This Post is the seventh installment of Part 2 entitled Cycle 3 Life - Stage F -Part 2-7 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 F life. Second, in the Extended Post below you can read the Text of the Cycle 3 Life - Stage F - Part 2-7 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 F - Part 2-7 - Here Download NewPatSuc-Part2-7-Text-032607.pdf
You can download the Visuals of Cycle 3 Life - Stage F - Part 2-7 - Here Download NewPatSuc-Part2-7-Vis-032607.pdf
You can download the Visual examples of persons, events and places at Stage F -Here Download NewPatSuc-Part2-7-HPSStageExamp-032607.pdf
Click on the Continue reading link below to read the Text of Cycle 3 Life - Stage F - Part 2-7 .
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
- Cycle 3 Life - Stage E Part 2-6
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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 2–7 – Cycle 3 Life – Stage F
Slide 2 – Transformation to Stage F – Relativistic, Socialistic Man
Stage F is the story of the second half of Cycle 3. For the West, it could be called the “Stealth Stage” – It sneaked into influence. Its effects grew to be strong but since they appear in the outer world through the unconscious, they are not taken seriously by Stage E.
It may or may not be a stage you are yet experiencing in your personal life – But it certainly plays a role in today’s leadership crises. For example, angry crowds demonstrating at world business and financial meetings on globalization using non-violent confrontation or employees no longer motivated by end-point goals and material payoffs. Understanding what is psychologically underneath such events is off the radar-screen of Stage E pattern leadership.
Before launching into a point-by-point discussion, I feel it is helpful to paint a brief word picture of what Stage F involves. It is the beginning of the greatest psychological discontinuity in history – No wonder the world and our lives are in such upheaval.
Our human story of Human Psyche System evolution so far is cycles of unbalance – First in one direction and then its correction that ultimately leads to unbalance in the opposite direction. Stage F is more than the story of correcting Stage E excesses – It also begins the Re-Balancing of both the patterns of Western and Oriental man so the cycles of psyche Flip-Flops in life and work Can Stop at the next stage – Stage A’- Living System life.
At Stage F, Leadership and Management become profoundly psychological – New types of intellectual, professional and technical competencies are needed. Unfortunately, conventional psychology is almost totally inadequate to help leaders – But we don’t deal with that today – Our job now is to get the mindset that enables us to see what is needed.
Stage F enables the re-balancing of man by re-opening the unconscious so we can experience it in our conscious without being overwhelmed by it – As happened at early stages. Therefore, we can be consciously aware of both poles of everything in life. This is the beginning of seeing a balanced relativity of opposites – Rather than being certain that one pole, like Order, is good and the opposite pole, like Chaos, is bad – We can see that both poles are needed in some relative balance in our life and work depending on the situation.
Ah-Ha!– Here we have one of the key results of Stage F psyche that drives many leaders today almost crazy – It is the “Situational Ethic” – It is rejecting absolute Good and Bad – It is beginning to believe that what is good or bad or what is best depends upon the situation.
This viewpoint is the beginning of the end of projecting disagreement, anger, hatred and conflict out of the unconscious on to other persons and groups. The results are profound – People have less and less desire to fight. For example, there has been a continuous and significant rise in the amount of psyche disorders for U.S combat soldiers in every conflict since World War II. It was just reported to be over 30% for the Iraq situation.
Releasing into our conscious the parts of us we had previously locked in our unconscious shadow is initially frightful. At first we try to avoid it. It brings great insights but also fearful self-doubt, involuntary melancholy and even depression.
Forgive me for focusing next on male experience – I know that best. For example – The shock of realizing you no longer want to be a hard driving materialist can be profound. Some Stage F Westerners get up in the morning and wonder why they are trapped in a materialistic, end-point goal life – Wonder why they no longer look forward to daily work that has become a stressful rat-race – Why they don’t have more satisfying human relationships – Why they feel they have pursued material things to the point they have lost what is really important – Feel they must gain inner understanding and are not sure where to begin – Feel they are “losing it” as competitors.
I really want us to realize – Stage F is the shocking transformation that is the opposite of everything Stage E and also ends the underlying pattern of all previous life and work.
Both Orient and West will eventually learn that neither of its approaches, By Itself, is an answer for their future. The previously Crippled Man of the East has found he can run materialistically as fast as the West – And the previously Blind Man of the West has found he can see as spiritually as the East. But, both East and West are running into problems their Cycle 3 stages can’t solve.
Now let’s look at the details of Stage F.
