Cherie Beck

Recently I spent a week in beautiful countryside of Hertenstein, Switzerland, 30 minutes around the lake from Luzern, immersed in conditions created to support the development and emergence of 6 people eager to contribute to the Spiral Dynamics Group (SDG) as potential trainers. Co-leading with Christopher Cooke, new insights were revealed and seen by me, as result of dedicated, intensive and protracted interaction with Chris while “training” others.

One of those insights relates to an “open wave.”

I’ve known Cookie, as he is often called, for about 5 years now, our paths crossing in various cities across the US and many phone conversations related to the future of SDG. Chris has used a metaphor of an open wave for several years now in speaking about the process of emergence. The nuanced thing about metaphors, is they either connect and offer meaning and guidance or they miss. The open wave has usually missed with me, that is until last month. The context of this training, from Chris’ point of view is act as if we operate from second tier, which intrinsically means beyond yellow into the space of turquoise. Co-leading for the last 3 years with Don, the premise focus tends to emphasize yellow, leaving turquoise to the imagination and co-opting of first tier minds. My 10-day interaction served as an entre to dipping, full bodied, open hearted and mind twisting into a sequence of state experiences more closely aligned with turquoise than I have recognized before, leaving behind a flow that I have been surfing in ever since.

Here’s a cool video to bring the imagery and experience of surfing to this post.

As I watch in video form; what it’s like to surf a wave, I notice that, metaphorically, for the entire time I have been surfing at all (I’ll admit..much of my life has been spent on the beach…maybe even to the parking lot…not venturing into the water all) I have been inside the breaking water. Lately, and you can read several posts on my blog, here, I have written about being more in the break, where it is messy and hurts and I spill all over everything. Manly, however, I’ve gotten very good at breaking through the barriers, finding the open wave just long enough to return to the pipe waiting for the next break to appear in front of me, then working on the breaking though to the open again.

The biggest impact of revisiting the open wave metaphor, for me, was in the realization that it was time move out in front of the “breaking”, into the wide open space where the boundaries, instead of always being in front of me, shift behind me. In fact, the entire world of boundaries closes off behind me when I stay in the open wave.

Gulp!

Yet, notice that in surfing, no boundaries doesn’t mean chaotic, directionless abandon. In the open wave, as a surfer I am held in place by the momentum of the movement of the wave in combination with the competencies of practiced surfer. Controlled freedom in awareness of my surrounding conditions. AND I notice, in this place “the pulse” of the prime directive, or the pulse of evolution keeps me grounded, aligned and totally connected.

I think I might have the “hang” of the open wave. Ooops, there I go again, back in the break. Oh, well. It’s a good thing my capacity for resilience is active and strong. Getting up and out in front of the wave again is becoming easier too.