Introduction to Spiral Dynamics "Turquoise" Stage ("Turquoise" in Integral Theory)

[@O.G.Rose.Michelle.and.Daniel]

Another extremely impressive video, and I have no encountered anyway who has discussed these different levels with the same depth and clarity as you two have. Very well done!

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks so much, @O.G. Rose! 🙏 We're very pleased to hear that you're able to extract value from our videos! Be well! 🍀

[@jarijansma2207]

Im super grateful for you guys taking the time, embodying these modes for us to learn and reflect. Very important work for the state of integral, as all that needs to happen now, is compassionate pragmatic messengers

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for your kind words, Jari! 🙏 It does indeed appear to be the case that humanity could greatly benefit from a larger group of people inhabiting a more holistic perspective on reality, and relating to each other from a place of greater compassion, so we can collaborate to constructively tackle the greatest challenges that we face as a species. Thanks for watching and sharing your reflections! 🙏

[@Wildpower2012]

I appreciate this video and the one about Coral and beyond. I would like to share my experience. I lived in and as Turquoise in over one and a half years 2017-mid 2019. It was resembling what you describe but some things you mention were not present at all. In this stage I was definitely going towards simplicity and a sort of organically self emerging minimalism with immense presence and delight in the smallest and most mundane and basic. Delight in any state - chaos, noise, what prior was perceived as ugly or disturbing or evil or low was immensely beautiful and lovable and relatable and communed and empathed with. There was an ever presence of trust and bliss and confidence within all unknowns and within threats and challenges. There was an everpresence of communion and love with everything and everyone and even the possibility of communicating with anything and anyone at levels way different than words or body language... plants and animals talked if they wanted and taught if I received it. Places and photos were portals and libraries of information that could be received - or not...nothing mattered yet there was a lot of delight. It was my responsibility to birth and move my stream of love, creation and energy to harmonize and unify and make more coherent the Whole while attending to all aspects that came into my awareness. The mundane smallest things could be extremely transcendent and bliss-filling. Body was very unified with mind and with soul and with Whole of world and all realms and "other" and cosmos but cosmos was not interesting - the simple here and now and bringing unified harmony was more. So what was not present was ambition. What was not present was diligence. What was not present was learning and reading - all books and human ideology were long gone....completely irrelevant... visceral organic birthing of the experience of the now was so harmonious that nothing was missing and nothing was grasped for. There was as you said a desire to come together att all levels of spiral and certainly at turquoise level with other turquises to unify and make the whole more coherent but there was no hurry or fear or diligence - just a trusting patient birthing and experiencing. And I want to share what happened. I am not at all in turquoise any more. As you mentioned: Trauma work and shadow work is needed. So this showed up for me. I lost almost everything and everyone you can think of very rapidly - not by their death but by their choice. I did have attachment to the few precious individuals I did call my friends and losing all five of them by them abandoning me for different reasons and within just a few months brought me into my trauma wounds. The world also went into lock downs soon thereafter. Loneliness was extreme and 100%. Not a single living human had any relationship or connection to me when lock downs hit. I was not as accepting towards the turn of events in the world - what was underlying the whole thing was evidently malevolent in my perception - and by deliberate design - I was shocked to see the ignorance and lack of integrity within humanity in how we responded. I fell deeply into pain and started the whole spiral from beginning again in deep childhood trauma work and now I am most of the time in yellow...sometimes a bit colored by green, and now and then dipping down more to other colors. I can easily reach turquoise states for some 5-30 minutes but I am in no hurry nor motivation to do so - I want to be thorough, organic and genuine in my beingness and I have no desire to go fast consciousness - I just really want to do and be benevolent and to unify and whole more. Facing it all and not evading any wound or pain or grief is more important to me now than being free or in a higher state. Sometimes I am a bit confused by this fall from turquoise and wonder if I regressed. I don't know.

