Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston

Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston

 

God -- Transcendent and Immanent

Deepak talks with Jean Houston about how narrow viewpoints can restrict our understanding.

"The confirmed materilaist, captive in his own realm of "reality," is ignorante of his deluded state and therefore has no wish nor will to exchange it for the sole Reality, Spirit. He perceives the temporal world as reality, external substance--insofar as he is able to grasp the concept of eternity. He imagines the grossness of sensory experience to be the pure essence of feeling and perception. He fabricates his own standards of morality and behavior and calls them good, irrespective of their inharmory with eternal Divine Law. And he thinks that his ego, his mortal sense of being--with its inflated self-importance as the almighty doer--is the image of his soul as created by God."
 -Paramahansa Yogananda  

Scientism

Unlike the use of the scientific method as only one mode of reaching knowledge, scientism claims that science alone can render truth about the world and reality. Scientism's single-minded adherence to only the empirical, or testable, makes it a strictly scientific worldview, in much the same way that a Protestant fundamentalism that rejects science can be seen as a strictly religious worldview. Scientism sees it necessary to do away with most, if not all, metaphysical, philosophical, and religious claims, as the truths they proclaim cannot be apprehended by the scientific method. In essence, scientism sees science as the absolute and only justifiable access to the truth. This is the essence of the Orange Stage of Consciousness. 

Taking the Orange View

Developmental psychologists have identified numerous features of an individual’s consciousness, such as cognition (what one is aware of), values (what one considers most important), and self-identity (what one identifies with). These features of consciousness develop through recognizable stages, each stage revealing a markedly different understanding of the world.

Described below are eight stages of consciousness as understood through research about the unfolding development of values and self-identity. There are other developmental lines besides the values and self-identity lines selected here; however, these are two of the most important.

Each stage of consciousness is identified with a color, for easy reference. It is important to recognize that these “stages” are not strict levels, like rungs on a ladder. They are more like loosely delineated areas along a spectrum of development. Thus, a stage is more like a probability wave than a concrete level of consciousness.

“We are not our stages; we are not the self who hangs in the balance at this moment in our evolution. We are the activity of this evolution. We compose our stages, and we experience this composing.”

-Robert Kegan, Harvard developmental psychologist

The stages below are divided into egocentric stages (Infrared, Magenta, and Red), ethnocentric (Amber), worldcentric (Orange and Green), and kosmocentric stages (Teal, Turquoise, and Indigo).

The Stages of Consciousness

The Orange Stage of Consciousness

Values: Success and autonomy. Basic theme: Act in your own self interest by playing the
game to win.
What’s important: Progress, prosperity, optimism, and self-reliance; strategy, risk-taking, and
competitiveness; goals, leverage, professional development, and mastery; rationality,
objectivism, demonstrated results, technology, and the power of science; use of the earth’s
resources to spread the abundant “good life”; advance by learning nature’s secrets and seeking
the best solutions

Where seen: The Enlightenment; Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged; Wall Street; emerging middle
classes around the world; colonialism, political gamesmanship; sales and marketing field;
fashion and cosmetics industries; Chambers of Commerce; the Cold War; materialism; Scientism; The
Riviera, Rodeo Drive

Self-Identity:
Main focus: Delivery of results, effectiveness, goals; success within the system
Qualities: Primary elements of adult “conscience” are present, including long-term goals, ability
for self-criticism, and a deeper sense of responsibility. Interested in causes, reasons,
consequences, and the effective use of time; future-oriented and proactive; initiator rather than
pawn of system; blind to subjectivity behind objectivity; feel guilt when not meeting own
standards or goals; behavioral feedback accepted.
How influences others: Provides logical argument, data, experience; makes task/goal-oriented
contractual agreements.

Marilyn Schlitz One Minute Shift | The Next Scientific Revolution

Visionary: Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, PhD

In this one-minute video, Dr. Schlitz explores the possibility that we are now going through the next scientific revolution, one every bit as profound as those created by Copernicus, Darwin, and Einstein.