The Nature of Second Tier

[poisenedrice]

[This thread has been split from the Euston Manifesto thread.]

PR, I won't go into this too deeply here, but another interesting thing to note is that once you've reached cognitive/ moral green, where you're sensitive to contexts and relative values, it becomes much more difficult to make meaningful judgments and take strong stances (except for the meaningful strong stance that there is no meaningful strong stance). As such, an intense narcisissm can set in at Green, where you basically pick your values arbitrarily; Green, then, can actually mimic the behaviour of any of the preceding levels, through strong REACTIVATION of those values, which may lead to true regression. This is, for example, why so many hippy sensitive white folk get into magical concepts that come from purple/red like astrology and tarot and divination, even though these have zero predictive power (using them as metaphors for self-exploration is just fine, but that's not what a lot of them are doing).

Interesting I was wondering if someone at the Green level could "regress" into levels of previous development, and if I understand what you are saying, then this would be a "yes".

Also, what is beyond Green tiered thinking? Is there even a level beyond it yet?

[B the student]

PR, I won't go into this too deeply here, but another interesting thing to note is that once you've reached cognitive/ moral green, where you're sensitive to contexts and relative values, it becomes much more difficult to make meaningful judgments and take strong stances (except for the meaningful strong stance that there is no meaningful strong stance). As such, an intense narcisissm can set in at Green, where you basically pick your values arbitrarily; Green, then, can actually mimic the behaviour of any of the preceding levels, through strong REACTIVATION of those values, which may lead to true regression. This is, for example, why so many hippy sensitive white folk get into magical concepts that come from purple/red like astrology and tarot and divination, even though these have zero predictive power (using them as metaphors for self-exploration is just fine, but that's not what a lot of them are doing).

This point in D's discussion struck me as being where i am at this current moment in my life. I was wondering how one would be able to progress beyond this inability to committ to a particular value structure or judgement process and perhaps clarify a little more on second tier levels, or more specifically the yellow level.

[Dialectic]

We'll begin by discussing the theoretical underpinnings of post-Green development and then address any personal experiences and issues you, B and PR, would like to bring up.

All of the "levels" or "waves" discussed so far, from Beige to Green, have one thing in common: they can't stand each other. Often, they actively move to wipe each other out. They either do not recognize a developmental sequence, or if they do, they believe they are at the top, the superior end state. Keep in mind that there exists "healthy" and "sick" manifestations of each level as well.

Remember also that we have to distinguish between cognitive and moral development. These "colors" specifically refer to morals, or values. By cognitive development, I mean intellectual capacity, and the ability to see multiple points of view, and use this ability in either benevolent compassionate ways or manipulative ways, depending on moral development. Someone can be very high cognitively, for example, and fairly low morally.

Also note that "egocentricity" starts at a maximum and decreases with each stage. All this means is that you can relate to more people and things as you move "up" the levels, so that at first only you matter, then your family (as they are a part of "you"), then your tribe, then your people, then all people, then all living things, etc.

Let's look at some brief specific examples from a North American standpoint.

Beige:
No beige groups of people exist. These would be people concerned only with survival: shelter and food. This is what we would have looked like at the dawn of humankind, if you can imagine that. Nothing would really distinguish us from, say, a lemur or a lizard. At present, I don't believe this occurs in significant numbers in adults anywhere in the world. Human infants exist at this moral level. Other levels, worldviews, and points of view simply do not exist for beige, as it cannot relate to or understand them. It disregards all beings and situations not directly relevant to survival, clings to those which are, and reacts violently to anything it perceives as a threat.

Purple:
Small populations of purple exist in North America, particularly in urban areas. In terms of macro-development, purple started to manifest when the world of mind began to develop. This is considered a "magical," state: you talk to the sky, to clouds, to trees, to rocks; you're afraid of volcano gods, monsters under the bed, the evil look of the furnace, the boogieman in the closet who eats whatever you happen to be. You believe that you can magically affect the world in what later levels see would be nonsensical/ non-causal ways: you appease the weather god by dancing, you call bloody mary by turning off the lights and spinning around, you make friends with the furnace by petting it and calling it "Jerry." In North America, young children really exist at purple, as well as true anti-social anarchic individuals. All that matters here is your safety and well-being, and the thrill of using burgeoning power. You care about what you're slowly learning is your "family": those who protect you and provide for you. Everyone else is irrelevant, a threat, or a potential victim.

