Introduction 3
Caveat 4
Definitions 5
Introducing the model 6-9
Summary of the circles 10
Thinking/Doing 11-16
Embodying 17-22
Being 23-28
Appendix: Ken Wilbers Model 29
"Peace is not something you can
force on anything or anyone much less upon one's own mind.
It is like trying to quiet the ocean by pressing upon the waves.
Sanity lies in somehow opening to the chaos, allowing anxiety, moving
deeply into the tumult,
diving deeply in the waves, where underneath, within, peace simply is."
-- Gerald May
Introduction
Purpose:
This is by no means a finished paper. It is not even a draft paper.
It is an offering of a set of currently emerging ideas represented for
now on paper by symbols words and diagrams. It is a model
at once conceptual and grounded in experience. I hope to have many wide-ranging
conversations with all the readers of this offering and expect
to explore many wildly diverse responses to it.
The intention in writing this is to fuel the continuing conversation,
exploration, debate, dialogue and discovery in the arena of inner
and outer development and expression in individuals and collectives.
In particular, the intention is to contribute to the ongoing work of
mapping the inner and outer terrain of Collective Intelligence and Spiritual
Wisdom. The hope is that this be a seed crystal which precipitates greater
understanding, coherence and clarity in the language and representation
of this field as a whole system. We can only imagine what new and widely
diverse representations are yet to be manifested vibrant meanings
conveyed in form, image, language, sound, color
Overview of model:
The starting point is Ken Wilbers four-quadrant model for understanding
human consciousness. Over the past year, in our work on Centered On
The Edge, a number of people have referred to this model at different
times. I must confess that I have not read Ken Wilbers description
of the model, and know nothing of his nine levels per quadrant approach
of Integral Philosophy. I have merely borrowed the bare
bonesof the model and have used them as a structure for the purposes
of exploring oneway of mapping the field of collective wisdom.
The vertical and the horizontal axes, and the labels Inner, Outer,
Individual, Collective are retained. With apologies to Ken Wilber,
the meaning assigned to each quadrant diverges, possibly quite significantly
from his original intention. A brief summary of Wilbers intended
meaning (extracted from http://www.worldofkenwilber.com/ ) is attached
in the Appendix to this paper. The new meaning given for the purposes
of this paper is introduced on page 7.
Three concentric circles - Thinking/Doing, Embodying, Being - are added
to the model, superimposed on the four quadrants. The meaning of each
of the circles is introduced on page 8. The paper goes on to describe
in some depth, the delineations these circles convey. If imagined as
a three-dimensional model, rather than as a twodimensional graphic,
the circles would be three horizontal slices in a cone. And the cone
could either be imagined growing up out of the page, with each circle
at a higher level than the one before; or imagined as dropping down
into and below the page, with each circle at a deeper level than the
one before. In any case, the circles are intended to name and describe
three different places in a continuum of development and integration
of the individual and of the collective.
Continua>>>>>
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