Soul to Spirit: The New Spiritual Psychology

This post moves on to compare the Alice Bailey/Wisdom levels and those of Integral/Wilber taking us into what Integral calls Amber and compares it with Bailey’s Group Four.

Said to be the largest segment of the world population by both the Alice Bailey teachings and those of the Integral movement, Amber is easily identifiable if you simply spend a short time surfing through hundreds of cable channels.  Understanding where most of humanity is at is very important if we are to help people move forward.

Integral Levels of Development

Here is the Integral Map again with mostly its seven to ten levels.

Here is another chart of the above.

And, here is the Ageless Wisdom map again, with its 61 levels, 12 of which are found within the Egoic Lotus with it’s 12 levels.

10 Soul Groups of Alice Bailey & Integral Connections. 

As a reminder in Esoteric Psychology II, pp. 203 – 207, 10 groups of evolving humanity are presented.  We will now examine Group Four.

Group 4 & Amber.

Moving on to Esoteric Psychology, Vol II, pp. 204 – 205 that Group Four is said to consist of people who are primarily emotional in nature, with the mind not functioning very strongly.  It is also said that the focus on their physical bodies seems to diminish as they are so concentrated on their wish life.  This low focus on the physical body and realms may also be due to a lack of true intelligent discrimination as to what is good or bad for them regarding physical security and health.

This group seems highly motivated by impulse.  They differ from Group Three in that they do not seek to obtain things so much by brute force. Perhaps because they are less physically focused and more emotionally focused they drift off more into glamorized emotional dream worlds. In his  Egoic Lotus Webinar Commentaries 3 Series starting at around 1:18:00, Michael Robbing indicates that this group is more “kama-manasic” (desire-mind) in nature. He also indicates that this level represents what in the Ageless Wisdom teachings is known as Atlantean consciousness.  He associates this group with the unfolding of the second petal of the Egoic Lotus (the Knowledge/Love petal).  (Does this mean Red and Group Three is the Knowledge/Knowledge petal?  See the post on Red and Group Three in a previous post).

Group Four reminds me of the Buddhist conception of the Hungry Ghosts. These are beings with an intense desire nature, but not much will or intelligence to get these desires met.  They therefore seem to be caught up in work that involves long hours and little pay and their main attitude for getting out of their plight seems to be based primarily on luck.  In addition, they seem easily duped and swayed by others, especially demagogues, who often promise them something for nothing.  (Instant enlightenment, get all you want through the law of attraction, follow me and I will promise you the world with one hand, while easily taking advantage of you with the other). (Note: Michael Robbins says this group is not bewildered by their environment the way Groups One and Two are, but they are still bewildered by events.  To say this differently, they can manage to get their basic food, clothing and shelter somewhat in order, but they do not understand very easily why things are happening in the larger world around them like wars, Wall Street scams, political maneuverings, etc.  For this reason they tend to trust authoritarian figures too easily and as mentioned get taking advantage of).  They also tend to be more conformist doing and believing what they are told, making them more religious than spiritual.

The gullibility of Group Four seems to be due to the fact that mentally they cannot discern others real intentions very well. They lack the ability to logically think things through and too readily believe because something has an emotional appeal. Because their desire natures are so strong, they spend more time caught up in emotional distractions (what is going on with celebrities, reality TV shows and stars, game show TV and video games, the Home Shopping Network and all things that might keep their insatiable capitalistic desire life going, even if it is to their detriment in doing so).  That same gullibility seems to exist now on the Internet (everything posted on Social Media must be true).  The propensity to addiction can also be seen in this group, especially since the drug industry (legal and illegal) offers so many quick fixes to seeming ailments, many which are based in the misplaced use of emotional force that tends to increase, rather than decrease, their stress levels (due to chronic difficulty in their relationships, finances and so forth).

