Gaia: Integral action in the world - How to introduce Spiral Dynamics to developing nations - Entering the Convergence Zone?

Re: Entering the Convergence Zone?

http://jikishin.gaia.com — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:28:34 GMT

Albert,

I expect that MacIntosh will come away from the Chopra gathering with a critique similar to how I-I/IL CEO, Robb Smith blogged from TED '08 in HOLONS , and on his own site, re: a discernment of altitude as applies to presented solutions and approaches.

From within the high profile culture of Evolutionaries, it looks like the integral is beginning to distinguish itself from NewAge measures of 'trickle-down' shift announcing, of prophetic reframing.

While I'm all for the intentions of Chopra&Co., I also look forward to the hard leaps from dialogue to design.

Thanks for posting these.

Kerry

Re: Entering the Convergence Zone?

http://voyager.gaia.com — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 07:06:03 GMT

This is a blog entry of Steve McIntosh about his answer to a questionaire at
the Chopra Center about the essence of current shifts. it refelcts a similar tenor than my own to these points. I am curious how he will blogging about the event itself later.):

I put the question in bold:

Gathering of Evolutionaries at the Chopra Center

Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:55 AM

"Thanks to the help of Gerard Senehi and Carter Phipps, I've been
invited to a special event at the Chopra Foundation in Carlsbad,
California on July 26 and 27. This event is described as a "gathering
of thirty evolutionary visionary pioneers whose radical new ways of
thinking and interpreting human experience have expanded our
knowledge of evolving consciousness and its impact on the way we lead
our daily lives and respond to world issues." Other participants
include Brian Swimme, Jean Houston, Marianne Williamson, Michael
Beckwith, Duane Elgin, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and of course, Deepak
Chopra. The event is designed to help us "evolutionaries" coordinate
our mutual efforts and otherwise get to know each other better. In
furtherance of this social goal, we'll be having dinner at the home
of Dr. Chopra and his wife Gita on Saturday night.

As a newcomer to the marketplace of ideas, I'm obviously pleased to
be invited, but I'm not sure how the "subversive" nature of the
integral worldview will be received by these leaders of
postmodernism. In anticipation of the event, the organizers asked the
participants to fill out a questionnaire about "the great shift" that
is occurring. So I provide one of my answers, below, as a preview of
the position I'll be taking at this gathering:

Question: How could this collective coming together of leaders be
most instrumental in bringing public awareness to the great shift
that is occurring?

Answer: First, we could demythologize the idea of "the great shift",
recognizing that there is not just one shift, there are actually many
shifts in consciousness going on simultaneously in the world-a shift
from pre-traditional to traditional in Africa, a shift from
traditional to modern in Asia, and in America, and ongoing shift from
modern to postmodern, as well as the beginning of a shift from
postmodern to integral.

We could also be more discerning about the nature and behavior of
cultural evolution, and recognize the fallaciousness of the wishful
thinking that expects that the world is going to "wake up" and
suddenly become "cultural creative" in a miraculous transformation.

Read More..

Re: Entering the Convergence Zone?

http://voyager.gaia.com — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 06:30:07 GMT

Kerry,

yes, I am myself totally subscribed to innovative collaboration of all kind as my posts indicate here at Gaia from last 2 years.

It would be great to get the right proportions for all layers of reality. No size fits all. This is a response Don Beck gave personally yesterday at Sdi Forum. It summarizes -for me- most ecellently and exceptionally the whole nexus. And I am heading towards a SDi Master Class Training for next 2 years. And I am more than happy to act in the future in a leadership position for the first Global Media University in Mideast to be located in Abu Dhbai and Dubai.

Assisting any innovative collaboration on a global and regional level which might make evolutionary sense.

There can be no doubt that taking massive action next months and years on a global scale can mean global breakthroughs not seen in the last 10 years. And I am open and welcoming any alliances which are co-creating. I appreciate Barbaras work for a long time.

Its only my wish to go really global. that means the European Aproaches too, the emerging waves not only of economic development but of own thinking in BRIC countries and the developing world in general.

This may be called a co-creating wheel. Integrating all forms of collective and individual leadership and innovation, transformation and change, shifts and transitions.

Barbara is right:

The tipping point is now! Forget about 2012.

The time has come....

Albert

From Dr. Don Beck:

"Thanks Albert and Dave for these postings. I am viewing the "convergence zone" concept with some amusement since "Green on Steroids" is now attempting to find ways to deal with our global complexity by "coming together" in conferences where they can go around in circles (wheels) to be sure every point-of-view is represented. This is a positive step for much of Green because it finally recognizes that early Green, especially the Mean Green Meme, can't get it done. We've been saying this for more than a decade and have often been punished for doing so.

