Spiral Dynamics - Tier one stages
Stage Beige - Green
Before we start - let’s explain regression
Just because you have attained a stage and integrated it doesn't mean it will stay that way. You have to take care of yourself. Be grounded and healthy in order to maintain a stage in Spiral Dynamics. Both individuals and collectives can regress from one stage to a lower stage.
We can see this pattern in countries that move toward progressive values only to revert to more authoritarian structures after periods of instability. Or in individuals who, after experiencing trauma, find themselves operating from earlier developmental stages they thought they'd outgrown.
Regression isn't failure—it's a natural response to certain conditions. When we understand this aspect of the spiral, we can be more compassionate with ourselves and others during these temporary setbacks, recognizing them as part of the journey rather than permanent reversals.
Stage Beige: The Solo Spark
Me me me on a survival level
Stage Beige is where it all begins—the most fundamental layer of human consciousness focused purely on survival. This is the stage where a person operates as what we might call "an individual" in the most basic sense—driven by immediate needs and impulses without much regard for planning or future orientation.
Think of newborn babies: they put anything in their mouth, act on instinct, and exist almost entirely in the present moment. Most of us grow out of this stage quickly, but the adult version maintains that same prioritization of immediate survival needs above all else.
I will go so far to say that there are no human communities operating at this stage - While I once thought Stage Beige had no planning whatsoever, that's not quite accurate. Planning exists but remains minimal—always pushed aside to serve immediate needs.
The focus in Beige is managing primal necessities: hunger, shelter, and basic safety. Our bodies are built this way—without receiving proper nutrients and attention early on, we simply wouldn't survive. Many challenges of Beige are so foundational that those of us in later stages take them completely for granted.
Childhood Amnesia
What's fascinating about Beige is that it likely explains why we don't remember our early childhood. Pure "virgin" Beige consciousness (Ie a person who have not ever gone past this stage) doesn't generate lasting narrative memories. To form stable, coherent memories, the mind needs a baseline understanding of continuity or meaning—something Beige doesn't yet prioritize. Beige consciousness is like a security camera that's always on but never recording—entirely in the present moment with no "tapes" saved. A safer play would be framing it as a parallel: Beige’s focus mirrors the pre-narrative mind, not causes amnesia. Still, it’s not a dealbreaker..
Why does Beige eventually shift to Purple? I believe we're hardwired to seek companionship and collective meaning. At some point, we discover that connections with others open up both new opportunities and innate valuable relationships. Reality gives us experiences that make us realize we are stronger together.
Beige as a stage becomes exhausted when survival needs are met consistently enough (or when they don’t get met and one needs to change approach) that we can begin to value something beyond immediate survival—the power of connection and community. This recognition that we need others to truly thrive is what propels consciousness toward the next stage of development.
Stage White: The Shell
We we we on a herd level
Spiral Dynamics traditionally starts at Stage Beige which is an individualistic stage - “me, me, me” oriented. —basic survival consciousness—as its foundation. But I think there might be an even more fundamental regression state, one that represents not just primitive survival, but a complete breakdown of individual consciousness. I call this Stage White because white is quite plain, and sheep are white too.
From the book Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl's observations in the concentration camps provide compelling evidence for this idea. The state he described wasn't just survival-focused Beige—it was a complete dissolution of individual will and consciousness, where people became essentially automatons. This state seems to represent something even more basic than the survival instincts of Beige consciousness.
Think about it this way: a newborn baby, while operating at Beige consciousness, still has basic drives, desires, and a nascent sense of self. They cry when hungry, seek comfort when distressed—they're actively engaging with their environment for survival. But what Frankl described was different—it was people who had lost even these basic survival instincts. They had lost hope and regressed from Beige to White, becoming completely passive recipients of their environment.
Good Parts of Stage White:
Stage White might seem like a really depressed stage, which it is. One dissapears and becomes a part of the herd. Stage white is a collective stage, a “we, we, we” stage. And it seems to serve its purpose. While one necessarily wouldn't like to spend a lot of time in this stage, it acts as a defense mechanism. Instead of totally breaking down when one is not in charge of its own survival, we can fall back to White. Stalling - In a way, Stage White is like the protective shell of a tortoise.
