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* Important Announcements (scroll to #10)

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4. MIND CHATTER contains articles about:

*How you create your life--and how you can stop unconsciously creating experiences and outcomes you do not want, and instead begin to create exactly what you do want

*Personal and spiritual growth in general

*Meditation (high- and low-tech)

*Recovery from emotional trauma

*Pretty much any other subject I get excited about and want to write about. After all, it's my company and my newsletter, and I can do whatever I want with it. So there.

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5. Mind Quotes

For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.
- John Greenleaf Whittier

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Every time we open our mouths, men look into our minds.
- unknown

Everyone's life is an object lesson to others.
- Karl G. Maeser

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6. I want to show you how to create the exact life you want--inside and out!

I have a very special opportunity for you...something that can totally turn your life around. And, it could be worth a considerable amount of money to you, as well.

Here's what it's all about...

Just for a moment, imagine:

WHAT IF you could be IN CHARGE of what happens to you--including your feelings and emotions and other internal states, as well as your external results?...

Wouldn't that be a lot better than waiting for life to "just happen," where you sometimes get what you want, and sometimes you get what you don't want?

Are you willing to learn exactly HOW you can do this?

For the last year and a half, I've been teaching three 12-lesson online courses called the Life Principles Integration Process, or LPIP, that teach you all of this, and more. I've received thousands of emails and letters from the people in these courses telling me how what they've learned has transformed their lives, even saved their lives. (You can see some of the comments people have made below.)

So more people could afford the LPIP courses, and as an introductory offer, I offered them for an incredibly low $199 per course, and even gave people the third course free if they signed up for two of them.

This actually made each course $132.67 each, about $11.06 per lesson.

If I taught the LPIP material in seminar form, it would probably take at least ten long intense days to teach each course. And with all the personal follow-up I include I'd have to charge several thousand dollars per course for you to attend.

And even at that lofty price, it would be worth it, I promise you.

Anway, now that the introductory period is over, and we've seen how incredibly well these three courses work, and because of various increases in our expenses (I didn't realize when I first created these courses how many background IT people were needed to keep it running smoothly), we're reluctantly going to have to raise the price.

However, we're not going to do so for 60 days, so I'm writing to make you one last offer to take these courses at the old price before we raise it to a more reasonable level.

Starting March 1, 2005, the cost of each course will go up to $249, or $747 for all three. But up to that date, you can still register at the old cost of $398 for all three, about half the new price.

Not only that, there is a money back guarantee on these courses. If you listen to each lesson and do the homework for each course and still don't think they were the most transformational experience you've ever had, we'll refund your entire tuition.

I will warn you, though. These LPIP courses are not your typical pablum-filled feel-good seminars where you feel high at the end but realize three weeks later that little if anything really changed.

If you take these three courses, EVERYTHING will change--and, for the better. Your life will be transformed. You will have all the tools you need to be in direct control of your life--your feelings, your internal state, your external results, your behavior.

And, you will gain a huge insight into who you really are, why you're here, and what life is all about.

Plus you'll learn, step-by-step, the exact strategies, internal and external, used by the most successful people in the world to get anything they want. And, I'll show you how to make sure you use them and make them work for you.

And, as I said, if you don't get what you want from these courses, for any reason, you can get a refund. I'm taking all the risk, other than your time investment in actually doing the lessons.

If you're not serious about changing your life, if you aren't willing to do what it takes to operate at the highest level and really be happy, peaceful, and successful ALL THE TIME, this isn't for you.

But if you're serious, if you're sincere, these three courses will utterly and completely change your life.

Here's a huge and very unique benefit you'll get from these LPIP online courses:

In addition to everything else, all LPIP course participants get unlimited email access to me for any questions they have about course content. I answer every one of these emails personally--no staff members are involved--and some of my answers, when necessary, are sometimes three, five, even seven pages long.

I put everything into this course, because I really, sincerely want you to get everything I'm promising.

You though, have a part in the success of these courses--in fact, a big part. I don't wave a magic want over you and change you into a happy, peaceful, successful person in complete control of his or her life.

If just tell you how to do it, and give you an easy way to make the change.

Because I have such a huge personal time investment in answering all your questions, I want to make one thing very clear, though. Please DO NOT take these courses unless you're willing to do your part. I do not have the time to waste on those who aren't sincere and aren't willing to pay the price to create the internal changes they want.

But if you ARE sincere, and you really do want to change your life, I want to show you how to do it, and I will take you, step by step, through everything you need to know.

So, until midnight, March 1, 2005, you can sign up for these three LPIP courses for just $398 for all three courses. After that, the price goes up to $249 per course (still a HUGE bargain, considering what you get) or $747 for all three. By taking advantage of this last-chance offer at the low, introductory price, you save $349.00

And, you create an entirely new life for yourself.

