ANTHROPOLOGICAL COMPARISONS
Before getting into a comparison between Group Three and other models, I want to call your attention to how in the Integral model, they have something that they call Red consciousness (that I will show I feel corresponds to Bailey’s Group Three) that came into being around 15,000 BCE. That date was chosen because research from anthropologists show that tribal groups were forming around that date, which came into dominance around 10,000 BCE giving rise to what most historians would call the first “civilizations” or “city states.” Though some Bailey students and some Theosophists want to push the development of civilizations back to a much earlier timeline, Integral theorists and most anthropologists believe the 15,000 BCE timeline is accurate.
That is why for the fun of it, I am including this picture of Cheddar Man to give us some understanding of what human beings at this time really looked like. This sculpted model of Cheddar Man has been recreated from his actual bones and DNA. Cheddar Man’s skeleton was discovered in a cave in Cheddar Gorge in southwest England and dating of his bones reveals he lived there around 10,000 years ago. The nickname “Cheddar Man” in some ways is amusing because like most adults who lived during his time, he was almost certainly lactose intolerant. What is most surprising about Cheddar Man is that fact that he lived in England, yet his DNA reveals that he had dark skin, curly hair and blue eyes linking him to the natives of sub-Saharan Africa. This has been an astounding find, since it had long been thought that people from the African continent had not made it that far in Europe. Cheddar Man’s discovery has also caused anthropologists to shift the date for when they believe Europeans became more light skinned. They now believe “white skin” developed more around 6,000 BCE. That means thousands of years had to pass before the lighter skin adaptation occurred as a means of helping people live more comfortably within the cold and more cloudy northern climates.
INTEGRAL MODEL RED/LEVEL THREE
Now let’s move on more formerly to studying the Integral model and how I feel the Integral stage of Red correlates with Bailey’s Group Three. We will begin by looking at how the Integral model describes its Red level, which essentially they view as tribal, vigilant, aggressive, impulsive and ruthless. Though on a higher turn of the spiral they can be viewed as courageous, determined and powerful.
In considering these different keywords of Integral Red I am reminded of a man who lived in a yoga ashram located in the south east of the United States, often thought to be one of the most red-necked areas of the country. (Note the word “red” in that phrase). He said when they first started to build the yoga ashram the local people felt threatened by this strange new religion so they started to shoot up the local yoga buildings. The vigilant, aggressive, impulsive and ruthless side of their character was in evidence here. Fortunately, the head of the ashram, Sri Swami Satchidananda, understood how to manage the fears and anxieties of the people in the vicinity. So he made a concerted effort to be friendly and respectful of the needs of the people around him, inviting them to tea, attending their local church services, and even setting up an auto garage where “yoga” mechanics fixed the locals’ cars for free.
By valuing the people around him, Swami Satchidananda made allies with these “red necks.” Though they did not really understand yoga and rarely visited the ashram, they saw its value to their community and at times even helped protect the ashram when outside visitors became disruptive, and once kept a fight at bay that was threatening the ashram as a whole. My yoga friend even told me that if you wanted someone to protect you and watch your back, these “red-necks” would be the first ones to volunteer. In short, the loyal, courageous and powerful side of this group now appeared who my friend said could always be counted on to help if you needed them.
So what does Integral say about their “Red” level of consciousness? Instead of me summarizing things in my own words I will quote from various Integral sources directly starting with An Overview of Developmental Stages of Consciousness compiled by Barrett C. Brown, Integral Institute April 3, 2006 characteristics of Integral Red are listed as follows, “Power and action. Basic theme: Be what you are and do what you want, regardless [of how you get it]. What’s important: Power, spontaneity, heroism, immediate gratification; standing tall, calling the shots, receiving respect, and getting attention; being daring, impulsive, and enjoying oneself without regret; conquering, outsmarting, dominating. Where seen: The ‘terrible twos’; rebellious youth; frontier mentalities; feudal kingdoms; epic heroes; wild rock stars; gang leaders; soldiers of fortune. Main focus: Own immediate needs, opportunities, self-protection. Description: Fight/flight response is very strong; very attack-oriented and win/lose in nature; short-term horizon; focus on concrete things and personal advantage; sees rules as loss of freedom; feedback heard as an attack. How influences others: Takes matter into own hands, coerces, wins fight.”
Another good description of Integral Red follows here, “Level 3 [i.e. Integral Red] As the self continues to grow and differentiate itself from its surroundings, and moves from level 2 to level 3, it becomes more and more aware of its tenuous separate existence, and starts to worry about its own safety and security and self-protection; as recourse, it develops a strong set of power drives. This stage is often called the ‘safety’, ‘self-protective’, ‘power’ or ‘opportunistic’ stage. If this stage sustains into adulthood in an unhealthy fashion, it is often the source of criminal behaviour and significant corruption. The person’s power drives control their behaviour, and they haven’t evolved yet to the next higher stage – the conformist law and order stage – and so they set their own standards and create their own laws, driven by their need for security and power. Whatever they want is what is right, and they set about to simply take it, society be damned.
