Integral Life

I’ve outlined above a holarchy of all ten stages of consciousness, or shapes of mind, that have evolved to date (including data drawn from population-level studies of adults in western Europe and the United States). The shape of your mind is the geometry that defines how your mind takes external input from the world and combines it with 1) pre-existing knowledge (or knowledge gaps) and 2) emotional patterning, in order to generate new thought, skills, emotions and behavior. It is your current “map” of the world, helping you to navigate your experience. But unlike a flat, paper-based map, this map is better thought of as topographical (which is why I like the term “shape of mind”). As your mental geometry becomes more complex, the topography of your map becomes more complex and multi-dimensional. (It can also be thought of as a mental ecosystem because it obeys ecosystem-like rules: massive variability amongst its parts, interdependent relationships, non-linear development, creativity, and decay.)

Differentiation from the environment occurs when an infant discovers that an undifferentiated self/environment has consequences, for example biting finger hurts, biting toy does not. This marks a differentiation from the surrounding environment and the first beginnings of a self-environment boundary.



Stage one is an infantile consciousness that remains almost completely fused with all biological impulses and their environment. In adults this requires institutionalization.

This isn't you.

Symbiotic

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs as rudimentary forms of language arise and interaction with the primary caregiver gets needs met.



Impulse-driven consciousness marked by cognitive simplicity characteristic of children from 2-4 years old. Impulsive adults are their needs and are easily overwhelmed, confused and emotionally disturbed. They are still not fully differentiated as selves and experience the anxiety arising from their constant state of helplessness. As adults they need institutional or caregiver support.

This also isn’t you.

Impulsive

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs as the child becomes not totally dependent on another for all aspects of their life maintenance. This is the first stage where the child is a whole self, in itself. 

 


In adults, opportunists represent "warrior consciousness" where might makes right and power is its own reward. Because it is the first stage of an actual self, as such, it understands the world as a power struggle between itself and all else outside it. This creates black and white distinctions in a world animated by magic, full of danger, and dark forces.

Opportunists address the perceived scarcity of the world and threats to life through power, projecting power and displays of fearsomeness. 

Opportunist (Self-Centric)

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs as the child (approaching adolescence) learns that "might makes right" doesn't work very well in a social world where there are other people with their own interests and agency. Their embeddedness in a self-only world gradually gives way to a desire to be part of a self-social world.

 


This stage is often called conformist consciousness because adherence to “the tribe’s” expected values and behavior is the defining value system. Flush with the novel euphoria of belonging (to something bigger than the narrow confines of the previous self-only world), the Diplomat’s goal is to avoid overt conflict and promote order and stability within the in-group. This is a shape of mind with limited nuance because the range of cognitive differentiation is still narrowly confined to the self-interests of the prior stage and the group-interests of the current stage (with which they are completely identified).

Diplomats represent a not insignificant portion of the adult population and are quite skillful in service and the helping industries. As leaders they struggle to communicate candidly and with the discernments necessary for a group to navigate the real complexity of the surrounding world (which sits several stages higher than this one).

The dominant value system of the Diplomat is to address the perceived scarcity of the world and threats to life through social visibility, working very hard to effect an approved, popular public appearance and social persona. Because a Diplomat's self-identity is isomorphic to group norms and expectations–that is, it doesn't represent a compromise to conform, their very self is already conformed–it is safe to say that many social media celebrities, political and religious personalities come from this stage of development.

Diplomat (Group-Centric)

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs as the emerging adult moves beyond group-centric mind and instead begins to establish their independence. They want to be their own person and pursue their own values. Whereas the Diplomat's self-identity is embedded in the groups with which it identified and therefore individual differences weren't seen–they literally had no meaning because they barely registered–the Expert differentiates from this group identity and emerges into its photo negative: an independence yielded precisely by as much individual difference and distinction as they can find.

