyone who is able to intuitively understand Spiral Dynamics and recognize it on sight, is probably thinking on a Yellow level. (Whether they are feeling and acting on that level is another matter, and few if any of us is pure one color through and through. More about that someday, I hope.) There seems to be a tendency to belittle the Green vMeme among those who have escaped from its gravity. This is perfectly normal with each level up, and despite the claims that Yellow is the first level to be able to consciously employ all earlier levels, there is still the human tendency to denigrate the previous life in order to elevate the current. But we cannot afford that. It is hard enough to get people up to Green, if we not make it sound like an inferior choice. For a long time yet, Green is our last best hope for the planet.

***

I don't mean Green just as in ecology, environmentalism etc. This is indeed part of the same package, but the naming is largely a coincidence. Actually, the Orange vMeme is not just sitting idly waiting for the environment to collapse: Now that people are worried about the Greenhouse Effect, for instance, there is suddenly a hectic activity in alternate energy sources. Wind power, wave power, tidal power and of course solar power are all becoming cheaper and more available. This isn't due to some outbreak of sudden loving kindness from the industry, but rather the fact that people are now willing to pay a premium for energy that is not derived from fossil fuels. Actually, "people" in this case often refers to governments: Ordinary people are not interested in solar panels on their roofs, since this will make their house look uglier than the neighbors. Of course climate change is important, but not as important as keeping up with the neighbors. That's reserved for absolute necessities, such as satellite TV...

No, by Green I mean a whole new mindset in which responsibility for everyone is more important than short-sighted material gain. It is a kind of growing up, but then again all the phases of the Spiral are a kind of growing up. You become more and more responsible, in parallel with obtaining more and more freedom. An adult has more freedom than a teen, but because of responsibilities must often refrain from using the freedom even for such things that a teen would do. It is the same here. We will have to refrain from using our freedom, for the good of all. It is commonly illustrated by a simple question: What will happen when all Chinese families have two cars? Or, what will happen when all Chinese eat steak for dinner? Our current lifestyle is not sustainable on a global basis. There won't be enough food, not enough oil, not enough silver and gold and copper, and worst of all, not enough water. We will have to compromise on our high standard of living, until technology has caught up enough. Which it quite possibly will. The goal is not a return to the Dark Ages, as you might get the impression from some environmental groups. The goal is to avert disaster. And this requires thinking wider and further than we do today. Becoming less nearsighted. We have to get further up on the Spiral to see far enough.

I have mentioned this before: For decades, people in the western world grew happier and happier, but then it stopped. They are still earning more and more, but it does not translate into more happiness. I take this as a proof that we have reached the ceiling of the Orange vMeme and need to move on to the Green. The things people say that they miss about the good old days are not actually typical of the good old days, but of the good new days that we have not yet built together. We don't really miss the old society where everyone was watching over one another, because actually they often were watching to see if you were doing something wrong. We miss a society where we actually care for one another, while at the same time giving each other freedom. A more mature society, where people don't squabble like greedy children but share willingly, most of all their time. This gives much more happiness than competing to keep up with the neighbor, to have a bigger plasma TV than them and a newer car and going to a better spa than them. It is also far less expensive. As it is, way too many people work long hours to afford things that don't give them happiness, because they have already outgrown the level where they live.

So perhaps the Chinese families won't need to have two cars. Perhaps not even American families will, because computer-generated optimal carpool routes help people get to and from work, and for the occasional other trip you may borrow one of the neighbors' car. This is unthinkable today because, as American women only half in joke say, the car is an extension of the man's [reproductive organ]. There is simply not enough trust (and sadly this is not without reason), and so we have to duplicate our efforts, spending more money than necessary and putting more strain than necessary on the environment, all because we are not honest and trustworthy. In short, we compensate in economy for what we lack in morality. By advancing to a higher level of consciousness - not in an abstract guru guru mountaintop way, but by simply growing up - we can make a better world for all with less effort than we are expending today. More time for ourselves and each other, less time spent harassing our fragile little planet.

This is what the Green vMeme is about. Not abstract deconstructionism, for the most part. What we need to deconstruct is the myths of our time, that bind us in a lifestyle that is unhealthy for each of us as well as for the entire ecosystem.

So, do I live what I teach? To some extent I do. I live a simple life by modern standards (with the notable exception of having a fairly new computer at any given time). I work less than I could, and live more than I otherwise would. I don't compete with the neighbors. I don't envy the rich. When I am with people, I am fully present. I listen as if you were important, or otherwise I don't pretend to listen at all. But in one thing I don't live this "next stage" life: I don't trust people. Oh, I trust the bus driver to drive me to work rather than suddenly shouting "Allahu akbar!" and driving off a bridge. One day I may be wrong, but probably not. But I don't trust people much in private and don't rely on them. Sadly this is because at this age, people are not trustworthy and reliable. Finding those who are is beyond my capacity, now that I don't have a church full of them. So I rely too much on myself compared to what would be good for us all. Hopefully the next generation will find a world that is Greener than this one, and be even happier than I have been, and make others happier than I have done.