This New Way of Thinking Will Solve Global Warming, Terrorism, and Economic Collapse.

Introduction to Integral Thinking: Levels

A Welcome Respite from Rampant Cynicism and Confusion

Our current ways of thinking are simply not complex enough to solve climate change issues, global terrorism, and the interconnected economic reality. So far they have not been sufficient to address the challenge of poverty, nuclear arms proliferation, or multidrug-resistant organisms. There are simply too many factors at play, requiring a whole new order of how we think, not just what we think about.

The amount of information we process on a daily basis is unfathomable to our ancestors even a few generations back. In fact, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has argued that, “Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003.”[1]

Yet there is a new way of thinking emerging that allows us understand complexity in a whole new way. It allows us to make sense of increasing polarization in politics and religion and offers a way to resolve the tension. It successfully integrates science and religion and explains the culture wars. It makes sense of humanity and our place in history. 

This new way of thinking is called the integral view, because it seeks to integrate the best of all ways of thinking while demonstrating when and where different contexts call for different solutions.

The promise of a fully “Integral” worldview is that it provides the insight necessary to understand and tackle personal and systemic issues that otherwise seem completely unmanageable. Fully operating with an integral conscious also unlocks the following latent potentials: 

• Greater compassion and self-awareness.
• A map for personal development and growth.
• Explanation for why some of your friends are excited by your passion, some are neutral, and some are offended.
• Shows how to assess your own strengths, weaknesses, and hidden potentials – making you more productive, abundant, and whole.
• Helps make sense of enlightenment and spiritual awakening.
• Makes organizations run more smoothly, whether for profit, government, or NGOs.
• Redefines success and happiness. 

 

Integral is a theory for everything but not necessarily a theory for everyone. If none of the above points pique your interest, then you should probably stop reading. If they do, the following series lays out five critical elements of one particular brand of integral thinking called AQAL.

The first critical element is often referred to as levels of development. Without understanding levels of development, it will be nearly impossible to proactively respond to climate change problems (regardless of their cause). This understanding is necessary to stop the spread of terrorism and keep our most destructive technologies from falling into the hands of warlords, and it explains why neither capitalism, nor socialism, nor any “ism” alone will solve the economic worries of our times.

The Insights of Developmental Psychologists

The idea of levels of development is backed up by a half century of research in developmental psychology.[2]

Our society has an intrinsic understanding of developmental psychology—children can’t work until they are 14, can’t drive cars until they are 16, and can’t join the military until they are 18 years old. Basically we believe in a certain hierarchy of development even though we might argue the specifics: we know that humans need to develop a respect for rules before driving, and develop the ability to think long term before making rationally informed decisions about their lives. 

But cognition is not the only thing that can develop with the right conditions. The insights of developmental psychologists—from Jane Loevinger to Robert Kegan to Clare Graves to Lawrence Kohlberg to Susanne Cook-Greuter—is that human nature itself is not fixed. There are a variety of independent intelligences that evolve to be more and more complex (just like our cognitive capacity) including our sense of self, our values, and our morals. And while it is common for people to stop developing at a certain age (we usually call this adulthood, even though many do not reach the threshold we expect), it is not necessary. Some people continue to transform throughout their lives—and this is becoming more and more common in societies across the world.

All of the psychologists, philosophers, and researchers who study human development have discovered a similar sequence across cultures and in all the different intelligences. Like a spectrum of light, some will draw their distinctions at different places and call them by different names, but they agree that the overall progression is the same. In AQAL integral theory, this progression is referred to as levels of development.

Don’t Throw Out Those Records, Mom!

I want to make it clear that new levels of development do not oust our old ways, just like a child does not forget how to crawl in order to walk. And it always has crawling to fall back on, so to speak.

In other words, each new level of development builds upon the previous stage. Individuals cannot skip stages just like a tree cannot skip a certain height when growing. Individuals can repress previous stages but they never get rid of them, just like the top of a tree cannot magically float above the ground and get rid of its roots. And when it comes to solving global issues, we will have to draw upon insights from the whole trunk—all the previous levels of development.

Another way to think about human development is like music storage. A record holds less quantity of information than a CD, which holds less quantity than a smart-phone, but the capacity says nothing about the quality of music or the tastes of the listener. In one sense, the smart-phone is “higher” than the record. It has higher storage capacity and is more complex in the fact that it is both storage and it can play what is stored. There is a clear developmental progression that includes more.