Red:
Here is where we start to see significant numbers in North America. Red is fiercely loyal to blood and tribe. It forages for resources and attacks and kills anything which is a threat to its power. Street gangs and organized crime exist at this level of morality. All that matters is you and your immediate extensions: anything that's a threat to you, other gangs, police, businesses, ambitious potential leaders, you destroy without remorse.

Blue:
This level is described as "sociocentric" or "ethnocentric." Someone at Blue can relate to everyone of his/her religion or race or culture (as it's all bound up into one, or fused here). Examples are pretty obvious : being a proud American, being white, being Christian, being Black, being Latino, being Chinese. This level is also referred to as the "mythic membership" level because you as a society create a "myth" of purity and rightness: there is a pure American, an absolutely moral Christian, Blacks are fundamentally different from Latinos. This level is conformist and does not encourage, or indeed, understand, critical thinking. This is also the lowest level found on most internet forums, as Beige and Purple can't read, and Red couldn't give a shit. 44s has had its share, Model Minority is, from what I've heard, full of them, and you can find them on any public forum where politics and religion are remotely broached.

Orange:
At this stage, rational thought begins to take hold. One begins to learn to think critically, to examine the world through observation, to make hypotheses, to test them, and to formulate generalizations and classifications based on fairly simple interperations of facts in the exterior world. The Renaissance and the rise of "Modernity" is associated with the Orange wave in the west. At present, someone at Orange is generally a materialist and a capitalist who really couldn't care less whether you're white, black, Chinese, or Christian, as long as you benefit society by obeying the laws and working. This thinking gives rise to industralization, meritocracy, and efficiency in organization and production.

Green:
Rational thought develops further here. It turns its attention inward and on itself: it engages in "meta-analysis" or the analysis of analysis. It observes itself, it begins to appreciate that certain classifications and approaches are not universally applicable. It realizes that there exist culture- and context-bound truths, and appreciates multiple contexts, multiple forms of significance and meaning, it strikes to nurture all individuals and ideas as they are without oppressing or marginalizing. Many Greens are social activists, environmentalists, feminists, and Marxists.

And now, with these very brief descriptions, you can see how much these levels annoy and hate each other, which has given rise to the current "culture wars." Not only do you have intra-level conflict (fundamentalist Christians vs. fundamentalist Muslims), but you have inter-level conflict: Blue thinks Orange and Green are going to hell, Orange thinks Blue is insane and Green is hyper-sensitive, inefficient, and full of crap, and Green thinks Blue and Orange are ignorant, exploitative, and pretty much evil.

What none of them recognize, however, is every level is necessary for the health of the overall spectrum. Each level transcends and includes its predecessor because it builds on it and adds its own creativity and innovation; each level resolves problems the previous level could not, and introduces new ones. Whereas for Red, life is always a struggle to maintain power, for Green, life is about universal care and consideration.

The problem is, all of these groups are actively trying to wipe each other out; what happens if you knock out an entire developmental level? The whole spiral suffers. Everyone starts at square one. Everyone starts at Beige. Let's say Green and Orange succeed in eradicating religion and nationalism in America. What happens to all the Reds? They can't simply "jump" to Orange or Green. That's impossible. They have to go through Blue; they have to be able to conform, first; they have to develop a style of thinking which let's them make generalizations, right or wrong, about the world and relate to a society outside of their immediate family and tribe. If they can't, they certainly will not magically become rational or postmodern; they'll go buck wild and just start tearing everything apart.

So for this reason, that they don't recognize each other's importance and how they are all necessary for everyone's continued existence, we call all levels up to and including Green "First Tier."

And this description should give you a hint of what "Second Tier" is like. A Second Tier cognition recognizes the importance of the entire spectrum and is able to objectively look at everyone on the spectrum, including itself, in a fairly compassionate and understanding way, as we've done here. Second Tier works to promote the health of the entire spectrum.

More to come.

[Dialectic]

Please note that I've made a correction to my above post. The purple population in North America is actually bigger than I originally thought. Purple is representative of an anarchist morality. WTO anti-globalization demonstrations, for example, consist of greens and purples: that is, people who are genuinely concerned about the negative effects of globalization on the developing world (and either have a good understanding of the issues or think they do), and purple enjoys stirring shit up in the name of no particular tribe or organization, but just for the sake of stirring shit up.

