Massive social, economic and technological changes swept Britain in the eighteenth century. At the time, people were aware of the massive changes but unsure as to how to define it. Later, that era became known simply as the Industrial Revolution.

Today, we are passing through an information revolution, thanks to computers and communications. We are also passing through a much larger phenomenon - a consciousness revolution. This Shift is an upgrade in global consciousness which affects all aspects of life.

A leading social scientist, the late Clare W. Graves, identified the historical phases of civilization and social progress to the point where he came to the realization that, today, mankind is preparing for a momentous leap. This leap would be a mega-change in society which would dwarf all previous shifts, including the Industrial Revolution.

Clare W. Graves was a professor of psychology at Union College, New York. In the chaotic years after World War II, he wanted to determine exactly what lies beneath human nature. Rather than comparing the conflicting theories of the day, he decided to dump them all, right in the trash can! Then he decided to figure out for himself what was happening. Graves, unfortunately, passed away in 1986, just before releasing the book which would have expanded greatly upon his life's work.

Two of his students, Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, stepped in to fill the void caused by his departure. They assembled and published the essence of his research in their book, Spiral Dynamics. In it, Beck and Cowan have taken Graves' theory even further, enhancing his findings by drawing from the science of Memetics, which is the study of memes.

Memes are the social equivalent of genes, cultural units of information which self-replicate from mind to mind on a vast scale, appearing within society as new trends of thought. So far, eight different memes have been identified in the evolution of society throughout recorded history. Also, an emerging ninth meme has been identified, but not yet fully analyzed due to its scarceness.

The different memes, which reflect the evolution of society from its primitive beginnings up to the present, are defined by the following keywords:

1. Basic survival. The most primitive motivation of just staying alive.
2. Clans. Tribal and family bonding along with superstition-filled attempts to understand the powers of nature which threaten to overpower them.
3. Survival of the fittest. Mastering the environment, fighting to break constraints. Sensing many gods, all of which are models of power.
4. Finding purpose in life. Obeying authority and rules of morality, sacrificing the self to a greater cause for a deferred reward. Dedicating allegiance to one supreme God.
5. Striving to succeed. Fighting to win, beating the competition, achieving independence.
6. Community and caring. Unconditional love, accepting others as they are, seeing the value of service to others, the beginnings of spiritual understanding.
7. Flexible flow. Big-picture views, the discovery of self-accountable personal freedom.
8. Global view. Spiritual awareness, learning through simply being as well as doing, becoming conscious of the superconscious, trusting intuition.
9. The emerging mystery meme. What will it represent? One thing is for sure, at the present rate of change of The Shift, it won't be long before this question is answered.

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