On this page we will make available a range of items, some familiar in the public domain, and others which come from our archive of Don Beck’s historical materials which few people will have seen before. We will add to this page over time, so please revisit it in the future.
Key Articles
The start of it all.
The legendary article in "The Futurist" which caught Don Beck's eye and began a long working relationship and the germination of Spiral Dynamics.
A sign of both Graves' insight and the model's power, this was brilliantly predictive and is still pertinent 50 years later.
A Classic.
Possibly the most authentic and comprehensive written summary overview of Spiral Dynamics integral.
Written in 2002 by Jessica Roemischer, based on interviews with Don Beck, and published in "What is Enlightenment" magazine.
Key Images
At the core of SD is Graves' understanding that the way we think is an adaptive response to the challenges of our existence. The resulting Value Systems shape our beliefs and behaviours. It's about WHY we do what we do.
Schematic Overview of the SDi "Tetra-Evolution" Map
This question has great depth and when the response is given in relation to people's mindsets, is one of the most useful that SDi offers
An overview of the developmental values sequence in history as well as in organisations and individuals
An image that represents the way in which stages present themselves as ethical standpoints
Presentation Decks
Key characteristics of humans as they enter Tier 2 and locate their worldview in the Yellow System.
As we integrate and harmonise all of the first tier systems, we adopt a range of new ways of thinking in order to flow and function across all of them.
This is where we land after taking Graves' "Momentous Leap", and this description encapsulates the evidence from his data.
A top-level view of SDi's essence as a worldview of worldviews and an overarching key to all other systemic views of socio-psychology.
An overview of the steps involved in reframing and transforming societal or organisational systems. As a window on a massive body of work this represents an entry point to the Natural Design approach to OD and the SDi perspective on large systems change.
Don Beck original articles
What did "integral" mean to Don? Why did the word become a suffix to the SD label, and how did this reflect his commitment to Graves?
" Left to their own accords, the parties involved in the Israeli/Palestine conflict are on a
slippery slope destined to spiral down into an all-out war in the nature of a Battle of
Armageddon – a massive global tragedy.
One of the articles that maybe Don felt most about. Behind his desire to work in the region, though destined for insufficient support.
The personal note added to the original article says a great deal about Don's core intentions for the work that SDi could, and should, do.
"What if a bioengineered microbe
broke out of control?"
Written in the lead-up to the millennium, and some apocalyptic mind-sets, what Don calls "An Epochal Tale of Tragedy and Triumph" (with tongue in cheek!)
Wherever his tongue was, there's a sharp mind and serious purpose in the background.
Written in the aftermath of the 2000 US election and the narrow defeat of Al Gore by George W. Bush, this is a short exploration of the nature of political co-operation.
Seen now, against the background of fragmentation and divisions, this highlights a pivot-point. Did the US "have the collective wisdom to reinvent our political wheels?"
Apparently not.
There are many people, both within the SD sphere and beyond it, who have experienced constellations work, in either its systemic or its family forms.
In this article, Don explores the relationship between originator Bert Hellinger's three windows on human systems (Ordering, Bonding and Compensation) and the dynamics of the Gravesian Levels of Existence, and illustrates why these two systems are powerful allies.
On the New World Order and the need to see "the whole elephant".
What does a new paradigm require?
Press Articles and Interviews
An article from South Africa, 1985, during one of Don's early trips
Fresh Perspective: Spiral Interventions with Dr. Don Beck
By Russ Volckmann
Integral Leadership Review, October 2011
South Africa and the Middle-East: Peace and Progress by Design
Interview with Nick Drummond on behalf of the Nordic Integral Team, September 2003
On Second Tier Leadership, Global Governance, Cultural Integration, Egalitarianism and more.
The Momentous Leap: Using the Whole Spiral
to Change the World.
Wide-ranging, big picture interview with Bert Parlee from the 2012 Enlightenment Community Conference