paradox3
Emerging Church: CHAPTER SIX Discussion
Posted on: 10/24/2008 11:08
Hello Everyone! As Arminius requested back on the Chapter 5 thread, I will be summarizing the remaining chapters of Emerging Church for our wondercafé book study.
In Chapter 6, Bruce Sanguin uses Spiral Dynamics to help us answer the question posed by Jesus of Nazareth, “Who do you say that I am?”
For anyone who is following the discussion and does not have a copy of the book, you can download the color insert which illustrates the Spiral Dynamics Value System at: www.woodlakebooks.com/emergingchurch.
Bruce describes the Christ that people at different stages would “know” in this chapter.
Purple – The Tribal Christ
This Christ is the soul of the world, present in the spirits of animals, plants, the earth and the sky. He is the soul of the great ancestors, and obedience to him is the key to communal life together. He answers the prayers of those who are obedient and perform the proper rituals.
Red – The Warrior Christ
Followers of the Red Christ go with him into battle on behalf of their tribe, nation or belief system. In its most positive expression, following this Christ gives us the energy to fight for what we believe in, and to take a stand. In its most negative expression, it has led to the crusades, the Inquisition, and so on.
Blue – The Traditional Christ, a Divine Scapegoat
As part of a divine plan, God sends his only son to suffer and die on behalf of humanity, modeling sacrifice of self for a future reward. On the positive side, we are encouraged to lead lives of self-sacrificial love. This Christ can be used negatively if we become triumphalistic, and see him as the only truth, or the only way.
Orange – The Modern Demythologized Christ and Christ as CEO
Within this system, Christ is seen as the human one, the teacher of spiritual wisdom. The emphasis is on the flesh-and-blood human being. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a strong movement in the church to “demythologize” Christ. Rudolph Bultmann is a representative scholar of this era. The Jesus Seminar, with its color-coding of the New Testament, extended this demythologizing of Christ.
Achievers at the Orange level are interested in Christ not so much for his spirituality, but rather for what they can learn about his leadership style. In its positive expression, Orange modernist values give us permission to think for ourselves and to realize that we are a center of creative self-expression. In its negative form, the Orange level leaves no room for Spirit, for fear of regressing to Blue (traditionalist) and Red (warrior), which it doesn’t want to be identified with.
Green – The Egalitarian/ Postmodern Christ
The postmodern Christ embraces multiple cultures and downplays the “truth” of any particular religious system. Outcasts, the marginalized and the left-behinds are included. Postmodernism assumes a global, pluralistic and multicultural worldview. The dignity of this level is in its inclusiveness. In its negative expression, followers of the Green Christ are impatient and dismissive of all other value systems.
Yellow – The Integral/ Ecological/ Cosmic Christ
The Yellow Christ encompasses the universe and all cultures as an integrated ecology of systems. This Christ celebrates the radical interconnectedness of all life. This is the cosmic Christ of Paul’s writing, in whom all things are held together. Followers of this Christ are fascinated by the world the new sciences are discovering, and by how this world connects to the core metaphors and narratives of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
The scope of this Christ’s concern and sovereignty is the entire universe. Yet this sovereignty is exercised in a non-coercive, loving manner, so that each creature and every system is free to evolve. The potential downside of this stage is elitist thinking, and impatience with those perceived to be “below” it.
Turquoise – The Mystical Christ
At this level, the world is experienced, not merely conceptualized, as one. All of life is sacred revelation, for those with eyes to see. The Christ of John’s gospel reflects this unitive consciousness. The Turquoise Christ wants his followers to realize their own Christ-like natures. Life is full of synchronicities and convergences that no longer surprise. They simply reflect the radical interconnectedness that is God.
The description of Christ at each stage of Spiral Dynamics takes us halfway through Chapter 6. I will carry on later with the rest of the chapter. For now, here are a couple of questions:
- What new insight does this aspect of Spiral Dynamics offer?
- What color is YOUR Christ?
Comments
bygraceiam
Posted on: 10/24/2008 12:22
Hello parodox3.........God bless you......
I would say I stand out in the turquoise....but have a combination of some of the content of the others colours......God to me is all things....and a mixture of all things.....although I do leave room for openmindedness in all of what God is ......
I believe we would have to combine all colors to have the Divine Christ....
purple....yes but He answers all prayers...
red..........yes we must be warriors for Gods cause
yes enjoy the blessings (rewards) here and the afterlife...
