Slowing Down for the Holidays

Slowing Down for the Holidays

[The Giving Tree]  @ Tallulah's Cafephoto credit: Torley

Okay truth is, I’ve already slowed down. I only posted once last week and I’ll continue to do so until the New Year. I’m sorry I am so delayed in informing you of my holiday dawdling.

For my family, December holds a whole host of celebrations. It is my only brother’s birthday, my father’s birthday, Hanukkah and Christmas. I am Christian by birth, but my husband, Daniel, is Jewish.  And while we have celebrated the holidays together before, this will be our first as husband and wife and in our own home.

For me, December is full of so much merriment, love and family. I am truly thankful.

Whatever you celebrate, I wish you all the love and joy the Holiday season can bring.

How Culture and Consciousness Intertwine

How Culture and Consciousness Intertwine

When it comes to consciousness, there are really two forms that exist, absolute consciousness and relative consciousness.

What is Absolute Consciousness

Absolute consciousness is your moment to moment awareness of everything in the world. I am aware of the computer screen in front of me and the Mulder and Scully Barbie dolls smiling down at me from their shrine on my shelf. I am aware of the snow falling on my skylight and the wind rustling my window panes. All of these things are arising in my pure or absolute awareness.

What is Relative Consciousness

Relative consciousness is how each of us interpret that absolute experience of consciousness. As you know, the interpretations of an experience can vary widely from person to person. What creates these varying interpretations is the developmental stage you are in and the cultural values you hold.

The easiest way to understand these developmental stages is through the names we give them. Jean Gebser, an early 20th century Renaissance man, identified that human consciousness and culture have developed over time through a fluid and hierarchical sequence of stages. He identified that the “mutations” in the way humanity interprets reality have been occurring throughout history and continue today.

The Stages of Culture and Consciousness

Everyone’s relative consciousness is born at stage one and develops in order from there.

  1. Archaic (instinctual)
    In this stage ones consciousness is still barely distinct from their environment. This stage is seen today primarily only in newborn infants.
    Interpretation of an absolute experience of consciousness would be: “I and I alone have this experience.”
  2. Magic (egocentric)
    In this stage ones sense of self is inseparably linked to one’s tribe or clan. This stage is seen today primarily in tribal cultures and in nature-based religions and rituals.
    Interpretation of an absolute experience of consciousness would be: “I and my tribe alone have this experience.”
  3. Mythic (traditional)
    In this stage ones individual identity is expanded to include an entire nation or belief system. This stage is the first time an awareness of soul appears in the self and is characterized by followers of religions that believe in one God.
    Interpretation of an absolute experience of consciousness would be: “This experience was given to my group and my people alone.”
  4. Mental-Rational (modern)
    In this stage ones sense of self is defined by objects outside himself, the material world. This stage arose from scientific rationality and reason which first rose to popularity during the Western Enlightenment.
    Interpretation of an absolute experience of consciousness would be: “This experience and my interpretation of it can be rationalized and explained by material means.”
  5. Pluralistic (postmodern)
    In this stage one sense of self is pluralistic in that the person has the ability to see and appreciate multiple perspectives. This stage emphasizes multiculturalism and egalitarianism and was born of the social and environmental movements of the 60’s.
    Interpretation of an absolute experience of consciousness would be: “This experience is for everyone and everyone’s interpretation of it is valid and equal.”
  6. Integral (post-postmodern)
    In this stage, which is still emerging, human consciousness for the first time is understood to develop through a hierarchical series of distinct stages. This stage emphasizes evolution as the primary value over egalitarianism.
    Interpretation of an absolute experience of consciousness would be: “This experience is for everyone but depending on the person’s developmental stage and their values they will interpret the experience in a different way.”

Don’t Be Put Off By Rankings, They’re Not Always Bad

Our natural inclination as Cultural Creatives to view rankings as judgmental and wrong. Our postmodern values insist that we are all equal and urge us to deny ranking systems, hierarchies and value gradations. We feel elitist to determine that some of us are thinking deeper than others. To hold this viewpoint, however, denies the realities of evolution.

What we do not identify with our flatland “ranking is bad” attitude is that there are two types of judgments. There are those based upon exclusiveness (e.g., this race, class, sex, etc. is superior/inferior) and those based upon inclusiveness. Integral culture and consciousness, while raking other stages of awareness as less evolved, identifies that each previous stage is essential and important for the growth all humans.

In reality, the integral stage of culture and consciousness is the first to hold values that are truly all-embracing and it is my belief that these values are key in constructing an enlightened society.

Black & White Thinking

My Question

I posed this question on Twitter a few days ago:

Wondering why many of us think there are only 2 ways to do things. The right way and the wrong way. When has anything ever been that simple?

photo credit: Kyle May

The Reason I Asked It

I asked this because I was tired of the drone of experts on Twitter. Don’t get me wrong, the medium has great value to meet interesting people but unfortunately your tweet stream can often be full of people pimping their ideas. And their common strategy to garner attention and business is to spout a black or white advice.