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for sharing your story, @Wildpower2012! 🙏 A beautiful description of delighting in the mundane from a perspective of embodied presence! Unfortunate to hear about your experience of loneliness. Are you working on your trauma wounds with a competent professional? Perhaps such an approach might help you to integrate all of the levels of your consciousness into a coherent whole. Wishing you all the best on your journey! 🍀

[@Wildpower2012]

@@practicalintegral4601 Thank you, Yes I am working on my traumas with the guidance of myself. No professional has been able to with any success. Currently some close individuals that I trust can be witnesses and listeners but I hold the process and the container, and I am in charge. Life provides all the triggers day to day. I now see that I almost skipped through yellow prior to getting to turquoise. I think it is very unstable to skip through a stage too fast. I also see that I have very little experience of beige and red but substantial experience and deep understanding of all other stages up until coral. Maybe I need some more of the insights from orange as well. I feel like you need solid understanding of each phase and stage in order to progress in a stable and grounded manner. I have now read about several people who needed to go back into prior stages... doesn't seem that uncommon. It is very difficult to find information and descriptions online on Turquoise and upwards. Some information online about Green seems very contradictory to me. A lot of hate-based individuals and groups are described as Green by many of those who speak and write about Spiral dynamics and Integral theory... and lumped together with others who are Heart-based. I thought Green was Heart based, and grounded in Love and Empathy? Generally - people who speak about (or scream and fight about) tolerance, empathy and love have nothing to do with people who are based in them...

[@JonathanLoganPDX]

Absolutely lovely, expansive and thought provoking! Thank you both.

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for your kind words, Jonathan! 🙏 Much appreciated!

[@Pr13ya]

Just watched this too after watching stage yellow. Thank you so much for creating these discussions! I found it interesting that the construct aware stage is linked to the archetype of the magician - which is a card in the tarot that always feels particularly enchanting when it comes up in a reading. In some ways I find the tarot cards to be very linked to these models - a visual representation of the totality of the human experience. Also, the advice given about learning to let go of wanting to be understood by others, was particularly beautiful.

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for watching and sharing your reflections, Pri5321! 🙏

[@danielbungard7223]

First time I’ve heard a secular profession talk spiritually from logic. Thank you for giving me hope

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for watching, @DanielBungard! 🙏 Much agreed that theoretical frameworks which allow space for both evolution as well as the deeper meaning of existence are very inspiring, indeed! 🍀

[@Stastylen]

What a great series! I listened to the whole first tier, gave me allot new perspectives on the different stages! The idea of seeing the stages in their different contexts was especially helpful! Thank You!

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for watching, @Stastylen! 🙏 Spiral Dynamics can indeed be a great tool to make useful generalizations about complex realities! Wishing you all the best! 🍀

[@leebus99]

What a wonderful video, thank you so much for sharing. This is the first Practical Integral video I have watched, but certainly won't be the last. I am also very interested to learn more about your work. A few years ago I did a Coaching module on my MBA. I loved it, and thought it would be a great career for me to transition in at a later point in my life. I now feel I am approaching that point, but felt I needed to find my Coaching niche/field/specialisation before moving forwards. After learning about Susanne Cook-Greuter, Spiral Dynamics and other related works, it seemed like such a powerful field to be able to understand, harness and use as a Coaching tool - and here you are, doing exactly that! So, if you need a UK based apprentice, let me know! :)

[@practicalintegral4601]

Hi @leebus99, thanks for your kind words! 🙏 Wonderful that you feel drawn to help other people's growth and development! We'll certainly keep you in mind if we hear of any opportunities for you in the UK! Be well! 🍀 P.S: If you're interested, there's an informal Integral event scheduled in Amsterdam in September: integrallife.com/event/integral-gathering-in-amsterdam/

[@leebus99]

@@practicalintegral4601 that looks like a fantastic event. How often do you run those? I need to really get stuck into Integral Theory now, I’ve spent a lot of time on Spiral Dynamics, but think I now need to broaden my knowledge into other models/theories. I must admit though, now I feel I’ve entered this sort of ‘second tier’ of personal development, there’s not nearly enough hours in the day to study everything I’d like to study!

[@practicalintegral4601]

Hi, @leebus99, not often! But Integral Life hosts online sessions, occasionally for free and regularly for paid members... Check out the practice calendar for more information: integrallife.com/calendar/ And, indeed, there's so much to explore and study in life! 🤗 Be well! 🍀

[@sust8n]

Many thanks for discussing the upper stages. Much discussion (online at least, or just in my corner of the world) seems to stop at yellow/teal. Many gems here for me. I particularly appreciated your "un-naming" practice, which I had already been doing without having a name for it :)

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks, Steve l! 🙏 Great to hear that you've already developed your own practice of cultivating a beginner's mind!