Slide 3 – Stage F Paradigm – Western
Note: Slides of Examples of Persons, Places and Events during Cycle 3 Life – Stages F are available in the file – NewPatSuc-Part2-7-HPSStageExampl-022607.pdf
Western Stage F emerged from about 1750 AD to 1850 AD. It became a world leader in direct competition with Stage E after World War II, about 1950, and now appears to be peaking as Stage E is declining. This is the first time in human history that two stages have been near peak power at the same time.
As we discuss Stage F life, please make notes about where in your own life and work you have experienced examples of Stage F 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 F in parallel with my discussion will help the psyche stages to come alive for you.
Let’s cement its behavior pattern in your mind to contrast it with Stage E – Non-Linear, Introspective, Intuitive, Subjective, Qualitative, Relativistic, Socialistic, Emotional, Non-Competitive, Anti-Scientific, Anti-Materialist. Just exactly opposite to Stage E.
Its learning pattern is also a sharp contrast – Subjective and emotional, not objective like Stage E. It is called Experiential/Observational learning often embedded in a group process with accepting and supportive Guru-like leader(s) and members. It also breaks away from linear step-by–step learning to begin to use simple types of pattern recognition learning. The unconscious works in patterns – Not sequence like the conscious works.
Its personal basis for action is inner compulsion to find human understanding, meaning, purpose and relationship – Collectively its basis is social and political power. It is guided by the “Situational Ethic”.
Stage F psyche disease is involuntary melancholy and depression resulting in self-doubt, hopelessness, a range of dependent addictions and even suicide. It is no accident that depression is the leading mental affliction of highly evolved people today.
Paradoxically, depression can come right along with a sense of seeing things more clearly than ever before. This is baffling and painful when it comes at middle life, as it often does. It appears to be some sort of mid-age degeneracy, rather than the leap in psyche growth it really is. Some undergoing this process feel they are not understood and receive no approval from their company, associates or loved ones. This is one of the tragedies of our time. It is not middle age degeneracy at all. Some younger persons are also showing precursors of Stage F behavior. It looks like degeneration and failure to those functioning at earlier stages. But that is not true, it is an essential stage in man's evolution.
Slide 4 – Paradigm Summary – Stage F – Personal Western
This slide summarizes the Personal Paradigm. Most of it we have discussed. I want to emphasize three points to complement the slide.
First about Relativism – Recall that Stage F pattern persons no longer separate opposite poles and choose one pole as Good and banish the other pole to the unconscious as Bad or Evil. Both poles are accepted as necessary, relative, complementary parts of life. This means the separate pole focus of Phase 1 breaks down and the psyche force for flip-flopping ends.
Second about Religion – Stage F Western religion tends to be unconventional and personal – Often a mystical or occult experience searching for a direct spiritual relationship with the infinite.
Third about Salvation – It is another direct contrast with Stage E. It is sought through harmony and alignment with self, others and nature – Rather than outer mastery of nature and materialism.
Now you see the sharp personal contrasts between Cycle 3 stages – And since the peak power of Stages E and F overlap in time more closely than did earlier stages, the social and political disagreements are also sharp. You can understand why our time is so complex and the world and our lives are in such upheaval.
Slide 5 – Paradigm Summary – Stage F – Collective Western
Now we turn to the Stage F Collective Paradigm. Stage F leadership and organization are also complex – There are many versions – Not a relatively uniform pattern like the linear machine model and structure of Western Stage E. To be consistent with the “Situational Ethic”, this is what we might expect – A wide range of leadership situations and organization types to match the wide range of human needs and situations.
Stage F Leadership ranges from that for large socialistic bureaucracies – like nation states, international agencies and social service organizations – to countless small humanistic groups led by “Gurus” who are charismatic, accepting, inspiring guides who create strong emotional and dependent bonds – plus a wide range of social and non-profit organizations focused on specific causes and needs.
The range of Organization forms is equally wide – Each depending on its special situation. However, there seems to be a general principle for Stage F organizations – Their collective power attempts to dominate and control individual and private interests. There seems to be no pure Western Stage F business organizations like there are for Stage E – Organizing business does not appear as high priority to Stage F. What we see is a confused mix of Stage F paradigm characteristics added-on to the underlying Stage E paradigm.
For example – Many large corporations, educational institutions and social service organizations appear to present a surface image to customers, employees and taxpayers that is called “Social and Political Correctness” – While maintaining their underlying Stage E linear machine system core that is presented to owners, political authorities and investors. The result seems to be the attempt to humanize machine like organizations while keeping their basic linear nature. Such fix-up methods are being widely used. They are being more widely seen for what they are – Non-Authentic Shams.
Stage F patterns are not capable to replace the existing Stage E linear system business organization model – So it seems to conventional managers that the best solution is to try to add-on Stage F human concerns on top of the Stage E machine system core. Of course, the Stage E and F paradigms are not compatible – And the add-on solution is not working well at all – Because it can’t.