Similarly, a person operating from a higher level of development can hold more perspectives than if they are operating from a lower level. They are more complex but this says nothing about their quality or value. They can use the capacity for things they deem good or ill.

Is it better to be more complex? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, depending on the situation. Complex tools allow us to solve complex problems, but are not necessary for the simple ones. As any record collector knows, some records are worth throwing out and some are worth keeping, even if you have a smart-phone.

Exploring the Seven Most Common Levels

The following division of development is the most commonly used.

Infrared – Survival

Magenta – Tribal

Red – Warrior

Amber – Traditional

Orange – Modern

Green – Postmodern

Teal – Integral 

Just like kilometers allow us to measure and compare the distance of a track or the distance to the moon, the idea of using colors is to allow us to create a measuring stick to compare development across different intelligences (cognitive, emotional, kinesthetic, moral, etc.) and in different societies.

Because all of these perspectives exist in our world simultaneously, it is necessary for us to understand the way they are activated to effectively deal with global issues. The easiest way to get a feel for them is to recognize how they show up in our daily lives. 

Are the Following Situations Outlandish or Familiar?

Infrared / Survival: After an attempted identity theft, your bank accounts and credit cards have all been frozen. You have no cash; your pantry and your fridge are empty. 

Magenta / Magical: The person you were going to sublet your room wants to back out last minute—because she had a really bad dream about it.

Red / Egocentric: Your college roommate is coming into town but all they want to do is get drunk.

Amber / Ethnocentric: A friend is bashing your best friend, saying that they are flat-out wrong and delusional because they are a Christian.

Orange / Rational: Your grandparents ask why you spend your free time pursuing passion projects instead of earning more money or getting a higher degree.

Green / Egalitarian: Your romantic partner wants you to keep a strictly vegan diet, but you love cheese.

Success Comes from “Why” Not “What”

Whether or not you agree with any of the perspectives, you are going to get what you want and act in a more loving way by acknowledging people’s emotions and experiences—which are real regardless of their rationality.

Often we disagree about the WHAT—a bad dream, getting drunk, bashing Christians, etc., but we can relate to the underlying WHY—need for safety, desire for self-expression, discipline and discernment.

By connecting to the very real part of you that relates to their WHY, you can begin to understand where everyone is coming from and communicate about the WHAT in a way that is better for everyone involved.

For example, ethnocentric thinking can be a cause of terrorism, yet it is an important and necessary step away from egocentric thinking. The WHY of ethnocentricism can be channeled into unhealthy WHAT of violence to destroy the “other,” or a healthy WHAT of service to save the “other.”

Human Civilization Evolves As Well

These levels of development are reflected in our social structures—moving from tribes to kingdoms to nation-states to democracies to multi-country unions in an ever-increasing embrace of whom we consider “us.” They have emerged over the course of history, expressing themselves in very different ways across different societies—with fits and starts and many regressions.

People can argue about whether or not society or the earth has gotten better or worse over time, but some things are certain: population growth, density, and lifespan have steadily increased across the world, and access to healthcare and education have steadily grown for the average earthling.

Just like personal development, the societal conditions do not always call for the most complex level—imposing a Western, rational, democracy (orange) on a group of people that has not developed a healthy homegrown set of rules and ethnocentric identity (amber) has thus far only prolonged suffering. 

Today’s Problems Call for Complexity

Our old ways of processing information and making meaning of the world are no longer enough. In the past we only had to deal with one or two of these levels at a time; now we are constantly exposed to all of them at once, in our personal lives, on the news, and in massive social movements. 

In the past we were dealing with problems that required insights of just one level of development. Terrorism today is modern technology and weapons in the hands of ego- and ethno- centric thinking and values. Global economies today involve people, companies, and countries operating from completely different rules, logic, and values: from all of the major levels of development. Anticipating and addressing climate issues is a WHAT that requires us to translate motivation to each WHY.

If we hold that we are exclusively right, if we forget that brilliant people can be thinking from any level of development, or we forget to speak to what others care about, our arrogance and ignorance will result in failure. To succeed, we must expand our view. 

Enter Integral thinking, whose basic assumption is that no one can be 100% wrong. But that also means that no one can be 100% right