My Thoughts on the Polarization of Everything

This, in essence, is what makes Cultural Creatives different from the other culture groups. Unlike Modern or Traditional mindsets, we are conscious that nothing in life is black and white. We see that the world and everything that occurs on it as part of one big system. Everything relates to everything.

There is no right or wrong way, there is only what is true for the individual or business. There are no supposed to’s. Our decisions and recommendations, whether in business or life, are based upon the context of the environment, not upon what was predetermined to be the right way. We are the true strategic thinkers.

The Natural Way the World Works

Cultural Creatives ask five questions to create solutions:

  1. Where do we want to be? (i.e., our ends, outcomes, purposes, goals, holistic vision)
  2. How will we know when we get there? (i.e., the customers’ needs and wants connected into a quantifiable feedback system)
  3. Where are we now? (i.e., today’s issues and problems)
  4. How do we get there? (i.e., close the gap from C to A in a complete holistic way)

and ongoing

  1. What will/may change in your environment in the future?

This way of thinking has been called many names:

  • strategic thinking
  • critical thinking
  • solutions thinking
  • integrative thinking
  • future and forward thinking
  • holistic thinking
  • conscious thinking
  • longer-term thinking
  • high-level thinking

But at its essence, this form of thinking can be boiled down into a science, The Science of Systems Thinking. Systems thinking is a new orientation to thought and the future of business.

Your Thoughts on the Polarization of Everything

Why do you think so many people find it easier to reduce the world into black and white? Right and wrong?

Slowing Down for the Holidays

Watching Culture Evolve: A New Cultural Creative Study To Be Released Soon

Creative Commons License photo credit: anarchosyn
Creative Commons License photo credit: anarchosyn

Wisdom University’s Institute for the Emerging Wisdom Culture, directed by sociologist Dr. Paul H. Ray (one of the original authors of The Cultural Creatives), has almost completed a major new study on America’s Cultural Creatives.

The findings of the study were set to be released in the Summer of 2008…but weren’t. I recently read that a Fall 2008 date was set. Any day now, I guess. I’ve signed up to be notified of the release of the Cultural Creative study and will be sure to write all about the findings.

7 Different Studies Throughout the World

The American study was conducted in conjunction with 6 similar Cultural Creative studies in:

  • France
  • Germany
  • Holland
  • Hungary
  • Italy
  • Japan

Our Name in Lights

The findings of these studies will support a documentary film produced by Taylor Thomson, a Canadian film producer, on how our group is dealing creatively with the global challenges confronting us, especially global warming.

And in Print too

Dr. Paul Ray and Dr. Jim Garrison are also writing a book designed to summarize the current research, support the themes of the documentary film, and explore the historical and cultural implications of CC’s as humans move into an intensely ecological phase of our history.

No doubt, this is a very exciting time for Cultural Creativity.

Slowing Down for the Holidays

How Do You Tame Your Inner Critic?

Innerpreneur Inner Critic

I am my own worst critic. I know that much is true. According to me, nothing I do is good enough.

The Source of My Most Recent Uprising

Last Wednesday I was interviewed by Allie Osmar of The Creative Career, a blog that provides aspiring young Marketers and Communicators with insights into the evolving Creative industry.

During the interview, Allie spoke to me about my experiences emerging from university, working in marketing and my eventual evolution into an innerpreneur.

My First Podcast Interview about My Writing and Work

Before speaking with Allie, I’d never been interviewed for a podcast and I was worried about my ability to convey my ideas clearly (without being able to write and re-write them ad nausem).

After taping the interview with Allie, I was very disappointed in myself. All I could think of was how I could have said more, been more clear, not talked so fast, etc., etc., etc. I was certain I did a terrible job. I thought, I can’t bear to listen to it.

It’s Published – Going Against Mainstream Ideas of Success

This morning, Allie published my interview and the accompanying article, Going Against Mainstream Ideas of Success. It created anxiety in me to read and listen to it but once I did, surprisingly, I thought, “hmm…maybe I wasn’t so bad.” I feel much more confident today than I did the day we taped it.

Listen to the Podcast
Read the Article

Rearing Her Ugly Head Again

So, for now, my inner critic is momentarily silenced. But not really, because as I write this article, I start criticizing again. Just a moment ago, after reading over what I had wrote, I thought of erasing this article entirely.

I am not perfect, nor is my work. I need to accept that. Trouble is, I don’t know how. I know, in part, my ambition and perfectionism helped me to get where I am today but how do I ensure it continues to be a help not a hindrance in my work? What do you do to tame your inner critic?