I recall when I was accused, on the same day in South Africa, of being a Fascist pig and communist dog. I am sure both labels were on target. I attended all of the branch meetings of the I-I at Wilber's home on Red Hill in Boulder (10 in all; at my own expense) and quickly became the "outsider" because of my insistence that all of the value systems on the Spiral be addressed in any major "change" initiative. Of course, any Blue talk was instantly banned as "evil." Orange was in the same category of villains. (I was sitting in the Red Hill circle during the Integral Politics session when I fleshed out the entire MeshWorks concept that you will read about in Dr. Marilyn Hamilton's upcoming book on the Integral City.

Further, the conceptual underpinning of Paul Ray's research (I actually helped him on the project) was provided by Professor Clare W. Graves when he visited the Stanford Research Institute in California, at the invitation of the founder -- Arnold Mitchell. I have a letter from Mitchell confirming that Graves' thinking was more powerful and useful than that of Abraham Maslow. The whole "cultural creative" movement reflected the FS-Humanistic system of Graves, but the GT-Systemic element was missing in Ray's work. I have a hunch the move into "wisdom" is a reflection of that gap. When we said that to Ray he did agree that Wilber and I were accurate on Green's limitations. I have a sense that the current movement still has strong elements of Green but, hopefully, will move beyond it. I think Albert's concerns and Dave's insights are both relevant at this stage.

Steve McIntosh's new focus on "Intergalism" as an approach to governance described in his book Integral Consciousness gets closer to the realities. As you know his analysis makes a heavy use of Spiral Dynamics and his Levels of Consciousness are simply memetic codes without the colors. Much to the chagrin of many we have been pathfinders and have laid down the developmental/evolutionary trajectory that many think they have just now discovered. Watch, now, how our work on Transpartisanship will be used by others but without the understanding of what lies beneath the entire process to make it Second Tier (another term that has been exploited by others without an understanding as to what it actually means. It belongs to the Spiral Dynamics conceptual model and first appeared in the l996 book).

Now to my main point. To actually "integrate" differences, be they forms of governance -- clans, tribes, empires, holy orders, enterprise structures, communal circles etc. it is essential to recognize how each emerges naturally to Life Conditions. In addition, they will express themselves in unique and often indigenous ways as specific Content. It is not enough to simply attempt to find relationships between and among the memetic Codes. One must also deal with the Content - (alternative forms of Purple, Red, Blue etc). Ideologues, be they Christian, Muslim, Jewish or even atheist, all wear Blue uniforms. This is the point at which the Integral Design Engineering becomes critical. (I don't mean the "engineering" of people or of even the evolutionary impulse but the specific alignment of Contextual "dots" to facilitate the healthy design of the supportive habitat.

Elza Maalouf and I have had direct experience with this sophisticated process in working with Palestinians in Bethlehem. This is not the time to lay out the entire process but you will soon see more of it in the new Large-Scale Psychology framework with specific MeshWorks Solutions technology.) We use variations of Value Engineering, Value Management, and the CAPI concept (coalescing authority, power, and influence) from the work of Ichak Adizes, along with Vital Signs Monitors and the spiral knowledge to deal with both causes and symptoms. This becomes the total package for what we call Natural Design.

So, the essential sequence moves from debate, through dialogue and deliberation, but then into design. The design package will be new to many who believe if well meaning people just meditate enough, or come together and search for a consensus of the group assembled, then solutions will just appear out of the ether. Give me a few open systems thinking experts with access to skype and the capacity to bore down into the deepest master codes but then align all of the elements and entities to create the architecture of practical solutions, then much can be done, and quickly.
We are now reaching the point where many might become interested. Professor Graves said this window would open but only after attempts to deal with Problems G - the 7th Level set of Life Conditions
fail, because they are still hung up in First Tier models, people, institutions, and conferences. We are working closely with the Center for Human Emergence-the Netherlands in designing the Hague Center for Global Governance, Innovation, and Emergence. I have been thinking about such a Center at the Hague for almost 10 years, and it may finally become a reality. We have Peter Merry and his group to thank for this initiative.
Our intent will be to provide this knowledge and experience within the Hague Center as a "go to" place to resolve major governance issues and design healthy responses to quite complex situations from around the world. I don't think many people would want to come to Texas, and it is not because of he heat!.

After a most successful presentation at the World Future Society in Washington DC, we are now preparing to fly to Mexico City to work with Roberto and his leadership group on the design of education for the entire country of Mexico. This is a most insightful project on the part of the Mexican Teacher's Union and Roberto has done an excellent piece of MeshWorks himself in working with leaders in the Union as well as others in the Ministry of Education, in business leaders (even YPO), and in elements within the Mexican government. He deserves recognition and applause from all of us because this is a difficult time in Mexico and Roberto has put it all on the line in behalf of his country.

Don

Re: Entering the Convergence Zone?

http://jikishin.gaia.com — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:16:00 GMT

Albert,

I recall that I'd had a similar response to some of Barbara's approach and language, back in 1984, as I attended her national gathering of Positive Future Center's leaders. "Rich green" will see what it wants to see even though "the foundational layers for global breakthroughs are not put into the spotlight."

In '84, BMH campaigned to become the American vice-president in order to transform that office into a vortext of world solutions ("a Peace Room comperable in sophistication to the 'War Room' ") a hub of 'what works', networking innovation and creativity.

I received Barbara's newsletter today and it looks like I'll see her again in two weeks.

I've come to appreciate that she (and now Garrison, Ray, and Gore) can articulate well informed vision and propose alternative policies, or practices. However, I no longer expect that vision and alternative to be some comprehensive program speaking for and to most of the planet.

These days I acknowledge what I perceive to be the rather thin band in the global spectrum of culture(s) in which such work as Wisdom University's is practicably relevant.

As critical as I feel such a vision to be for everyone, I no longer expect an "eye' or 'brain' to perform any work of the rest of a 'body'. A vision is only vision, essential for survival, not as a cause of survival but as a protector of quality.

If Barabara finds it useful to reduce grand historic patterns to vivid metaphors, quaintly equating all humanity with some trans-person person, I have no propblem with that.

What may be needed most, it seems to me, may be replications of the vision-role (in terms of comunicating new directions) in versions of, by and for each meme, in vernacular, dialectic, local expressions.

Kerry

Entering the Convergence Zone?

http://voyager.gaia.com — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:11:20 GMT

I am crossposting this from the Sdi Yahoo Group. The newsletter is in bold.
Why do I mirror it here, in the section of how to introduce SDi to developing nations?

Because I see the necessity to adress crucial questions for the Cultural Creative Movement in the context of global developments.

This is from the newsletter of Barbara Marx Hubbard

www.evolvingnow.com

Again the cultural creatives are mentioned. And the 2009 Networking
event in Washington D.C.:

Networking Creativity to Solve Global Challenges

http://www.worldforum.org/state-2009.htm

While I agree in many ways about the advents and events of the
converging and emerging realties there seems to be too much emphasis
again on the "rich green" movement. Again I am remembering the
reminder of Alan Tonkin:

"The basic split in the world is that around 70% of the world
population cover the spectrum Purple/Red/Blue with the other 30%
covering Blue Order, Orange Enterprise and Green Environmental
issues. If the UN was based on a Security Council based on one man
one vote it would become a Red/Blue organisation. Until there is a
fundamental shift in values the developed world is going to battle to
get Western style democracy to work however much they might like to
think it will work. In terms of our findings with the Global Values
Monitor (GVM) there are minimal percentages in Yellow Integral with
almost no Turquoise to speak of"

So I see too much bombastic tenor in this "Wheel of Cocreation" with
Ray, Garrison, Gore et al as masterminds. In exactly the sense that
the foundational layers for global breakthroughs are not put into the
spotlight.

Am I roughly wrong?

Isnt the memetic foundation work to be done in the nations themselves?

Once again aligning properly in healthy doses this growing momentum
of such approaches with the basic values of human consciousness seems
to be the more appropriate perspective.

I do not see any SINGLE convergence zone as B.Marx Hubbard describes.
But lots of them in the diverse confluences of the human spiral.

Heres to the Newsletter of Barbara Marx Hubbard:

"...

We have passed the tipping point. We have entered the convergence
zone. Everything that is arising is converging and connecting.
Everything that is breaking down is accelerating.

We have been projecting the transformation in 2012. It is happening
now. It began for me when Jim Garrison and Paul Ray joined with
key "wheel-builders," (those connecting various systems within the
whole social body) at my Wisdom University Intensive on Social
Synergy and Evolutionary Politics in May.

Jim and Paul presented Paul's latest findings on the rise
of 'cultural creativity' or cultural creatives. Building on Paul' s
work in early 2008 Ray and Garrison surveyed thousands of people from
all over the world to determine how many are "waking up" to the
values of cultural creatives. They hope this information will provide
evidence to many of the world's political and social organizations,
as well as to the cultural creative's, that there is a new value
system active around the world that when organized can have a
significant impact and even win elections. "They have a bold plan to
organize and mobilize a post modern renaissance..." quoted from the
current issue (Aug-Oct 2008) of What Is Enlightenment? Magazine.
...

The Design Team of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution has been
invited to work with them on a major conference in the fall of 2009
in Washington, DC to mobilize this vital community of innovators and
creators. There we will assemble a WHEEL OF COCREATION filled with
major innovators in every sector of the Wheel.

Jim just sent me his powerful GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION. "The human race
must wake up to the fact that our days are numbered to 48 months or
less before the global climatic situation could spin out of control
and undermine human civilization itself." We should join with Jim in
this Call. To read this important document Click Here.

http://www.evolvingnow.com/images/JG-CallToAction.doc

Our crisis is a birth of a new humanity. We have been born and now
must take our first "coordinated breath" in order to survive. All the
forces for positive change are poised to be mobilized. During the
Apollo lunar landing there was one single goal that united the
greatest technological achievement of humanity: "Send a man to the
moon and bring him back alive." Now the goal is to "Bring Life on
Earth Forward Alive." This crisis is an evolutionary driver, perhaps
just what is required for synergistic convergence to work.