Worldview LensSpiral Dynamics
Graves' Emergent Cyclical Levels of Existence, popularized as color-coded value systems that emerge in response to life conditions.
The stages, earliest to latest
- Survival BeigeInstinctive survival; food, water, warmth, safety.
- Tribal / Magical PurpleSafety in the tribe; spirits, rituals, ancestors.
- Power / Egocentric RedAssert self, dominate, gain respect now; heroic and impulsive.
- Order / Purpose BlueOne right way set by higher authority; duty, discipline, sacrifice now for reward later.
- Achievement / Strategic OrangeProgress through reason, science, competition and individual success; one objective frame used to win, optimize or explain.
- Communitarian / Egalitarian GreenCommunity, equality, feelings, consensus, ecology.
- Integrative / Systemic YellowThe writer acts from the whole spiral: on a live problem, fits the response to the conditions and value systems involved, flexibly and without needing to convert anyone.
- Holistic TurquoiseGlobal, holistic, experiential unity of all life.
- Coral (emergent) CoralSpeculative next level beyond Turquoise.
Sources
- Graves, C. W. (2005). The Never Ending Quest (ed. Cowan & Todorovic).
- Beck, D. E., & Cowan, C. C. (1996). Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change.
See the stage of anything you read. Worldview Lens is a Chrome extension that reads posts, threads, articles and books through 9 stage models, including this one, and helps you say things so people at any stage can hear them.
Add to Chrome, free How scoring worksStage descriptions are paraphrased summaries for orientation, written for Worldview Lens; they are not the official scoring manuals. Example sentences were written to illustrate each stage.