This Post is the sixth installment of Part 2 entitled Cycle 3 Life - Stage E - Part 2- 6 Its materials are available to you in two ways. First, as three downloadable files - One for the edited Text material, one for the Visual material and one for Visual examples of persons, events and places that illustrate Stage E life. Second, in the Extended Post below you can read the Text of the Cycle 3 Life - Stage E - Part 2-6 section.
This Post continues to present Part 2 of the The New Pattern for Success seminar series. Part 2 is entitled Mega-Force 1 - World Human Transformation to Living System Life and Work.
You can download the Text of Cycle 3 Life - Stage E - Part 2-6 - Here Download NewPatSuc-Part2-6-Text-032607.pdf
You can download the Visuals of Cycle 3 Life - Stage E - Part 2-6 - Here Download NewPatSuc-Part2-6-Vis-032607.pdf
You can download the Visual examples of persons, events and places at Stage E -Here Download NewPatSuc-Part2-6-HPSStageExamp-032607.pdf
Click on the Continue reading link below to read the Text of Cycle 3 Life - Stage E - Part 2-6 .
I look forward to your Questions, Comments and Suggestions.
John Clayton Caris
For Previous Posts in this Series - Click the Links below
- Series Announcement for New Pattern For Success Seminar
- Introduction for New Pattern for Success Seminar
- Mega-Forces Overview - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 1-1
- The World Human Transformation - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 1-2
- Nature of Living Systems - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 1-3
- The Kondratieff Wave Cycle - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 1-4
- The Demographic Bomb - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 1-5
- The Cataclysmic Confluence - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 1-6
- Make World Human Transformation Visible and Believable - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 2-1
- How a Living System Transforms - New Pattern for Success Seminar - Part 2-2
- Introduction to Living System Psychology - Part 2-3
- Phase 1 Life Intro and Cycle 1 Life - Stages A & B - Part 2-4
- Cycle 2 Life - Stages C & D - Part 2-5
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LIVING SYSTEM LIFE AND WORK -
THE NEW PATTERN FOR SUCCESS
A Series of Presentation/Discussions
To Explore Critical Issues
For Your Life and Your Business
by Dr. John Clayton Caris
Isis Institute
Part 2 - Mega-Force 1 –
World Human Transformation
to Living System Life and Work
Begin Part 2 – 6 – Cycle 3 Life – Stages E & F
Slide 2– Human Psyche Stages through History – View 3
Recall this diagram of psyche stages through history showing the relative importance in world leadership for Stages E and F of Cycle 3 – the last stages of Phase I life – and the emerging Stage A’ – the first stage of a whole new Phase II of life. It shows the most complex period of history – Two transition eras back-to-back and the beginning of a third. Today both Stage E and Stage F are near peak power – Stage F peaking in power and Stage E in the process of decline while both desperately compete for dominance in world affairs today. Both are beginning to be severely challenged by a powerful new stage just emerging, Stage A' - Living System Life and Work that neither can see coming. This diagram is the background for the remainder of the Human Psyche System story we yet have to tell. But, let’s not get ahead of our story.
Now let’s move on to Cycle 3 – The story of how man transcends the absolutism of Stage D – At Stage E becomes independent, goes to materialistic excesses in the West – Then at Stage F becomes collectivist again, consciously discovers the unconscious and pursues relativism that begin to terminate all of Phase I life.
Cycle 3 is the exciting story of Modern Man – From the leap out of Medieval Stage D stagnation to today. Never before in history has so much happened in 1000 years – Never before has so much happened in the lives of leading-edge people as over the last few decades.
Slide 3 – Cycle 3 Descriptors – Western #1
Here is an Overview of Cycle 3.
At Stage E – Western man breaks the Medieval absolutist church dominated pattern and emerges as secular, independent, objective, rational and linear with a mechanistic machine-like concept of life focused on outer world material power, self-interest and worldly advancements. He lives almost totally in the conscious – He is Mental Man – Emotional energy is blocked. He seems to perform well under stress because he denies his emotions and banishes them to the unconscious – Mistakenly believing that they are controlled. He becomes a star individual performer – Apparently in command and control of everything that is Real – That is, what can be seen, measured, manipulated and controlled in the Real world of the physical senses. Being a team player is not his primary motivation. Material matters and selfish self-interest are primary – Human matters are secondary, at best. The big issue is individual independence – and the economic and political power to assure it. The results are the worldly achievements that built what is modern materialistic society.