 


Hence, expert consciousness attempts to perfect itself and its world through mastery of knowledge, expertise and continuous improvement. It is on a hunt for as much distinction from everyone else as it can achieve. This is true even when, ironically, it does join groups of experts that both animate this distinction from everyone else while also being a part of a group of the like-minded. This yearning combines with the Expert's perception of the world as a system, with rules and open to full optimization, to give rise to movements such as quantified self, Big Data and the underpinnings of Silicon Valley’s dominant techno-meritocratic epistemology.

As the most prevalent shape of mind in business leadership, Experts spend inordinate amounts of time on exterior realities and the "one right way" to accomplish their aims: water-tight analysis of data, quantified argumentation, etc. Yet this also can present a bias against collaboration and deep, empathic listening (i.e., EQ is typically valued less at this shape of mind than certain others because they perceive a right way to do things that is largely blind to inner forces).

Experts typically display a high level of self-certainty, cognitive assuredness and rapid judgment formation. Generally they are not interested in inner mental or emotional work as the complexity of perspective required to do so—seeing one’s own interior as an object to be worked upon—is still largely out of reach for the Expert. The Expert’s values call for addressing perceived scarcity in the world and threats to life by winning and maintaining self-certainty, which it does by not allowing itself to become overly open-minded to contradictory views.

Many companies live at the Expert stage, building brands and products that convey the expertise, certainty and "one best way" to achieve goals in a complex world. Like every stage, the Expert stage can produce terrible outcomes if not checked and balanced: as Wall Street's analyst corps is trained to this stage in the early-part of their careers, and the value system of Wall Street itself often serves the money-at-all-costs values of the Opportunist stage, it sometimes creates the toxic mix of greed and apparent certainty that produces social disasters such as the CDO meltdown and ensuing Great Recession of 2008.

Expert (Skill-Centric)

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs as an adult begins to encounter the fuller complexity of a world that is perfectible: life requires taking full responsibility for choices; the world is more nuanced than the Expert believes; mindsets and the thoughts that frame choices become important; in short: thinking about thinking becomes a critical skill for navigating the emerging world of the Achiever.




Achiever consciousness places rationality, universal ideals and earnest conviction at the forefront of a life well-lived. The Achiever believes that society can be perfected through ongoing progress, technology, and rationality. The Achiever is the shape of mind that all modern social systems (e.g., education etc.) are designed to develop adults to become. Achievers believe deeply in the notion of autonomy and freedom and are very goal-driven, even while they can begin to see the impacts their actions have on the broader world. Achiever values are found everywhere, from the curation of TED to the pages of Fast Company and Inc. magazines.

Cognitively, the achiever sees a powerful world-system at work that through optimization and further discovery can be progressively enhanced, believing in the notion of ideals and system perfectability. Achievers begin to run into the deeper contradictions inherent in reality and remain fearful of losing control. But they cannot yet see the constructed nature of reality, meaning-formation and intersubjective contexts (i.e., they are not yet aware of their own “epistemic situatedness” in terms of their values, their language, their social contracts etc.), which drives those who continue growing into Relativist consciousness.

Achievers are not just the goal of our educational system, they are also the primary goal of leadership development programs—they are effective, focused and goal-driven. Nevertheless, they struggle with the complexity required of senior leaders in large, global organizations today, which require more advanced shapes of mind.

Achiever  (Self-Determining)

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs as an adult begins to encounter the contradictions of a world that has vastly different perspectives than their own on what constitutes an ideal: values, methods, perspectives, cultures, backgrounds all differ greatly and present the Achiever with an incommensurable degree of complexity at their current shape of mind. Relativist consciousness emerges to provide an important breakthrough to seeing truth as situated in context and thereby bounded by the system from which it's generated.



In this regard Relativists begin to suspect that the best reply to the complexity that they're beginning to see in the world is to privilege each individual's viewpoint on it. Truth, beauty and goodness tend to become subjective for the Relativist, a values-sensitivity that philosophically presaged and still underpins the equal rights, environmental and gender movements.