White can progress to Beige when hope is revived, when the matter of survival is believed to be in the hands of the beholder. When a person starts to believe they have agency again—that their actions can affect their survival—they move from White's complete passivity to Beige's active survival orientation.
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Moving Up the Spiral: From Beige to Purple
Anyways- let's jump back where we go from stage Beige - survival. At a certain point the Beige individual will widen its horizons to either survive better or to expand beyond just survival. This is interesting - because one can reach beyond their current stage to increase potential or to minimize suffering. Both work - and the stage, in this case Beige is exhausted.
In Spiral Dynamics we say that a stage is "transcended and included" - it means that one is finished with that stage - moves beyond it and integrates it. One can this way kind of understand the stages and challenges below - but it's more difficult to understand the stages that have yet to come. But one can use the pattern of Spiral Dynamics to prepare and understand what is around the corner.
So Beige is transcended and included and the person will move into the next stage - which is a collective "we, we, we" stage. Purple- the stage of harmony - the stage of memories.
This transition is where something remarkable happens. The purely survival-focused individual begins to recognize the power of connection and community. The solitary "me" orientation of Beige gives way to the tribal "we" orientation of Purple. And with this shift comes one of the most profound developments in human consciousness - the formation of narrative memory.
Remember how I mentioned that pure Beige consciousness likely doesn't form lasting memories? That's because memory requires context, meaning, and narrative - all things that emerge in Purple. When we enter Purple consciousness, we don't just survive - we begin to tell stories about our survival. We create rituals, develop shared meaning, and build a collective identity that transcends our individual needs.
This is why our earliest childhood memories typically begin around age 3-4, when we've entered the "loving family" era - that's Purple consciousness beginning to bloom, allowing us to form the narrative memories that will shape our identity moving forward.
Stage Purple: Harmony's Home
We we we on a tribe level
Stage Purple's focus is harmony. It's a "we we we" stage after all. A tribe working from the Purple stage of evolution is egalitarian—every member of the group contributes equally. The world is magical and harmonious. This stage is mystical, irrational (in a natural way considering we haven't developed rationalism)—rain dances, ancestral magics, ayahuasca—these are all Purple inventions. Purple is not bound by rationalism or science so in a way they are connected in a way that later stages are not. Think of Pochahontas being connected to nature in a way that John Smith and the rest couldn't be.
In our modern life, we see young kids individually transition through this "we, we, we" stage on their path to adulthood and rationalism. Think of the child who believes in Santa, loves bedtime stories, and considers both mother and family dog as best friends. Adults know and expect kids to pass through this stage and be past it at around age 10. The purple child mimics others in the name of growth through harmony and feels proud of that mimicking. The purple child wouldn't steal another's toy at the playground because that is not harmonious, instead focusing on sharing and playing games like house.
We saw some Purple Indians completely destroyed by civilizations from higher stages who had mastered science and came with powerful guns- they operated from this stage of harmony and were wiped out. We see civilizations clash throughout time and generally you see the stage acting from a higher development stance come out on top - although there is one stage that tends to do really well when it comes to violence - and that is stage red (the next stage). You see, a Purple tribe is quite fragile. It's hard to be a Purple community because so much focus is put on harmony.
So who's gonna actually defend the tribe? Are they all going to do that? Who's gonna be the leader? Well - the leader usually emerges. A purple society is often led individually by a stage red leader or collectievly by a group of purple elders.
Spiral Dynamics Footprints: We're All A Mix
You see, a person or a group is not merely one color. A person is a combination of multiple colors. I visualize this as a spiral dynamics footprint containing multiple colors, in the end creating a unique footprint with different percentages of challenges from past stages. A person or collective is usually a mix of 3-4 colors, with the majority of focus on the middle two stages. Bell curve style. It's not possible to reach more than 4 stages unless severe trauma and regression is involved but that is an edge case.
The Good Parts of Purple
Now that we understand the model a bit more in depth, let's go back to purple.
What are the good parts of purple? Purple is the bridge to civilization, bridge is all about connection. Connection with others, harmony, connection to spirit, connection to nature. Without purple humans would live a very lonely life. The huge step of valuing something other than the individual is really the foundation of a society. Purple in its essence is not logical, but it can be wise nonetheless. There is real wisdom in maintaining harmony, one needs to know the needs and breaking points of each individual in a society and respect them. Like a map that is being formed of its entire social structure. Purple starts building the images of itself in and how other people view them. These are pictures we continue carry in our heads until we unlearn them.