Group Four seems easily preyed upon especially by the Group Six (the Integral Orange) level, which tends to keep this group in their place socially and economically through their ignorance and getting them to buy into ideologies that make them believe they are not entitled to basic security, education and health care rights because they are not “good enough” to deserve them.  Proof that they are not good enough is reinforced by Calvinistic Christian beliefs (and other ideologies) that reinforce the notion that wealth and the good life is proof that you are a good person. (Many super wealthy Christians believe that they deserve their money because God gave it to them). We also see this “I deserve wealth because God gave it to me” notion anywhere from prosperity Christian faiths (such as that promoted by Joel Olsteen), to New Thought and New Age beliefs that promote things like The Secret, where good things happened due to your good thoughts, and bad things happened due to your bad ones. On the reverse side, this group is also prone to buy into the notion that if they don’t get their wish lives fulfilled, it must be because they are “bad” (or didn’t think right) as well.  The need to pay penance (indulgences to get rid of their sins), is an example along these lines.

The end result?  This group tends to glorify those who did get all their primarily materialistic wishes fulfilled (celebrities, billionaires, political demagogues), while often remaining depressed, resentful and helpless that they cannot get these wishes fulfilled themselves.  They are just as ready to build up their heroes as they are ready to tear them down due to this constant emotional ambivalence, something all the magazines at the checkout lines at grocery stores readily represent.

Finally, unlike Group Three (Red) those in Group Four (Amber) do not rely so much on physical force to ensure security and getting their desires met, as they look to connect with the right set of rules, guidelines, group, or team to help them better assure that they are on the right side in order to up their odds to feel safe and have their emotional desires satiated.  Now, that we have an understanding of what is said in the Ageless Wisdom teachings, let’s look at Integral.

Integral and Amber

In the Integral model we read this about the Amber level.

Again to make this easy, let me just quote directly from An Overview of Developmental Stages of Consciousness compiled by Barrett C. Brown, Integral Institute April 3, 2006.  Values:  Bottom line: Stability and purposeful life. Basic theme: Life has meaning, direction, and purpose with predetermined outcomes What’s important: Sacrificing self for a transcendent Cause, (secular or religious) Truth, Mission, future reward; laws, regulations, and rules; discipline, character, duty, honor, justice, and moral fiber; righteous living; controlling impulsivity through guilt; following absolutistic principles of right and wrong, black and white; being faithful, maintaining order and harmony; one right way to think/do; convention, conformity Where seen: Puritan America, Confucian China, Dickensian England, Singapore discipline; totalitarianism; codes of chivalry and honor; charitable good deeds; religious fundamentalism (e.g., Christian and Islamic); “moral majority”; patriotism

Self-Identity: Main focus: Socially expected behavior, approval Qualities: Emergence of capacity to see and respond to what others want; self-identity defined by relationship to group, whose values impart strong sense of “shoulds” and “oughts”; values that differ from one’s own are denigrated or avoided; conform to norms of whatever group they want to belong to (including gangs and peer-groups); avoid inner and outer conflict; think in simple terms and speak in generalities and platitudes; attend to social welfare of own group; “us vs. them” mentality; feedback heard as personal disapproval How influences others: Enforces existing

The Two Models Compared.

In comparing what is said about Group Four and Amber the main thing that stands out for me is how the Integral writings emphasis the fact that Amber follows rules, regulations, and is prone to conformity with their chosen group.  They emphasize the polarizing nature (“us vs. them”) of this section of humanity, but they do not focus on why they are this way as much as the Ageless Wisdom teachings do.

In the Ageless Wisdom teachings we see that Group Four becomes “Amber” like because of their emotional polarization and their lack of a truly discerning mind.  The reason Group Four is becoming fixated on a group to identify with (football team, political party, etc.) is because their desire natures are now so strong and they feel so helpless getting what they now want.  It is not enough to get basic food, clothing, shelter and some of your sexual desires fulfilled as is the case with Red or Group Three.  This group wants a LOT of their food, clothing, shelter and sexual desire natures fulfilled.  They tend, then, to excess and to admire those who have excess. They want the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and see all their problems getting resolved if they can just have everything they want fulfilled on an emotional level (even if in truth this excess may be to their detriment).

When we combine the Ageless Wisdom writings and the Integral approach to this level we get a more complete picture.  And, we also see why it is said this is where the majority of humanity is at.  Look around you.  This level of consciousness (Group Four and Amber) is everywhere.

Again below is a map of terms that we use throughout the rest of this blog.

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.