Cognitively, the Relativist shape of mind begins to see that world is composed of innumerable interacting complex systems and that "finding a right way through" often has to give way to a more muted, relativistic "anything goes as long as no one gets hurt." Relativist values have permeated contemporary culture as aspirational values–even though only 10% of the leading edge of the population is Relativist, it nevertheless animates downward an ethos: from the authenticity of craft brewing and the maker movement to the conscious lifestyle of the yoga and mindfulness movements the heritage of Relativist consciousness is passed down to Diplomats, Experts and Achievers who constitute a significant part of those movements.

Relativists often evolve away from the Achiever's bias for autonomy and freedom and towards a new bias for community interaction, group process and emotional sanctity. Paradoxically, it is their loyalty to the precious subject that often prevents them from being able to maintain stable, unified communities, despite this being the most communally-inclined shape of mind to evolve since Diplomat. They soon discover that sanctifying every subject's viewpoint is a recipe for massive communal fragmentation. As Ken Wilber has pointed out, the postmodern-pluralism that's undermined the truth has promoted either no truth (nihilism) or my truth (narcissism), neither of which are capable of holding a society together. It is this stage of consciousness, at least in the cultural realm, that the nationalist backlash is arising against.

Nevertheless, because the Relativist is rediscovering their inner life for what feels like the first time after leaving the highly exterior-orientation of the Achiever, it is a shape of mind that often feels like a euphoric liberation of magical possibility. Heavily populating the self-development, coaching and empowerment movements of the modern west, it is the mind through which a "re-enchantment of the world" occurs. The Relativist's values call for addressing perceived scarcity in the world and threats to life by trying ever harder to reconcile differences and foster movements of liberation (which sometimes go on to a domineering militancy themselves). In the end, Relativists get caught in a contradiction: they accept that anything goes except those people for whom anything doesn't go.

Relativist (Self-Questioning)

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs when the fragmentation of the Relativist viewpoint creates enough cognitive tension to force a move to deeper discernment, often situated in natural hierarchies of order, power, social regulation and complex systems. These are the critical distinctions in which Strategist consciousness emerges.




Strategists are able to not only cognize the complexity of the world's competing systems in the manner of the Relativist, they begin to synthesize how these systems interoperate, allowing them to reestablish a definitive sense of direction, strategy and capability in the face of overwhelming complexity. The Strategist's grasp of systems is far more complex than the Achiever, for whom the inner life was just emerging, and who hasn't yet wrestled with the enormous complexity of competing perspectives, values and idealisms that the Relativist works through (often for a decade or more).

But this also causes the central dilemma for the Strategist: animated by a newfound ability to integrate complexity, Strategists sometimes wear themselves out through sheer overreach: seeing what can be done and must be done, and then deciding that they must do it.

Strategists, though still relatively rare, make highly-effective, often visionary corporate leaders: they've integrated at least some of the interior fluency of the Relativist (emotional intelligence, spiritual sensitivity and communal coordination) with the hard-hitting efficacy of the Achiever and Expert. They can develop a compelling vision, can rally people behind it and can proceed to implementation.

The Strategist's response to scarcity and threat is paradigmatically different than previous shapes of mind: rather than contract into a threatened-self or a set of lofty but judgmental ideals, the Strategist understands that scarcity and decay is a natural aspect of reality, but can be influenced by creating new systems of abundance. Paraphrasing Bucky Fuller: don't try to change a system, create a new one that makes the old one obsolete.

Eventually, however, the Strategist runs into its limiting problem: they begin to suspect that the scope of their vision and the complexity of their mind are themselves at the core of a more fundamental limitation of their own self-identity, a being-in-the-world who can only redeem its potential by finding the simplicity on the other side of all that complexity. As they approach Alchemist they understand finally that to be a nobody after being somebody is the only sustainable unwinding of the world-knot they see, and though true for everyone eventually, it becomes urgent for themselves.

Strategist (Self-Actualizing)

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs when the Strategist becomes increasingly exhausted by the complexity of their mind and the limitation of being a self that pursues ever-grander goals while constructing realities through mental activity in order to propagate those goals and that self. The Alchemist emerges from a deep knowing that all experience is an ongoing process of mental construction and the self is maintained only through a contradictory process of storytelling.




