Spiral Dynamics applied- Raymont Anderson Reverent Irreverence June 2018 LAD

Raymont Anderson Reverent Irreverence June 2018 LAD

In order to effectively apply the concepts of Spiral Dynamics or Integral theory, I must begin with a question, “What is the culture of Centers for Spiritual Living?” I begin with a cultural perspective for two reasons. Being involved in the deaf community / Deaf culture, the LGBTQI community and Gay culture, and the African American culture, I see some of the ways ideas are blocked, dismissed, rejected, or embraced as they are encountered across these lines of culture. For example, in what ways are the cultural experiences of being a White gay Christian man and a Black gay Christian man similar or different. One thing that is interesting is that in the Black community you are typically expected to identify as “Black” first and foremost! You are a BLACK gay man not a GAY black man. These kinds of cultural and community nuances greatly impact the manner in which we connect, evolve, and grow.

I also believe I must begin with the question of culture because the manner in which the CSL community shows up is in many ways less structured or should I say less dogmatic than our more fundamental brothers and sisters of the Abrahamic religious traditions for example. To clarify, a first-time visitor going to several different centers could very easily have a completely different experience of service. Not just in the order or structure of the service but the manner in which the philosophy is conveyed or taught. There are some, who quote Holmes and the Science of Mind textbook like others quote the Bible. It is the inerrant word of God. And there are others who quote from such a vast array of sources that if you aren’t well versed in the teachings, you could miss that it is a Religious Science / Science of Mind based Center. All of this affects the culture of the movement as does the schism between those who seek more social activism and involvement in social justice and those who see it as contradictory to the teachings. A recent debate I noticed on Facebook with Rev. CC Coltraine and a gentleman about the current events and state of the union is evidence of this as the man blasted, criticized, and insulted her for her position on social justice and activism stating it is counter what New Thought teaches.  All of this and more create and are creating the culture of CSL.

If Integral theory and Spiral Dynamics is to successfully or effectively be applied to all things CSL (Leadership council, social activities, classes, and service), then I have to bear in mind the cultural adaptations I must do my best to make. All the while knowing that I, by myself cannot make all of the necessary connections any more than an E.R. doctor can resolve all of the emergencies in a hospital E.R. that is in code black.

As I worked through the book, and the eight basic levels, I did my best to screen it through my inquiry which is based on the following comment by Rev. Thresher.

“In the modern myth, the individual is no longer bound to serve a higher authority, but a higher principle.” (3)

What was the myth of CSL that the individual once served and what is the higher principle of CSL that the individual is called to serve today?

Tier 1

    • Tribal/Magic/Impulsive/Symbiotic (Purple)
    • Mythic-Literal/Warrior/Power/Opportunistic/Egocentric (Red)
    • Traditional/Conformist/Mythic/Rule-Role Mind (Amber)
    • Modern/Achiever/Rational (Orange)
    • Postmodern/Pluralist/Individualist (Green)

Tier 2

    • Integrated/Self-Actualized/Integral/Strategist/Autonomous/Systemic (Teal)
    • Paradoxical/Construct-Aware/Magician/Alchemist/Jester/Holy Fool (Turquoise)
    • Unitive/Trans-personal/Ironist (Indigo)

I have also been doing my best to listen and observe differently in order to hear which Quadrant is being expressed within the CSL culture.

Upper left – First person – I

Lower left – Second person – Thou / We

Upper right /Lower right – third person – It / Its

I hear a minister say, “I don’t like focusing on Holmes because he was a racist and sexist and so I don’t quote him and prefer to use other people.

Another minister argues that “it was better in the 70s when I found Religious Science there wasn’t all this talk of separation discussed in the role of diversity and inclusion in CSL and the work of the Diversity Commission.”

Still, others say, “We have no business getting involved in politics, social activism, etc., that is not what we do.”

Noticing which tier and which quadrant I am or another is expressing from can help me to more effectively apply integral theory to my ministry. I can see this being immediately applicable in how to select a Leadership Council (Board of Directors/ Core Council). If I can identify where the individual is coming from in each of the above-mentioned tiers and quadrants, it becomes easier to vet what we are building as a CSL by way of our – who, what, where, why, which and how questions.

Who is expressing the capabilities that are needed in order to demonstrate the vision, mission, and purpose of CSL? Who is expressing the capability to evolve and grow in consciousness of the philosophy?

What are the capabilities just mentioned? What is the rubric or criteria by which these are witnessed or measured?

Where do individuals who are leaders but not best suited for the Leadership Council still lead within the community effectively?

Why is CSL here and doing the work it is doing in the way it is doing it?

Which people can best assist with identifying and implementing which things can be done more effectively, powerfully, with greater impact?

