Deliberately Developmental Civilization

= "a civilization that intentionally supports transformation through all domains of growth and development". [1]

Contextual Quote

"In our view, a Deliberately Developmental Civilization enables human flourishing through waking up, growing up, and cleaning up (states, structures, shadow). By its very nature, a Deliberately Developmental Civilization continually draws from descriptive accounts from around the world so that it remains everfresh and constantly reiterating what it means to be a “developed” human being. Ultimately, at its core, a Deliberately Developmental Civilization intentionally creates conveyor belts of transformation (through states, structures, and shadow) leading to a universal culture of the most awake, mature, and integrated human beings possible (which also means, least domineering, least oppressive, least murderous). ... It is our sense that the time is ripe for the establishment of a Deliberately Developmental Civilization on our planet. And central to this endeavor would be an intentional and conscious unfolding of the higher, deeper, wider, and healthier stages of spirituality (attempting to grow and develop beyond the lower, narrower, shallower stages of spiritual development so strongly involved in negative, ethnocentric, hateful impulses—thus allowing the very truest and highest nature of spirituality to shine forth in all humans)."

- Ken Wilber and Dustin DiPerna [2]

Characteristics

By Ken Wilber and Dustin DiPerna:

"We use the terms “development” and “transformation” interchangeably (with both of them intimately connected to evolution in general). In both cases, the terms refer to our innate human capacity to both grow (and heal) through predicable, sequential patterns of mental, emotional, and spiritual unfolding. Because these patterns are generally predictable and reliably progress in sequence (a sequence that cannot be altered by social conditioning), it is also the case that each higher developmental stage transcends and includes (or unfolds and enfolds) the stage that preceded it (just as organisms transcend and include cells, which transcend and include molecules, which transcend and include atoms). This process of unfoldment and enfoldment reveals a natural, nested hierarchy (or “holarchy”) of developmental progression.2 Just as evolution has touched the physical and biological dimensions—leaving each marked by sequential stages of unfolding— so evolution has touched the psychological, cultural, and spiritual dimensions as well, also leaving each marked by dependable, broad, general sequential stages of their own growth and development (as determined and demonstrated, not by dogmatic claims or assertions, but by direct and repeatable empirical studies). It is the developmental/evolutionary nature of all of those dimensions that allow the effective planning and growth of each of them— including our own overall spiritual growth and development. And it is the cross-cultural similarities, at a deep-feature level, that allow these developmental/evolutionary sequences to be a reliable map for humankind’s spiritual growth and unfolding at large (with all of their relative differences and idiosyncrasies included).

...

The bottom line is that our world needs human beings who are both evolved through the various structures of consciousness as well as awake to the full spectrum of states of consciousness. Up until this point these two worlds have existed side by side, as if in parallel universes, each leaving out the valuable contribution of the complementary orientation. The reasons for this are entirely understandable… Unlike states of consciousness that show up in direct experience, structures of consciousness are much harder to spot. Structures are more like the rules of grammar than they are like the direct experience of a word or sentence (or state of consciousness). Individuals brought up in a particular language-speaking culture, for example, will grow up speaking that language quite correctly—they will put subjects and verbs together correctly, they will use adjectives and adverbs correctly, and in general will end up following quite faithfully and quite accurately all of the rules of grammar of that language. But if you ask any of them to write down just what those grammar rules are, virtually none of them can do so.

...

Finally, rounding out the survey of what we already know about our own potential for transformation beyond structures and states, advances in Western psychotherapy teach us about our capacity to heal trauma, addiction, phobia, and unconscious patterns. This means that in addition to Growing Up (through structures of consciousness) and Waking Up (through states of consciousness), we can use the incredible wisdom discovered through psychotherapeutic approaches to engage a process of Cleaning Up; integrating our shadow to become a whole human being.

...

Any map of human growth and development that fails to include all three of these dimensions (states, structures, shadow or waking up, growing up, cleaning up) is falling short of a comprehensive, descriptive analysis of human growth. Anything less than an inclusion of these three dimensions exemplifies a model that is partial and incomplete. Partial models will, by their very nature, create human beings who are lopsided, partial, and broken. The resulting potential human pain and suffering that can come from partial maps of reality cannot be overstated. We have an opportunity in front of us to get this right, as a species, for the benefit and health of the whole."

(https://www.dustindiperna.org/_files/ugd/0947c8_77773468df5b44c7950365d6125b4501.pdf)

Source

* Report: TOWARD A DELIBERATELY DEVELOPMENTAL CIVILIZATION: Illuminating the Three Key Elements of Spiritual Transformation. By Ken Wilber and Dustin DiPerna.

URL = https://www.dustindiperna.org/_files/ugd/0947c8_77773468df5b44c7950365d6125b4501.pdf