A small fraction of adults in the western world evolve to Alchemist consciousness, a shape of mind whose defining characteristic is the ability to see through constructions placed on a mysterious reality–from language to economic systems, from emotional patterning to political discourse–and to do so in nearly real-time (meaning that the Alchemist doesn't overly-identify with the shifting, phenomenal nature of experience).

For the Alchemist this creates what feels like a paradoxical and irresolvable tension of living authentically amidst a world of ever-reflecting surfaces: even though the Alchemist can see through all of them it still requires constant surrender to the tension of being anybody at all in a world that desperately demands "somebodies" (demanding that everyone play their roles and adopt various guises to satisfy wants and social expectations). Indeed, this becomes a surrender into a near-constant state of presence as the only realm where the illusive play of opposites is resolved without artifice.

As leaders, Alchemists can wield the extraordinary innate power this represents if they are motivated to do so, though they are just as likely to smile politely at the incentives that social systems (corporations, government, unions etc.) have learned to use to motivate earlier shapes of mind. And just as well, as Alchemists might embark on positively-subversive transformation projects that may not nourish how earlier shapes of mind judge goodness and utility; they cognitively inhabit a time-scale (decades, centuries or more), sense of being and breadth of consideration that is foreign to a majority of the adult population. (One prominent developmentalist has told me he has never seen this shape of mind in anyone before their late 30s, and most far later than that.)

Alchemist (Construct-Aware)

Differentiation from the prior stage occurs as the Alchemist finally dissolves the tiring dialectic of self-no self: the Unitive dissolves the separate self as an ongoing locus of consciousness.




There is (scant) research that suggests that in the case of a select few adults today they have reached a 10th shape of mind that situates itself as a unity with being. Though words inevitably will fail to convey what Unitive consciousness feels like from within, and very little research is available to depict the topography of the shape of mind from without, some comments can be made.

First, from my work I have absolutely no doubt that this shape of mind will be emerging ever more prominently over the coming few decades; I know personally several people who I believe are entering this shape of mind now. Because the Unitive emerges as the solution to the central conflict of the Alchemist, the Unitive has largely dissolved a separate sense of self as apart from reality, and instead operates as being a transcendent cosmic unfolding: not a subject viewing evolution as witness, but as evolution witnessing itself. The felt-state of the Unitive, therefore, is love. When one is nothing, one is everything; and when one is everything, loving is one's identity. Not as a noun, but as a verb. The Unitive shape of mind is the act of loving the unfolding nature of being as itself, with no substantive differentiation amongst beings. And yet with no loss of one's ability to be a unique expression of that love in the world. The Unitive is a unique self.

Unitive

Ten Stages of Human Consciousness

The most archaic and sacred power, the base of the power pyramid is an individual's ability to protect himself and his direct kin, and the power to kill to feed them and keep them safe. In modern society, this highly-regulated power extends to the power of the state to execute and to go to war.

This power co-arose alongside the scarce resource of this early stage of social evolution, which is food and survival.

This power is implicated in the modern abortion debate, the Black Lives Matter debate, the gun control debate, and the debate around capital punishment.

Power to Protect & Kill

Emerging in early tribal clans and present in modern groups, the power to expel accrues to those who set the terms—the beliefs, rituals and rules—by which participation as a member of that group or society is decided. In early tribes the power to expel is equivalent to the power to sentence to death. In modern society, this includes the state's power to expel from society through imprisonment as well as expel from the nation through deportation.

This power co-arose alongside the scarce resource of this stage of social evolution, which is the might to keep the tribe alive and cohesive. 

This power is implicated in the contemporary immigration debate as well as the MeToo movement, which seeks to expel alleged violators from commercial and artistic organizations.

Power to Expel

Emerging in tribes and representing the apex of mythic-agrarian societies, the power to sanction accrues to the head of the early administrative state (e.g., king) or religious leaders (e.g., priests) who can officially approve action, or sit in judgment of transgressions against the laws and mete out punishment. The Code of Hammurabi is an exemplar of this power in its early form. In contemporary society, this power extends to the regulatory state.

