how does life grow?
Scientists of all sorts have been studying how things grow for millennia. We humans love to discover patterns and understand how things work, and life is no exception! The above chart offers you a brief look at some of the different ways people present the pattern that human life, as well as all other life, seems to grow physically, emotionally, and intellectually.
Each theory explains the stages of development somewhat differently, but all of the theories have observed that each level is indeed unique, and all have observed similar specific traits at each level. In other words, they pretty much all agree on what the levels are, and only differ in the cultural and linguistic framing of the information.
Some of the theories also have suggested that there are different elements in each living being that go through these stages independently. Ken Wilber's AQAL Theory suggests that there are from six to ten different "lines" of development such as kinesthetic, moral, cognitive, and aesthetic elements. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory is primarily a description of the overall motivations at each level of growth. Spiral Dynamics defines the levels as the different "values" at each stage. Sahtouris' Cycle of Emergence is primarily based on the physical/biological development of an organism in a system. And The Wise Turtle's Spiral Growth Theory recognises that there are three elements to all living things - "physical/matter", "intellectual/energy", and the intersection of the first two, which ends up being best described in humans as "emotional" - which move through the developmental stages separately.
All of the theories recognise that there is a well-defined progressive pattern to growth. That pattern goes something like this:
ok, now what?
For more information about The Wise Turtle's AQAL Spiral Growth theory, and for links to websites with information about some of the other theories, visit:
- the Spiral Growth theory main page
- the Hierarchy of Human Needs - How The Wise Turtle's Spiral Growth theory fits into Maslow's pyramid of needs
- the Needs Spiral with lots of pretty bowls
- the AQAL Spiral - How The Wise Turtle's Spiral Growth theory fits into Ken Wilber's AQAL theory
- to the The Wise Turtle's blog
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