An Infinite Ladder, Integral Religious Studies, Chapter 6, Dustin DiPerna (original) (raw)
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Integral World: Exploring Theories of Everything
An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber
Dustin DiPerna is founder of Bright Alliance (www.brightalliance.org) and Co-Founder of Synergy Forum (synergyforum.org). He is an entrepreneur, thought leader, group facilitator, and meditation instructor. For the past decade he has been a student of Integral Theory and has practiced in the spiritual lineages of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Dustin received a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and a Master of Liberal Arts degree in Religion from Harvard University. His released his first two books, The Coming Waves and Streams of Wisdom, earlier this year. He lives in California with his wife, Amanda, and daughter, Jaya.
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CHAPTER 8: THE CHRISTIAN LADDER | CHAPTER 9: THE MUSLIM LADDER
The Infinite Ladder: An Introduction to
Integral Religious Studies, Chapter 6
Dustin DiPerna
Preface to Chapter 6: As always when chapters are taken out of the context of an entire book they can be misleading. It is important to note that the following descriptions of altitude (stages of religious orientation) assume a bundle of five major developmental lines that progress at roughly the same pace. The following stage descriptions are best used as a general reference and the reader is urged to refer to the rest of the book (especially the distinction between capacity and expression). As the reader is certainly already familiar developmental lines can and often do progress at varying rates and speeds. The remainder of the book addresses this issue fully.
As a birthright, each and everyone of us has the inherent capacity to develop through the spectrum of conscious proposed in this chapter. All of us find ourselves in a situation that deserves both reverence and gratitude. No longer must one wait until death to live in a heaven or paradise. If there truly is to be a heaven on earth, one place it rests is in both the realization and stabilization of these higher levels of development.[1] As Christ proclaimed �The Kingdom of Heaven is within you�. �Enlightenment,� as some Buddhist and Hindus demand, �is within the reach of every human being in this very lifetime.�
This chapter describes five stages of Religious Orientation. Religious Orientation, as we have hinted, is the way an individual's psychograph effects his or her interpretation of a particular religion. All five of our major developmental lines, cognitive, faith, ego, value, and moral, as reviewed in chapter 4, play a role in the level of orientation a particular individual expresses toward religion.
Hypothesis: Religions themselves are empty vessels, waiting to be filled and interpreted by individuals. Because individuals have varying levels of psychological development, their interpretation and expression of religion is very different. Because individual psychological development progresses in a sequential hierarchical fashion, religious orientation in individuals unfolds in a similar evolutionary pattern.
An Overview
In this chapter we provide a broad overview of five sequential stages of spiritual orientation: magic, mythic, rational, pluralistic, and integral. Using our five developmental lines as a reference points, we demonstrate how each of these religious stepping stones can be correlated to an altitude on our Integral Psychograph.
Each altitude, across each line of intelligence, has somewhat of a similar flavor: Red (Magical/Powerful) tends to be ritualistic, Amber (Mythic/Membership) is absolutistic, Orange (Rational/Reflective) is inquisitive, Green (Pluralistic/Relativistic) is sensitive, and Turquoise (Integral) is comprehensive.
On all of our psychographs, the colored barcode continues along the y-axis beyond what we describe as Turquoise or Integral. This is symbolic of our overall evolutionary model. Many levels of unfolding are to come in the future. As always stages are over our head and out of sight, no matter what level of development we may rest. It is our hope that the stepping stones provided in this chapter will serve as a foundation for future research; research that will indeed transcend our contributions and negate our limitations in years to come.
In all the examples below we indicate the historical time periods in which these modes of awareness tended to dominate. Because development is a process of transcend and include, and precisely because all individuals start at the beginning of the spiral and stop developing at various stages along the way, all of the modes of awareness listed below are still functioning in full force today. In addition to noting the time periods when the modes of awareness were dominant, we also mention the historical era when certain spiritual experiences (state-stages) first began to emerge.
Magical-Powerful
The ritualistic flavor of red altitude
From this altitude we find ourselves around intuitive-projective and mythic-literal faith development. An individual here, leans toward literal interpretation of the scriptures; often focusing on one or two verses or sutras in particular. The individual is overly concerned with power and perhaps the supernatural. Magic individuals value rites and rituals, and may be extremely superstitious. Loevinger's ego development scale marks this altitude with the label self-protective. The individual here avoids punishment and seeks reward. One may even have a tendency to place responsibility and blame outside of oneself. The individual at red altitude would possess pre-conventional or perhaps the beginning stages of conventional morals. He or she would act without much consideration for others. Right and wrong would be constituted more by impulse than authority or reason. Fear of a wrathful deities (or a single God) often keep people at this stage in line.