Then, at Stage F – Western man is shocked by unexpected and unwanted eruptions of emotional energy entering his previously, totally conscious life. He emerges as dependent, subjective, intuitive and non-linear with an anti-mechanistic, social concept of life. This signals that his unconscious is opening. The previously hidden pole of life emerges into the conscious. The perceived nature of life and work begin a profound shift. The previous Good Pole vs. Bad Pole conflicts of all Previous Phase I life begin to break down. Now the Conscious must begin to try to deal simultaneously with both poles of everything. Relativity and the importance of the unconscious in life and work begin. Linear leadership/management begins its confused and tortuous transformation to relativistic/socialistic types. His previous selfish individualism really starts to bother him, but he still does not know how to deal with it.
He emerges as the mirror image opposite of Stage E – Dependent, subjective, intuitive and non-linear with an anti-material social concept of life focused on his inner world and collective political power to act on social programs. He lives with Both unconscious and conscious energies contesting for control. He does not perform well under material world stress – He no longer denies or hides stress – Why? – Because he can’t – He shows emotion and personal sensitivity because he must – His unconscious energy can no longer be blocked or banished –– It must be accepted as part of himself and dealt with.
He is not a star individual performer in worldly affairs – He appears weak and indecisive to those still dominant at Stage E. Human matters are now becoming primary, if not dominant – Material matters are now secondary, at best. Accomplishing practical results is not the highest priority. He naturally turns to group membership. The big issues are human affiliation; finding inner understanding, peace, balance and socially driven political action. These are not burning issues for most current corporations. The results of Stage F have appeared as modern relativistic, “Politically Correct” socialistic society.
Many mid-age Western leaders are now in this traumatic transition from Stage E to Stage F without being aware of what is happening to them. Some seem almost locked within the transition. They feel and behave “stuck”. They experience their previous materialist drive decreasing and their inner search for human meaning increasing. It can scare the hell out of them – Some deny it to themselves. Others find themselves involved in various inner growth movements and/or protest groups. Still others keep the same outward appearances but are suffering inner turmoil that at times is amorphous. They do not feel right but do not understand why.
Since the late 1700’s, political and economic conflict between Stages E and F has intensified – It fuels most political campaigns in the Western world today. Cycle 3 life is dominated by issues of personal independence vs. dependence, intellectual vs. emotional balance and their consequences in terms of political, legal and material power. The great public debates are at their core about these issues. Persons and groups functioning at Stages E or F see every issue in mirror image opposite ways.
There is even more happening at Cycle 3 that is remarkable. My research indicates that for the first time in the Creator’s Grand Plan, the human psyche splits into two varieties – A Western variety and an Oriental variety. The conscious pattern of Western man at each Cycle 3 stage is the unconscious pattern of Oriental man – and vice-versa. This means that at Stage E, Western man is outwardly focused on the material world and Oriental man is focused on the inner subjective world – And that at Stage F, Western man is focused on the inner subjective world and Oriental man is focused on the outer material world. This hypothesis requires much more research, but I am comfortable in proposing that it is indeed basically valid. It helps us easily answer important questions about the human forces underlying world events over the last 200 years.
Let’s makes sure what I have just said is clear. Western Stage E man focuses on objective, outer world materialism to become economically dominant so he can assure his independence – And then Flip-Flops at Stage F to focus on subjective, inner world humanism where the drive for economic power declines and he seeks for affiliation and dependence. Oriental man also Flip-Flops during Cycle 3, but in the opposite way. At Stage E the Oriental psyche has an inner focus and an outer world materialistic focus at Stage F. Just opposite to Western Man. As Stage F grew in relative importance in human affairs over the last century, the rise of Oriental materialism and economic power and the relative decline of the West’s material power is then no mystery. It is another result of underlying bi-polar mirror-image human psyche patterns of the West relative to the Orient
Steiner is right again – To be a practical person you must understand human life.
We must move on – But let’s look briefly to the future. The Cycle 3 mirror image split will not last. It will be transcended as Stage A’ – Living System Life and Work grows in influence – Neither Western or Oriental power will ultimately dominate the world. The concept of world dominance is becoming obsolete – But most do not see this yet. The reasons why begin to emerge at Phase 2 life. I must wait to discuss that until we learn about Stages E and F in more detail.
