Most adults would not judge an elementary school and make a determination that one grade is a better grade than all the others.  Those who have completed their education will recognize the important roles that each grade played in their maturation. The educational process requires us to transcend and include each learning phase. 

The evolution of consciousness is the same thing, except we never enter the process with a definitive graduation date. Therefore we all end up usually as far as those who lead us. It's pretty hard to transcend and include 5th grade if you have never moved beyond 2nd grade. Thus we always appraise our consciousness as higher than it probably is.

This is an important lens through which I will help you see people's beliefs. By the time this introduction into Integral theory is completed, you will have a much wider and more inclusive understanding of the diverse religious (and atheistic) faith systems.

The earliest form of consciousness is often referred to as the Tribal phase, Archaic phase, or some refer to it as the beige phase. 

I call it the force-o-meter because of the relationship people at this level have with "higher powers."  Early consciousness is only concerned about survival. In indigenous people groups (like the bushmen of the Kalahari), survival is highly dependent upon the rains and game. Thus their system relies upon the appeasement of those FORCES that bring rain and game. Ritual dances, superstitions and traditions are seen as the means to bring good fortune and success and thus survival.

In our modern world, people can be forced into a force-o-meter sense of dependency by natural disasters, war zones, and economic failures. An addict is a version of this type of consciousness because their survival is also dependent upon the FORCES that sustain them. Desperate times create desperate beliefs.

This is not about intelligence. People in all these stages are equally intelligent. It only means that these people lack the categories to perceive things any other way. Thus their worldview is steeped in superstitions and the belief that upholding them will appease the "higher powers" and allow survival.

It's not hard to see how people remain in this early form of consciousness. These communities are very loyal to their "appeasement systems". Theologies in this phase understand God as a potentially dangerous, and rather stingy power that lives far off in another world and looks down with a scrutinizing eye to ensure proper compliance. God is seen as "taking sides." He/she has enemies and friends and if he/she is not appeased, then people cannot expect survival or any of God's help.

Much of scientific discovery has debunked a lot of these superstitions and eroded the idea of the Force-o-meter theology. This is the main "God concept" that modern people have rightly rejected. Correspondingly, what makes the Christ story so compelling is that it means the end of appeasement. It offers a path toward newer ideas about God and how to we can relate to this great force.

We are just getting started, come back next week to see how the force-o-meter evolved into the FEAR-O-METER.