This power co-arose alongside the scarce resource of this stage of social evolution, which is order, the legal security to enforce "self-regulation of the social system" (Habermas), especially as the first fixed settlements grew into city-states.

This power is implicated in contemporary regulatory debates (environmental issues, economic sanctions etc.).

Power to Sanction

Emerging in the Axial Age, the power to reason emerged with the leading-edge rationality of the early Greek philosophers who saw the capacity to reason as a light in a dark cave (Plato). The power to reason came to increasingly represent the hallmark of leading-edge cultures (from Roman statesmen to scholars of the Middle East during the dark ages) and was the foundational capacity leading to the gradual separation of church and state, mythic and rational reasoning, and arts, morals and science.

This power is implicated in all contemporary debates, per se, and is one of the powers most assaulted and reconfigured by the post-truth environment, a changing Overton Window, epistemic closure, echo chambers, and relativistic social ethics more generally. 

Power to Reason

Emerging first in Greek/Roman times but reaching its pinnacle in modern industrial society, power accrues to those with the financial and capital resources to contract for time, attention, exchanges and services from others. The power to contract also implies the power to terminate, and extends to modern political power (both ways: politicians who can award political favors as well as donors who can award politicians with campaign funding). The emergence of the power to contract is intimately tied to the Enlightenment, which drove an evolution in treating people as free individuals beyond other statuses (slave, serf, caste), and therefore capable of entering into contracts of their own free will.

This power co-arose alongside the scarce resource of this stage of social evolution, which is value, the capacity to increase wealth through economic exchange.

This power is implicated in contemporary debates around the role and nature of economic life, including capitalism's effect on society, the tension between environmental health and jobs growth, the rise of wealth disparities and populism, the power of workers to organize, globalization and others.

Power to Contract

In a pluralistic, information-based society, the power to convene amidst almost infinite demands on attention and the emerging scarcity of existential meaning becomes the emerging power of the stage. This includes platforms that have power by virtue of their control over aggregated time and attention of crowds, and their ability to influence meaning-structures by virtue of their control over the structure and algorithms of the platforms themselves. 

Because attention is scarce, options are limitless, and relativism reigns, anomie–existential alienation derived from a sense of normless disconnection from society or social groups–is also a great risk in a society whose norms are breaking down due to aperspectivalism. The power to convene accrues to anyone (or anything) who can re-animate social norms within individuals.



Power to Convene

In an integral, transformational landscape, the power to integrate disparate epistemologies, forms of social life and diverse communities becomes the central power of the stage. This includes the power to sustain polarities as well as liberate through integration of competing meta-systematic factors.

This power is implicated in the failures of leadership and governance at the leading-edge to move to broader, more inclusive methods and epistemologies that can include and integrate the value structures of all people in integral political frameworks. This will increasingly be the central demand of the century as the Green, participative capabilities (and its attendant power to convene) become normal, giving way to fragmentation of political processes that overly restrict policy options. Instead, integral political powers will become the only way to handle the diverse, plural, transnational issues the species faces (economic, environmental, ethical and so on).

Power to Integrate

Evolution of Social Power

The Crimson Altitude (formerly "infrared") signifies a degree of development that is in many ways embedded in nature, body, and the gross realm in general. The Crimson altitude exhibits an archaic worldview, physiological needs (food, water, shelter, etc.), a self-sense that is minimally differentiated from its environment, and is in nearly all ways oriented toward physical survival. Although present in infants, Crimson is rarely seen in adults except in cases of famine, natural disasters, or other catastrophic events. Crimson is also used as a kind of catch-all term for earlier evolutionary stages and drives.

Crimson (Archaic)

The Magenta Altitude began about 50,000 years ago, and tends to be the home of egocentric drives, a magical worldview, and impulsiveness. It is expressed through magic/animism, kin-spirits, and such. Young children primarily operate with a magenta worldview. Magenta in any line of development is fundamental, or “square one” for any and all new tasks. 

Magenta emotions and cognition can be seen driving such cultural phenomena as superhero-themed comic books or movies.

