Integral Momentum in Betlehem

Integral momentum in Betlehem

Posted on Feb 10th, 2008 by  Albert
This another feedback of Don Beck. A great demonstration what Integral Politics can mean:

Close to 700 Palestinians came together on February 2, in Bethlehem (the city of new beginnings) to plan their future. Those who claim that Palestinians cannot manage themselves are wrong. Let them come to Bethlehem and see for themselves. Palestinians made the presentations on Spiral Dynamics and the MeshWORKS Solutions processes. For those truly interested in “integral politics” you might want to study this model closely, because it reflects the essential elements of a successful initiative that recognizes and honors people based on who they are, and what capacities they possess. The Palestinian leaders who designed and implemented this strategy, based on the natural systemics of their situation, have now reported that a request has now come from top level Fatah leaders to expand the program for 200,000 Palestinians in May.
They are now referring to the dates  – Saturday, February 2, 2008  (08-2-2)  as the launch of a major, nation-building movement that will continue to cascade across many domains and generations.

The focus is on horizontal development and enhancements in the BO-Purple, CP-Red and emerging DQ-Blue value system codes. There was no talk about what Israel had done or how the occupation keeps them oppressed; they realized they must plan their own future(s) and wanted to start now. Once again, as was in the case in South Africa, the Gravesian-Spiral Dynamics conceptual system provided the insights and action steps that shifted their own thinking and will, over time, provide them with a psychological map as a companion piece to the political “road map” that the Bush administration has demanded. We also made presentations within the Ministry of Defense, the Knesset, in several academic institutions, and with a number of very successful business leaders – all in Israel . We have to deal with the dances both within Israel and Palestine and between the two. We have found the Assimilation-Contrast Effect from the seminal work of Muzafer Sherif (Oklahoma and Penn State) to be very useful in depressing polarization and stereotypes that generate the “Us” vs. “Them” demon finding dynamic. This will all be laid out at the Annual SDi Confab in Dallas in late May ( www.spiraldynamics.net).  Those of you who attended an early presentation of Spiral Dynamics should consider returning because the concept has matured in so many different ways, with many, many practical applications on the nature of Change and Transformation. We will have reports on the design of education for the entire country of Mexico; the shifts in Russia into a market-based economy; the actions in the Netherlands, Denmark, UK, and Germany in dealing with the threats from fundamentalism; the strategies being used in Singapore to detect the early warning signs of trouble; and a fresh attempt to assist Iceland through a major transformation. We will also take a careful look at the managerial system in Whole Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, and IBM. Finally, with the American presidential campaign in full bloom, there will be plenty of opportunities to assess the candidates and map out what could be a “Third Way”' politically in this country. We just made contact with Tony Blair at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem since he represents he Quartet when it comes to Israel-Palestine to describe for him why economic investment must be built on the cultural capacities or the resources will, once again, find their way into corrupt pockets.

For many of those in the so-called “Integral” game, please consider coming down from your conceptual (Third Tier!) high horses and recognize the critical importance of dealing with people at their levels of functioning, and ignite in them the impulses to discover their own futures. Unless we, as global citizens, are able to deal with and defuse the major clash-points in our diverse societies, the efforts to explore the upper ranges of speculative consciousness levels, will be of little value. We have concluded that dialogue, conflict management, negotiation, peace-making and mediation are inferior processes when large developmental gaps exist between elements in the over all context. We have found that the principles and tools within a new body of knowledge – Natural Designs – offers the most powerful way to deal with the political and economic realities. Many from the scenarios business (Royal Dutch Shell, World Business Academy) made great claims regarding what they accomplished during the South African transformation in spite of our warnings that the deep divides were being ignored. Their maps simply did not recognize the memetic contours, alleging that the gaps were simply an expression of racism. All of those roosters are now coming home to roost as South Africa is in danger of a major regression, just as we predicted in the book The Crucible: Forging South Africa's Future. In case you don't know the story regarding the failure of ESKOM, the public power company, that had to shut down and limit power because of “poor” planning. The gold mines were losing a billion dollars a year, and worse.

To my knowledge we are the only group that has focused on these comprehensive Bio-Psycho-Social packages with built-in understanding of how large scale systems design and transformation actually has a chance of happening. So many people, today, are talking about and promoting “change.” But, what kind of “change?” And, “change” FROM what and TO what” Isn't it time that we answered these questions before asking people to “change.” We have learned the hard way that getting rid of what we don't want is not the same thing as getting what we do want. We are open, of course, to alternative views but the advocates of them will need to be well informed as to what is happening “on the ground.”

A Personal Note: My partner, Elza Maalouf, who is from Lebanon, is a magic worker in connecting with the Arab mindset and cultural manifestations and the success of this Israel-Palestine Initiative is a tribute to her amazing insights, political skills, and authentic personality. She is greatly loved and respected in Palestine and I am honored to be able to work with her. If you are interested in this emerging story just click on http://www.buildpalestine.org/ and see for yourself.  And, those who wish to become a “Integral Woman,” I suggest you observe her very closely because she is not afraid to Walk the Integral Talk, and does so with great charm and integrity. She is CEO of the new Center for Human Emergence: Middle East, and is becoming a force in a number of Arab speaking countries and cultures. She will co-train with me at the upcoming SDi series at the Adizes Graduate School program in Santa Barbara, March 10-15.

We hope, in the future, to share more with you what we are doing across many different fronts and invite you to join with us in these challenging times.