How does the individual and the community get what CSL uniquely offers? How does the CSL individual and Center community continue to evolve, emerge, expand in consciousness and in practice?

Where I am right now, I would implement the following to assist in screening and selecting the various leaders across the CSL terrain.

Job descriptions for the various roles we seek community members to step up and be involved in including all general volunteers as well as the more specific areas such as, Hospitality committee, Youth ministry, and Maintenance / Upkeep (both indoors and the external grounds).

I’d like to also add that in such cases that we may actually hire a contractor or someone to do something like grounds keeping, we would still do so by selecting those who most align with our Center’s vision, mission, purpose. We may seek someone who is more eco-friendly and environmentally responsible in their use of chemicals and pesticides.

In addition to the job descriptions, an interview process would be in place as well. People do not readily identify that they are Tier one red with hints of tier 2 indigo and when angry, quadrant 1. However, as we are engaged in dialogue beyond simple interview questions but actual conversation, we open up and reveal more than we know.

Beyond the basic selection of people and the process for doing so, is the process of offering classes and support that will assist in making the potential harvest of candidates far richer and bountiful. The goal is to have more than enough potential candidates to chose from rather than having to “settle” because there aren’t enough.

In order to have a harvest, there must be a sowing of seeds. In the June Monthly Practitioner Zoom Conference on June 16th, Leadership Council Chair Tracy Brown said that CSL’s Core Competency, looking at what we do well, what we are passionate about and what makes us unique and what the world needs from Centers for Spiritual Living that it cannot get anywhere else is “Spiritual Education.”

Having been a teacher since I was sixteen, I feel a certain affinity to this core competency. Moving forward, I would build a foundational education based ministry that is always ripe with teachable and learnable moments across all tier and quadrant territories.

The Sunday service as a time to fellowship, worth-ship (since we do not worship per se but rather identify that we are celebrating our inherent worth as the Divine), and to engage in spiritual education and enrichment, would be one of the places I would make a few modifications. I do my best to speak (deliver the “sermon”) from a more practical and less “preachy” or theoretical position based upon what I have done or am doing in my life. I would vary how service is structured from time to time. I would include such things as, “Ask the Minister” Sunday, where people can submit questions that will be answered from the pulpit. Making this a less structured, less hierarchical format opens the lines of communication across those varied terrains by giving an open and more relaxed forum to address a wide range of questions to a larger number of people than would be in a single class. I would also have Practitioner Sunday where it is all Practitioner lead. This would also be an intention once a large enough youth program has been built with teens and young adults who are ready and able to serve in this capacity. Encouraging a wide array of the community to be involved in the service in visible ways is also something that I believe is a demonstration of moving across tiers and quadrants. For example, does the center / community have representation from the Deaf, LGBTQIA, African American, Latin X, Middle Eastern, etc. communities? If so, their presence should be celebrated and recognized as well. Not just during PRIDE, Latino American, African American, or Women’s History month, but throughout the year.

During service I would also seek to have a Music Ministry that shares both older more traditional hymns that people may resonate with as well as the more current New Thought music. But why stop there? I would also weave into the musical tapestry other musical arts forms, such Jazz, Indigenous and world music. Anything that represents the community and anything that will nurture the vision, mission and purpose is music I would encourage and desire to have experienced in the community.

Having a facility, a brick and mortar center is ideal for me as it affords greater opportunities to build in the community; however, whatever it is that we are calling our center, I would want the various representations made visible. I know some centers light a candle for the various world religions.  Something like this would be a way of implementing such inclusivity into a service no matter if the center is a building or a space we rent.

While Sunday services are important they are not the only way or even the main way in which we live our vision, mission, and purpose. We do this in all of the other ways we are active and engaging the community. What other programs, classes, and activities are we offering the wide range of community members? What is in place for the socially conscious and the dogmatically driven and everyone and everywhere in between and beyond?

Classes:

I like the TAGS (Talking About God Stuff) idea that Rev. Thresher mentioned that his church offers. Knowing the culture of CSL, I know that there are many who are opposed to the using the term “God,” and at present I wrestle with the choice to use or not to use it. Part of me says use it and offer them the chance to heal and release the old baggage and stories they hold around the term. The other part wonders if the name will offend them enough to discourage them from attending in the first place. I’ve considered a name like TEAMS (Talking Empowering Authentic Maturing Spirituality) where the God stuff would come up but is not directly in the name.

Intro to CSL would be a class where we briefly introduce what CSL is, what it offers, and how the philosophy of SOM can be applied. I see this as a primer for the CSL curriculum; as a peek into what the already established classes can offer.