[Dialectic]

This is a great excerpt from Wilber's own blog, where he's discussing how they want people to operate in the I-I forums. Yellow and Turquoise are the two levels of the Second Tier (I'm not too clear on how to distinguish between them; it's safe to say that Turquoise abides more solidly in integral thinking/ doing than Yellow, for what it's worth.)

PR, B, maybe I'll hold off on the monologuey theoretical talk for now. After you read this, let me know any questions you may have about ITP or about the stuff you're going through personally (or anything else in the world!).

What we are trying to do at I-I is create a space where individuals can fly at a turquoise altitude, if thatís what they can and want to do. In order for that to happen, turquoise responses need to be protected from unwarranted and unfair first-tier attacks. Let me repeat, as I have dozens of times, that if you really dislike the Wyatt Earpy blogs [aggressive blog entries written specifically to filter Tier II responses from Green ones; I've done a bit of that myself on the forum --D.], that does NOT necessarily mean you are first-tier. You can be at second tier and have strong reservations about those blogs, and I myself posted several emails that did exactly that. But it does mean that if you are at green, you will almost certainly react in negative ways (first, because green sees yellow/turquoise in general as being arrogant; and second, in addition to that general altitude negativity, the language of Part 1 is offensive to green, not because itís dirty but because itís judgmental, and nobody except green is allowed to make judgments). So not all negative responses are green, but almost all green responses are negative.

But itís more interesting and complicated than that, because of the phenomena of ìlevels and linesîónamely, you can be at different levels of development in different lines of development. People excel in some multiple intelligences, but not in others. You might be highly developed in some lines (e.g., cognitive), medium in others (e.g., emotional), and low in yet others (e.g., moral).

Most educated adults are capable of a teal or turquoise level of cognition; but of those who have turquoise cognition, their self or center-of-gravity might be at turquoise, or green, or orange. So you can be turquoise or second tier in your cognitionóyour ìtalkîóbut your center-of-gravityóyour ìwalkîómight be at several different levels, orange to green to turquoise itself. In general, those with a center-of-gravity at turquoise are about 0.5% of the population; green, about 25% of the population; and orange, about 40% of the population.

But what this really means is that, no matter what your center-of-gravity might be (orange or green or turquoise), you can light up turquoise cognition, and every time you do, it acts as a magnet on the other lines, helping to pull them up as well. And you light up turquoise whenever you use a second-tier model, such as AQAL, and begin to think about how it might apply to any situation. Even better is to use AQAL as an integral praxis or practice, but simply thinking about it and talking about it (or blogging about it) will light up turquoise and help you move more permanently to that wave.

In order to help with this, the forums and blogs at I-I that are moderated have, or will soon have, what we call ìRoad Rules.î These are forum guidelines that help light up turquoise or second-tier awareness. We already use these in our workshops and seminars. Here are some examples:

--ìLet the next sentence out of my mouth be integral or second tier.î

However you understand integral, please write or speak from that level or altitude. You will be setting an example for others, and you will judged by others based on how well and how often you speak and act integrally. As for the criteria that are used for ìjudging,î at least a dozen well-known developmental models are used, and professionals who work with those models in the field will be giving us suggestions here.

The point here is that, even if you are afraid that your center of gravity is orange or green, you can still think turquoise, you can still talk turquoise, you can still light up turquoise, and the Road Rules help you respond integrally by helping you talk turquoise. The more your talk is second tier, the sooner your walk will be.

The fact that you have a really strong interest in Integral Theory already shows that you have at least turquoise cognition, virtually guaranteed. Your center of gravity might be orange or green, or it might be turquoise, but by being in a space that encourages you to think and post turquoise, it helps youóit helps all of usórise to our own highest occasion.

If somebody consistently and belligerently responds from first tier (showing that they are not only acting first-tier but thinking first-tier), they might indeed be asked to step down from that moderated forum. We have other (unmoderated) places they can play, but not on these moderated forums, where we promise each and every one of you that we will do our best to create a turquoise common space. What else is the point of I-I????

Hereís another Road Rule:

ìAny time that you are not sure whether you are being integral or not, turquoise or not, second tier or not, then feel the thinker; be aware of the thinker.î