There appears to be a range of motivations for the Stage E and F mixture – From the sincere desire of some business leaders to really improve the organization and its service to its members and society – To the self-serving desire of other leaders to appear more acceptable to its members, its markets and its regulators.
I believe the high costs and inefficiencies of both the Stage E and Stage F collective patterns are reaching a crisis position in the Western world. They are both obsolete and lead to poor results. Just as Ervin Laszlo and others have seen – The current situation is building to a human system transition point. Neither the Stage E or F pattern by itself, or added-together, are the base for acceptable solutions for world leading business organizations.
Another dimension of the leadership crisis is that awareness is not yet well developed for the need to abandon both. For those who are aware that fix-ups within the Stage E pattern, or extensions of the Stage F pattern, will not work. Of course, to work with people and organizations to satisfy these needs is exactly why we are doing our work – The leap to Living System Life and Work is the answer – And developing the mindset required to make this leap is our first essential step. That is what we are doing in this series of discussions.
Western political leaders since World War II, with few exceptions, appear indecisive and weak. Business leaders have continuously become more unable to compete. Massive outsourcing to the Orient has become their Mantra. It appears to me that this is the biggest leadership “Copout” in history – The easy way out. They don’t know how to lead their people to success anymore. They blame it on labor costs rather than their own ineptitude. It appears that both Western political and business leaders are paralyzed in failing patterns and really running away from their massive problems. This is typical of establishment leadership during world transformation eras.
I feel that Eastern political and business leaders also are much less than prescient. They do not yet see that their so-called “materialistic miracle” is a massive bubble in disguise – Enabled and supported by the largest man made financial manipulations in world history. We do not see this whole situation as negative at all – We see it as part of the Creator’s Grand Plan for man that is needed for our evolution - We see as a great strategic opportunity for those who can understand and act on the new pattern emerging during a world transformation period.
Now let’s summarize the Stage F pattern so we can move on to the next stage and a whole new phase of human life that lies just in front of us.
Stage F has created a socialistic, relativistic society to try to correct the unbalances of the Stage E society. The former quest for independence and self-sufficiency at Stage E has been submerged by a Stage F rush to a “Generalized Dependency” on others and institutions like governments. Widespread “Drug Abuse” is only one dimension of the general dependency that is inherent in the Stage F pattern. The unraveling of this dependency is probably the largest hurdle to leap in the human transcendence out of Phase 1 life.
Slide 6 – Paradigm Summary – Stage F
Now let’s assure the Stage F paradigm is clear.
Primary Motivation in the West is to understand and find peace with our self and affiliate with others and groups in dependent relationships – Believe that subjective truth exists rather than just objective truth and discover its importance in our life.
Therefore, the Stage F Mission personally is to achieve self-understanding, inner harmony and receive guidance through participating in deeper human relationships with others and with nature. Collectively the mission is to be involved with socially and politically correct programs.
The Ends and Means Values are those needed to act on the motivation and the mission. Stage F values involve subjective and emotional reason. Stage E does not accept this as Reason or common sense either. Relativity and the “Situational Ethic” are hard for Stages C, D and E to accept. Stage E considers Stage F rejecting of materialism and linear science as denials of reality. In addition, Stage F rejecting end-point goals and accepting social measures of success has fueled bitter controversy over what are proper education and work standards. In my opinion, both Stages E and F have gone to unreasonable opposite extremes – Again, neither is an adequate basis for the future.
The Western Stage F person on his inner quest for dependency and relative values often appears lost between impotence, indecision, and depression on the one hand, and energetic, if not frantic, joining and the pursuit of humanized or social thrusts on the other hand. When Stage F appears in a person’s life, sometimes we see hard driving, materialistically successful people who suddenly walk away from their prior lives and careers without any apparent purpose or plan. This lack of direction or plan is what confuses their families, associates, and even themselves. These people need understanding and support - Because once they can transform through this period in their lives they can become greater leaders.
At the end of our discussion of Cycle 2, I asked you a question as a leader. Here I ask a similar question – Can you build and operate a world leading-edge organization today whose leadership and organization are limited to stages E and F? I do not believe you can – They are both now in terminal decline as effective foundations for effective leaders.
Slide 7 – Cycle 3 Psyche Pole Structure
This Cycle 3 Psyche Pole Structure diagram is for your reference. It shows that at Stage F the unconscious is no longer closed to communication with the conscious. The Flip-Flop pattern of all Phase 1 life is therefore broken – This is an essential precursor for the coming of Phase 2 life and its Stage A’ – Living System Life and Work – That we discuss next.
End of Part 2 – 7
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