[@autismfromtheInside]

i feel like some of the 'disasters' mentioned here (e.g. spiritual bypass) are more like traps that keep people from reaching this level. (i.e. that look very similar to turquoise from the outside, and may easily trick the ego into mis-evaluating itself). I recognise precious few people (if any) are firmly rooted in this stage so maybe no-one knows what the down-sides or limitations are if it's taken on to the core. Similarly, I feel as though many of the positive qualities discussed here would be more at home in yellow. acceptance of paradoxes and diversity etc... Is it possible that in an effort to reach out and understand the higher states, we look at them from our own perspective (i.e. through our lens rather than in the light of an entirely new paradigm?) What really stuck tho, was the comment about turquoise being more consciously aware of the full shadow than yellow. It makes perfect sense how yellow can be ignorant of shadow, but I feel as though to be grounded solidly in turquoise would require a level of transparency of self.... seeing all at once the construction of the ego itself....

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for watching, Aspergers from the Inside! 🙏 It seems likely that our Shadow emerges with our awareness of self at the Red stage of development and that our ability to acknowledge and embrace our Shadow increases as we progress through the stages. At the Turquoise stage of development, we indeed become able to perceive our individual self as a construct. Your point about being firmly rooted in Turquoise raises an interesting question, namely: what does it mean to be firmly rooted at the Turquoise stage of development? Does it mean that we continually experience our individual self as a construct? Or does it perhaps mean that we're able to perceive our individual self as a construct at will? 🤔

[@autismfromtheInside]

​@@practicalintegral4601 "able to perceive our individual self as a construct at will" - makes more sense to me. This seems congruent with the idea of leveraging all previous stages. Although to me the words 'easily, naturally, effortlessly' come to mind... 'at will' makes me think of something binary. Some additional thoughts: If I am playing a first-person computer game... am I 'continually experiencing my character as a construct'? Kind of, but at the same time, I can be drawn in and identify with the character and the game's mission and objective. Another possibility tho, may be to literally construct (and re-construct?) our individual self at will... since if you can see it, why can't you change it? Adapt it to suit your situation/environment? Just like knowledge of the spiral can allow a person to adapt their communication and way of thinking (about a particular situation) - I don't fully believe that but it's an interesting idea. Plus it's almost as if as soon as a word is said it suddenly becomes not quite true. Alternatively, what makes you think we will have an 'individual self'? (will that concept even make sense?) [I think the answer is yes, and I've heard writers talk about a 'false self', indicating that it will still be there and visible, just with no illusions of what it means - a little bit like, 'am I a failure if my business fails?' - with the proper perspective these two things (though interconnected) can be decoupled.]

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for sharing your reflections, @@autismfromtheInside! 🙏 Perhaps we can think of construct awareness as a skill that allows us to be aware of our self as a construct, in the same way that we might cultivate a skill that allows us to play a musical instrument? 🤔 The avatar analogy is indeed useful, as it conveys a sense of play. It does appear to be the case that the malleability of our individual self appears to be bounded by certain constraints, similar to the way in which the malleability of our physical body is bounded by constraints. Regarding the continued existence of an individual self at higher levels of development, perhaps we can think of the self as a musical instrument, through which we can manifest creativity, contributing to ever-unfolding reality? 🤔

[@MrNemay]

Thank you so much guys this was truly informative.

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for watching, @MrNemay! 🙏 Wonderful to hear that our presentation was useful to you! Be well! 🍀

[@WanderingVedantist]

Thank you guys for such a thorough explanation! Will we be seeing a video on coral anytime?!

[@practicalintegral4601]

You're welcome, Stakeitup! Thank you for watching! 🙏Most likely, our Coral video will appear sometime within the next 2 weeks...