Magenta (Magic)

The Red Altitude began about 10,000 years ago, and is the marker of egocentric drives based on power, where “might makes right,” where aggression rules, and where there is a limited capacity to take the role of an “other.” Red impulses are classically seen in grade school and early high school, where bullying, teasing, and the like are the norm.

Red motivations can be seen culturally in Ultimate Fighting contests, which have no fixed rules (fixed rules come into being at the next Altitude, Amber), teenage rebellion and the movies that cater to it (The Fast and the Furious), gang dynamics (where the stronger rule the weaker), and the like.

Red (Egoic)

The Amber Altitude began about 5,000 years ago, and indicates a worldview that is traditionalist and mythic in nature—and mythic worldviews are almost always held as absolute (this stage of development is often called absolutistic). Instead of “might makes right,” amber ethics are more oriented to the group, but one that extends only to “my” group. Grade school and high school kids usually exhibit amber motivations to “fit in.” Amber ethics help to control the impulsiveness and narcissism of red. 

Amber (Mythic)

The Orange Altitude began about 500 years ago, during the period known as the European Enlightenment. In an orange worldview, the individual begins to move away from the amber conformity that reifies the views of one’s religion, nation, or tribe. The orange worldview often begins to emerge in late high school, college, or adulthood. 

Culturally, the orange worldview realizes that “truth is not delivered; it is discovered,” spurring the great advances of science and formal rationality. Orange ethics begin to embrace all people, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….” Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, the US Bill of Rights, and many of the laws written to protect individual freedom all flow from an orange worldview.

Orange (Rational)

The Green Altitude began roughly 150 years ago, though it came into its fullest expression during the 1960’s. Green worldviews are marked by pluralism, or the ability to see that there are multiple ways of seeing reality. If orange sees universal truths (“All men are created equal”), green sees multiple universal truths—different universals for different cultures. Green ethics continue, and radically broaden, the movement to embrace all people. A green statement might read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, regardless of race, gender, class….” Green ethics have given birth to the civil rights, feminist, and gay rights movements, as well as environmentalism.

The green worldview’s multiple perspectives give it room for greater compassion, idealism, and involvement, in its healthy form. Such qualities are seen by organizations such as the Sierra Club, Amnesty International, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Doctors Without Borders. In its unhealthy form green worldviews can lead to extreme relativism, where all beliefs are seen as relative and equally true, which can in turn lead to the nihilism, narcissism, irony, and meaninglessness exhibited by many of today’s intellectuals, academics, and trend-setters… not to mention another “lost” generation of students.

Green (Pluralistic)

The Teal Altitude marks the beginning of an integral worldview, where pluralism and relativism are transcended and included into a more systematic whole. The transition from green to teal is also known as the transition from “1st-tier” values to “2nd-tier” values, the most immediate difference being the fact that each “1st-tier” value thinks it is the only truly correct value, while “2nd-tier” values recognize the importance of all preceding stages of development. Thus, the teal worldview honors the insights of the green worldview, but places it into a larger context that allows for healthy hierarchies, and healthy value distinctions.

Perhaps most important, a teal worldview begins to see the process of development itself, acknowledging that each one of the previous stages (magenta through green) has an important role to play in the human experience. Teal consciousness sees that each of the previous stages reveals an important truth, and pulls them all together and integrates them without trying to change them to “be more like me,” and without resorting to extreme cultural relativism (“all are equal”). Teal worldviews do more than just see all points of view (that’s a green worldview)—it can see and honor them, but also critically evaluate them.

Teal (Integral)

Turquoise is a mature integral view, one that sees not only healthy hierarchy but also the various quadrants of human knowledge, expression, and inquiry (at the minimum: I, we, and it). While teal worldviews tend to be secular, turquoise is the first to begin to integrate Spirit as a living force in the world (manifested through any or all of the 3 Faces of God: “I”—the “No self” or “witness” of Buddhism; “we/thou”—the “great other” of Christianity, Judaism, Hindusm, Islam, etc.; or “it”—the “Web of Life” seen in Taoism, Pantheism, etc.).

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