Three Tiers of the Spiral

In the Spiral Dynamics Model, there is an understanding of a basic division of the whole Spiral into (at least) Two Tiers.

The First Tier, ranges from hunter-gatherer Beige up through Reactive Environmentalist-Populist Green. The entire first tier is characterized by a progressive emergence of worldviews, with each successive stage developing as a reaction to perceived intolerable life conditions. Orange scientific materialism has emerged from perceived limitation of the belief driven organized religion or State-ism, Green emerges as a collectivist-environmentalist reaction to the evils of greed-driven corporate capitalism. Each level is looking backward, identified in spasms of reactivity, identified with this urge not to be the previous pattern.

The Second Tier, represents a radical departure from this limited perspective. Instead of a belief oriented around reaction to something that is perceived as not working, the Second Tier is comprised of an Individual and a Collective pattern that each includes an ability to perceive the whole evolutionary nature of the First Tier of the Spiral as simply a natural, evolutionary pattern. Consciousness of the Second Tier understands that other individuals and Societies may be caught in some limiting First Tier world view, and may wield this understanding to speak the codes of a given vMeme, or understand how the machinery of vMeme identified social sectors are operating. Sometimes the forces are not easily controlled although the drama is understood as it unfolds. For example, Yellow-Green watched the Iraq War unfold as directed by the Red-Blue-Orange G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney’ administration. The use of religious and patriotic Nationalist rhetoric, the application of advanced technology in warfare and the distribution of vast wealth into the hands of a small number of people would represent a particularly good illustration of a mid First Tier approach. No wonder that eventually the US people were ready for something different, the Green-Yellow message of the Obama administration. But many middle of the road Democrats became disenchanted once things didn’t quickly meet their idealistic Green expectations, and they reverted to a more Orange expectation set, and in reaction the Teabaggers have created a setback for the Orange-Green Democratic Agenda. One factor in this, it could be argued, is that the Orange-Green Democrats did not bother to reach across the aisle, neglecting their Green pedigree, instead briefly resting on the power of a Super Majority to push through their plans for healthcare reform, etc. While the financial demands of a Red-tinged Orange industry are not seen as reasonable, we currently see a stalemate of polarization in US National politics, and the stagnation and oscillation of agendas has quagmired the economy and opportunities for real leadership. There is now an opening for a real Yellow leadership to guide a First Tier politics into something truly more versatile; true bipartisanship, coalition-building, and long term thinking is a Second Tier approach to governance and leadership. We can only hope for a change from business as usual in Washington.

Second Tier approaches to politics and issues are common in Northern Europe, e.g The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden. Interestingly, it seems that ordinary telephone connectivity may not be an indicator for this new edge of civil consciousness, but use of computers may be related, perhaps either as an indicator or maybe even a contributing factor. It is not the presence of technology, but the way it used, that is relevant. Perhaps the Northern Europeans have more broadband because of their climate, and perhaps because fo the climate, they have developed a more collectively oriented society. . .

For your reflection, from the 2010 edition of the Economist’s “Pocket World in Figures”:

Computers per 100 people, 2007

1) Canada	94.3
2) Switzerland	91.8
3) Netherlands	91.2
4) Sweden	88.1
5) USA	80.5
6) UK	80.2
7) Singapore	74.3
8) Hong Kong	68.6
9) Germany	65.6
10) France	65.2
11) Norway	62.9
12) Austria	60.7
13) Ireland	58.2
14) South Korea	57.6
15) Denmark	54.9
16) New Zealand	52.6
17) Estonia	52.2
18) Slovakia	51.4
19) Finland	50.0
20) Slovenia	42.5

 

Broadband, Subscribers per 100 people, 2007

1) Denmark	35.9
Sweden	35.9
3)Netherlands	33.6
4) Switzerland	31.5
5) Finland	30.6
Norway	30.6
7) South Korea	30.4
8) Canada	27.5
9) Hong Kong	27.4
10) Belgium	25.6
United Kingdom	25.6
12) France	25.2
13) USA	24.3
14) Germany	23.8
15) Austria	23
16) Japan	22.1
17) Israel	21.3
18) Estonia	20.7
19) New Zealand	20.2
20) Austria	19.5
Singapore	19.5

 

Internet Hosts per 1000 pop, Jan 2009

1) USA(a)	1093
2) Iceland	888
3) Finland	763
4) Netherlands	712
5) Denmark	690
6) Norway	662
7) Australia	550
8) Estonia	505
9) Switzerland	476
10) Luxembourg	436
11) New Zealand	432
12) Sweden	425
15) Japan	339

(a) includes all hosts ending in .com, .net and .org, which exaggerates the numbers

 

Internet Music Sales, $ per head, 2007

1) Norway	50.4
2) UK	49.6
3) Japan	38.2
4) Austria	35.7
5) Denmark	34.4
6) USA	34.2
7) Ireland	33.5
8) Switzerland	31.9
9) Australia	30.0
10) Germany	27.5
11) France	26.4
12) New Zealand	25.1
13) Netherlands	24.5
14) Sweden	24.4
15) Finland	24.3

 

Alternation of Warm and Cool Colors;
Individual and Collective Orientation

In the Spiral, from top to bottom, there is an oscillation from Individual to Collective orientation, symbolized by the shift in color from warm to cool to warm, etc. It is common for a given social group to have affinity for both a warm and a cool aspect. For instance, in Iraq between US invasions, the largely tribal and warlord oriented society can be understood to have a Purple-Red affinity with some sector of society demonstrating affinity for the organized religious collective orientation of Mullah-led Muslim religion, Blue-Red, which has established relationships with the Red warlords. So you have a young society with established individual and collective orientations in two large groups: Purple-Red and Blue-Red, with a little sector of the society having some traction in Orange, but most of those people fled during the first Invasion, were suppressed by Saddam Hussein’s version of a Red-Blue Bathist Totalitarianism, and if any of were left, they fled if possible during the second invasion. The path to real Orange democracy in Iraq requires a difficult transition to a different world view orientation. All fingers are crossed as elections approach (March, 2010). Iraq is still very much a Purple-Red-Blue country on the verge of Civil War, but which the West would very much like to see as a Blue-Orange emerging Democracy. This might be wishful thinking.