This is beautifully expressed and really resonates with how I experience working with patterns. They are something to be seen and integrated, rather than replaced with another fixed way of being.
As you said so eloquently, the developmental stages feel more like landmarks in a multidimensional landscape. The paths we take in relation to them aren’t linear or uniform—they wind, loop, and unfold in deeply individual ways.
Thinking on this and reflecting on my own experiences, I have noticed how my psyche has a trauma-conditioned wiring that goes like this in a rapid+automatic processing flow- triggering of pain+fear (in layer 1, pure feeling) -> gripping of intense resistance in the will, movement of self-protection (in layer 2) -> gripping of mental grasping at neurotic uncertainty reduction (in layer 4. not layer 4 as integrated into the whole stack, which this rendition of the model reflects, but gripping in layer 4 in terms of its stand-alone nature as 'abstracting-cognition' or something like that).
I also think of how, in spiral dynamics, a complementary developmental psychology model, it is noted that each subsequent stage oscillates between an emphasis on self and an emphasis on other. In the kegan model I think that would perhaps map to sthing like this- layer 1/pure feeling (self-other not differentiated), layer 2/will (self-emphasis), layer 3/adaptation to others (other-emphasis), layer 4/abstraction structure (self-emphasis), layer 5/formlessness/undefined (self-other again undifferentiated). and in a traumatised mind configured in a certain way, the self-other undifferentiated layers (1 and 5), are perceived by the selfing poles, of 2 and 4, as threats to the self-boundary, ie as other (as is layer 3). Thus creating a split in the psyche where there is a strong polarisation between 2 and 4, which form a mutually contracting loop, and 1, 3 and 5, which are the potential opening-points (and therefore fear-zones) for the undoing of the rigid 2 <-> 4 trauma adaptation.
I found it interesting how my particular traumatised modification of the functioning of the stack relies on a consolidation around the 2 self-poles, layers 2 and 4, in an attempted self-stabilising loop of will+cognition (or you could say control+prediction), against the chaos/trauma felt in layer 1. It made me curious about other possible traumatic stack configurations that might exist in other people, like is there a typology of specific ways that the functioning of the stack gets split and the information flow (?) re-arranged from its optimal functioning (which is the fluid open interconnectedness of all layers). Curious of any thoughts you have on that Ari! It seems like one could potentially make an entire typology of the types of ways the stack can be pathologically split via adaptation to unresolved trauma, as a way to map this to for example the central recognised categories of personality configuration in the DSM, or in attachment theory, or in enneagram etc. And then perhaps that map could guide targeted inner-tech practice interventions for specifically configured types.
Some folks take Kegan Stage 5 to match whatever they conceive of as “the ultimate developmental stage”.
I have come to view the essence of Stage 5 as creating cultures/societies (at large or small scale): creating new roles, aesthetics, and matching physical structures.
That makes it a direct successor to stage 4, living from the roles of a given culture/society. It is the wisdom learnt by doing this across multiple systems that provides source material for creation. Stage 5 is similar to moving from the rich performance of classical music (stage 4) to the skilled composition of it (stage 5).
The developmental stages are more landmarks in a multi-dimensional landscape. The actual paths to travel with respect to these landmarks may wind through and around all of them in very individual ways.
This is beautifully expressed and really resonates with how I experience working with patterns. They are something to be seen and integrated, rather than replaced with another fixed way of being.
As you said so eloquently, the developmental stages feel more like landmarks in a multidimensional landscape. The paths we take in relation to them aren’t linear or uniform—they wind, loop, and unfold in deeply individual ways.
Thinking on this and reflecting on my own experiences, I have noticed how my psyche has a trauma-conditioned wiring that goes like this in a rapid+automatic processing flow- triggering of pain+fear (in layer 1, pure feeling) -> gripping of intense resistance in the will, movement of self-protection (in layer 2) -> gripping of mental grasping at neurotic uncertainty reduction (in layer 4. not layer 4 as integrated into the whole stack, which this rendition of the model reflects, but gripping in layer 4 in terms of its stand-alone nature as 'abstracting-cognition' or something like that).
I also think of how, in spiral dynamics, a complementary developmental psychology model, it is noted that each subsequent stage oscillates between an emphasis on self and an emphasis on other. In the kegan model I think that would perhaps map to sthing like this- layer 1/pure feeling (self-other not differentiated), layer 2/will (self-emphasis), layer 3/adaptation to others (other-emphasis), layer 4/abstraction structure (self-emphasis), layer 5/formlessness/undefined (self-other again undifferentiated). and in a traumatised mind configured in a certain way, the self-other undifferentiated layers (1 and 5), are perceived by the selfing poles, of 2 and 4, as threats to the self-boundary, ie as other (as is layer 3). Thus creating a split in the psyche where there is a strong polarisation between 2 and 4, which form a mutually contracting loop, and 1, 3 and 5, which are the potential opening-points (and therefore fear-zones) for the undoing of the rigid 2 <-> 4 trauma adaptation.
I found it interesting how my particular traumatised modification of the functioning of the stack relies on a consolidation around the 2 self-poles, layers 2 and 4, in an attempted self-stabilising loop of will+cognition (or you could say control+prediction), against the chaos/trauma felt in layer 1. It made me curious about other possible traumatic stack configurations that might exist in other people, like is there a typology of specific ways that the functioning of the stack gets split and the information flow (?) re-arranged from its optimal functioning (which is the fluid open interconnectedness of all layers). Curious of any thoughts you have on that Ari! It seems like one could potentially make an entire typology of the types of ways the stack can be pathologically split via adaptation to unresolved trauma, as a way to map this to for example the central recognised categories of personality configuration in the DSM, or in attachment theory, or in enneagram etc. And then perhaps that map could guide targeted inner-tech practice interventions for specifically configured types.
Some folks take Kegan Stage 5 to match whatever they conceive of as “the ultimate developmental stage”.
I have come to view the essence of Stage 5 as creating cultures/societies (at large or small scale): creating new roles, aesthetics, and matching physical structures.
That makes it a direct successor to stage 4, living from the roles of a given culture/society. It is the wisdom learnt by doing this across multiple systems that provides source material for creation. Stage 5 is similar to moving from the rich performance of classical music (stage 4) to the skilled composition of it (stage 5).
There are Adult Developmental Coaches (@Charlie Awbery is one I am familiar with). For decades, there have been tools such as the Subject/Object interview to determine lags in development (see https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Subject-Object-Interview-Administration-Interpretation/dp/1461128803 — not a book I recommend, it’s a boring technical book for this singular purpose.)
The developmental stages are more landmarks in a multi-dimensional landscape. The actual paths to travel with respect to these landmarks may wind through and around all of them in very individual ways.