I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. Even for those who do not subscribe to Christianity, I do hope you find yourself rising up and overcoming the insurmountable obstacles in your life.

Today we continue our examination of the developmental stages of consciousness by considering the third stage.  Most call this the traditional stage, but since I have been employing my own measuring tools, I will refer to this as the "GROUP-O-METER."

In Paul Smith's book entitled "Integral Christianity", Smith estimates that approximately 40-55% of the world is at this level of spiritual awareness. This means that for most of us, the group-o-meter is pretty much all we have ever known, or it depicts, most of the people we know.  

The group-o-meter or "traditionalists" are those whose consciousness  has moved beyond the Fear-o-meter or the warrior stage. They are also well beyond the Force-o-meter or the ancient stage.  The appeasement of the "Force", and the fierceness of the "Fear" is now tempered with a God-concept that now rewards good behavior and still punishes bad behavior.  

The "group" is now well established and the fear has created an elaborate system of right and wrong behaviors--all of which will either benefit you or be your ruin.  The group-o-meter believes that if something is "in the Bible" or other sacred text, then it must be entirely true. Contextualization of the text is secondary to toting the party line. In fact, as long as the group says, then it will be good enough for those with a group-o-meter consciousness. Group authority is not questioned without consequences.

The strict rules of conduct and appraisals of others is helpful to us when we are young. It helps give us fences while we are still impulsive.  But like the force-o-meter, it becomes a prison if we don't outgrow it.  It keeps us safe at first, and then later it keeps us small.

We all like to imagine ourselves as being free from the herd mentality, but this is actually much more challenging than you might think.  As soon as one strays from the group-o-meter, they are immediately marginalized.  Jesus was by far the most critical of this group of people. It was always inviting people away from the letter of the law into its higher and fuller essence, for that is where true transformation takes place in the individual as well as the society.

The parts of our society that are leaving organized religion today, are often those that have a consciousness that can see through the "Group-Think" of most groups. Unfortunately, while they may leave a particular denomination or religious perspective, they often are not able to move beyond the group-o-meter.  They simply adopt the group-think of an alternative system.

In order to transcend this stage, like all stages, we must be able to fully include all the richness and benefit that this stage possesses. Only then can we know the right kinds of questions, and thus experience the tensions of realizing the answer is now beyond this stage's grasp.

Leaving the herd at this stage is bitter-sweet. It is often a journey of suffering, of being ostracized, marginalized, diminished, and labeled. We always follow, even unknowingly, in the messianic footprints that also was typified by such things. The rising up that comes from following the stray, is always a form of resurrection.