I would also seek to have the already established curriculum be taught by people who are sensitive to or at least open to the difficult discussions that could arise. For example, when I was teaching “From Whence We Came,” there was a passage written by Emma Curtis Hopkins where she is speaking about the efficacy of Treatment. She says that a prayer was made for a young colored girls’ hair to be straightened (not curly or kinky) and the prayer / treatment was successful. In another place she uses the word kaffir (a South African word equivalent to nigger in our culture). These passages came up around the time of the Philandro Castille murder and sparked a heated debate about what Religious Science / New Thought in general is actually doing about this racist consciousness when we ignore or deny the racism present in the consciousness of the foundation.

Are we able to address the individuals who think magically and believe a treatment to be the equivalent to a magic spell? Are we able to address spiritually the changing culture of Millennials as it relates to Baby Boomers, Gen X, etc. and thus teach them collectively and reach them individually? Is the established curriculum flexible enough to bend and be applicable to the multiple ways people will show up for classes? How might a Deaf Person of Color who is at the Traditional/Conformist/Mythic/Rule-Role Mind (Amber) level differ in an educational setting from a non-Deaf Person of Color, or non-Person of Color yet still Deaf? Just for clarity based upon my understanding and experience within the Deaf community, one thing that might present an interesting learning curve and teachable moment is the idea of “community” within the Deaf community. As a culture they are very connected and supportive around the ideology of Deafness being cultural not pathological and they would find the idea of receiving a treatment to “cure” their Deafness to be offensive!

Since the Foundations class is a prerequisite for many things in CSL, I find this class to be perfect for a new examination or assessment for the center’s ability and effectiveness in speaking the multi-faceted language of the tiers, quadrants, and of diversity. How does the foundation of CSL / SOM apply to an individual at a tribal consciousness or one that is more autonomous?

Rev. Thresher later in the book shows how the teachings of Jesus can be broken down to each of the levels which is an excellent jumping off point because I find that this would need to be done for my ministry and center as well, though not just with the Bible. This would need to be applicable to the Science of Mind textbook and all of the vast interfaith and multi-faith materials as well. Are there books and materials quoted, referenced, used as resources by any of the typically less or under represented individual from the LGBTQIA community, Deaf community, African American or Latin X community? Is don Miguel Ruiz the only non-white person that is so widely referenced supposed to satisfy the “needs” of the entire community where they do not see their faces, their lives, their experiences being represented?

Is this where I find myself invited to bring in the voices and teachings of Rev. Howard Thurman, Rev. Ike, Rev. Johnnie Coleman, Bishop Carlton Pearson, and Bishop Barbara L. King, as possible resources? To introduce them as people that speak to the “Black experience?”

Is this where I bring in Rev. Salvatore Sapienza, Rev. David Ault, and Rev. angel Kyodo Williams to speak to the LGBTQIA experience?

But even here, can I find enough of a mix to make sure the levels of intersectionality are satisfied in meaningful ways that foster the individual’s spiritual education and unfoldment?

My point being, that I see the need for me to consciously, actively, and purposefully be “Open at the Top,” in order to effectively navigate this new and unchartered territory of Integral spirituality within the CSL culture and community.

I plan to work on establishing a kind of new curriculum of sorts that can assist participants in navigating their own mental and emotional terrain. This “supplemental” curriculum would basically coincide with classes to offer additional support and resources beyond the established curriculum and to address specific needs of the individual as they arise. What does the center tell the Baltimore community that is experiencing anything but the Oneness of Spirit as incarnations of Love? What does the philosophy offer a congregant or visitor from a city where economic disparities, educational and social inequalities are blatantly obvious? This visitor, who may be inspired to take a class, whose needs I or the class facilitator may not readily be able to address should receive something in the form of applicable teachings without needing to take 3 additional classes. In this way the classes are a kind of triage where immediate care is given to “stabilize” them per se. This can only be done in an environment that fosters and nurtures open communication across the span of the tiers.

I cannot be of much assistance to the person who sees God anthropomorphically if I do not offer the means or method of transcending and evolving beyond that vantage point of consciousness. Nor can I assist the person who feels that forgiving a person is akin to giving them permission to hurt and abuse them again, if I cannot speak the language that most reaches them.

Activities

Beyond the formal classes and Sunday service are the many other ways we come together in community. Rev. Thresher identified a variety of ways his congregation come together to satisfy the varied quadrants and tier levels. Some of the things he identifies in chapter six that I see myself adopting are things such as:

TAGS: which I previously mentioned. Which he identifies on page 155 as addressing the cognitive, spiritual lines of development, the lower left 2nd person quadrant, the Modern/Achiever/ Post modern/ Pluralist/Integrated/ Self-Actualized levels of development, the gross and subtle states of consciousness, and types being neutral.