“A brand doesn't exist in just one place, it exist in every persons mind who comes in contact with the brand”
From the book Zag” by Marty Neumeier
In the same way, to maintain order - purple starts to think of how other people view them, it’s necessary to maintain harmony - do they view me as pulling my weight? Do they view me as a good person? A purple person will die if they are excluded from the tribe. Etc etc, these pictures are different for others - but maintaining this "reputation" as we call it is a gift of purple
Everything now has a reputation, and a story. Purple is really the storytelling - the stories that one day will become our solidified logic needs to start somewhere - purple is not afraid to push the boundaries when creating stories because stories create everything
Stories are the first part of creating explanations to our surroundings and situations - and they are constantly share them and iterate, not in what is the most logical - but what creates the most harmony. The communicative bridge is fueled by this stage.
There are children in this stage. The kid that believes in santa, the kid that believes that likes to listen to bedtime stories, the kid that is best friends with both mother and the family dog and looks and mimics and is proud of the mimicking. This kid would not steal anothers toy at the playground. This kid is all about sharing, playing house.
Purple is a beautiful stage that we look down on a little because if you ask a purple person for proof? They will tell you that the proof are all around you in their stories and consider you almost autistic for not seeing the truth around you, when most people consider truth of reality something that can be proven on a paper or on a computer. This wisdom is the foundation of some larger wisdom that we will re-connect with in some of the higher stages of the spiral.
Stage Red
"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth." Enough stories!
Red emerges when one decides to put their own needs ahead of the harmony of the group. It's the "me me me" stage that follows Purple's collective harmony. We see quite a bit of red in today's toxic masculine culture - not the decisive empowered male - but the one ready to actually fight and black out. Or the dark side of certain religions who are more than happy to use force to get their point across.
We see red on the playground of the kid that steals from another kid or uses physical violence. We see bullying in kids. We see that kids can be cruel. We see people who like violence and like to watch violence. Red is all about power, winning by putting another down. Red sees the world as a zero-sum game, a fixed pie. If I win someone else must lose. Red values resources one can touch and feel. We see red military coups taking over countries.
Red will put their family at the top even if it harms the rest of civilization. Bloodlines - the Targaryens are a good example of red. They break the rules of harmony and are rewarded for it. Strength is domination - remember that we came from harmony - the stereotypical red is going to react away from what came before.
The good parts of Red include decisiveness, the ability to take action without consensus, protection of what's valuable, and raw passion. Red doesn't wait for permission - it leads through force when necessary. Red energy is what allowed early civilizations to organize beyond small harmonious tribes and create larger structures under powerful leaders. Without Red, we might still be living in small, vulnerable Purple communities unable to defend themselves.
Red gives us courage, the willingness to fight for what we believe in, and the passion to pursue our desires without apology. In healthy expressions, Red energy provides the assertiveness needed to state boundaries clearly and the drive to achieve ambitious goals.
The problem with red is that it doesn't scale very well - on an individual level you will get oneshotted some day by another red person and eventually some military coup will take the power from you and your family. Red won't wait for harmony to bake the cookie. Red wants it and takes it now.
So from this red environment the next stage will evolve - and that's Blue. We know because Red was an individualistic stage that this will be a collective stage, which it is - again, think "we we we." Blue emerges when the chaos and unpredictability of Red become too costly, and people yearn for order, structure, and a system that provides stability beyond the whims of the strongest warrior. Purple can’t contain red, but blue can. We need new tools to contain red.
As Red's power games create too much unpredictability and danger, a new solution emerges: rules, laws, and systems that constrain even the most powerful individuals. Blue introduces the concept that even kings must answer to a higher authority - whether that's God, the law, or sacred tradition. This transition from Red to Blue represents one of the most significant leaps in human civilization: the move from rule by force to rule by law.
Stage Blue: Order and Structure
We we we on a culture level
With blue following red, it's interesting how in order to achieve more power you can create structures, like a fisherman landing more fishes with a net instead of a rod.