Historically, this level of religious orientation would have been most dominant in the West prior to the rise of Christianity, especially in earth-centered, pagan religions.[2] Magic Orientation would have also flourished in the animistic tribes of the Middle East prior to unification under the mythic God of Mohamamed.[3] In the East, this form of religious orientation was most prominent prior to the writing of the Upanishads; during this time period in the Hindu tradition many were caught up entirely in the braminical rites and rituals.
The historical spiritual pioneers during these time periods we generically call shamans.[4] These individuals began to access the first state-stages of the gross and early subtle realms. Shamans were some of the first to have profound peak experiences disclosing to them �all sorts of simple, magical, elemental god figures, animistic nature spirits, etc; there was a god of fire, a goddess of wind, a god of volcanoes, a goddess of rain.� [4] These shamans might experience intense amounts of subtle energy or psychic intuition. It was the shaman who first experienced gross communion and gross union.
Mythic-Membership
The absolute flavor of amber altitude
Amber corresponds to synthetic-conventional faith. An individual's ultimate concern begins to shift away from self-gratification and ego-centered drives, toward an emphasis on role and identity. Often an individual at a mythic religious orientation still maintains somewhat literal interpretations of scriptures. The individual at this stage sometimes grows the desire for a personal relationship with God. In Islam, this period allows a deepening of one's submission to Allah. Christians, during this time, feel a drive for true companionship with Jesus. Hindus may be drawn more toward Bhakti Yoga, a practice involving love and devotion to God. At this stage, one's personal faith or set of beliefs provide deep meaning and courage for living. Values are focused on the �truth� and as a result there is an absolutistic sense of right and wrong. The individual at this stage values structure and order. He/she is willing to control impulses in exchange for deferred fulfillment. The individual with mythic religious orientation also values the approval of the group, and is kept in order through feelings of guilt. The individual's own identity extends to that of their group and would be considered a conformist by Loevinger's ego development scale.
At mythic levels, cognitive development has centered around Piaget's concrete operational thinking. The individual has the capacity to think in logical progressions, but in most cases does not reflect about thinking or consider whether their own beliefs systems are in themselves a coherent and logical system. This stage is marked by Kegan's 3rd order �traditional� consciousness. Notice too, amber is generally considered to be an ethno-centric level of development. There is a tendency to associate truth and righteousness to one's own group, ousting the views of others as either wrong, un-religious, or not in line with the one straight path.
The person at the mythic stage lacks a definite capability to think entirely as an individual so morals and a sense of right and wrong are at a conventional level. Often, guidance and ethical judgments are made from some sort of outside authority (i.e. ones group, society, the Church, The Koran, the Vedas, dharma or duty).
Historically, this time period found its peak in the Middle Ages. The authority of the church in the West and its hierarchical structure are perfect representations of this stage. In the East we see this level of function with a strict enforcement of the Hindu caste system and social hierarchy.
Prior to the historical emergence of the mythic level of orientation, when only magical levels of orientation were available, we saw that the most profound spiritual experience, or state-stage, usually occurred with access to the gross and early subtle realms. To these early magic pioneers, �it was not understood that there is One Ground or Archetypal Deity which underlies or substands all manifestation.� [4] Around the mythic time in history however, saints first began to intuit, that perhaps behind the manifold forms of gods and goddesses was an underlying supreme Deity. �One Deity 'that brought forth the gods, for everything came forth form that [One].� [4] Born were monotheism and state experiences of subtle communion and subtle union.
Rational-Reflective
The inquisitive flavor of Orange
Orange altitude hits Fowler's faith development scale around individuative-reflective. Individuals at this level of development begin to questions and examine all of their existing beliefs. They begin to scrutinize the myths they believed without hesitation at an amber altitude, in order to find deeper meaning. For the first time individuals recognize the ability to have their own opinions outside the restrictions allowed by the group or scripture.
