The quest for consciousness

Borrowed from Tony Robbins' Date With Destiny, and Spiral Dynamics by Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan.

Consciousness can be simply defined as who and what you care about consistently through time.

Quest 1 - Beige - The search for automatic physiological satisfaction - Survival / Instinct Driven
Quest 2 - Purple - The search for a safe mode of living - Tribal Order
Quest 3 - Red - The search for heroic status: power and glory - Power God
Quest 4 - Blue - The search for ultimate peace - Order & The Absolute
Quest 5 - Orange - The search for material pleasure - Striver-Driver / Achiever
Quest 6 - Green - The search for affectionate relations - Socially Conscious
Quest 7 - Yellow - The search for respect of self - Integrated / Flex Flow
Quest 8 - Turquoise - The search for peace in an incomprehensible world - An Awakened Soul

Egocentric - Beige to Red
Ethocentric - Blue to Orange
Worldcentric - Green
Spiritcentric - Yellow to Turquoise

Different parts of the personality may be on different quests. So professionally a person may be orange, red in their private life, and purple on the sports field. Under stress we tend to descend.

This strikes me as very similar to model that Alan Jamieson expounds in Churchless Faith.

Category 1 - Displaced Followers (Purple to Blue)
Category 2 - Reflective Exiles (Blue to Green)
Category 3 - Transitional Explorers (Orange to Green)
Category 4 - Integrated Way-finders (Green to Yellow)

And also to James Fowler's Stages of faith model.
Stage 1 Intuitive-Projective faith - Beige, Purple
Stage 2 Mythic-Literal faith - Purple, Red
Stage 3 Synthetic-Conventional faith - Red, Blue
Stage 4 Individuative-Reflective faith - Blue, Orange
Stage 5 Conjunctive faith - Green, Yellow
Stage 6 Sainthood - Yellow, Turquoise

Some observations to ponder. In quests 1-6 people often perceive others on different quests as the enemy, for example the conservative evangelical church (blue) sees the catholic church (purple), the church growth movement (orange), the prosperity gospel (orange), emerging church movement (green) as the enemies. You just need to surf blog space to see this in comic contrast.

At stage 7 there is recognition that the dynamics through and between the various stages is part of the growing process. Could this be the process of the seals, trumpets and bowls described in the book of revelation.

To relate this to the emergent church, I suspect that it is a Green organization, as would be postmodernism. One of the defining perspectives of Greens is their anti-structure stance which ultimately is self destructive and a Green then has to move to Yellow or remain forever ineffective. So the dynamic between different churches is necessary and we at all stages work in unison to propel each other onwards. The is perfection in the apparent imperfection.

Embarking on the different quests is the heart of discipleship. It is possible to grow. It is possible to grow faster than many imagine. It is possible to grow intentionally. This is the heart of the spiritual disciplines. We have accepted too many glass ceilings and have learned a helplessness that has infected our hearts and souls. We can be different and mature but we must stop looking to the magical to mystically transport us to sainthood. We must inhibit our desire to process skip. We must stop asking God for a free ride and engage with him on the transformation of our lives. For many this will fee like salvation or sanctification by works however the Yellow and Turquoise perspective can see the hand of God and Man intimately interrelated working together.

I'm not broken

Last night, after a good Alexander Technique lesson, it all of a sudden dawned on me that in fact I am not broken and that I don't need fixing. Ahhhhhh. Sound's obvious right but you see I've been told all my life that I am broken and do need fixing. But I now realise it is just not true. ;o)