As we understood by reading the previous chapter - stage Red is not scaleable, so Blue had to come up with organizations and structures that can capture and contain Red energy. In today's world many of our institutions are Blue inventions: law enforcement, our school system, healthcare system, tax institutions. They all stem from Blue. A Blue person is driven by the greater good again. Blue, or as we like to call it "the authoritarian stage". Blue is willing to wait for the cookie. Blue believes that if we all just followed the rules then we will eventually be rewarded.
Blue is the "traditional" stage - if we look at older generations. But younger people are also in this stage.
How do I know if a person in our generation is Blue? If they look like all of their friends and think going outside of that is "cringe" - that's a safe bet they are Blue. Have you ever seen a group of 15-20 something year old girls or boys walking in a group having the same clothes and the same hair styles and they all just want to fit in? That's Blue in our generation. The people who things trying to be great is cringe? Blue. The haters who hate on people who follow their own dreams? Blue.
Most of our countries today have a big chunk of Blue in them, and it's important to respect Blue for the invisible structures that we take for granted. Blue people who outgrow their Blue little city move to the big city (orange) and start a new life - sometimes they move back if it was too hard, but you can see this pattern. Often larger cities are more individually minded - with an Orange focus - and the smaller communities around are—wait for it—more community oriented (Blue).
A Blue society is driven by honor, and Blue also believes that if I just follow the rules by the book, keep my head down, the bigger picture will reward me - even if that reward is simply not being alienated.
The Good Parts of Blue
Growing up I came to rebel against Blue, for a long time I wanted to dismantle everything with any form of structure in the name of freedom. But freedom needs to be grounded. Even freedom of thought stands on blue foundations. Blue and its structures act as a safe harbor. A foundation that is just that, a foundation. If you blame the foundation for not being tall enough, you aren't valuing the foundation for what it brings to the table.
We can go on adventures - but at the end of the day we come back to the structures that we take for granted. At the end of the day, even if we have done explosive work - the same bed awaits us every evening - or at least a very similar bed. Languages are easy to learn if you have already learned a few of them. Programming languages follow a pattern. When you are first getting into something it can be easy to do your own take at the beginning - but over and over - we learn that mastering the basics first before building upon it works best.
Blue is that foundation. Blue has provided so much. Just all of you thought workers and nerds, most of us would often still be slaves under Red with your genetics (no hate) if the foundation wouldn't have allowed to build a society we love today. For a company to even exist as they do today there needs to be laws that we all follow.
I've come to appreciate and love Blue. Sometimes the point of a structure is to be the stepping stone for something larger. And in most cases Blue is exactly that. We like Blue. It's easy to point fingers at Blue and tell them how square they are. But most houses come with a square foundation. It's rock solid.
Without Blue we wouldn't have been able to get the entire population to learn how to read and write. Without Blue we wouldn't have been able to create the laws that we take for granted. Without Blue we wouldn't have been able to go outside and not worry that we are going to be killed. Blue introduces consequenses and keeps red contained. Blue is willing to kill, in the name of the law. Without Blue we wouldn't be able to put our trust in the system. Most people trust other people - it's because of the hard work over hundreds of years of Blue inventions that we do take for granted.
Why Blue Gets Exhausted
Eventually, Blue's rigid structures and "one-right-way" approach begin to feel confining to those who see greater possibilities. One school system is supposed to give the same education to every person no matter their talents? The person who has mastered the rules starts to ask, "But what if there's a better way?" This is where Orange (me me me) begins to emerge - the next individualistic stage that challenges Blue's established order with innovation, scientific thinking, and the drive for achievement based on merit rather than duty.
Blue becomes exhausted when people realize that following the rules perfectly doesn't always lead to the best outcomes. The world is more complex than any rulebook can capture, and those who start to see beyond the structure begin yearning for the freedom to experiment, innovate, and achieve based on results rather than rigid adherence to process.
Stage Orange: Achievement and Innovation
But if Blue starts thinking about that for too long then well - just like that Purple tribal person that woke up one day and decided that "I'm gonna pop off and boss these Purples around" (emerging into Red). A Blue person might start reading self-help books and actually become more individualistic - or as we call it - an EntrEprENoUR. Why do I have to sit in class and learn uSELesS things when I can just launch a meme coin?
The teacher, being Blue and having been Blue all their life, will not understand the brilliance of becoming a meme trader and moving to Marbella and bleaching their teeth and outearning their teacher. They - just - wont - get - it.
