Under Construction. 9.30.26.

Prologue

We strongly recommend that you read the book Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan as soon as possible after reviewing this page. It will give you the essential and minimal understanding of how and why the evolutionary virtues and values below developed, and even more importantly, how one can evolve oneself or others from one developmental level to the next. This book is both interesting and useful for every intermediate Way of the Universe practitioner. Spiral dynamics was derived from the research of Professor Clair Graves, who spent almost 50 years researching one critical question behind the developmental values listed below. That question was: Why do people change?

We have included it with the intermediate-level materials because it is important to see how useful and effective virtues and values have been developed throughout human evolution.

The Developmental Virtues and Values

It is essential to understand that many human virtues and values developed in direct response to the times and conditions in which those humans lived. Think of the following descriptions as how certain virtues and values cluster around a particular developmental level as we grow and mature individually and collectively, from the earliest tribal consciousness and tribal developmental-level virtues through to the later Universe developmental-level virtues.

Ideally, each new developmental level below includes and encompasses the non-pathological virtues and values of the previous level, then transcends them within its own new cluster of developmental virtues and values. 

The developmental virtues and values you see below evolved in direct response to humanity's changing and evolving social, political, economic, and ecological times and conditions. Here are the additional virtues and values that the Way of the Universe educates about: 

1. The Tribal Level (AKA Magic Consciousness): Family and kinship loyalty; strong sense of the enchantment of the world; innocence; imagination; closeness to nature
2. The Warrior Level (AKA Mythic Consciousness): Individual empowerment; initiative; action orientation
3. The Traditional Contribution to the Spiral: Sense of civic duty; law and order; appropriate respect for authority; strong moral regard for group members; preserves traditions; loyalty; hope, and a strong sense of faith
4. The Modernist Contribution to the Spiral: Meritocracy; upward mobility; the middle class; excellence through competition; science; technology; confidence in progress
5. The Postmodern Contribution to the Spiral: World-centric morality; recognition of human potential; increased responsibility for people and the planet; compassion and inclusion; celebration of the feminine; renewed spiritual freedom and creativity
6. The Integral Contribution to the Developmental Spiral: Practical world-centric morality; compassion for all worldviews; the revival of philosophy; seeing spirituality in evolution; overcoming the culture war; renewed insistence on achieving results
7. The Universe Consciousness Contribution to the Developmental Spiral: Practical universe-centric morality, ability to encompass and unify all previous worldviews, revival, and re-alignment of all universe subsystems and studies with principles of new cosmology and progressive evolution, overcoming of all planetary polarities, renewed insistence on establishing a balance between the needs and intentions of parts of wholes and the needs and intentions of the wholes themselves. 

Please note: Spiral Dynamics includes many more virtues and values for each of the developmental levels discussed above as well as comprehensive descriptions of each of these developmental levels. Rather than repeat them here, we would rather have you read about them in the Spiral Dynamics book.

(The above developmental virtues and values are copied with permission from a book entitled Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution by Steve McIntosh. Steve McIntosh derived them from Spiral Dynamics, which was derived from the lifetime work of Professor Clair Graves.)