Due to the pragmatic and reflective nature of this stage, individuals may become agnostic or atheist, both as a healthy expression of religious orientation during this stage of development.[5] Sometimes an extreme rational orientation taking an atheistic stance may want to destroy all lower levels of religious expression declaring that they are immature and even childish.[6]
At orange altitude, one's value meter has likely developed to strive-drive on Graves' scale. The individual begins to place a strong emphasis on autonomy and independence. The individual begins to recognize the value of the scientific method, evidence, and tired-and-true experience. Democracy and majority rule begin to appeal to the individual as a sufficient means to establish peace and order.
Piaget's formal operational stage allows individuals the cognitive capabilities to reflect upon their own thoughts and beliefs. Not only does one have ideologies, but now one can operate on them. Kegan's fourth order is now onboard. Orange altitude also places us somewhere near Loevinger's Individualist and Kohlberg's post-conventional moral development. The emphasis placed on outside authority begins to retreat. Instead the individual begins to look inward. The moral compass begins to develop within the individual, allowing one to see the deeper principals that rest behind laws and scriptures.
"At this stage, the person's sphere of care and compassion is world-centric for the first time."
At this stage, the person's sphere of care and compassion is world-centric for the first time and the notion of tolerance become cognoscente. As one scholar points out, �tolerance begins when we no longer see a group as other but as a concrete human community with real and ancient values. This cognitive leap is a difficult one, especially when the cultural other happens to be a religious other.�[7] Instead of identifying with others because of race, religion, culture or belief system, the individual begins to see the underlying common connection that we all have as human beings. With this understanding comes the birth of universal human rights.
In the East, this level of orientation is connected with a widespread turning inward and the writing of the Upanishads around 600 BCE. The focus in this era shifted to realization of the divine Absolute Self in Hinduism and a focus on emptiness and Nirvana in Buddhism
We also see this level of orientation emerge in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden age 700-1400 CE. During this time Baghdad was a center for trading, culture, scholarship, and the arts. Muslims, Jews, and Christians all lived together side by side without conflict. Mosques were filled throughout the entire weekend, each group having its respective Sabbath on different days. (Resulting in a division we still have today; Muslim worship on Friday, Jewish Worship on Saturday, and Christian Worship on Sunday.) This revolution of tolerance, cultural infusion, and intellectual scholarship, laid down first as a foundation in the Middle East, paved the way for the European Enlightenment.[8]
The Rational level of orientation gave birth to the modern era in the West. The value spheres of art, morals, science, were all separated and free to pursue their own truths, but it was also due to this orientation that the West experienced the beginning of its spiritual repression. Art, morals, and science progressed, but other than a few efforts (i.e. Deism of Thomas Paine), spiritual development was repressed and confined to a mythic orientation.
Just as the saints, during the emergence of the mythic era first accessed the heights of the subtle realm and recognition of One God, the sages of this period first realized �that even this Archetypal Deity gives way to its prior source in unmanifest emptiness.� [4] This source is often called the Causal, precisely because it is the very ground (cause) of all manifestation. Other names for this emptiness are Godhead, the Dharmakaya, Nirguna Brahman. It is precisely this realization that led the first sages like the Buddha to declare Anatta, there is no separate self; and Lao-tzu to profess the indescribable and unavoidable Way; and Christ to proclaim �I and the Father are one�. Wilber contrasts the state experiences of this Causal realization to that of the prior state-stage of the subtle: �In the Dharmakaya, the causal realm, the path of transcendence goes even further, for the soul no longer communes with that oneness or worships that oneness [as it did in subtle communion] � it becomes that oneness, in a state the Muslim mystics call Supreme Identity.�[4]
Although exact dates are hard to pinpoint, the rational stage of orientation began to solidify and gave way to the next state-stage of spiritual experience. The most advanced practitioners moved beyond causal realization and began to access what the Hindus call Turiyatita, and the Buddhist call One Taste. With this realization comes the recognition that reality, once perceived as full of opposites, is in fact nondual. It is with this initial nondual realization that pioneers of Mahayana Buddhism, like Nagarjuna, declare that Samsara and Nirvana are not two, they recognize, as the Buddhist Heart Sutra states �Form is not other than emptiness; emptiness is not other than form.� Hindus, like Shankara, leave to us beautiful sutras poetically describing this perspective.