What he refers to as the Call to Care, is what I currently place within the scope of the Hospitality committee as one of their roles but would like to see as a combined practitioner and laity driven group, even if this means it is not ultimately under the purview of Hospitality.

As he has outlined:

He goes on to list several things that list the Type as neutral or all. The Women’s book club, however, he has Type: Female. I see my ministry having more Types being addressed in order to meet the needs presented within the culture of each type. Deaf, LGBTQIA, Female, Male, and Person’s of Color being the ones at the top of my list presently. I believe that as these groups/Types gain or develop in their authenticity and transparency they are better able to come together as a community as a whole where they feel included, welcomed, seen, heard, and honored.

Having said all of that, I’d like to revisit the tiers and identify some of the above mentioned information where I see them fitting in my ministry:

Tier 1 [* denotes examples of the supplemental course I mentioned earlier]

    • Tribal/Magic/Impulsive/Symbiotic (Purple)
      • People: Teachers for youth ministry who posses skills with Oral tradition
      • Classes: From Reel to Real*/ The Spiritual Path/Spiritual Mind Treatment/ Power of Your Word/ Creative Process in the Individual/ New Thought Not New Age*
      • Activities: Metaphysical Movie Night/ Cookouts and such gatherings as well as bringing Potluck aspect to other activities such as after service fellowship time.
    • Mythic-Literal/Warrior/Power/Opportunistic/Egocentric (Red)
      • People: Leadership council positions -Treasurer/ Legal representative
      • Classes: Foundations / From Whence We Came (as told from an almost mythic perspective and evolving over the course to the Rationality of the Orange)/ Visioning/ The Essential Ernest Holmes/
      • Activities: Game night/ Sport outings both as spectators and as players
    • Traditional/Conformist/Mythic/Rule-Role Mind (Amber)
      • People: Leadership council positions- treasurer/ Legal representative/ someone well versed in the By-Laws/
      • Classes: Prayer: The Art of Praying From*/ Beyond Limits/ The Spiritual Path/Spiritual Mind Treatment/ The Edinburgh Lectures
      • Activities: Rummage and Garage sales/ AA and NA meetings
    • Modern/Achiever/Rational (Orange)
      • People: A seat on Leadership council/
      • Classes: From Whence We Came/ Exploring Roots/ The Essential Ernest Holmes/ Self-Mastery: The Emergence of the True Self/ Power of Your Word/ Building a Healing Consciousness/ The Edinburgh Lectures
      • Activities: Food and Clothes Banks/ Handy-work around the community (does anyone in the community need assistance with yard work, housekeeping, grocery shopping)
    • Postmodern/Pluralist/Individualist (Green)
      • People: Ministers/ Chair and Vice-Chair on Leadership council/ Chair of the Practitioner core
      • Classes: Building a Healing Consciousness/ Principles of Successful Living/ Self-Mastery: The Emergence of the True Self/ Creative Process in the Individual/
      • Activities: Community oriented activities (Community Visioning, Chamber of Prayer, Social Justice, PRIDE festivals and parade, Women’s March)/ The meetings for the various “Types” (LGBTQI, Women, People of Color, People of a Certain Age [Baby boomers, Y, X, Millennials]/ TAGS or TEAMS (Talking Empowering Authentic Maturing Spirituality)

Tier 2

    • Integrated/Self-Actualized/Integral/Strategist/Autonomous/Systemic (Teal)
      • People: Ministers/ Chaplains/ Practitioners
      • Classes: Treatment and Meditation: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living/ Practical Mysticism/ Open at the Top*
      • Activities: Hospice volunteering/ Home visits/ Prison ministry/ continuation of the Green level activities/ TAGS or TEAMS
    • Paradoxical/Construct-Aware/Magician/Alchemist/Jester/Holy Fool (Turquoise)
      • People: Ideally Ministers/ Chaplains/ Practitioners
      • Classes: From Reel to Real*/ Open at the Top*
      • Activities: Metaphysical Movie Night/ TAGS or TEAMS
    • Unitive/Trans-personal/Ironist (Indigo)
      • People: Ideally Ministers/ Chaplains/ Practitioners who are not “so spiritual that they are no earthly good”
      • Classes: AWTW (A world that works)*
      • Activities: TAGS or TEAMS

In full disclosure, this paper was quite the challenge. Yet it most certainly allowed me the opportunity to see the various parts, levels, states of, and stages of development and consciousness as they not only will show up but can be implemented in ways that will foster an evolving and upward spiraling trajectory. Now that my taste buds have been engaged, I look forward to both the learning and the application of this in my life and ministry.