Our world is quite Orange actually - look at social media - luxury brands - big cities - it's all Orange energy. Look at Dubai moving from a traditional Blue (sometimes even Red) area all the way into an Orange mecca that attracts the course sellers. Orange is not just about money - but about self-improvement. You don't have to just accept the cards you were born with - honor is flexible - you can play the game, create new cards and WIN the game of wealth and happiness (although Orange doesn't yet realize that pleasure can't be stored effectively so they are kinda trapped in "happiness around the corner fallacy" - more on that later).
There are some periods that we could call the enlightenment era where the top of society moved from Blue to Orange and started having fun in that area, it's like a little enlightenment. Going from we we we to me me me once again.
Just like Red - Orange doesn't scale either, although it scales better than Red. But truth is that if all billions of people lived like stereotypical Orange it would be an issue. We would need several planets to make it work. Like the planet Trantor needing 20 agricultural worlds to make it work.
So a Red person wants something that you have, he will kill you for it (or hire someone to kill you). If an Orange person wants something that you have, he will kill your company for it.
See how people transcend and include stages but the stages still remind us of the stages that come before. Blue is similar in ways to Purple, and Orange is similar to Red
The Good Parts of Orange
Ahh, Orange. Orange orange orange. Without Orange we wouldn't be competitive to ourselves and to others around us. See the drama between the tech companies all wanting to make the world a better place better than everyone else? ©©Isn't that amazing? Of course we can talk about Louis Vuitton and Hermes all day and how Orange chases status symbols. But how about chasing in general? There is wisdom in "Just do it," one of our most popular slogans in the world because it taps into just this. You can just do this.
Orange is actually a very empowering force in the world that reacts away from and builds on top of and in some cases leads like red leads purple, the Blue structure. But orange plays within the framework of blue, sometimes changing it slightly for its own need (see lobbying for example) Instead of ramming through the mountain like Red would try to do, Orange figures out a way to build a tunnel through that mountain.
While being hard on Orange - Orange comes with a suite of positives. Self-empowerment enables one to chase a goal that hasn't existed yet. Orange is actually a visionary (even though there are two I's in vision, haha).
If your back is not straight - from years of being pushed down and made to fit in a box. In a blue family or structure, When you no longer get the net positive from keeping the status quo. When you dare to step out of the box and be met with an Orange breeze, it's going to make you stand up straight, spine straight - pick a direction and invest in yourself to go full on in that direction - against your old world, sometimes until that direction is exhausted - but hey. Sometimes you have to get what you wanted to realize that the chase was the empowering part.
I like Orange. I like the simplicity of focus of Orange. Orange is simple. No mysticism here, just winning for me and people who think like me. (red wants winning for me and my family) At least orange have extended its tribe slightly. Orange shines with the ability to dedicate all time and all effort and energy into a certain direction is special. Orange is locked in. Orange is the hustle instead of jihad. Orange is proving everyone wrong and therefore myself right. Orange is always right. (according to itself) Orange is just that simple - Orange is right.
Orange enjoys being Orange for the most part - because there are some great benefits. Orange enjoys the fact that they can push processes forward - but they don't realize that it's actually the processes that push them forward. Beautiful stage and just like any stage and any thing is destructive - just like drinking too much water or getting too much sun is unhealthy
Why Orange Gets Exhausted
Orange gets exhausted when the endless chase for achievement starts feeling hollow. When you've climbed the mountain, bought the Lambo, built the company, and still feel empty inside. When the competitive drive that once fueled you starts burning you out instead. One can also leave orange behind on a mission for something more meaningful - one might intuetievly understand that chasing consumption might not be all that interesting. Orange might want to make a bigger change in the world - and woop - you see how the next stage - a we we we stage starts to open its doors? That’s green.
Orange begins to wonder if there's more to life than individual success. If material achievement isn't bringing fulfillment, what will? The Orange mind, excellent at solving problems, now turns to solving the problem of meaning itself.
The exhaustion of Orange comes with questions like: "What's the point of all this success if I'm destroying the planet?" "Why am I working 80 hours a week when I hardly know my own children?" “How can I be a better role model?” "How can I keep winning when the game itself seems broken? - I must change the game itself!”
And thus, the collective consciousness of Green begins to emerge, caring about the impact of our actions, the sustainability of our systems, and the well-being of all people - not just the winners of the game.