You can read more about each course and what it includes, and even listen to a free preview lesson, just by clicking below:

www.centerpointe.com/life/preview

So please, go listen to the free preview lesson, and if you really are ready to change your life, enroll before March 1st and save $349 before the price increase takes effect.

I look forward to having you in these courses and showing you that the possibilities for what your life can be really are limitless...regardless of your present or past circumstances.

Just click here to listen to the free preview lesson and to take advantage of the old low price before we're forced to raise it on March 1st:

www.centerpointe.com/life/preview

Be well.

Bill

PS: One more thing. Since this is the final call before we raise the price, we're no longer offering each course individually for the old $199 price. If you want the old price, you must sign up for all three for $398. Of course, with the money back guarantee, there's really no risk to you.

You can, though, sign up for course one by itself if you're willing to pay the new price of $249--but it probably makes more sense to just get all three for just a tiny bit more, don't you think?

I look forward to corresponding with you and getting to know you as you get into the first course.

**

Spiritual Cinema Circle

What if you could see the best of the spiritually-oriented, uplifting, and heart-filled movies and short-subjects made each year, in the privacy of your own home--personally chosen for you by noted Hollywood film producer Steven Simon from the top movies, shown at top film festivals?

Steven Simon knows movies. Some of his work as a Hollywood producer includes Somewhere in Time starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve, and What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding.

Steven, though, left Hollywood a couple of years ago to pursue his dream of spreading uplifting, spiritual entertainment--movies that rarely make it to theaters, and often don't even make it to the rental market--yet are uplifting, thought-provoking, heart-opening movies. To bring these movies to people who will really appreciate them, such as you and me, Steven has started The Spiritual Cinema Circle.

Here's what Steven told me: "Before now, hardly anybody got to see the best movies made each year. Now, with The Circle, you can enjoy heartful, soulful movies ... without leaving home."

Here's how the Spiritual Cinema Circle works:

* Each month you receive 3-5 features and shorts on DVD. The movies are personally selected by Steven Simon and his team. These movies represent the best of spiritual cinema and art.

* The movies are new films you're unlikely to see anywhere else.

* The DVDs are yours to keep. You don't have to return them. In fact, you're encouraged to share them with friends and family, in order to broaden the worldwide Spiritual Cinema community.

* The cost of the service is kept deliberately low, so the maximum number of people can participate. If you join now, you become a Charter Member of The CIRCLE. Charter members pay only $24 per month instead of the regular $29 fee (plus $1.95 shipping and handling; outside USA $5.95).

* There's no risk - you may cancel your membership at any time. And remember, you never have to return any of your DVDs, even if you decide to cancel your membership.

I'm sending this email because I've enjoyed these movies so much I just new I had to share this resource with all of you. Go check out their web page for descriptions of the movies you'll see, comments from other members, and other details. I know you'll be inspired to join, and if you don't like it for some reason (which I doubt), you can always un-join at any time.

http://www.spiritualcinemacircle.com/default.asp?afID=SCC020

Be well.

Bill

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7. Feature Article
Spiral Dynamics: A New Model for Understanding the Values that Shape Our World, Part 3
by Bill Harris, Director

In the last two issues I have introduced a developmental model of values which applies to both individuals and social groups. This model is called Spiral Dynamics, and was also the subject of my November 2004 talk at the United Nations.

This is the third and final part of this series.

Click here to read Part 1:

http://www.centerpointe.com/index.php?page=newsletter&sub_page=archives&edition=143

Click here to read Part 2:

http://www.centerpointe.com/index.php?page=newsletter&sub_page=archives&edition=144

Understanding Spiral Dynamics will allow you to:

* Determine the most highly valued criteria of an individual or social group...

* Know what drives their thinking and behavior...

* Know how to communicate with them, manage them, help them, or defend yourself from them...

* Understand your own motives, actions, and personal evolution...

* Understand the real driving force between national and international conflicts that seem to be about religion, class, gender, politics, economics, nationalism, and other common distinctions...

*Understand why current attempts to solve these problems don't work and what really needs to be done to resolve them.

I am indebted to Don Beck, who has carried on the original work of Clare Graves upon which Spiral Dynamics is based at the National Values Center. If you find this material interesting, I urge you to get involved in DonÕs seminars and programs, and to purchase a copy of his book, Spiral Dynamics, which you can find on www.amazon.com.

Last time we looked at the first four of the values levels, Beige, Purple, Red, and Blue. In this issue, we'll look at Level 5 (Orange), Level 6 (Green), Level 7 (Yellow), and Level 8 (Turquoise).

The fifth level, Orange, is called Strive Drive. Orange appears when conditions change in such a way that Blue methods of dealing with existential conditions no longer work as effectively, and when the idea of group sacrifice for the Truth Force loses its luster. At this point the stronger and more enterprising members of the group begin to realize that they are being held back by adhering to the rules and procedures of the group, and that they could create better results through individual action.

