I care. That’s a worldview that many of you relate to. You care about the environment, social issues, racial inequalities, war, peace, and making a difference. Welcome to the most interesting level of spiral dynamics, green. Green is a collaborative, cooperative worldview that brings in the quality of caring. It’s a relief after the orange level of self-determination because green brings a balance to the previous level of achievement and materialism.
However, there’s a blindside to this green level, several actually. One is scathing judgment and exclusion of anyone who has a different value system. Do you see the irony here? We’ve turned towards our hearts and a more holistic view, but we judge and reject people who haven’t caught up with us.
The other downside is that heart-based intelligence doesn’t give us the skills we need. Caring doesn’t equal competence. We need our trauma surgeons to be competent with a scalpel; we need our farmers to know how to grow food; we need truck drivers to safely and effectively transport goods.
Once we realize that there are valuable aspects from orange, and indeed all the levels, we can move to a more integral point of view.
Here is the talk by Dr. Simmons that explains this level. She refers to the Q-process, an approach for working with the shadow aspects of ourselves.
- 5th level, Rev. Dr. Jane Simmons, “Boomeritis,” June 3, 2018. Unity of Spokane (28 minutes long)
Read More About Green
- http://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/green/
Series
This is the sixth in a series of posts on the subject of spiral dynamics. Find the whole series here.
Spiral dynamics is a model of social values and growth that also maps to our individual development. It’s a helpful tool to support your development as well as a way to better understand the world around you. The model contains eight levels, each assigned a color, and representing a specific world-view and developmental need.
What I Offer
I work with tender-hearted, feisty-spirited people who are interested in deepening their impact on the world through healing themselves emotionally, energetically, and ancestrally. If you would like to hear from me more regularly, I invite you to join my email list where I send out articles every week or so. Sign up here.
Photo by Melissa Askew