I believe Christ is the Truth, the Way, the Light...but keep an open mind on the path in
the journey ....for God knows our hearts and what direction we are going..which
teaches us the way to God....
orange..as combining with other colours...Christ as human and a teacher.
green...no ..but Christ represents other cultures....He is all things....in a different way....
yellow .....the interconnectedness of all life ...we need the combination of all colours
I believe to grow and evolve....
It is difficult I believe to put Our Christ in certain colour areas....for He is to me a Divine and cant be summed up as the one colour.......
IJL:bg
paradox3
Posted on: 10/24/2008 13:00
Hello Bygraceiam,
Welcome to the chapter six discussion!
Thanks for your description of the positive aspects of the Christ at every stage of spiral dynamics. It is extremely important to remember that this model has every stage containing the previous stages, in addition to transcending them. As Arminius pointed out, this is a natural hierarchy, not a dominant one.
Arminius
Posted on: 10/25/2008 20:42
Congratulations, paradox3, you are doing well as my successor! You are an old hand at book discussions, and you may well attract more attention to this discussion than I. I still have two days before going to hospital, and will write a few replies to your thread before going under the knife.
The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer's art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.
-T.S. Eliot
Yes, paradox3, it is a natural hierarchy, in which each stage contains the previous stage(s) Thus, we do not get beyond the "lower" stages, we transcend and inlude them. This becomes particularly obvious at the top end of the spiral, the Turquoise level, at which stage one becomes the entire spiral, and a servant of the spiral. There is not much glory to this position, just one hell of a lot, pardon me, one heaven of a lot of lowly work.
Ascending to the Turquoise level and attaining our Christ-like nature seems like the highest possible conceit (and that's why no one likes to profess to it :-) But this godly conceit has its price: the lowest possible humility!
Those of you who have attentively read my contributions over the past year or so do, of course, know that the colour of my Christ is Turquoise, but this also means that it contains all stages from Beige to Turquoise, and that I am a servant of the Spiral, and that my most fervent wish and the focus of my thoughts and actions is that everyone evolve up the Spiral and attain their Christ-like nature.
paradox3
Posted on: 10/26/2008 15:16
Hi Arminius,
Do you think that the Christ we follow and our "center of gravity" on the spiral are necessarily the same colour? I have been mulling over this question for the last few days.
On another note, we will miss you at the book study here on wondercafe while you are recovering from surgery. I hope it goes well for you.
Paradox3
Arminius
Posted on: 10/26/2008 18:29
paradox3: I think the colour of the Christ we follow and the colour of our center of gravity may not and need not be the same.
One can, for instance, have a Turquoise type mystical experience of utter unity and at-one-ment, and explain this experience to oneself and others in terms of Yellow, but still be implicated largely in the Green stage. Or one can be Turquoise or Yellow, yet very strongly sympathize with the traditional aspects of Blue, and thus have a "center of gravity" in Blue.
If our center of gravity is "lower" than our colour of Christ, the our center of gravity would obviously reflect the positive aspects of our lower center of gravity.
Arminius
Posted on: 10/26/2008 21:48
Hello again, paradox3, and thank you for your good wishes!
I recently met a professional forester here in B.C., in fact right in our valley, who studied the Spiral Dynamics in California under Don Beck, and last year went to a conference on the Spiral Dynamics in Calfornia. There were 500 participants at that conference, all at the Turquoise or Yellow level, and they resolved to spread the Spiral Dynamics.
He has since been teaching Ken Wilber's Intergrated Theory at local venues, and will lecture on it at our wondercafe.live! here in Lumby on Nov. 7th. I hope to be well enough to attend, and will report on the event. I mentioned our www.wondercafe.ca book discussion to him, and he already looked in on us and might join us as soon as he has bought and read The emerging Church.
stardust
Posted on: 10/26/2008 22:12
Arminius
Posted on: 10/26/2008 22:43
Thanks for Turquoise, stardust, and for the good wishes and prayers!
I just posted a reply on your "where is God?" thread.
paradox3
Posted on: 10/27/2008 20:59
Arminius
Posted on: 10/28/2008 00:45
Hello everyone:
It seems relatively easy to evolve from Orange to Green, and from there on to Yellow and Turquoise. Even if one is a bit hung up on the Orange and Green stages, the innate drive to evolve further is not suppressed at these stages.
The same does not hold true for absolutists of the Blue stage. Some Blue fundamentalists are so convinced of the absolute validity of their stage that they are unable to see beyond it. Mystical experience at that stage reinforces absolutism. Some Blue denominations and sects (ab)use mystical experience to gain converts and keep them glued to their belief system. Not only do such fundamentalist denominations regard their belief system as absolutely right, and everyone else's as absolutely wrong, they regard all those who do not share their belief system to be under the influence of satan, as part of a satanic conspiracy to take over the world.
