Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

The Basics of Spiral Dynamics (Nicole Churchill)

Feb 22, 2024

Exploring Spiral Dynamics, the podcast delves into communal living, holistic solutions, and cultural dilemmas. The conversation covers the evolution of consciousness, New Year's resolutions, leadership styles, and the importance of therapy. It also highlights the shift from green to yellow in Spiral Dynamics and the significance of embracing diversity in culture and business.

01:19:11

Episode guests

Nicole Churchill

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Transitioning from green to yellow in Spiral Dynamics signifies a shift towards deeper self-reflection and understanding hierarchies in a sacred order.

Orange in Spiral Dynamics marks the shift towards individualism and scientific rationality, emphasizing progress, capitalism, and scientific truth.

At turquoise stage in Spiral Dynamics, there is a quest for more holistic, elegant solutions to cultivate a new culture through sacrifice for the whole community.

Deep dives

Spiral Dynamics: Exploring Human Development

Spiral dynamics is a model that delves into different stages of human development, from beige to red to blue. Beige represents survival instincts and intuitive connection with nature, while purple introduces magical thinking and community bonding. Red emerges as a rebellion against tribes and focuses on self-expression and boundaries. Blue signifies conformity and a structured society based on rules and moral codes.

Introduction

3min

Exploring Spiral Dynamics Framework

20min

Exploring New Year's Resolutions, Ready-to-Eat Meals, and Expanded Consciousness

4min

Exploring the 'Red' Stage of Development

22min

Exploring Self-Definition, Relationships, and Therapy

5min

Exploring Spiral Dynamics and Leadership Styles

9min

Highlighting the Benefits of Ritual's Essential Multivitamin for Women 18+

2min

Transitioning from Green to Yellow in Spiral Dynamics

13min

Exploring the Significance of Spiral Dynamics in Culture and Business

4min

“Turquoise is looking for how do we bring back the village? How do we live in community again? Why are we living in these separate houses? We're not sharing resources. Everyone on the street has a snowblower, a lawnmower, you know, like the design isn't elegant, it's not an elegant design. And so I think the mind of yellow joins into turquoise and as it has studied systems, it contributes to that and we are looking for more holistic, elegant solutions to give birth to a new culture. It's like we can no longer continue down the path. And at turquoise, we are going to have to sacrifice for the whole.”

For those of you who follow me on Instagram or read my newsletter on Substack, you’ll know that I’ve been quite obsessed with Spiral Dynamics of late, and see it as one way to explain our current cultural and political dilemmas, along with so much of our internalized anxiety. It was first developed by the late professor Clare Graves, who was a contemporary and colleague of Abraham Maslow, and then advanced by professor Don Beck, who worked on post-Apartheid South Africa with Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk, and then further pushed by integral philosopher Ken Wilber. Spiral Dynamics can be heady stuff, and so I was thrilled when Nicole Churchill, a wonderfully grounded therapist and expert in Spiral Dynamics, offered to talk through the system with me for the podcast. Nicole and her husband John Churchill, who has also been a guest on Pulling the Thread, studied with Ken Wilber, and both apply it in their therapy work with both individuals and organizations.

If you all end up loving Spiral Dynamics as much as I do, Nicole has offered to come back and explore how she uses it in therapy—please pass this episode on to any friends who you think might enjoy. I’m convinced that there are some keys here that can help us see the world and ourselves more clearly. In the show notes, you’ll find ways to go deeper as well.

MORE FROM NICOLE CHURCHILL:

Nicole’s websites: Samadhi Institute and Karuna Mandela

John Churchill’s episode on Pulling the Thread: “Our Collective Psychological Development”

MORE ON SPIRAL DYNAMICS:

My Substack Newsletter: “Finding Ourselves on the Spiral”

Spiral Dynamics Integral, by Don Beck

Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy, by Ken Wilber

Spiral Dynamics, by Don Beck and Chris Cowan

Trump and a Post-Truth World, by Ken Wilber

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