I propose that the Green stage is where hierarchy is finally seen in a more broad spectrum (which officially solidifies into the four quadrants in the Teal stage), where herarchies are no longer completely linear, and instead appear as a random mishmash of states, stages, quadrants, and lines.  Obviously, at first glance, these seperate elements can't be seen clearly, and it just looks a lot like chaos.  In my understanding, Green is the first stage to see all the good stuff of Integral, but Green folks don't have a clue what to do with this awareness, so they just sit back and enjoy the show, so to speak.  But if there is unhealthy development (shadow) Green stagnates and never looks for patterns in the seeming chaos, and they continue on dilligently watching the show, and muttering to themselves whenever someone wanders in front of the screen and blocks their view :-) 

As far as I see it, while it may appear that shadow Green will refuse to choose between different ideas and actions, it's not because Green is anti-hierarchy, it's because Green doesn't have the ability to see which choice is best.  Green most defnitely has a personal hierarchy (they definitely know what they like and don't like), but they are also willing to admit that their own idea of hierarchy may not be the be all end all, and are open to other perspectives on the matter.

So mostly Green folks just want to keep watching the world until things start to make sense (congeal into an Integral understanding).  We can help them find that understanding by offering them experiences where they see us using Integral understanding to solve our own problems.  And when they see it working so well for us, they will be likely to try it out themselves.  That's why I say that the world really needs a few good Integral role models in mainstream media.

Also, helping unhealthy people, at any level, means giving them healthy ways to deal with their shadows, because shadows cause contraction, and growth and contraction can't happen simultaniously.  So thats another thing that I see as important to bring into mainstream media (and education, too).  Which is why I'm so happy that Byron Katie's books and website are so popular with middle America (and Holland, too!), since she's working directly with the shadow and helping people get past the unhealthy baggage that's keeping them from growing properly.  So Yay! on that front.

Bicycle!
-Turtle

It is my experience that a person, group, community, organization can be green, teal and turquoise at any given time. We put a lot of emphasis on color-coding people, communities, groups and organizations, but they can be that on any given day or moment. Color coding is a flow, a daily transition through each and all of the color codes. I may be green in some areas, teal in others and turqiouse in other arenas. It is not stagnant.

Green (worldcentric—able to take a 4th-person perspective): Green worldviews are marked by pluralism, or the ability to see that there are multiple ways of seeing reality. If orange sees universal truths ("All men are created equal"), green sees multiple universal truths—different ones for different cultures. Green ethics continue, and radically broaden, the movement to embrace all people. A green statement might read, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, regardless of race, gender, class...." Green ethics have given birth to the civil rights, feminist, and gay rights movements, as well as environmentalism.

The green worldview's multiple perspectives give it room for greater compassion, idealism, and involvement, in its healthy form. Such qualities are seen by organizations such as the Sierra Club, Amnesty International, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Doctors Without Borders. In its unhealthy form green worldviews can lead to extreme relativism, where all beliefs are seen as relative and equally true, which can in turn lead to the nihilism, narcissism, irony, and meaninglessness exhibited by many of today's intellectuals, academics, and trend-setters.... Not to mention another "lost" generation in students.

Teal (worldcentric to kosmocentric—able to take a 4th/5th-person perspective): Teal Altitude marks the beginning of an integral worldview, where pluralism and relativism are transcended and included into a more systematic whole. The teal worldview honors the insights of the green worldview, but places it into a larger context that allows for healthy hierarchies, and healthy value distinctions.

Perhaps most important, a teal worldview begins to see the process of development itself, acknowledging that each one of the previous stages (magenta through green) has an important role to play in the human experience. Teal consciousness sees that each of the previous stages reveals an important truth, and pulls them all together and integrates them without trying to change them to “be more like me,” and without resorting to cultural relativism (“all are equal”).

Teal worldviews do more than just see all points of view (that’s a green worldview)—it can see and honor them, but also critically evaluate them.

Turquoise (kosmocentric—able to take a 5th-person perspective): Turquoise is a mature integral view, one that sees not only healthy hierarchy but also the various quadrants of humans knowledge, expression, and inquiry (at the minimum: I, we, and it). While teal worldviews tend to be secular, turquoise is the first to begin to integrate Spirit as a living force in the world (manifested through any or all of the 3 Faces of God: “I”—the “No self” or “witness” of Buddhism; “we/thou”—the “great other” of Christianity, Judaism, Hindusm, Islam, etc.; or “it”—the “Web of Life” seen in Taoism, Pantheism, etc.).

---

JC
33° 13' N 87° 37' W

Remember, 2nd tier didn't exist when Spiral Dynamics was first born.  This is quite a conundrum.  This means that you can have the perspective of developmental lines and stages and not be 2nd tier.  I really have trouble believing that integrating everything from earlier stages cannot happen until 2nd tier.  Bah!  I say it can easily happen at Orange.  If one at Orange seriously tried to learn AQAL in all it's complexities, (s)he would be able to integrate all the earlier stages, up to the development of Orange.  I think there's thousands of psychologists who understand human development and are themselves Orange or Green, and they help others to integrate their earlier stages, and are as wonderfully integrated as Orange or Green can be.  Where's this "magic" that happens at 2nd tier?  Bah!

It's not too unreasonable to think that a child indoctrinated into AQAL from birth could integrate his earlier stages starting from Amber, if not earlier.  Really.  It will just be concrete-operational in development and understanding, but if he had the right rules (culture) to obey, it could happen.

---

myspace.com/zentaimusic

So, lets teach AQAL theory to everyone!  On a developmentally appropriate level, of course.  The quadrants are particularly simple to grasp, and I know there're already lots of people teaching about the quadrants in schools.  And from what I understand Don Beck's been working to teach developmental theory to a wide range of people in different developmental stages in Palestine and Israel, in an effort to help them create more appropriate policies for thier peoples.

Sure, people may not be able to completely understand or even apply the ideas behind AQAL theory, but that's ok, since they will at least have a firm foundation for Integral growth.  (And really do any of us completely understand or are able to fully apply the AQAL theories?  I certainly don't!  But it's helped me be more wholistic when investigating possibilities and looking for potential solutions to problems.)

Bicycle!
-Turtle
who wants to try teaching AQAL theory in preschools, to kids, parents, and teachers!