This nondual realization brought with it the emergence of Tantric schools in both Hinduism and Buddhism. With this state-stage, the world, which at one point was seen as something to transcend, is now seen as the very vehicle of liberation itself.
Pluralistic-Relativistic
The sensitive flavor of green
Green altitude is somewhere around Fowler's conjunctive faith. The individual begins to realize that things don't have to be black and white. They become comfortable and even embrace paradox. Pluralistic individuals recognize the deep truth that all traditions are simply unique perspectives of the one Ultimate Reality.[9] Pluralism goes beyond the tolerance expressed in the rational stages, to now not only be tolerate but to take actions that fully embrace other religious traditions. Individuals at this pluralistic level begin to recognize the cultural embeddedness of their own religious beliefs. As a result, they begin to search out other spiritual systems. They search not with a desire to convert to those other faiths but in order to take other perspectives; to find out how another's view may be able to supplement their own. They begin to ask questions: What areas of knowledge are missing in my own religious system, do I have any blind spots? Just as red colored spectacles makes the viewer unable to see red, the conjunctive individual begins to examine other traditions to see what his particular set of spectacles may be preventing him from seeing. Religious experience, for the first time is cross-referenced with those experiences described in other world traditions. The pluralistic individual begins to see that the deep structures of these experiences are similar, despite the fact that surface features might appear different.[10]
The individual at green altitude deeply values connection with other people. They value not only community but the unity and equality of all people. With sensitivity to the needs of others, this stage begins to recognize that majority rule and democracy alone can end up imposing a tyranny of the majority on the minority. As a result this level values that everyone has an opportunity to speak and be heard. No decisions are made until all have come to some form of consensus.
This level tends to despise the hierarchy that it noticed in earlier mythic and rational stages, noting how dominating and repressive it tended to be. From this viewpoint, stages of development are disenchanting, it is not right to value one level more than another.[11] It is in this stage that we see a clear confusion between dominating and healthy hierarchies. There is tendency at this stage to abandon hierarchies all together.
Ego development at the pluralistic altitude of religious orientation can range anywhere from autonomous to construct aware. As individuals begin to reach these higher stages of ego development, they develop the desire to go beyond the limits of their own ego.
Historically, pluralism probably came into play in a very few advanced scholars around the time of the Western Enlightenment, but it did not hit mainstream intellectual currents in the West until the 1960s in places like (but certainly not limited to) France and the US. Still today, pluralism, often associated with post-modern thought, stands as one of the most prominent voices in religious studies.
Integral
The comprehensive flavor of Turquoise
At the integral stage of religious orientation we begin to reach into Fowler's universalizing stage of faith. Having taken the perspectives of other religious traditions; having supplemented our beliefs and uprooted them from the limiting perspectives of our own culture, has allowed the individual at turquoise altitude to find a comfortable resting place. Individuals at the integral altitude have found a center within themselves with regard to personal beliefs. The search to find individual truth that begun with ferociousness inquiry of orange, rational religious orientation, now begins to settle as the individual actually begins to rest in and as truth itself. Spiritual state experiences become a regular occurrence. God is seen as both imminent and transcendent, as Self and other. God is recognized from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person point of view. That is, God is seen as I, WE, and IT (see chapter 12). God is seen in part, as the causal ground from which morals, science and art, emerge as the good, the true, and the beautiful.
The Integral stage recognizes that the green altitude served as a filter to neutralize all dominating tendencies. Passing through the pluralistic level, ensures oppressive tendencies do not resurface when healthy, natural hierarchy returns at this stage.
Values have reached upward towards flex-flow and holistic/Global view. Now having a clearer picture of the universe, the individual begins to demand more integrative open systems. They value decision making by consent,[12] rather than majority rule or the time consuming process of consensus. They agree to employ decisions quickly upon suggestion, unless there are substantial objections. The flex-flow nature of this levels allows decisions to be implemented at an astonishing speed, because individuals are aware that course corrections can be made along the way. Integral religious orientation recognizes the importance of both equality and value distinctions. One has a deep desire to make sense of the world, to order it, and to organize the fields of knowledge that previously seemed distraught and separated. The individual is thirsty for knowledge and the experience of other religions, not only to supplement their own understanding, as in the pluralistic stage, but now to organize and help draw clear maps for other travelers to follow. Spirituality is no longer something that can be valued as an object, it is entirely embedded into every moment, making it impossible to avoid.