You can, for example, see a child steal a pencil because ‘they wanted it’. When asked whether they took their sister’s pencil they will flatly deny doing so. In their own mind there was no theft because the pencil was theirs in the first place! The unhealthy version of this power-level is found in abundance in criminal institutions, Mafioso type organisations, corrupt governments, and so on. It sees the world as a survival of the fittest; the biggest and strongest win; do it to somebody before they do it to you; it’s a law of the jungle, a dog-eat-dog world, tooth and claw are needed, and individuals operating from this level are capable of some truly vicious acts. These first three major levels or stages are all ‘narcissistic’ or ‘egocentric,’ which means the self is stuck in a first-person, ‘me/mine’ perspective. Individuals stuck at these stages are not yet adept at taking the role of other. They are poor at putting themselves in somebody else’s shoes and find it difficult to take any other perspective than their own. So the self is everything, the self rules, the self and what it wants is supreme – ‘give me, me and mine’ is the rule” Wicked and Wise: How to Solve the World’s Toughest Problems, Alan Watkins & Ken Wilber. Kindle Edition. Location 1382 of 5666.
Finally, here are some more quotes from Ken Wilber. “3. The “Magic-Mythic” stage, Maslow’s “safety” needs, Loevinger’s “self-protective.” Once the self has fully differentiated itself from its environment, it feels vulnerable and becomes concerned with its safety and security, and in defense develops a strong set of power drives, or what Spiral Dynamics (a developmental stage-model based on the work of pioneer Clare Graves, and covering—that’s right—8 major levels of development, essentially the same generic ones we’re pointing out now, but specifically regarding values) colorfully calls “PowerGods,” a strong belief in superpowerful beings who could provide safety and security if approached correctly with prayer and ritual or other superstitiously enticing actions. This power stage governed humanity’s first major military empires that began to spread across the globe, facilitated by the invention of early farming that freed people from the almost constant demand to forage for food and allowed them to engage in other activities, such as fighting each other; their leaders were considered literally to be Gods—and they were, “PowerGods.” The Religion of Tomorrow, Ken Wilber, pp. 43-44. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
“Fowler calls the red Magic-Mythic View (supported by the conceptual/intentional mind, gut chakra-rung 3) “mythic-literal.” The difference between magic and mythic lies in where the source of miracle power is located. In magic, the source of miracles is the self—I do a rain dance, and Nature obediently rains; I stick a pin in a doll, and the real person is actually hurt. In mythic, the self has surrendered the illusion that it can intervene in nature and history and miraculously change it; but if it can no longer perform miracles, God can (or Goddess or some other supernatural being). This Magic-Mythic stage marks the transition from a previously omnipotent magic self to an omnipotent mythic God or Gods—a stage Spiral Dynamics accurately calls “PowerGods.” There is a concomitant emphasis on, and belief in, miracles. I can’t do them, but God can (or so can any superpowerful, supernatural figure, like mommy, who could change the yucky spinach into candy if she wanted). And if I ritualistically approach God in a way that pleases Him, then He (or She) will perform a miracle for me (thus, magic is transferred to mythic bigger-than-life beings—hence the name “magic-mythic”). Mythic narratives begin to develop, and magical incantations are believed to put one in right relationship to Divinity, which will then be more likely to intervene in nature and history on my behalf (to ensure the hunt, cure my illness, give me a child, make the crops grow). The basic rung supporting this View—the conceptual, representational, vital mind (red)—is still largely limited to a 1st-person perspective (“egocentric”), and so narcissistic power is a major concern (both in oneself and in Divinity—“PowerGods”). The self has just succeeded in differentiating itself from the surrounding world, and thus its own vulnerability is a serious issue—several developmental schools refer to this stage as one whose major concerns are “safety” or “security.” Reflecting this threatening environment, God is powerful, wrathful, vengeful, and very unpredictable. The self generally experiences a survival-of-the-fittest, dog-eat-dog world that is “red in tooth and claw.” The Religion of Tomorrow, Ken Wilber, pp. 200-202. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
And finally here is another quote from Ken Wilber, “At the next major basic structure (egocentric, gut chakra-rung 3, Fulcrum-3, emergence of the intentional or conceptual mind, red), with its Magic-Mythic View (also called “PowerGods” or “opportunistic”), common pathologies involve addictions or allergies to power and power drives in general, problems with safety and security (since the self is just forming, and worrying about its existence as it does so), as well as classical forms of repression of bodily states and feelings (sex, aggression, desire, wishes, élan vital) by the newly emerging conceptual mind and its repressive power (which, we just saw, results in most traditional psychoneuroses caused by actual repression or similar defense mechanisms, such as classic anxiety, depression, obsessions, displacement disorders, and so forth). Here we are at the more standard and typically understood stages of development, with a relatively strong self–other boundary in place, and conventional forms of defense mechanisms and dysfunctions. The earlier stages are all forms of pre-differentiated realms, which are pre-(subject–object) and not trans-(subject–object), or prepersonal and pre-egoic, not transpersonal and trans-egoic. The Religion of Tomorrow, Ken Wilber, pp. 277-278. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
INTEGRAL RED AND GROUP THREE COMPARISONS
Reading what Integral has to say about Red/Level 3, it is easy to see how Alice Bailey’s Group Three and Integral Red line up. However, there is a difference that I will continue to illustrate in this book, especially as we get into Baileys Group Six. That difference I feel is illustrated in the view Integral tends to have of the current President of the United States (as I write this book), Donald Trump. In the world view of Integral President Donald Trump is said to have Red consciousness (with an emotional developmental level of about a five year old they also claim). True, in watching how President Donald Trump behaves and in reading the Integral Red keywords the association of Trump with Integral’s Red level of consciousness seems to make sense. But, that does not mean Trump would necessarily be viewed as Group Three in Bailey’s model.