Slide 4 – Cycle 3 Descriptors – Western #2
Stage E is really the climax of Phase 1 life. I mean that the underlying pattern of all Phase 1 human life begins to break down with the psyche transformation from Stage E into Stage F. Stage F is preparation – is a bridge – for entry into Phase 2 life and its first stage – Stage A’. I want so badly to make clear to you how important it is for your life and work to understand what is now happening in the world and what is coming next.
At Stage F, the Key Point is the opening up of our unconscious so we can experience it consciously. We have been led to believe that what is Conscious is the most important and practical in our life and work – And what is unconscious is some mysterious, impractical, secondary dimension of our life and work. At Stage F we begin to experience that these conventional beliefs are not true.
Stage F is not really aligned with the underlying pattern of Phase 1 that I discussed in Slide 44 – The “Generalized Separation” of life’s bi-polar opposites. Recall that this separation creates two opposite poles for every dimension of life – The so-called Good pole and the Bad pole as opposites in conflict. Recall that the Good pole is accepted in our conscious as a desirable part of our self and the Bad pole is denied as part of our self, which it is, and is banished to our unconscious where we believe it is gone, which it is not. Recall that its unconscious energy grows and can be projected on other persons so the Bad pole appears to be part of the other person or group – Not part of us as it really is.
Stage F is the beginning of the breaking of the previous splits in mankind. It is about human rebalancing in both the West and Orient to prepare for the greatest leap in human history – The leap to Phase 2 Life – And its Stage A’ – The beginning of Living System Life and Work.
Slide 5 – Cycle 3 Psyche Symbols – Western
Now let’s focus on the Western patterns of Cycle 3. The psyche symbols show the Conscious “Walled Off’ from the Unconscious at Stage E and the psyche opening up to unconscious energy at Stage F.
Slide 6 – Paradigm – Stage E
Note: Slides of Examples of Persons, Places and Events during Cycle 2 Life – Stages E are available in the file – NewPatSuc-Part2-6-HPSStageExampl-022607.pdf
Here is the Stage E Western Paradigm. It emerged from about 800 AD to 1000 AD, entered the Renaissance about 1300 AD and became world leader by 1500 AD in an exciting burst of material world development. The 1st Renaissance learning, art and science, technology, the age of exploration, European nations and empires, and the industrial revolution followed. As usual, this great leap forward into the 1st Renaissance came out of massive chaos and destruction – For example, the 100 Years War and the Black Death of the 14th Century that killed about one-third of European populations.
As we discuss Stage E – Linear System life, please make notes about where in your own life and work you have experienced examples of Stage E human nature – Family, friends, other persons, groups or organizations. Also note the effects of these experiences on you. Identifying your own personal examples of Stage E in parallel with my discussion will help the psyche stages to come alive for you.
We have mentioned keywords for Stage E Behavior – As secular, independent, objective, rational and linear with a mechanistic machine-like concept of life focused on outer world material power, self-interest and worldly advancements. Let’s add competitive, self-serving, legalistic and “Scientized” to what I said. There is sharp separation between what is considered religion and science and between church and government. At Stage E everything is Separate. That is the meaning of independent. Selfless cooperation and open communication are not highly valued. Secrecy is highly valued.
The Stage E learning pattern is called Expectant Learning with a moderate delay and risk of failure. We all went through this type of human rat race to win degrees – Especially graduate degrees. Education process is linear and fragmented into narrow specialties – Mechanistic and reductionist with difficult, but manageable, challenges. School purpose for most is certification to get some type of material payoff.
Bases for Stage E actions are Rational Thought and End-Point Goals. The measure for success is the “Bottom Line Quantity”. Action process is conscious, pragmatic, using objective laws and methods. The purpose for acting is self-interest and winning by survival of the fittest competition. Actions are often taken for personal gain at the expense of the overall system or organization and other individuals.
Stage E psyche disease is Manic/Depressive anxiety and a broad range of neurosis and psychosis. It is the insanity of conscious excess.
Slide 7 – Paradigm Summary – Stage E – Personal
Let’s quickly summarize Western Stage E personal pattern to package our mental image for sharp contrast with Stage F. It reads as a template for many so-called hard driving leaders today.