Orange believes in "better living through technology," and in the West at least, "what's good for General Motors is good for the USA." Though the most common manifestation of Orange in the world today is the capitalist system, Orange can manifest in other ways. China, for instance, is moving into Orange, though without a true capitalist system.

Orange is based on possibility thinking and individual initiative, and capitalism is only one way this can be expressed. The Orange motto is "express self now in a calculated way"Ñthe idea being to "boldly go where no man has gone before." Actually, Star Trek is a great metaphor for Orange thinking, with Captain Kirk, the entrepreneurial and risk-taking captain at the helm, and Spock, representing science and technology, as his helpful sidekick. Dr. McCoy, a Green, is then thrown in to create some interesting conflict.

Orange seeks to create material abundance for everyone, and those who contribute the most garner the greatest share of the spoils. The basic rule is to act in your own self-interest by playing the game to win, to express self in a calculated way to get the result you want.

For Orange, progress is the natural order of things. The goal is to make constant progress by learning nature's secrets and seeking the best solutions to the problems of better living. Orange seeks to manipulate the worldÕs resources in the most efficient and effective manner in order to spread the good life. Orange is optimistic, risk-taking, and self-reliant, and believes that those with such qualities deserve their success. To Orange, a society prospers through science, technology, competitiveness, and execution of good strategies.

Orange began during the Enlightenment, along with the beginnings of capitalism. It can been easily seen on Wall Street and on Rodeo Drive, in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, in the seminars of Tony Robbins, in the opulence of the French Riviera, in the emerging middle classes and their desire to "keep up with the JonesÕs, in the development of Chambers of Commerce, and in explorers such as Christopher Columbus and the colonialism that followed.

Orange decision-making is based on bottom-line results. Options are tested to see what works best. Achieving the desired outcome is of prime importance, sometimes at the expense of the people involved, or the environment. Experts are the most important people, especially those with scientific or entrepreneurial expertise. The successful receive the spoils in an Orange world.

The family is child-centered, with the expectation that each generation could and should do better than the last. Expectations are high, image is important, and upward mobility is encouraged and expected. The community caters to and admires the more prosperous, proudly displays its affluence, seeks material things as a measure of success, and honors competition.

Success is measured by material abundance. He who dies with the most toys wins. The right clothes, the right car, the right newspaper, and the right newspaper are all ways to gain status. Though Orange will work a long-range plan and delay gratification, there is also a strong desire for here-and-now results. To get them, Orange is willing to struggle, compete, and take risks.

Initial station in life does not prevent upward mobility. In fact, upward mobility is expected and admired to a greater degree than "old" money, which was more admired by Blue. Status comes not from being from the right family, but from success in this life. While Blue often looks to the past, Orange looks to the now and to the future.

Orange believes there is a job to be done, money to be made, products to be created and sold, and a world to be tamed. Don Beck cautions us to remember, however, that though Orange uses materialism to keep score, materialism is not its core principle. Instead, the critical element is change-ability, the idea that we can shape, influence, promote progress, and make things better through the use of the scientific method, quantification, trial and error, and the search for the best solutions.

Orange ranges anywhere from the sleazy con artist who would scam his grandmother for a buck, to the bold and innovative entrepreneurs who built the modern technological society with it's medical miracles, world-wide transportation, labor-saving devices, instantaneous communication, and other material progress. On the healthy side, Orange will compete, but within the bounds of fair playÑone of the ways Orange differs from RedÑcreating tremendous material rewards and progress based on the latest science and technology. Orange does not act rashly, but weights the various options to create the best possible outcome, using the minimum resources to get the maximum benefit.

On the unhealthy side, Orange can place too much emphasis on the end result at the expense of the people involved and the possible cost to the environment. Orange can rationalize exploitation in the service of goal achievement. This attitude created such brilliant ideas as planned obsolescence and the use of non-biodegradable materials. Orange is also apt to think that more money or more technology is the solution to every problem. (YouÕll remember that Blue thinks the answer to every problem is more law and order and more rules, and Red thinks the solution to every problem is more power and aggression.)

The appearance of Orange, however, has been very good for humanity. Orange methods have dramatically lifted the overall world standard of living, created many new technologies that have made life considerably easier, and popularized the important idea that a human being can control his or her own destiny.

The Orange organizational structure is an active hierarchy, where authority or positional power can be delegated. Communication can be up, down, or horizontal. Power, while still related to position, as in Blue, can much more easily be attained through moving up the hierarchy by demonstrating the ability to successfully creating desired results.

At a certain point, some Orange members begin to ask, "Is this all there is to life?" They have attained significant material abundance and life is easier, but something is missingÑthe existential or spiritual element. Orange can transition to the next values level, Green, when there is a growing need for existential significance, contribution, and a desire for internal rather than merely external fulfillment. Orange transitions to Green because the world has been "conquered" through technology and competition, but this "good life" is somehow unfulfilling. To achieve all of this, a certain cost has been paid in terms of the human element, the consequences of a lack of concern for ecological needs have begun to come to light, and the lack of the spiritual element has become more apparent.

