Central to mainstream psychology are various developmental models. Freud defined a series of psychosexual stages of development. Similarly, Erik Erikson proposed an eight-step process by which we mature. With his stages of Cognitive Development, Jean Piaget identified a maturity model that unfolds from age zero to adolescence.

But what about humanity in general? Has not our human consciousness also evolved over time?

Here we arrive at the research of Clare Graves, who identified a set of stages that characterise our developing worldview. Graves' research was adopted and popularised by Beck and Cowan and is now known as Spiral Dynamics.

Spiral Dynamics appears to have captured the evolution of consciousness. From ‘magical thinking’ through to ‘might is right,’ lawful and noble ways of being, and more enlightened states, the stages of Spiral Dynamics display a clear path of progression.

What’s more, Spiral Dynamics seems to have an archetypal basis and is reflective of Jung’s model of the evolving psyche as outlined in his late work Aion.

In this session, we will explore the history of consciousness as depicted by the Spiral Dynamics model and archetypal models.