This month sees the 165th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. In 1831 a 22-year-old Darwin set off on a five-year voyage to circumnavigate the globe on HMS Beagle, surveying the world’s flora and fauna. During this trip and whilst reflecting afterwards he formed his ideas about evolution. But it wasn’t until almost 30 years later in1859 that he published his theory. Prompted by the fact that fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, was about to publish something very similar. Darwin’s theory is predicated on the ideas that there is inherited, natural variation within members of the same species, and that organisms will continue to expand their numbers until they are unable to do so. This expansive pressure then results in selfish competition, which enables the individuals who are best suited to the overall environment to thrive. Evolution through natural selection is simple to understand. It is supported by the fossil record, and the study of the morphology of existing animals. Though not fully understood in Darwin’s time, the discovery of genetics, DNA, and DNA mutation has secured evolution as a scientific fact. Darwin’s theory of life evolving through environmental and competitive pressures is well accepted in people’s minds today. Not many people hold onto the literal meaning of the Biblical creation story in Genesis. And others kind of blur the issue by thinking of evolution as God’s ‘process’ for the creation of man. I guess one reason for this is when viewed with the benefit of hindsight, evolution by natural selection does look directed and purposeful. Whereas the only ‘purpose’ is, at best, environmental fit and reproductive success. One of the wrinkles in Darwin’s theory, which was raised when he published his work, is that the human brain ‘seems’ to be larger than it needs to be from an evolutionary perspective. Or to put that another way, there must have been some considerable evolutionary pressure on our immediate ancestors, which necessitated the development of a significantly larger brain, but right now we do not know what that was.
Another interesting aspect of human evolution is the way we use our brains. Humans are thought to have evolved from Homo erectus about 300,000 years ago. Yet it is only within the last 7,000 years that we have had anything resembling a city, and we have only had writing for the last 5,000 years. Clare Graves was a psychology professor who studied mature personality in the 1950s and 60s. He (yes, Clare was a man) was partially inspired by the work of Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. After 21 years of research, he published his theory as the, Emergent Cyclical Double Helix Model of Adult Bio Psychosocial Systems. Also known by the slightly catchier title of Spiral Dynamics. Graves’ theory tracks how, ‘the way humans think’ evolves through a predictable pathway, and that it is our changing life conditions that provides the impetus for our thinking to develop. To date he and his proponents have identified 8 levels of human thinking, from Automatic, through tribal, egotistical, hierarchical (one way), multiplistic (many ways), sociocentric, systemic, and holistic. There isn’t space here to explain this in a lot of detail, but basically the model oscillates between the power being inside and the behaviour self-expressive, and the power being outside and the behaviour being collective. The thinking also becomes more complex at higher levels and becomes more inclusive of others. Here’s a very quick summary –
Automatic: Live in groups of 12-15. Act much like animals and fulfil basic survival needs.
Tribal: Gather in larger groups, see spirit in everything, focus on safety, home and hearth.
Egotistical: This is highly energetic and self-expressive. It is about looking good and getting respect. Avoids shame.
Hierarchical: Rewards are deferred into the future. Obeys rightful higher authority. Follows The Rules.
Multiplistic: Wants to use the power of the right-thinking, rational, conscious mind to make their life better now. Wants to find the best way to do something. Success is important to them, are keen to express independence.
Sociocentric: Focuses on cooperation rather than competition. Wants to be accepted within their peer group, welfare is distributed according to need not merit. Can be judgemental.
Systemic: Comfortable holding conflicting information in their minds at the same time. Interdependent. Focused on results rather than success. Wants all life, not just their life to prosper.
Holistic: Works with whole systems, sees everything as consciousness.
Graves’ book is called, The Neverending Quest, because he didn’t see human thinking as a closed system in the way that Maslow did. Graves’ work is helpful when looking at how the world is today. It makes the various tensions and conflicts easier to understand and offers us guidance about how we can develop along a more positive pathway. It can also be useful in coaching for getting a sense about where your client’s thinking is and where it might be going. One final thing for your over large brain to ponder is this; why did we evolve this capacity for more complex thinking, which we have only been using relatively recently? Maybe Darwin’s work was only the opening shot in understanding of evolution after all.
“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” John Maxwell