"Integral religious orientation is unique in that it now has a developmental perspective."
Integral religious orientation is unique in that it now has a developmental perspective. This perspective allows it to embrace all the levels of orientation that have come before it, from magic, to mythic, to rational, to pluralistic. Integral religious orientation understands that the levels themselves are the very foundation that support the higher stages. Without these lower levels of development, integral levels and higher would not be possible. Trying to get rid of the lower levels of orientation would be like committing a slow but certain suicide. In fact, not only should lower levels not be destroyed, they should be embraced in agape and nurtured. It is by way of these levels that the integral thinkers of tomorrow will blossom.
At turquoise altitude moral development has reached to the further limits of Kohlberg's post-conventional stages. Moral judgments have moved beyond those of the previous pluralistic stage where decisions are made considering the greatest good for the greatest number. At an integral level, decisions are made based on the greatest good for the greatest span and the greatest depth. Here depth represents the ability to take a developmental perspective. The higher development has reached in altitude the greater the depth and the more weight it is given. Integral awareness takes both span and depth into consideration when making ethical decisions.
Cognitive development has expanded to Wilber's vision logic and Kegan's 5th order of consciousness. All perspectives are taken into consideration without privileging any single viewpoint. This allows a clearer picture of the whole to emerge.
Turquoise ego development falls around what Cook-Greuter dubs unitive or ego aware. The individual is no longer restricted to their own individual ego. There is a spaciousness that allows them to effortlessly glide between multiple perspectives and states of consciousness. To quote Cook-Greuter: �Though [individuals] at the Unitive stage are aware of themselves as separate and unique embodiments, they also identify with all other living beings. The separation of self from others is experienced as an illusion�� [13] The experience of an individual's I-am-ness is recognized and felt as the same I-am-ness that exists within every other living creature; an I am-ness that smiles softly back in bliss every time it is recognized and acknowledged.
Historically, we see Integral ideas presented in a few sparse thinkers of the 1900s. Philosophers from Gebser to Aurobindo to Wilber, doing their very best to integrate the great contributions from east and west, north and south. Integral religious orientation is today at the leading edge of awareness, and is being actively engaged at places like the Integral Institute and Integral Spiritual Center.
No Pigeon Holing Allowed!
It is not our intention for the stages of religious orientation to be used to pigeon hole an individual to a particular altitude. Nor should lower altitudes be looked down upon, in any sort of condescending fashion. As Wilber emphasizes, it is the right of every individual to stop at any level of development he chooses. Outlining each rung on the ladder can help individuals become as healthy as possible at whatever stage they might currently rest. It is not our job to point out where other individuals fall short. Perhaps, if presented with an outline like the one above, individuals, on their own accord, will work at consciously developing through the stages.
Most importantly, these distinctions are made in order provide space and clarity so that a clearer picture of our world can be perceived. All levels serve as crucial elements to the health of the whole system. Infections forced upon lower levels only hurt the higher stages that use them as a foundation.
A proper sketch of religious orientation allows us to make clear and accurate assessments of people and situations. Understanding that the stepping stones in each tradition are, at least in part, constructed by human psychological development, provides a platform on which we can all build and relate. If we hope to have a more compassionate and inclusive world, then these stages of religious orientation must be made known to all of the world's religious traditions. If the traditions themselves help to usher people through levels of psychological development, they are ultimately encouraging individuals to develop to higher levels of compassion and embrace. Our religious traditions hold the key to this progress. Making the path clear and acknowledging each level of religious orientation as valid and authentic, will remove the stigma and resistance currently surrounding the transcendence of mythic religious orientation in several of our world's traditions.
Although this book limits its analysis to only four traditions, the stepping stones themselves are universal. Because the stages of religious orientation are inherent to humans and are not culturally dependent, one can just as easily find the same levels of orientation in other traditions. Moving forward it may benefit the reader to also consider how each altitude might unfold in Baha'i, in Judaism, in Taoism, and in Confucianism, in addition to the four traditions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism) outlined in section 3.
REFERENCES
[1] It is in both the realization of these stages of consciousness in combination with the states of consciousness that one becomes fully immersed in an evolving enlightenment; reaching new heights of fullness with each emergent stage of evolution.