[@boethius31415]

I found that the Yellow approach of hyper-analyzing the conflicting viewpoints and how they predictably misunderstand one another (on an issue like abortion, for example) became exhausting and felt pointless after a point. I mean, I could have the most detailed intellectual understanding of the dynamics at play, and yet will that understanding serve any purpose or will I be able to use it to persuade anyone to change their mind (if I even cared to do as much)? So for the last year or so I've just started asking myself the basic question "who cares?" Does anyone care about my thoughts on any given subject, or would I mainly just be speaking to myself by sharing them all? I have been trying to talk to people (progressive, convservative, centrist, whatever) about topics they find interesting and in a way that's mostly sympathetic to their viewpoint, without feeling the need to change or "upgrade" their viewpoint. I find simply sitting in my body, following my breath, to be very helpful in this. So even if they don't understand where I'm coming from (and often I feel pigeonholed when I try to get someone to understand me) at least I gain some understanding of where they are at, and we can be present with each other for a while. It's like I'm more open to connections wherever they might arise, and to Spirit helping the conversation move along. I'm not sure if this does or does not mark a transition into turquoise, but it certainly feels better than constantly feeling frustrated at someone for not appreciating the full complexity of the issue being discussed!

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for sharing, @Boethius! 🙏 It sounds as if you're consciously creating space to allow people with whom you interact to fully be themselves, regardless of their perspectives on reality. This sounds like a very Integral orientation, indeed! After all, to be able to endure the inevitable tensions which arise between differing worldviews without striving to convert others to our perspective requires a significant level of self-development. In a way, this act of holding space can also be an expression of humility, whereby we recognize that all of our worldviews are continually evolving and that connecting with others beyond differing perspectives celebrates our shared humanity. Thanks for watching! 🙏

[@mulkytool]

People try to make order out of the chaos they think exists. but there isn't any chaos in nature. the attempt to control so much brings us all so much pain and does so much damage, cause we don't really trust reality for some reason. It's like if a leaf thought it wasn't innocent and it could do and control things, like no, nature was in control the whole time bro :)

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for sharing your reflections, Mulkytool! 🙏 Could we not also say that free will is an expression of nature, manifesting itself through evolving organisms? 🤔

[@Consciousnesstransformation]

Missed the most important capacity of Turquoise which is to see the INTELLIGENCE in the universe.

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for sharing your reflection, Consciousness Transformation! 🙏 A great point that, at the Turquoise stage of development, we increasingly experience the universe as a living, intelligent phenomenon! In a sense, we could say that this capacity to acknowledge a greater level of intelligence than our own individual intelligence emerges gradually throughout each of the stages, where, at the Beige stage of development, we acknowledge the intelligence of nature and our own physical body and trust in the wisdom of our survival instincts; at the Purple stage of development, we acknowledge the intelligence of the spirit world and trust in the wisdom of our ancestors and our tribe; at the Red stage of development, we acknowledge the intelligence of a variety of gods and trust in the wisdom of our egoic impulses; at the Blue stage of development, we acknowledge the intelligence of a monotheistic deity and trust in the wisdom of religious authority; at the Orange stage of development, we acknowledge the intelligence of reason and trust in the wisdom of the scientific community; at the Green stage of development, we acknowledge the intelligence of emotion and trust in the wisdom of collective empathy; and, at the Yellow and Turquoise stages of development, we acknowledge the intelligence of the universe as a conscious organism. What are your thoughts on the evolving appreciation of existence's intelligence?

[@commieblock1917]

Turquoise seems to me like a personified embodiment of dialectical-materialistic view on the reality, at least on instinctual level. The "spiritual bypassing" disaster, i believe, is a rejection or inability to accept that reality is wholly material and that any spiritual thing originates from material reality and from our experience with it. I've seen so many wise people, so close to seeing the world for what it truly is, and then ruining it for no reason than "being spiritual and mysterious" is somehow more appropriate than being grounded in material reality.

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for watching, @bledniyman6747! 🙏 This is indeed a common criticism of models like Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory, that they suggest that reality is not strictly a material phenomenon. Have a lovely day! 🍀

[@Daniel777238]

Empathy at stage turquoise becomes a super power at stage green empathy is just a word. It can be quite easy to mistake turquoise for green -- if you haven't had enough turquoise experiences. The mundane aspects are of reality are infact the magical and mystical aspects of reality. Turquoise gets this if anything. Sentient beings come after turquoise.

[@practicalintegral4601]

Agreed, Danny, that higher stages of development enable us to embody deeper levels of compassion! And, indeed, the Turquoise stage of development is much more comfortable with the magical and mystical aspects of reality than the Orange, Green and even Teal stages of development. Thanks for watching! 🙏

[@patrickjade9349]

He seems so blue it’s like he can’t see it

[@practicalintegral4601]

Thanks for watching, @patrickjade9349! 🙏Can you perhaps tell us more about your assessment? Be well! 🍀