Letters

Hi Julie

Good to hear you are back in town... sounds an insightful journey.. I must apologies for the delay in replying but I am writing full time and the day goes past in a blur of writing fever, domestic chores and the dad role.

Re a quick comment on your trip; it sounds wonderful and you are clearly inspired. Inspiration, passion, your compelling vision are at the foundations of your purpose, but you are going to
need lots of stubborn persistence and then some more. As you say, efforts like this and those by Ken et al are challenging paths and funding is a big challenge - almost always. You will need to try and leverage all your clients.

Thank you for taking the time to write this all down - I hope it is part of your journalling? I was involved with Spiral Dynamics a very long time ago and have kept an interest in this field,
but its practical applications have always eluded me. Love the theory!

I remember Don Beck saying Ken Wilber had become very interested in the work and reading your notes, Ken must have changed his version of Becks/ Graves model re his colour coding - . Are you familiar with the Spirals Dynamics version? Did you discuss the shift between group and individual value systems ? Dawkins called the values memes and which I think fits really well...

I see you were in Denver - I attended a Strategy of the Dolphin Workshop in that city and that is where i first became involved with Spiral Dynamics. I then worked separately with Don Beck and Dudley Lynch to introduce Spirals to South Africa. Strategy of the Dolphin is an interesting little book and took me a great adventure in what seems another life. Don did some amazing spiral analysis in South Africa at the end of Apartheid, which he published in a book called The Crucible.

Anyhow, good to hear they are doing something to use it in the fight against poverty but not sure how. - there are almost 7 billion people on the planet, and 65% of them live in Asia - and those
societies cover the full spectrum of the value systems, but the vast majority are, like Africa, Eurasia and South America, driven by the older value systems of purple (kinship), red (power)
and ruled by a thin line of blue and now driven by a low orange commercialism (achievement, performance, short term gain) which is why climate change is such a danger.

Green has I agree, come back refreshed, but does not have the global appeal or power to make the changes needed. I don't think there is any real evidence of a big global shift on the cards as much as some would wish it. I am always concerned that many Americans and first world thinkers (Green evolved) see the world from value systems that has lost touch with the nitty gritty power of the old values systems and how market capitalism has been shifting global populations to a low orange need driven meme as they escape the poverty trap (eg profileration of cars/bicycles, consumer goods /energy demand).

I have just read a brochure for a Future Trends conference in the US and it is again driven by Orange - there is no awareness that over the next fifty years the world is going to be very uncomfortable and unstable and business and society will change irrevocably.

There was no or little mention on how we will need to shift our value systems to Yellow and Turquoise, and make the connections with other "wrap around" meta theories, (which is what I think integral means) so that we replace the old models that have sustained us in a kind gentle Holocene Age where we had room to move and play. Unfortunately, like unaware adolescents we have negatively impacted the Holocene (which should have continued for at least another 2,000 years) so that we will now be living in a different Earth, an Earth that is moving against its viral infection. Us.

Good book to read is Eaarth.. how our planet is now longer Earth.

Sorry, longer then I anticipated. Good luck with the future, please keep me informed. Part of my personal plan is cutting down my carbon print so only making trips when absolutely have to.. I will however let you know when I am in town as our "Found" project opens for applications 31 July - end October.

with a warm hug and good wishes on your venture

Andrew