I love how you've provided such an insightful look at Stage Green! Let me build on this to create a comprehensive picture of this stage.
Stage Green: Equality and Harmony
We we we as a race
Stage Green is the king of spiritual bypassing - they confuse being "ethical" (following their own idea of what is morally right) with spirituality. Green thinks ideas are dangerous. If someone says "his ideas are dangerous," it's most likely coming from a Green mind. An Orange person would say "his actions are dangerous" - But a scientist or a moderate expressing their opinion (which is usually not too radical) is pointed to as "dangerous". It's a very Green thing. And other stages call these Green dangerous finger-pointing types as "snowflakes."
If you think an idea is "dangerous" - it's important to go deeper and determine why that thought is dangerous. Is it standing in the way of your golden idea?
Green is fueled by guilt - Green uses guilt to suppress previous "me me me" instincts and have made it their mission to suppress others' impulses for the bigger picture - their bigger picture.
"If everyone just did X, we would be able to live in harmony." "Let's cancel everyone who doesn't want to play the game with our moral rules - or use our moral compass."
While Orange wants to win over the ones who aren't capable to play the rules of society (which is currently Orange), Green takes a different approach.
Funny - Green will not kill your company - but instead goes for your perceived moral standing - which in turn they believe will kill your company and is worse than actually killing you.
Green is known for teaming up with red to use violence against the “bad people”. Like American politicians without skin in the game entering countries to fix things with the help of the local reds but actually just regresses that country back to red instead of getting their green values planted.
The Good Parts of Green:
Green got the most heart out of all of us. Green is pure heart, and it's admirable. We look down on Green for being not brainy enough. But it's our humanity concentrated in a stage. Where would we be without Green? Really? Without the protestors keeping us in check - regulating our individualism.
Green is not only all heart - it's all action. Green is willing to die for justice or at least fight and scream for it. Many of the Green structures even in the western world are taken for granted. We appreciate and long for Green when we don't have it in our surroundings. But we make fun of it when it reaches where we consider it being “too far”. Look at countries without equal rights or opportunity spread out through society. We don't want to live there - we don't want our children to live there. And Green will not rest until the whole world beats with the same we we we, non discriminating heartbeat - although their approach is too often to give moral beatings.
Green might not be all logic - but a Green person in a room is often enough for people to say 'hold up, wait a minute' - maybe we shouldn't poison this drinking water because it's cheap to dump our waste there. We can hate on Green's arguments because often it's just all heart - but we can't hate or even question if their heart is there.
Often Green is so adamant (also adamant is Green in runescape) because in some cases, like university students - they just recently found their heart so they want to use it. And use it they do. They want everyone to use their own heart in the same way as they do. Their individual stance is that individualism is wrong. And isn't that a bit romantic?
Green subscribes to this romantic worldview that in later stages will be embodied - it's the raw and wild and illogical love that doesn't have any logic. Heartbreak is expensive but worth the love, if people would just love. Green might seem to be on the far side of the spectrum. It's important that we get to know Green a bit better because the next generation of world leaders will be heavily influenced by balanced Green (and the system thinker Yellow) - right now Green is a minority so they believe they have to scream the loudest to make an impact. But Green will, as Green grows, become more balanced and confident - and be more open to working together with others. Green people will be allowed to be systems thinkers instead of being labeled the enemy.
Why Green Gets Exhausted:
Green gets exhausted when it realizes that moral outrage and platitudes don't actually solve the complex systems problems we face. When Green realizes that canceling people doesn't build the inclusive world it dreams of. When the well-meaning but simplistic approaches of "just be kind" and "if only everyone would..." hit the wall of reality.
Green also starts to notice its own hierarchy of virtue—the very thing it claims to fight against. It sees how even within progressive spaces, new forms of status and privilege emerge. The Green mind begins to question whether attacking others for their moral failures is actually just another form of the power games it despises.
At this point, a more integral perspective starts to emerge. The person begins to see that each stage of development has gifts and limitations, that complexity requires nuance, not just morality. This is where Yellow begins to dawn—the ability to see the entire developmental spiral and appreciate each stage for what it offers while transcending its limitations.
Green exhausted is ready to move beyond either/or thinking into the both/and consciousness of the Second Tier.
