I am interested in understanding stages from Amber downward better. I read Integral Psychology plus some shorter documents from this website, and I will probably get some more Integral books soon.
Can anyone recommend books or other resources that illustrate the perspectives of Amber and below with real-world examples [EDIT: from around the world ideally] and explore the ideas a little more deeply than general descriptions of the stages? I am interested in this both at the societal and personal scale to understand my own hangups there better but also especially to better understand people I may be interacting with from very different cultures that may be closer to these levels.
I have found it helpful to start at that stage I am now at and to think about what life was like at the stage below that. If I am at Postmodern where there is emphasis on how culture and society influences my beliefs, take away that idea when I go back to Modern where there is objective truth and remember some time or experience when that was important to me. Then take away the idea of objective truth to go back to Traditional, etc.
I have also found it helpful to go to the years in my growing up when I was at each of these early stages. Wilber gives ages when persons today go through each stage in Chart 3A in Integral Psychology. So when I’m looking for an experience when I’m at Traditional, I look at how I saw life when I was 7-12 years old.
A third thought: I believe there are healthy and unhealthy uses of each level/stage. We should distinguish them. When I went through the red stage, I didn’t have to eliminate or extinguish everyone who disagreed with me or got in my way. Yet when we look for examples of people who live their lives at the red level, we too often focus on persons who are bullies or tyrants rather than on persons who go through that stage as a necessary step in growing up.
Thanks for the links, Digital love. This list is a good idea- very informative. It would also be a good idea to create a well designed colorful conceptual diagram for all of the stages with their corresponding laundry list of values. A big poster can be made to allow us to see all of them and study them. I can see Integral Life making them and offering them at a reasonable price.
Thanks again everyone. I have watched some of the videos; if I have time later I might put a few of the outstanding ones in a list here. I have been reading Up From Eden, and that has given me what I was looking for, in case that helps anyone looking for the same thing.