- Independent, objective, intellectual, rational, quantitative, self-sufficient, selfish,
materialistic and competitive.
- Life is quest for outer world opportunity by manipulating and controlling
nature, resources and people for one’s personal gain.
- Human drive is to get more of everything as measures of self-esteem
and status.
- Science and technology are high segmented and specialistic – Viewed
almost like a new religion.
- Religion is like a separate part of life – And sharply separate from
Science.
- Relationships are patriarchal, obsessed with gender, emotionally
alienated, often for personal advantage.
- Salvation is no longer delayed to the next life – It is to be won in this life
by independence, power and material possessions.
Slide 8 – Descartes #1
For example, an icon of linear thought and science is Rene Descartes, philosopher and mathematician of the early 1600’s. Fritjof Capra in his book, The Turning Point, wrote:
Descartes’ method is analytic. It consists in breaking
up thoughts and problems into pieces and arranging
these in their logical order …
It has become an essential characteristic of modern
thought …
This is a clear example of linear, conscious, machine-like Stage E thought.
Slide 9 – Descartes #2
Then Capra comments on results of Descartes’ conscious method:
Overemphasis on the Cartesian method has led to
fragmentation that is characteristic of … our
General thinking and our academic disciplines …
and attitude of reductionism in science …
… the belief that all aspects of complex phenomena
Can be understood by reducing them to their
Constituent (separate parts)
Capra is right, but he seems not aware that it is the underlying Stage E psyche pattern that is the cause – Cartesian method is inherent in Stage E pattern – It is not some chosen alternative – Persons and groups operating dominantly at Stage E always think and behave is this way.
Slide 10 – Paradigm Summary – Stage E – Collective
The Stage E Collective pattern is the story of conventional leadership, management and organization all around us today. This is the pattern that brought us the material advantages we enjoy, but it no longer works as well as it did. Why? – Because it is no longer aligned with the psyche stage of the most advanced and productive people or with the competitive needs of a collaborative networked business world. It behaves as a closed, inflexible machine with a slow functionally divided autocratic decision process. Today’s world for the leading-edge is aligned with the nature of Living Systems.
Let’s summarize it so we have a sharp mental picture to contrast with what comes at the next two stages. Stage E leadership is by separate functional specialists using command & control administration, a vertical hierarchy headed by a single CEO, a formal chain of command, separated line and staff and authority defined by job position. The German army created the prototype for its modern version in the late 1800’s – Business further developed it.
It runs by RHIP – Rank Has Its Privileges – With information going upward and decisions and commands going downward. Top officers are assumed to have the best overall knowledge and competency and be the best decision makers. This is now open to serious doubt.
Stage E organizes as streamlined versions of Medieval church bureaucracy – Machine-like, technocratic, functionally divided pyramids with formal divisions of power. In fact, today’s executive elite often behave like a secular “priesthood”.
Linear system science is dominant – Almost “Religious”.
Stage E pattern invented a materialistic, technocratic, sovereign nation state society. National self-interest is a burning issue. Nations compete and expand by economic, political and military conflict. The multi-national corporation and nation state/empire are its highest business and political forms.
Slide 11 – Western – Organization
This image says it all about Stage E organization – They all look just like this pyramidal, functionally divided hierarchy. This example is for a university, but it makes no difference. Today, when someone says the word “organization” this picture is what comes to mind. Many today cannot even conceive there is anything different – There is! – And that is where we are going.
Slide 12 – Paradigm Summary – Stage E
Here is a summary of Stage E Western Paradigm organized for your reference. It outlines what has been the most effective pattern for accomplishing practical results but No Longer Is. I paint a brief word picture to complement its words.
Western man at Stage E made the world’s greatest advances and then became unbalanced in the material sense – Some went to such individual power, arrogance, selfishness, greed and finally corruption that great achievements became humanly bankrupt.
Eastern man became unbalanced in the inward, subjective, non-material sense – Some withdrew from the world to the degree that profound inner discoveries were made amidst squalor, social corruption and their work had few applications to man's worldly life.
Stage E is the story of the unbalanced Western blind man in spirit and Oriental crippled man in materialism. That is the story of the first half of Cycle 3.
End of Part 2 – 6
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