[2] This is not to say that pagan religions are all magic. They certainly are not. Pagan religions, like all others, can be filled up by any level of awareness. Nonetheless, the pagan religions as expressed by these early practitioners did indeed fit our criteria for magical-powerful.
[3] The same logic used in note 2 above also applies to animistic religions. That is, not all animistic religions are automatically magic. Animistic religions too are open systems expressed through particular psychographs.
Regarding the shift from magic to mythic in the Middle East, the focus away from tribal warfare, magic spells, and religion based solely on bloodlines and kin spirits was transcended when individuals could unite under a common �structure�. The mythic framework and many monotheistic religions provided the very structure that allowed people to unite under belief rather than blood. This was both an intellectual and cultural advancement. However, Because development is an individual affair, tribal clans still exist in many parts of world today, similar to the way they existed prior to Judaism, Christianity, Islam or any other tradition that entered the scene through a mythic lens. Just because a new structure of consciousness is available, does not imply that all individuals automatically developed to that level of religious orientation in order to fill it up.
[4] Wilber, Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution, Theosophical Publishing House. Wheaton, Illinois. Quest books, 1996 [1981].
[5] Wilber, Integral Spirituality : A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World, 1st ed ed., Boston: Integral Books, 2006.
[6] This point of view is represented by scientific reductionists, psychologists like Freud, social theorists like Marx, and even contemporary writers like Sam Harris who promote �The End of Faith� altogether, due to the fact that they lack sufficient understanding about development. We cannot rid ourselves of mythic religion any more than we can get rid of having to be 12 years old at some point along life's path.
[7] Sachedina, The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism, New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
[8] The Western Enlightenment was ripe and ready to explode. The rational level consciousness imported from the Middle East provided the West just the boost it needed to take off. Because the foundation had already been laid, this level of awareness unfolded at a much more rapid pace in the West than in the Middle East. As growth continued, the Western intellectuals tried to impose their complete rejection of religion on the Muslim world. In light of the economic and social problems already being faced by the Muslims at the time, this additional pressure forced many in the Muslim world to regress to strictly mythic forms of Islam. Just as were the European intellectuals, Islam was faced with a false choice: Abandon religion and progress or maintain religion and remain stuck in a pre-modern mindset. The refusal to abandon Islam in the face of Western rational pressure caused what appeared to be a world wide declaration that Allah would forever be frozen at mythic levels. Still today we see this strict adherence to traditional Islam, with undertones of distrust for the West. In choosing Allah, over modernization, the rational stages that were beginning to emerge organically were almost completely destroyed. This book is an attempt to show that Islam and Modernization can exist side by side. There is indeed a mythic Islam, but also a rational Islam, a pluralistic Islam, and an integral Islam.
[9] One analogy that is often used is that of a mountain. Religious traditions all begin at different sides at the base of the mountain. As a result, all the paths up the mountain look different. However, all paths culminate at the top of the mountain at their one goal; God/Godhead.
A critique of this mountain analogy has been made. The idea is that if we are all travelers up the mountain, how do we even know that we are on the same mountain. What if I'm on a mountain in the Himalayas and you are on a mountain in the Alps. The rebuttal to this argument is normally something along the lines of �with the experience of the mystic, union with god, you actually have the view of the top of the mountain and can see that in fact you are all on the same mountain�. Until we are able to prove the reality of the single mountain analogy through personal experience, it is left to trust and faith that we are all on the same mountain.
[10] We discuss this phenomenon in detail in Appendix 1, in our description of spiritual experience. We see, deep structures are similar, but surface features vary depending on the individual's psychograph and the culture in which the person is embedded. For example, when we discuss subtle realm experiences, a Christian may see Jesus, a Hindu might see Krishna. Both are equally valid expressions of subtle expierience (deep structure) but vary greatly in surface feature (Jesus vs Krishna).
[11] This lack of hierarchy and lack of value judgments, means that everything is equally alright. This leaves the level in somewhat of a swamp; unable to make distinctions, judgments, or improvements.
[12] Consent is a term developed by Brian Robertson at Ternary Software. It is a unique form of second tier decision making. Often this form of decision making is associated with a governing system called Holacracy (personal conversation).
[13] Cook-Greuter, Susanne. A Detailed Description of the Development of Nine Stages in Ego development Theory. 2005. (manuscript)