Setting The Stage
An Integral Perspective, Part 2
This piece continues the series on integral theory introducing stages of development, also known as levels or altitude of development. You can read my first piece introducing integral theory and quadrants here.
As integral theory has been criticized as overly intellectual, complex and heady, let’s address that right away. How is this useful?
When I first learned about this, it’s like a lightbulb went off. In turn, I began to have an inkling of understanding the present day divisiveness of current events and the ongoing culture wars among different factions and groups. If you are similarly troubled or merely confounded by the apparent craziness in the world, I wish similar understanding for you. Of course, take it all with a grain of salt – this is just one lens I’ve found useful to interpret worldly affairs.
Stage development comprises both individual maturation and cultural sophistication. In short, it covers the development of cognition (what one is aware of), values (what is most important), and identity (what one identifies with).
There’s a slogan in integral theory that goes like this – “wake up, grow up, clean up, show up.” Stage development refers to the “growing up” aspect and largely addresses moral development and also includes biologically mediated faculties like object permanence, theory of mind, and formal operations (abstract thinking). I daresay a prerequisite of empathy is the capacity to acknowledge the reality and perspectives of other individuals, though in my experience there’s also a learned aspect (which I’ll cover more when discussing Lines of development). To make a distinction, whereas Quadrants addresses the perspectival aspect (“I, it, we, its”), Stages address the maturation aspect though there is certainly a relationship between them. In a sense, stage development underlies perspective-taking capacities. Another key phrase with respect to stage development is that each successive stage “transcends and includes” the previous stages. With cognitive development, what was once the subjective experience can become an object of experience in awareness. Let’s take the example of young toddlers — the totality of their emotions is undeniable. It’s like they embody the emotion completely, going from anger to joy in mere moments. As we mature and executive function comes online, with some mindfulness we are able to disidentify with our thoughts and emotions — going from “I’m angry” to “I feel anger” as an example.
On a historical note, Ken Wilber stands in a lineage of thinkers himself — influenced by Sri Aurobindo and Jean Gebser, while influencing other thinkers (Robert Kegan, Clare Graves, Susanne Cook-Greuter) and theories like Spiral Dynamics (a version of which Wilber collaborated on).
So on the one hand stage development includes Piaget’s work on developmental theory, while on the other also includes work like anthropological studies of hunter-gatherer societies alongside their cosmology and mythologies.
Next, I’d like to bring up colors in integral theory and their usage to designate levels of development with a brief descriptive note.
Egocentric Stages
Infrared - Survival – sensorimotor – food, water, warmth, sex, safety.
Magenta - Safety and security – attachment – loyalty to leaders, elders and the tribe/clan (in-group mediated by biological relatedness) along with observance of ancestors, customs, rites, omens.
Red - Power – agency – immediate gratification, heroism, ego validation, getting attention and respect, competing and winning.
Ethnocentric Stages
Amber - Stability - narrative - in-group dictated by adherence to shared stories, values, laws, rules, code, virtues; very binary – black/white, right/wrong, us/them, good/evil.
Worldcentric Stages
Orange - Success - mastery - meritocratic, rational, prosperity, technology, science, discovery, game theory, playing to win games of status, strategic, outcome-based.
Green - Equality - harmony - peace, care, sensitivity to others and environment, relational, multiculturalism, postmodernism, relativism, consensus, feeling-oriented, inclusivity, diversity, social justice, welfare, education, health care, political correctness, human rights, reconciliation.
Kosmocentric Stages
Teal - Systemic - interdependence - synthesis of preceding stages, process-oriented, systems-based, theory and practice, complexity and chaos, responsibility, balancing autonomy, egalitarianism and hierarchy, positive sum games.
Turquoise - Holistic - integration - fusion of intuition and cooperation, knowledge and emotion, paradoxical embodiment of self as everything and nothing simultaneously, being and becoming, accepting and evolving self and others.
Now, to bring this back home to something practical.
The next time you find yourself triggered or simply astounded by something you watch, read or hear – or someone with whom you’re having a disagreement – try taking into account what stage you and the other are coming from.
What values or identities are being threatened, ignored or violated?
While you may not be able to do this in the moment, that’s okay. After the dust has settled, reflecting on the triggering event may provide some insight into its cause.
If this is your first encounter with integral stages, may you find it a useful tool in your development and future interactions as I have.
Indeed, I have found it tremendously helpful to cultivate compassion for myself and others.
A final observation — each of us as individuals has a tripartite brain evolved over countless millennia with reptilian, mammalian and the neocortex. It gives me some measure of solace to know that with all of the strife among different groups, factions, and motivations, if biology has somehow figured out how to harmonize all three in our relatively small cranial vaults, perhaps there’s a chance, however slight, we can make it work amongst ourselves, the world and all of its other inhabitants.
Part 3 of the series on integral theory can be found here.
I have found as I age the "letting the dust settle" on my reactivity is perhaps the single most important commitment I can honor in terms of staying connected to both myself and to others. My reptilian brain just doesn't operate with perspective in the moment, and even a small distance of time from an upset confers a remarkable amount of the kind of reconciliation you're promoting here.