Exposure as We Grow Up

I have noticed that there might be an order of exposure to the mentalities and, just perhaps, of some personal development in regard to them.

Kinship-centred behaviours and attitudes are the context of a healthy infancy and early childhood, and then …

Within a couple of years—especially at a school with authoritarian teachers, bullies, cliques and fights—we become acutely aware of the Power-centred mentality, and then …

During adolescence and early adulthood, vocational training and youthful idealism expose us to Cause-centred people and possibilities, and then …

Earning a living and being expected to save for the future brings us in touch with Market-centred people, and then …

Once established in work and with a family, issues like paying taxes, choosing a neighbourhood, and expectations of community contribution, expose us to Community-centred people and pressures, and then …

We may come across or read the work of Perspective-centred people who rationally consider complex social problems and seek to reduce tensions caused by diversity, and then …

Perhaps finally, if our egos have been put in perspective, we recognize that there are wise people around. Perhaps enough wisdom has rubbed off on us that we come, despite ourselves, to accept the validity of a Reality-centred approach, with its emphasis on truth, identity, spirit, imagination and self-mastery: even if it seems too hard.

ClosedSee the picture ►

The axis names and layout of the TET diagram below are explained in the next section.

This order is about exposure—not adoption or mastery of the approaches. It takes most people a long time to understand their own experiences and activities, much less what others are thinking and doing.

The order outlined here is a pure conjecture. The chaotic movements on the chart are not immediately suggestive of any natural progression. The idea for this analysis only emerged during efforts to comprehend the evolutionary order claimed in Spiral Dynamics.

If this order were inevitable and led to actual identification and assimilation of the approaches, then it would be the «ontogenetic» (developmental) order. It is noticeable that this hypothetical order of exposure is the same order in Spiral Dynamics (Beck & Cowan, 1996) which is claimed to be an evolutionary development of consciousness i.e. phylogenetic.

ClosedOntogeny and Phylogeny

It is not likely or at least not obvious that order of exposure reflects development (ontogeny). The principle that “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” was a product of 19th century biology. This principle asserts that the development of the individual follows the same path as the development of the species. There are links, to be sure, but modern biology unequivocally attests that it is not strictly true. The similarity noted here raises questions nevertheless.

Originally posted: July 2009