In the appearance of the Green values meme, the search for inner peace and human connection becomes more important. GreenÕs approach is communitarian, with the human bond becoming the highest value. The well-being of all the people, not just those that are willing to risk and compete, becomes the highest priority.

Green's motto is "sacrifice self now for the needs of the group." Green wants to sacrifice self, as with sacrificial levels that came before it, but this time to obtain now, which it learned from Orange. But unlike Orange, Green wants to obtain now for self and others." Green responds to the lack of internal fulfillment of Orange by seeking peace within the inner self and through exploring the more caring and spiritual dimensions of humanity.

To the Green meme feelings, sensitivity, and caring supercede results and will not be sacrificed for results. You can see this in activists who would like to get rid of all technology in a quest to save the environment and create more human bonding.

Green believes that resources should be shared equally and that decisions should be reached through consensus, rather than through the desires of the chief and elders, as in Purple, by the most powerful, as in Red, by strict rules of the Truth Force, as in Blue, or by experts and entrepreneurs, as in Orange.

The role of Green is to renew humanity's spirituality, to bring harmony, and to focus on the enrichment of human development. Green can be seen in the music of John Lennon, Rogerian counseling, Doctors Without Borders, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Canadian Health Care, the ACLU, sensitivity training, Jimmy Carter, animal rights, deep ecology, and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

Green is organized around community and feelings. Important values include inner peace, equality and inclusiveness, the relativity of all moral positions, group harmony, the exploration of feelings, shared experience, and cooperation rather than competition. Green thinking is behind "political correctness", socially aware investing, victimsÕ rights, and social safety nets.

Green is a sacrificial system. Purple, the first sacrificial system, sacrificed self for the tribe, the sacred objects, and the tribal traditions. Blue sacrificed self now for a later reward and for the Truth Force around which the particular Blue society is organized. Green sacrifices self now, but for self and others.

In Green, attention turns away from material goods and greater productivity to the inner dimension of feelings. When outer-directed, the ideal Green social organization is the network, governed by consensus decision-making. Green often tries to tell Orange that if they focus more on human needs that the enterprise will be more productive, and sometimes they are right about this.

Green assumes that each person's input has equal value. Though well-intentioned, this is often shown to be untrue, and much time can be wasted on hearing everyone out. The Green motto is "Egalitarianism and Humanitarianism." (OrangeÕs motto was "Science and Technology" and BlueÕs was "Law and Order.")

Despite GreenÕs concern for the human element, Green can have a certain fascism to it. Once consensus is reached, everyone must comply, and there is no room for individual expression or individual action. In fact, Green leaders often do not care what the majority wants. Green leaders may manipulate the group to gain consensus for their idea and then disregard group wants after that. Or, they may decide the group just isn't "conscious enough" if they don't see the politically correct point of view.

When I was in college during the Vietnam War, I was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, a left-wing political group. One of our crusades was "ROTC off campus!" We agitated until the University of Oregon was pushed to vote up or down on this issue. When the vote went against us, did we accede to the desires of the majority, as our name would have assumed? Nope. We began to agitate again for our point of view, with the idea that the people were wrong, and needed "their consciousness raised."

One of the big problems of Green is its reliance on consensus decision-making. The main problem with this method is that the energy required to reach consensus takes much too much time. The process of coming to consensus often really amounts to wearing down those who disagree rather than actually changing their minds. As a result, little if anything of substance is ever actually accomplished. The United Nations, for instance, uses such a decision-making format.

In terms of its ability to create results, Green turns Orange on its head. Where Orange was capable of sacrificing the human element to get a desired result, Green will sacrifice the desired result to preserve group consensus and the human element. This results in an emphasis on feelings and harmony, certainly a positive development-, but often at the expense of productivity and actually accomplishing something.

Green is well-known for being overly permissive, especially with Red, and has trouble effectively dealing with the harsher realities of life. In wanting Red to be "part of the circle," and looking at Red through the filter of their own values, Green believes that if we were only nicer to Red they would stop being so aggressive, selfish, and cruel. Red, of course, doesnÕt want to be part of the circle, sees this attitude as insane, and is happy to take advantage of it.

If we all had lunch together, Purple would share lunch, because tomorrow someone will share with them if they have none. Blue has rigid rules about how lunch is to be shared. Orange says "let's all create a better lunch through technology" and divides the available lunch based on who contributed the most to creating it. Green wants to share lunch, and will even use force to take lunch away from those who contributed the most in order to share it with the less fortunate. Red sees Green's caring for the underdog as naive, idiotic, and something to be taken advantage of, which they do without guilt.

