Beige Vmeme to Purple Vmeme
Beige Vmeme - Survival to Purple Vmeme - Kinship and Magic
Spiral Dynamics, a study in the development of human value systems, begins with the idea that there are primary worldviews from which we operate (called "memes"). Each worldview represents a set of values that translates into a point of view and a set of behaviors that are identifiable ("Vmemes")." Each world view evolves from the one before - dealing with problems the previous worldview created, and then creating new problems that push people on to the next stage. In addition, the spiral evolves between the two poles of me and we.
The Spiral begins where all evolution begins, with basic survival. This is called the beige stage, and here people are simply concerned about the basic necessities of life. It's all about ME and my primal needs. There really is no group or culture yet. This also represents the earliest stage of human evolution.
At some point people realized that it was easier to survive in a group rather than by themselves. Thus the purple stage evolved, called the tribal state. This is the first swing to WE, because we can take care of ourselves and each other, much better than me alone. However, it's only about the WE that I am a part of - my tribe. Other groups that are not part of my WE are generally considered hostile strangers. There also develops a great deal of awareness of the mystery of the life in which we live. So this shows up as a profound sense of the spiritual in everything in the world. In primitive homo-sapiens, this became the reverence of the spirits in animals and mountains, etc.
Here at the Center for Spiritual Living, we have a great deal of purple in our community life. This is what attracted us to the community - when we were looking for a group of like-minded people - our tribe, so to speak. We have a deep respect and reverence for the natural world, and while we don't believe that each mountain and animal has its own spirit being, as in the practice called animism, we certain do understand that every being and aspect of the physical world is a place where Spirit is incarnated in a unique way.
The downside to the Purple meme is two-fold. First, when what I think or want is subjugated to what the "elders" have taught. so the weight of tradition can become unbearable. And second, especially in New Thought, there is a great emphasis on the magical, so we can get side-tracked into magical thinking and superstition in our spirituality. This shows up when we start to fear every negative word or thought we have and when we think our prayers and affirmations will somehow create magical results without having to do anything ourselves.
- 1 year ago
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