🌀All of Humanity Falls Within These 5 Simple Stages 📈

Let's talk Developmental Theory & Ego Development

So, there's this thing called a DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL.

You ever heard of it?

No!?

Cool cause this is gonna change everything.

You'll never look at other people the same.

Basically a bunch of psychologists in the 20th century came up with a sentence completion test. They asked hundreds of thousands of people questions like

❓ Who am I?

❓ What is significant to me?

❓ What is of ultimate concern?

❓ How should we interact?

❓ What do I need?

▸ etc.

And then gathered up all the responses and came up with a models of ego/spiritual/moral/values/interpersonal/cognitive development.

Meaning.

Psychologists were able to map on a HIERARCHICAL SCALE the structures of human development from birth to infinity

These models are extremely complex and nuanced. And the implications of understanding them is next to none.

Yet the basics of each stage are fairly simple and I'm going to lay them out below.

🟦 Conformist / Authoritarian

This is where FUNDAMENTALIST religion falls under.

People at this stage take literal interpretations of texts at this stage.

This is where 75%+ of the worlds religious teachings falls under.

They're ethnocentric — meaning US vs. THEM to the grave. My way or the highway.

🟧 Achiever

At this stage people are very rational, logical and achievement based.

They're focused on getting that promotion, that new house, a better girlfriend, more knowledge, more money, yada yada yada.

It's all about MONEY, POWER and FAME baby!!!!

If you were to take everyone in the United States and average them out this is where it'd fall.

They're worldcentric — they can see that all perspectives are valuable but they still fight for the achievement-oriented rational-minded one.

🟩 Pluralist/Individualist/Communitarian

At this stage people realize that all perspectives are equally valid.

We all grew up in different cultures and with different life experiences. So let's all see what each other has to say.

A care and compassion for the world at large during this stage.

Climate activists and more left-leaning people tend to fall at this stage.

But a huge trap that is blind to most pluralists is the inherent contradiction "No perspective is absolutely true, yet that is true for all cultures at all times." OR "My perspective that no perspectives are better than any other, is true for all people at all times."

🟨 Second-Tier - Systemic

At this stage all previous positions are reconciled. People move from one stage to the next and the fact that some people are at lower stages isn't a bad thing.

Systems thinking arises.

There's not one cause of a cultural problem (ie: Police Brutality) there's many and we must find a systemic solution that integrates all different causes.

This is the leading edge in our society.

Less than 10% of people are at this stage.

💠 Holistic

Seeing the nature of existence.

All objects are human-made constructs.

Conventional ideas of materialistic science begin to break down.

An emotionally powerful intuitive grasp of a reality that transcends language.

Ones worldview is now supported by mystical experiences of union.

…

And that's all for now folks.

Let's talk developmental models.

Integrating various developmental models has been a passion of mine for the past 2 or years, I can't be the only one Any thoughts/questions you have around developmental models? Reply to this email 📩

A few breadcrumbs (in order from my personal most valuable --> least valuable)

- Ken Wilber's AQAL model (Integral Spirituality, Religion of Tomorrow)

- Spiral Dynamics

- Susan Cook-Greuter's Ego-Development Theory

- Actualized.org vids on Developmental Theory

- Robert Kegan

- Jean Piaget

- James Fowler

Much Love,

EN 💚