As a reminder Bailey’s Group Three is comprised of people who run heavy on impulse, who despite all their efforts don’t get much accomplished in the end. Like my Bonnie and Clyde example, Group Three tend to rapidly end up in prison, get mutilated in a battle, become addicted to drugs or alcohol, and even end up prematurely dead. In short, they rarely achieve high levels of success. Using Bailey’s model, Group Three members simply don’t have the physical resources and ability to manipulate others emotionally and mentally to a very large degree. This is one reason I see Donald Trump as Group Three. As we will learn in Bailey’s model members of her Group Six can also be prone to narcissism, but their narcissism leads them into influential roles that turn them too often into sociopaths and dictators. In short, those in Bailey’s Group Six tend to be much more successful at what they set out to accomplish than those in Group Three.
That is why in my view though Trump has characteristics like those in Group Three, in Bailey’s system he most likely is not. Trump is too much of a master manipulator and despite his seeming stupidity he has been way too adept at avoiding the chopping block to belong to Bailey’s Group Three level. Yes, Trump can be petulant, impulsive and even idiotic (drink bleach anyone?). As I showed in Bailey’s model we tend to be on more than one level anyway. (Read, The Problem With Levels). And, when we are under stress we tend to regress to the lowest level that we have not fully mastered. (Read, Filling the Gaps in Spiritual Development). So, though I feel Donald Trump regresses back to Group Three behaviors, especially when he is stressed, I believe his developmental stage is primarily not there. To let you know Group Three exists on the lower levels of the Emotional Plane (also known as the plane of kama, or desire). On these lower levels we are just beginning to figure out how to get our money/security, pleasure/sex, and power needs met. How could Trump, a billionaire, with a beauty queen wife, who has access to all the money/security, pleasure/sex, and power any human being could dream of be at only a Group Three level? This is where the Integral/Red/Level 3 and Bailey Group Three correlations fall apart.
Especially as we learn more about Group Six, it will become more evident how in the Alice Bailey system, Donald Trump is not just a Group Three Red rebellious and impulsive person trying to get his safety and security needs met. Instead, he is a man who has managed to manipulate and dominate the entire planet to help him get his every desire met. A Bonney and Clyde or Hell’s Angel he is not. And, though he appears to look more like a Group Three Red type person when he is under stress, he was not always so impulsive and emotionally erratic. Watch older videos of him long before he became President and you will be amazed how different he seems. Bottom line? Yes Integral’s Red/Level 3 and Bailey’s Group Three match in a number of ways. But, as we shall later learn in this Becoming Human book, there are some crucial ways they do not.
TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY COMPARISONS
Shifting Beyond Survival Needs
Though I have emphasized a lot of the negatives of Group Three, there are also positives. Slowly, as the focus on basic survival lifts, those within Group Three find that their consciousness is freed up to expand into new horizons and other levels of awareness. When one is in a constant state of anxiety over getting their basic needs met, they typically do not have any psychological space to consider higher needs. Looking at Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we see that when the physiological needs are met then it is possible to have a greater sense of safety and security.
Yes, those at Group Three still experience some anxiety over their safety and security. But, they are starting to feel a little more safe and secure than they did when they were at the level of Group Two. Yes, they give too much of their power and freedom away to those who end up ruling over them. But, they also have more psychological freedom to not constantly obsess over whether they are going to eat the next day or have clothing or shelter. Yes their anxiety and impulsivity can send them into behaviors where they get into trouble or becoming addicted. But, at least they are being exposed to more pleasure and opportunities to get pleasure than they have had before. In these ways Group Three very much fits in with Maslow’s safety and security level, something Integral Red/Level 3 also makes a strong correlation with.
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