Here is a video of Don Beck speaking at the UN. You can find more videos of him speaking on YouTube.

Don Beck and Chris Cowan wrote a book called Spiral Dynamics based on work by Clare Graves. Spiral Dynamics is a theory of human development. The theory is that when humans are faced by more complex life conditions they evolve more sophisticated models to deal with the those conditions. Not only do our bodies evolve but so do our minds and in turn the collective consciousness of societies.When people say that we need to evolve a higher consciousness they usually mean that we need to step up to the next level of the holarchical-model (holarchy). The reason is as Einstein often quoted saying goes is because: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Environmental destruction and war are brought about by lower level thinking. Fighting for perceived to be scarce rescources is a useful strategy when you are a hunter-gatherer but it’s not the most useful strategy at this point. The thinking that created that strategy is outdated.Some people find it difficult to conceive of ‘higer consciousness’. What does it mean? I think one way to illustrate it is to think of an instance where a problem is solved in a highly original way. This could be Ghandi practising non-violent protest or a football player beating a defender in way that no-one could have imagined.

You’ll know when you’re operating on a higher level when someone sees you do something and exclaims: ‘That’s impossible!’