Graves believed that Green would be the shortest-lasting of the values systems, and also that it was one of the most dangerous. While Green preaches equality, it also strongly demonizes those who disagree with their point of view, and will use force to gain compliance with the group consensusÑeven if more sensible alternatives appear. On the positive side, Green has done the world a service by exposing Orange damage to the environment, and by bringing holistic and spiritual thinking and concern for the human element back onto the stage. Emphasizing humanistic rather than material goals, valuing inner peace and the spiritual dimension, and seeing humanity as a universal family are all positive contributions. But in seeing all experiences, all opinions, and all points of view as equal Green produces what Don Beck has referred to as "the new tower of babel."

Green transitions to Yellow when some Greens begin to realize that with all their work over several decades, not much has really changed. The warm, human aspirations of Green begin to wear thin as the realities of complex social problems and the limited ability of the Green approach to actually solve them becomes apparent. As a result, many Greens become frustrated and become alienated from the group approach. They decide that more could be accomplished if they worked on their own to create the necessary global changes. You may recall Don BeckÕs example of the Park Ranger I cited in part one of this series as an example of a Yellow individualistic approach to world problems. The lack of solutions through group effort gives way to individual initiative (just as the limitations of individual initiative eventually give way to the need for cooperative efforts when an expressive meme transitions to a collective, sacrificial meme).

Yellow, the seventh values level, is called Flex Flow. This is an individualistic and expressive values level, taking many of the best parts of Green, Orange, Blue, and Purple and integrating them in to a more effective system. The hallmark of Yellow is flexible adaptation to change through connected, big-picture views. Yellow creates a systems approach to problem-solving, and has the ability to handle many different variables and to intuitively see how they work together (as opposed to Blue, which sees everything in two-dimensional right/wrong terms, or Green, which though it began to see the relativity and greater complexity of the world situation had no effective method of actually getting anything done).

In Yellow, there is an emphasis on information, competency, and knowledge. The person with the most knowledge leads and makes the decisions, and as the situation changes leadership changes. Good leadership is based on competency and the ability to handle complexity. While Green believed that all points of view had equal value, Yellow realizes that some opinions and points of view are more valuable and some are not valuable at all. Those with valuable and effective knowledge are respected and placed in leadership positions.

Yellow shares many of the holistic attitudes of Green, and develops many of them in a more practical manner. With Yellow there is a renewed emphasis on results, but this time while keeping the human element and the environmental consequences in mind. The holistic magnificence of existenceÑas opposed, for instance, to Orange emphasis on material possessionsÑis valued, but with a new practicality and functionality, and a new emphasis on flexibility and spontaneity in dealing with the complex problems that may involve a multi-dimensional interaction of many variables.

In the quest to create real solutions, knowledge and competency supercede rank, power, and status. At the same time, the need to hear all points of view gives way to a practical desire to listen to those with knowledge and expertise.

Yellow can be seen in Carl Sagan's astronomy, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time, the work of W. Edward Deming, chaos theory, and the use of appropriate technology. It can also be seen in Eco-industrial parks, where companies use each other's outflows as raw materials, in Deepak Chopra's Ageless Body, and in systems theory, cybernetics, NLPÑand in the holistic approaches I teach.

Yellow is organized around systems and complexity, and the ability to see relationships between many different variables in a way that Blue, Orange, and Green could not. Yellow takes into account the both naturalness of chaos and the inevitability of change. Yellow decision-making is highly principled and is centered on knowledge and data, creating holistic and systems-oriented resolution of what were previously seen as insoluble paradoxes and problems.

In Yellow, the competent receive the spoils, and the competent are those who understand complexity, are self-directed, and have the flexibility to base their approach on existential conditions, taking each situation as it is and recognizing that those conditions are continually shifting and changing.

A Yellow community does more with less, and uses appropriate technologies to get the job done with less waste and fewer ecological problems. Where Green wanted society to do without where there technology created problems, Yellow sees a middle ground, weighing potential problems against potential benefits, and using more complex pattern recognition and problem solving methods to create new solutions.

Since power flows to the most competent in each situation, it is less concentrated. Different people are in charge in different situations, with the most competent in control of what they know best.

Yellow is an expressive system, where the motto is "express self, but not at the expense of others or the earth." Yellow has given up on Green's group-oriented approach, believing that more will be accomplished through individual effort. To Yellow, the long term viability of the planet depends on wise choices, competency, information, and the ability to deal with complexity and complex systems, much of which was absent in the Green consensus-oriented decision-making processes.

Yellow begins Graves' Second Tier, where First Tier problems are revisited, but this time on a global scale. Yellow revisits the question of survival, the main concern of Beige, but this time survival is addressed on a global level. Graves stressed that Second Tier memes have the ability and flexibility to adopt the methods of any of the six First Tier levels, as needed. This flexibility, along with the ability to deal with complexity with a much more robust toolbox, is one hallmark of the Yellow meme.