The Green Paradox and Beyond
Let's continue going up the spiral now because we're having fun. Orange will eventually - as a super consumer start consume everything because why wait for the afterlife. This means that all will be consumed. Food, Porn, Cars, Sex all is to be consumed. Orange is actually the super consumer because for orange the fancier what is being consumed the higher the status.
We all know this stage quite well tbh but we can see on some people - take Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or some other rich people. Some people get to exhaust this stage and move on to the next stage - which is Green.
Most people in the spiral dynamics community kinda get this stage wrong. Don't be fooled by the colour Green. Green have some of the biggest egos out there - haha. Green wants to make an impact - if these bigots just thought and acted like me - everything would be good.
If we look at the definition of a bigot: "A person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices"
Green doesn't understand that when they say "everyone who doesn't think like me, is a bigot" makes THEM a bigot.
I will repeat because most people miss the whole stage because they don’t understand this sentence
Green doesn't understand that when they say "everyone who doesn't think like me, is a bigot" makes THEM a bigot.
How Green Becomes What It Fought Against
https://www.politicalorphans.com/forget-tesla-go-after-twitter/
Green doesn't understand the difference between equal opportunity and equal outcome and how one can't have both. Green thinks that it's fair for universities for example to demand that 50% of software engineers are girls even though there are much less interest from females to become software engineers, this type of equality decision makes it so that the male that will have more software engineer potential will not get the university spot. Green misses the mark here and it can be frustrating because how can one opposing equality of outcome without being a bigot?
Green is the final boss of stage 1 in Spiral Dynamics. Most people actually get one-shotted and stay in these lower levels because it's hard to move beyond the bigotry on green. Many people just peak at this point and then regress back to Orange later in life.
The great irony of Green is that in its passionate fight against intolerance, it often becomes the most intolerant force that they set out to defeat. The moral certainty of Green creates a new hierarchy where the morally "pure" stand above the "problematic." In fighting the judgmental nature of Blue and the selfish qualities of Orange, Green creates its own form of judgment and selfishness - just dressed in more virtuous clothing.
This is why Green eventually exhausts itself. The cognitive dissonance becomes too much to bear. The person who entered Green with genuine compassion and desire for a better world starts noticing how their own movement creates new forms of exclusion, new hierarchies, new ways of othering people. Another way to move beyond green is to realize that outrage is not enough for change- one needs to deeply understand the external systems in the world and the external systems within in order to untangle oneself and to untangle the world if one so chooses. The next stage which comes after green is stage yellow which is a individualistic, me me me stage.
The Gateway to Systems Thinking
When Green finally recognizes its own contradiction - that it has become the very thing it sought to defeat - something remarkable happens. The mind cracks open to a completely new way of seeing the world. Instead of just seeing the flaws in others, it begins to see the entire developmental spiral as a necessary and natural process. People are just trying their best. There is value in each perspective - one might begin to think.
This is the gateway to Yellow consciousness - the first of the "second tier" stages in Spiral Dynamics. Yellow doesn't abandon Green's compassion and concern for others, but it integrates this with a new appreciation for the functional necessity of every stage.
Yellow sees that Blue's order provides essential stability, that Orange's achievement drives innovation, that Green's inclusivity expands our moral circle. Healthy yellow sees the good qualities in each stage - But Yellow also sees how each of these stages, when operating in isolation, creates its own pathologies. Yellow gets dismissed by the other stages, currently by green for being “a part of the problem unless you agree with everything we say” from green. It used to be the conservatives that pushed away yellow - but now they are embracing the small minority of powerful systems thinkers that can win elections.
The Yellow mind is capable of true systems thinking - understanding that complex problems require complex, multi-perspective solutions. It moves beyond the either/or thinking of first-tier stages into both/and consciousness.
This is where true integral thinking begins - not rejecting any stage but including and transcending all of them, appreciating what each brings while addressing the limitations of each. Yellow isn't "better" than Green in a moral sense - it's simply more comprehensive, more capable of navigating complexity without reducing it to simple moral narratives.
And this is why the journey through Green, painful though it may be, is essential for human development. Without experiencing the limitations of Green's approach, we might never develop the capacity for the integrative, systems-based consciousness that our complex world so desperately needs.
Green is the final boss of tier 1 stages - I'm excited to take a step back and properly cover Stage Yellow before we continue our journey up the spiral!
