I read one of Bernardo's articles a few days ago and two quotes in it struck me and a connection came up in my mind that I felt worth sharing. The quotes are from an article from May 2015 in which Bernardo reacts to a critique of one of his essays: https://www.bernardokastrup.com/2015/05 ... sited.html.
In it he quotes Matthew David Segal as saying this:
"Necessary unity is politically frightening to me. It is too fascist, too totalitarian."
And this:
"I prefer democracy both politically and ontologically. Order, oneness, unity, etc must be freely affirmed, freely achieved. They cannot be metaphysically imposed."
Now, I am sure many of you have probably heard of a model named Spiral Dynamics, which was developed by Don Edward Beck and Christopher Cowan (based on the work of Clare W. Graces) and is often used by Integral thinkers such as Ken Wilber. It is a developmental model that describes changes in worldviews which occur both in individuals throughout their lives as well as in societies and cultures at large. It uses color-coding for the respective value systems it posits.*
Of course I do not know the work of Segal well enough or the positions he now holds, so I concluded in more general terms that the sentiments these quotes express are perfectly explainable and even to be expected in the context of Spiral Dynamics. In my opinion, the view expressed by Segal in these quotes would fall in the "green" (which equals post-modern) stage, while I would categorize Bernardo's in the "yellow" or "turquoise" (which equals integral) stage.
The green view regards any claim to "truth with a capital T" as invalid, as everything is believed to be constructed. It eschews asserting fixed truths because it mostly sees the unhealthy sides of orange and "blue" (traditional) worldviews, many of which stem from claims to absolute truths, be these based on rationalism or religious fundamentalism. So a move from materialism to a more "post-modern metaphysic" that describes itself as democratic or pluralistic makes perfect sense in this model and in the background of a "green" worldview (although of course not as a philosophical assertion in itself).
In the broader context of societal and cultural change, materialism is held by the still dominating "orange" (which equals modernist) stage as its metaphysics. The change that is happening at this point of time is moving from orange through green to yellow. Concurrently I regard Idealism or Nondualism as a view of the world that perfectly encapsulates the move from modernist to integral and beyond.
To my mind, a developmental approach such as Spiral Dynamics helps with understanding many societal issues, including this one. It also helps in seeing things like the movement away from materialism in a grander scheme. Maybe there is a possibility for a cross-pollination of ideas.
* The Wikipedia article gives a good overview of the model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Dynamics.
** The societal consequences of the green worldview have been described in detail by Ken Wilber in one of his more recent books ("Trump and a Post-Truth World").
