This post is an attempt to line up the levels as presented by Ken Wilber and the Integral theorists with the levels presented by Alice Bailey known as the “egoic lotus.” It begins by showing the basic differences between the two models.

One of the difficulties when comparing the Integral model with the Alice Bailey model in regards to levels is how many more levels are in the Bailey model than the Integral one.  Also, the Alice Bailey model is far more extensive in the descriptions of the various levels than anything found in Integral, leaving one to feel at times that Integral is doing a process of catch-up to the Bailey model which has been in existence almost 100 years.

Integral Levels

To start with let us briefly glace at the Integral model.

wilberlevelsonly

The above chart combines a few models together. There is the model of Spirit Dynamics to the far left with its seven levels (that are said to parallel the seven chakras). Where you see the black bars there is a summary of other systems that move up the levels often grouped into 1st Tier levels, 2nd Tier levels, and 3rd tier levels.  Then you have the main system used by Integral under Ego Development Stages with its shorthand colors of Amber, Orange, Green, etc.  To the far right are actually stages that at the top levels borrow from Sri Aurobindo and his Integral Yoga work developed last century. Depending on which model above you use you have anywhere from 7 to 10 stages.

Alice Bailey Levels

Now let’s look at the chart put forward by Alice Bailey (which is partially derived from charts in Hinduism and the Theosophical system).

img1309-1  Here we have seven main levels (Physical, Emotional, Mental, Intuitional, etc).  Each of these seven levels has seven more levels within it making 49 levels.  In addition, you have twelve levels all within something known as the “Egoic Lotus”, which is illustrated above in what seems to look like a flower. Here it is enlarged below.

egoic lotus2

This egoic lotus is broken down into four sets of petals.

  1. Knowledge
  2. Love
  3. Sacrifice
  4. Synthesis

Each of these groups is divided into three sets.

  1. Knowledge/Knowledge, Knowledge/Love, Knowledge/Sacrifice
  2. Love/Knowledge, Love/Love, Love/Sacrifice
  3. Sacrifice/Knowledge, Sacrifice/Love, Sacrifice/Sacrifice
  4. There Synthesis Petals (in white, sub-names not given).

Though the above seems non-sensical and abstract, there are specific descriptions (and many quite elaborate) regarding what happens at each stage of spiritual development with each petal above.

Putting the 49 levels of the Bailey model together with the 12 levels of the Egoic Lotus we now have 61 levels of spiritual development to look at for starters in this highly complex system.  Integral has anywhere between 7 – 10.  In the blog posts to come, I will focus primarily on drawing the parallels between the 10 Wilber levels and those of the Bailey model only.

To conclude here is a picture of the two models side by side.

wisdomwilbermaps

Levels and Terms II

Have comments, questions, suggestions?  They will be posted so long as they are civil and expand the discussion.

Namaste,

Lisa

Copyright ©2016 by Lisa Love. All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, computer, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.