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Consciousness can be simply defined as who and what you care about consistently through time. This
becomes the basis of your values—the basis of all decision making. For example, different models of the
world (i.e., different value codes) create different focuses and therefore different problems at different stages of
individual development. Each level of consciousness has a different set of value codes.
The following eight-level format of identifying value codes is merely a single snapshot of the river of life. It is
not intended to be exact nor is it the only way of looking at life; rather it is intended to be a useful photograph
or representation of one way of looking at our current cycle of spiritual development. It is also extremely
important for you to realize that the same level of consciousness that has created your current problems will
not solve them. The only way most people move from one level of consciousness to a higher level is when
their existing problems become too great to stay at that particular level and change becomes an absolute
must. In other words, an individual, community, or society changes consciousness because it is too uncom-
fortable to remain where the individual or group currently sits in their value system (i.e., consciousness).
Clare W. Graves described the dynamic of grow- 8. The search for peace in an incomprehensible world.
ing consciousness in eight levels:
Page 1
THE EIGHT LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
THE VALUE CODES OF HUMANITY
We all go through different levels of consciousness. Initially, our entire focus is only about ourselves—egocentric. All of us are born
egocentric as babies, but through the process of socialization (i.e., dealing with significant problems beyond our ability to solve them
by ourselves) we become ethnocentric. At the ethnocentric level, we begin to care not just about ourselves, but about others as well,
especially those from a small group of people who we think can give us a significant level of pain or pleasure or who we also per-
ceive we need to help us solve our problems (i.e., our mother, father, intimate family, intimate friends). As we graduate beyond this
level, we may extend this influence to all those who share our values, our religion, etc. Eventually, we move to a worldcentric view
where we care about everyone in the world, not just those who have the ability to give us pain or pleasure. Ultimately, we have the
opportunity to move from there to a spirit-centric level, the ultimate level of development in which we feel a connection and caring
for all living things as we see them as interconnected. We feel the energy of that connection continually in our lives.
Primary • Canadian/
This level is driven by human connection, consensus, being egalitarian,
Driving Needs: sharing feelings, caring, and a sense of community. There are close ties to the Netherlands health
____________ care systems
human spirit, values, and community. Individuals at this level explore the
____________ • Greenpeace
inner self and see hierarchy as a problem; they want plurality.
Driving Needs: The drives at this level are for success, strategy, materialism, consumerism, • Wall Street
____________ image, status, and growth; a belief in rational thought that drives • Middle class
____________ everything: analyze and strategize. Science is king. This level • Corporations
____________ perceives the power of hierarchy.
Level 4: Order & the absolute • Catholic Church
Primary At this level there is an authority structure that enforces a code of • Religious Right
Driving Needs: conduct based on absolute principles. Breaking rules equals enormous pain and • Puritan Americans
____________ making rules equals enormous pleasure. The focus is designed to create meaning, • Marines
____________ discipline, traditions, morality, and rules. The focus is living for later. This level is • Singapore
order-driven—i.e., there are rigid rules, structures, and consequences. • Girl Scouts
Page 2
THE EIGHT LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
THE VALUE CODES OF HUMANITY
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES:
While you may move up and down these levels of consciousness, or this dynamic scale of values,
1 based on state or standards, once you have attained a certain level of consciousness it becomes a
permanent capacity. In other words, while your level of consciousness may fluctuate in the
moment, your center of gravity is driven by what you identify yourself with: a power god, an
order in the absolute, a striver-driver/achiever, a socially conscious person, etc.
Human beings go through all these levels in sequence during the course of their development. It
2 is postulated that you cannot skip a level; you must progress through these levels sequentially. At
the same time, however, some individuals will spend a much shorter period of time in one spiral
vs. the next because they become satiated or satisfied and take a more radical leap as they seek a
new level of understanding. These people have the courage to step through new openings and
take the massive action that commits them to a new level of consciousness.
There would be . . .
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 North and South Americans
8 Africans
30 Whites
70 Non-whites
6 people would possess 59% of the world’s wealth (all 6 would be from the United States)
80 would live in substandard housing
The most important group to focus on
70 would be unable to read
developing is not a higher level of devel-
50 would suffer malnutrition
opment; rather it’s the part of society that
1 would have a college education
is at a lower level, as this is the level that
1 would own a computer
has the opportunity to destroy all the rest
Source: The Theory of Everything by Ken Wilber of humanity’s progress.
“What if a malignant version of some fear-laced ‘ism’—‘this Truth is the only Truth and will prevail at
any cost’—suddenly rears its head for conquest and domination? Can the glass fiber infrastructure
of the global village withstand terrorists fighting holy wars or self-righteous crusades?”
—Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change by Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan