Well, I Do Have Green Eyes.

(Please forgive me... as I am going to get all Spiral Dynamics on ya in this post... I promise to make it as painless as possible--if not also a little entertaining)  ; o )

I was eavesdropping on a conversation last night. A turn in the discussion, after catching a few key terms, had me listening intently. I heard the following (or what I can remember the gist of):

"Green has to be anti-development because it is anti-hierarchy. Green cannot see higher or lower, more complex and less complex. Green is totally lost in a sea of sameness. We are all equal to Green. Nothing is better or worse than anything else. Green, therefore, will be found ranting against authourity. You can hear Green, and notice it in how others speak about authourity. Green has 'authourity issues.' They will seek to deny it--authourity--at the expense of the Spiral. For Green the issue is to separate from authourity, vanquish authourity, kill authourity, demean it. Like I said, always at the expense of the well-being of the Spiral."

Immediately after hearing that I was overwhelmed with reflection: Is that true? Is someone speaking out and about authourity automatically designated as Green? Is that a litmus test for determing who is and is not Green? Or is it more complex an issue that that?

What I came to consider as worthy of further contemplation are the following:

1) If Green is anti-hierarchy--against development--then yes, Green will tend to dismiss and deny the virtues of authourity.

However,

2) The criticisms of authourity that Green provides lead the way into Yellow.

This is a subtlety that I feel is often overlooked: that you can be Yellow and criticize authourity, because as you go Yellow you take with you the most vital and trenchant critiques of authourity that have been made at Green. This means that a critique against a particular instance or use of authourity is not itself a litmus test to determine the presence of Green. Yes, it may be. But it is not necessarily the case that someone critical of a specific instance of authouritarianism is Green by fiat.

Much of the virtue of Green is overwhelmed by the rush to get to Yellow in... er... uhm... some select circles. The result is that there may be this abortion of a capacity to skillfully separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to authourity and development. For instance, there is a big difference between someone whose authourity is to make us subservient to their dreams (all in the guise of helping us) and someone whose authourity is to assist us in actualizing our deepest potential. There is a big difference between authourity being used coercively and authourity being this force of attraction that draws us on to some unknown Omega Point of Our own Greater Unfolding. And there is definitely a huge difference between the authourity that comes in the guise of our wanting someone else (some Great Other) to give us all the answers, set all of our direction, define our purpose... grant us our significance... and our trusting that inherent Authourity that we might as well say is synonymous with the Self. Big difference indeed.

TAKE TWO 

I am not sure why this is, but amongst Ken Wilber and certain of his compadres there is a tendency to castigate Green to the point that I feel the greatest gift of Green is vanquished on the Yellow Brick Road of Integral Longings. Maybe it is because Ken Wilber and... er... uhm... Andrew Cohen... and er.... uhm... the other .... so-called Zen Masters and Buddhist Lamas who run unnamed spiritual and meditation centers across America... are themselves in positions of authourity. So maybe there is amongst them a tendency to want to kill what I would call the Green Gift To The Spiral. What is the Green Gift to the Spiral? The ability to finally see through the transparent illusions of authourity and hierarchy (the Queen takes a dump too, ya know... and yes... her shit stinks.... and your Buddhist lama was masturbating to a picture of the recently slimmed-down Anna Nicole Smith this morning before sesshin----ooppppss... sorry, wasn't supposed to say that!).

Now, does Green go too far---way too far in some cases--in its tenacious dismantling and deconstruction of authourity. Hell yes!! Just as Blue and Organe and Red have gone way to f*&in far when an Emergent Gift has been realized. I mean, shit, you get a new toy of consciousness and development and you wear that mother-f'er out, if you know what I mean. of course Green gets extreme. But if you are going to insinuate that because Green is extreme in its 'leveling' tendencies to the point that the Green Gift To the Spiral is completely thrown out, then you, I dare say Mr.? are missing the point.

The point is that Green is supposed to be hyper-critical and hyper-vigilant when it comes to authourity. That is Green's role. That will always be Green's role. And the reason so many 'rights' have been won by Green is because Green has been so god-blasted infurious and persistent in the face of those authourities whose time has come. Green is Mean. Hell yes. And God Bless Green for being so Mean! For because of that tenacity of Spirit that Green is an emergent expression of millions have rights and freedoms that they would not otherwise have.

And finally, if you or anyone else thinks that that same tenacity of spirit is not taken on to Yellow then you don't know Yellow. For Green will always ask "Is authourity in this case serving the Spiral?" If not, then Green is going to go all Mean Green Meme on that particular authourity's ass!!

Perhaps that is why those in positions of authourity need to crush the Green Gift To The Spirial--so that the capacity for critical awareness doesn't grow in their sphere of influence, thereby threatening a position and status that they, themselves--as authourity figures--have perhaps begun to cling to a bit too much.