Bruce does not advise us how to deal with these negative aspects of fundamentalist Blue. Matthew Fox and others say that we should just leave the fundamentalists behind and evolve. This doesn't seem to be a very Turquoise attitude, but what should we do? Love them and accept them as they are? Yes, of course, but the all-inclusivity of Turquoise is not inclusive of the negative aspects of the previous levels. Any wise words out there?
This will be my last entry for a while. Talk to you again in a couple of weeks.
Wishing you an ecstatic slide up the Spiral!
Arminius
Arminius
Posted on: 11/05/2008 18:31
Hello everyone! I'm back, with a sore back, but very well considering the circumstances.
I'll briefly summarize chapters 5 and 6 (from my point of view) before commenting on the chapter 7 thread.
Everyone is born into the Beige stage. Beige spirituality is purely mystical or experiential. There is, as yet, little or no conceptualization. Beige is the blessed stage of early childhood wherein we experience our Divinity, but are not consciously aware of it. Beige is the childhood stage of every individual, society, religion or culture.
Purple is still very mystical, but the mystical experience of Purple is explained and expressed by magical beliefs, which are re-inforced by elaborate rituals. Purple is the stage of tribal or Shamanic religion.
The Red stage is that of the spiritual warrior or warrior/king. Red is still somwhat mystical. Indeed, the legendary heroes of Red--which exist in all religions and cultures--are frequently said to be part man and part god.
The Blue stage represents the Traditional Values System. Blue is authoritarian, hierarchial, traditionalist, law-and-order oriented, purpose driven, and easily polarized into right and wrong. 70% of the world's religions are at the Blue stage. Blue is largely doctrinal or dogmatic, and what little mysticism there is has to conform to doctrine. In Blue, faith has fallen from being experiential to being doctrinal.
Orange represents the Modernist Values System. Orange is rationalistic, scientific, non-mystical and non-spiritual. Some traditional religious values are espoused as "good ideas;" religion turns into secular humanism. Orange is the diametric opposite of Beige, inasmsuch as it is devoid of mystical experience, or regards it as a psychosis. Orange often emerges as a radical reaction against the absolutism of Blue. In its zeal to discard the negative aspects of Blue, Orange tends to either discard spirtuality altogether, or regard it as a human construct.
Green is the Postemodernist Values System. Green is world-centric rather than ethno- or ego-centric. Green embraces ecological concerns, egalitarianism, and pluralism. Green also finds its way back to the original mystical experience of Beige, but conceptualizes Beige through its Postmodernist Values System.
Yellow is the Unitive Stage that deepens and transcendes Green by conceptualizing the Unity of all things: The Unitive State of the Cosmos. Yellow is the conceptualization of Turquoise; Turquoise is the experience of Yellow. Because the pure experience of Turquoise is one of synthesis, the analysis thereof can never fully fathom the experience. That is why Turquoise is the highest and final stage. There is no more movement up the spiral after that, but Turquoise and Yellow enhance and enrich each other and become ever brighter and fuller with the passage of time.
I imagine the eight stages of spirtual evolution as a loop, wherein Turquoise closes the loop. Turquoise is the same as Beige, only that, in the Turquoise stage, we are conceptually or consciously aware of IT--and of what and who we really are. And all the fallacies, errors, misconceptions, trials and tribulations of the intervening stages were necessary to get us there.
Turquoise is the Unitive Consciousness and Experience that Creator and Created are One.
In Unitive Consciousness,
Arminius
paradox3
Posted on: 11/06/2008 07:45
Hello Arminius,
Glad to hear that you are doing well. Thanks for your summary of the stages of spiral dynamics. Along with the stages, it is important to consider the question, "What colour is your Christ?"
Chapter 7 is a short one, with its presentation about the "morphic fields" of congregations.
Chapter 8 introduces Bruce's ideas about leadership, and I will post a summary of it in a few days. It's great to have you back with us.
Arminius
Posted on: 11/06/2008 13:05
Hi paradox3:
My Christ looks much like your avatar: an eight-pointed Turquoise star, illuminated from within by Yellow.
We Christians are obliged to be humble. Many of us don't dare to profess to the "higher" stages for fear of appearing elitist or conceited.
Tier 2, of course, is beyond conceit. It is the highest possible conceit tempered by the deepest possible humility. In medieval Grail lore, the Grail is the Unitive Awareness of Tier 2. Once you get IT, IT gets you, and you become ITS devoted servant and think and act on ITS behalf.
In Unitive Consciousness,
Arminius