Purple attempts to deal with a complex world through superstition. Red deals with complexity with force. Blue tries to reduce complexity to black and white, right and wrong. Orange, in using science and technology, does a better job, but leaves out the human and spiritual elements. Green deals well with the human element, and has a budding ability to see human problems in a more holistic manner, but leaves out the importance of actually getting something done, and has no solution for the problems of Red or Blue. In contrast, Yellow taps into more complex abilities with a more complex vision to deal with more complex problems in a new way.

Purple makes decisions based on superstition and what the Gods or the ancestors want. Red makes decisions based on impulse and power. Blue makes decisions based on rules. Orange makes decisions based on consequences, but ignores some of them in its quest to get the desired result. Green make decisions based on group feelings, and in doing so gets little done. Yellow make decisions based on consequences, based on a new ability to see the complexities of each situation and evaluate those consequences.

Yellow has many of the good qualities of Orange: a desire and ability to shape, influence, and promote progress, to make things better, to use the rationality of the scientific method, and to search for the best solutions to problems. At the same time, it includes many of the best qualities of Green: attention to the human element and the effects of human activity on the environment, less emphasis on status and materialism, and a greater emphasis on the spiritual element.

Yellow can also have an unhealthy aspect, however. In demanding functionality, Yellow can sometimes ignore important feelings. Yellow can also be impatient with incompetency or narrow thinking. They are also impatient with networking, which they see as ignorant people coming together to share their ignorance. Yellow does not like a lot of communication and Green-oriented group meetings, but instead wants to work outside of a group context. They prefer that you give them the problem and leave them alone to solve it.

Yellow can transition to Turquoise when there is an acceptance of the need for coordinated action to effectively deal with world problems. As conditions change, it becomes apparent that individual approaches to global problems are less effective, and at this point Yellow begins to transition to the more sacrificial, group-oriented outlook of Turquoise.

There is very little Turquoise in the world today, so information about this meme is largely conjecture. Turquoise is a sacrificial system in which the motto is "sacrifice self and others as needed for global survival." Turquoise shares YellowÕs global view and its ability to think systemically. Turquoise emerges as some Yellow individuals step forward as global leaders rather than continuing to work individually, as before.

In Turquoise, physics and metaphysics are used together to explore the problems of life and being by combining the physical with the metaphysical, the objective with the subjective. To Turquoise, the world is a single, dynamic organism with its own collective mind, and the self is at the same time distinct and also a blended part of a larger, compassionate whole. Everything connects to everything else, and holistic, intuitive thinking and cooperative actions are to be expected.

Turquoise can be seen in the theories of David Bohn, in McLuhan's "Global Village", in Gregory Stock's Metaman, in Rupert Sheldrake and morphic fields, in Ken Wilber's Spectrum of Consciousness and four quadrant approach, in James Lovelock's "Gaia hypotheses", and in Pierre Teilhard de Chardin"s "noosphere". (I suggest googling these for more information.)

Greens often think they are operating from the Turquoise meme, but there are some key differences. Turquoise realizes that there may be difficult choices, and that some may have to be sacrificed to ensure global survival. Green's inclusiveness and its belief that everything and everyone is of equal value keeps Green from making such difficult choices; Green does not want to sacrifice anyone, because everyone is equally valuable. Turquoise, however, is willing to make such choices, if necessary. Turquoise, like Yellow and Orange, is interested in results. Unlike Orange, however, Turquoise is able to keep in mind the synergy of all life, and to see the consequences of their actions in a way that (hopefully) creates a safe and orderly world.

Turquoise sees multiple planes of consciousness to deal with problems, in much the same way I have described in my Life Principles Integration Process Online courses. Turquoise deals complexity easily, see patterns and consequences not apparent to First Tier values levels. In this way, Turquoise can discover the connections and principles that underlie the entire living process.

On the unhealthy side, Turquoise can become lost in metaphysical issues and become disjointed from reality (what some people call being "a space cadet"). In some cases, they are unable to translate their vision and ideas into practical, here-and-now solutions. They can be capable of looking down on those who think more simply and cannot grasp the Turquoise approach. Like all sacrificial, group-oriented memes, they can be heavy-handed and arrogant when others wonÕt get with the program.

Graves postulated the emergence of other values memes, and Ken Wilber has made a few stabs at describing what those memes might be like, but these are even more speculative than the information IÕve shared about Turquoise.

With all of this in mind, let's look at some of the problems in today's world. I want to be clear that I'm not claiming to have the solutions to all the chaos and conflict in the world. Most of you know my work regarding the role of chaos and reorganization in the universe, and know that I see the growing chaos as a sign that human society is preparing to reorganize in an entirely new way. As old ways of dealing with human and planetary problems fail to work, the structure of society will be forced to reorganize at a new, more complex, and more functional level. In my opinion, this new structure is going to include a much greater number of Yellow and Turquoise leaders and a new ability to see and work with the complexity of today's world.

The main point I want to make is something I said in the beginning: that the conflicts most people take as being based on religion, politics, gender, economic class, race, and other such classifications, are really values conflicts. This means that they have to be solved as values conflicts. Islamic fundamentalism and its Christian counterpart in the West, for instance, is a Blue versus Blue conflict between two contrasting Truth Forces. It is not a religious conflict, and to treat it as such just muddies the waters. The same can be said for what are commonly taken to be racial conflicts, class conflicts, political conflicts, or gender conflicts.

According to Graves and Beck, one of the biggest problems in the world today is Purple societies led by Red dictators, strongly influenced by Blue fundamentalists, with powerful and destructive Orange weapons. The Blue solution has generally been to crack down on Red, but this merely keeps Red in check to varying degrees, without allowing Red to naturally transition to Blue as conditions change.

The other response is the Green response, which is so permissive it makes it difficult for Red to experience the consequences of its positionÑa realization that might help Red transition to Blue -- just as a permissive parent could probably keep a child in its Red stage beyond its "natural" length of time by never allowing natural consequences to be brought to bear.

According to Don Beck, "the Red to Blue transition is the most difficult transition," and requires the construction of what he calls a change conduit which may include military force. Beck notes that if Blue is toxic, as it is in forms of extremism such as the Jihad, Zionism, or "Christian" crusades etc., then we have serious problems because these closed expressions have rigid boundaries and demonize others as heathen, and therefore less than human.

It is important to keep in mind that transitions from one values level to the next occur as conditions change. New memes are a response to changing existential conditions. This means that a group cannot be forced from one meme to the next. Perhaps the solution involves managing the conditions in some way, or at least making sure that Red experiences the new conditions, in stead of being protected from them, as sometimes happens with the Green approach.

Beck points out that Red is not all negative (all memes have their positive and negative aspects). Red can have a refreshing and heroic quality, and is the beginning of individual initiative and innovation. Beck suggests that finding ways to channel the best side of Red in a positive direction may provide a possible solution.

Another key, then, might be providing conditions in which each meme is more likely express its healthy aspects. Then, as conditions change, any change to the expression of the next meme in the spiral will be a response to natural forces, but hopefully with a minimum of problems.

My view is that solutions to current problems will come from Yellow and Turquoise thinking, not through Blue, Orange, or Green solutions, which have already proven to be wanting. First Tier thinking in inherently limited. Though each of these memes has brought its own positives to humanity, none of them are able to think and respond holistically or with the necessary understanding of the multi-dimensional quality of current world challenges.

Finally, as IÕve already said, the world's problems must be seen as conflicts between values memes rather than as racial, political, religious, or class conflicts. Seeing the world in terms of values conflicts, however, is difficult or even impossible for those viewing the world from the Red, Blue, Orange, and Geen memesÑwhich further highlights the need for Yellow and Turquoise leaders.

Luckily, we know that as conditions change, human responses will change to meet them. From the current chaos, more enlightened leaders will eventually emerge. Don Beck is heavily involved in the process of creating such leaders, and you can read several of his essays on this and other related subjects by visiting http: www.coche.dk/essays.html

For further information, I urge you to consider getting involved in one of Don Beck's Spiral Dynamics seminars. I'm told that the new schedule will go up on the www.spiraldynamics.net website this week.

Be well,

Bill Harris, Director

[If you found this article helpful, please send a copy of this issue to a friend!]

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8. Glowing Testimonials and Letters

Hey Bill, A number of years ago I heard an account of someone who interviewed Stephen Spielberg and Bill Gates independently. They were asked, my paraphrase, "How did you get what you got?" They both responded that it was a though a curtain parted and they walked through. At this point it is my belief that you have separated the curtain for me...and I am walking through.

Thanks.

Be well...

Rob

**

I have been using the Awakening Prologue for only two weeks. I previously listened to the demo CD. I just started the whole hour program. The results I have seen are unbelievable for me!
I am legally disabled form a brain injury back in 1996 (though my functioning is so high no one would ever guess--unless they tried to read my typing or asked me certain genres of questions).
with the injury I had lost my organizational skills. MY home was usually a mess and my papers--let's just say I could not find what I needed when I needed it. I have many talents and I was all over the place rather than focusing in on one career. In the past few weeks I have organized my home and my papers and I have focused in so keenly on my career that I have written one book and its webpage along with three blogs. Perhaps the most exciting thing is when I wrote the monthly issue of the newsletter I have been writing for 6 years I did it with zero typos--for the first time since 1996. MY life has shifted to one of abundance and I feel like I am flying. the Universe brings me opportunity after opportunity to shine my Light!

Thank you for the Holosync technology. Oh yes, last night after re-writing my book I was careless doing my save and lost the entire document. Rather than getting all angry and upset and giving up as I might have in the past I told myself if I could do such a terrific job on the first re-write just imagine how wonderful the second re-write will be. I knew there was no point in being negative. Now I am all about forwarding my life and this is a much happier way to live!
It is interesting to note that I still feel like many of my more complex thoughts run into mush yet now I know my thinking is clearer and I am working at a level far closer to where I once was. Before that mush led to a headache and distress. I have been given this gift of life anew.

Ali

P.S. Something very interesting, my book about teen self esteem is written on the premise that most people live life automatically--in a trance. The first thing they need to do is wake up. Your CD is appropriately named.

**

Bill,

I am going to check into the 5-steps to success program that you mentioned in your email message. Thank you.

Even deeper thanks for the deeper levels of Holosynch. I have worked in the IT field for almost 20-years, and as you might imagine from recent news reports, all is not rosy for IT professionals in America as our jobs have gone to the competition overseas-similar to the factory jobs that went to the third world during my father's generation.

Rather than feeling sorry for myself, I have experienced the most profound sense of peace and freedom in my life. While it is true that I thought that I had chosen a career that would get me through to retirement with an upper middle class six figure salary-that may not be the case. So, I am just going to do something different-and I have been taking the necessary steps to make that happen. I wrote a book, built a website, began marketing myself, and in general I have been reinventing myself. The amazing thing is there is no sense of rush, panic, or loss-The universe has plenty in it for me and I am being well taken care of. I remain financially solvent and comfortable, and best of all, I finally moved to the place I have always wanted to live-Alaska.

I wake up each morning happy to be alive. Happy to be. Sometimes the joy is so incredible that I can barely contain it within myself. I live in a comfortable little home at the base of the Chugach mountains - and I get to watch the sunrise each day from huge living room windows that give a view of those mountains. It is beautiful.

It may have worked out equally well without Holosynch-but we will never know, will we. LOL. The fact is, I have been using Holosynch for nearly 1-1/2 years, and I just ordered Awakening Level - 3. Beautiful stuff. And, a beautiful life.

It might be interesting for you to come up to Alaska and talk to the folks up here about Holosynch. Please consider it and let me know. I have made some good connections here, could help arrange it, and I believe the trip would be fruitful.

Warmest regards,
Mark

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9. Book Review
The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
by Jack Canfield, with Janet Switzer
Review by Marc Gilson

***If you would like to read more about or order this book click here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060594888/centerpointer-20

"Do you know what I'm missing in my life?" asked a caller to our offices one day, who was considering joining the Centerpointe program. Before I could guess, he said, "Purpose! Passion! Focus! Time management! Discipline! Courage! Confidence! Success!" "Ah," I said, reflectively, jotting down the words. "But that's all!" He said, laughing at his own rhetorical dialogue.

Most of us can relate to this man's situation. We know what success means, but we can't seem to manifest it. We can't take it off our mental drawing boards and turn it all into something real and tangible. We know the terms and catch-phrases, but seem unable to put them into real, live practice. There is a gap for many of us between the theoretical and the practical, between the want and the will. How do we turn success from fantasy into reality?

Jack Canfield's new book doesn't have the answers. (Actually, no book really does). But Jack's Success Principles does show you right where to find those answers (within you!) and just what to do with them.

"The principles always work if you work the principles." This maxim sets the tone for what is a tour de' force of the best success-oriented concepts available anywhere. Flip to any page and you'll find yourself reading about an idea that just might change your life forever.

You might know Jack's name as the man behind the hugely successful Chicken Soup for the Soul books (along with co-creator Mark Victor-Hansen). Chicken Soup for the Soul currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most books sold in a series. We're also proud to call Jack a friend and partner of Centerpointe. Jack is not only a self-propelled success story in his own right, he's an outstanding teacher of success principles and a mentor to thousands. Needless to say, Jack knows a thing or two about success.

Starting with the very first page, Jack begins to describe 64 principles focused on success. The first principle Jack discusses is stated in clear terms: "Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life." Since the principles Jack describes are offered in order ("They are like the numbers in a combination lock - you need all the numbers and you need them in the right order.") it's interesting to note that self-responsibility is the pre-requisite to all aspects of success-building. In our coaching work, and in our business, we've also found this to be the case. Those of you in the Centerpointe program will recognize this as one of the Nine Principles for Conscious Living by Bill Harris ("Responsibility as Empowerment").

Jack draws on personal stories, quotes, and examples to illustrate various aspects of each principle, making them come alive in the reader's mind. From industry leaders, past and present, to athletes, actors, musicians, and politicians, the book is packed with wit and wisdom spanning all aspects of success. Jack weaves it all together into an unfolding, momentum-building compendium of methods proven to help you manifest success in every area of your life.

One of Jack's most effective writing tools is in developing easy-to-remember phrases supporting the concepts he describes. For example, Jack offers a simple formula: E + R = O (Event + Response = Outcome) as a fundamental success principle. If you don't like your outcomes, change your responses. Jack reminds us:

"You only have control over three things in your life - the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take (your behavior). If you don't like what you are producing and experiencing, you have to change your responses. Change your negative thoughts to positive ones. Change what you daydream about. Change your habits. Change what you read. Change your friends. Change how you talk."