“We see the world not as it is, but as we are.”

— Attributed to Anaïs Nin

Introduction

Civilizational Development Reflects Humanity’s Spiritual Perspectives

We now come full circle by merging the laws of cause and effect, connectivity, and manifestation with the next law: the law of perspective:

It begins when we realize that one’s degree of conscious development affects many of one’s actions.

Combine your perspective and acts with the rest of humanity. Average it.

The breadth of humanity’s perspective then manifests as the collective consciousness of the entire planet.

Many psychologists and spiritual teachings agree that consciousness evolves in stages, and that society reflects the stage most of its members occupy.[1]

This can affect groups of any level: your social circle of friends, institutions, corporations, nations, or humanity.

Hence, you can have many groups, such as different nations, all manifesting at different stages of spiritual development.

Conflicts or disagreements often arise when one group fails to understand the other’s view.

The irony is that groups with a more expansive worldview can understand those with a less inclusive one, but not the other way round.

I condense these revelations into my subjective perspective of six stages of conscious development by synthesizing teachings from various sources. Other philosophies and theories have already preceded mine. My take is not original.

There are no “better” or “worse” stages — every soul goes through them in the same manner that a bud grows into a mighty oak tree.

A soul is “succeeding” just by manifesting the positive aspects of each stage and learning from it. The focus is on the present, on growth, and not on comparisons.

Soul evolution begins when the One fragments itself into individual souls. Each soul incarnates on Earth and goes through six stages of spiritual growth, becoming more broad-minded with each stage.

Tetris as an Analogy

I illustrate each spiritual stage in parallel using real-life and Tetris examples.

The Early Beginner Stage

Souls begin with a highly narrow-minded, egoistic perspective. They operate primarily by instinct and experience their separation as self versus the non-self.

In this stage, the soul focuses on survival needs, a characteristic of very few primitive and isolated tribes on this planet. About 2% of the world’s population functions at this stage.[2]

Think of the Stone Age’s cavepeople 50,000 years ago. Most of them would manifest at this stage.

A soul at this stage is governed by instinct, and morality operates based on the immediate benefits and gratifications to the self.

Their worldview is confined mainly to the self (solitary in a cave) or to one’s immediate family.

In the positive manifestation of this spiritual stage, the soul learns independence and specific skills required for later stages.

In the negative aspect, the soul may manifest extreme fear and prejudice towards others, often resulting in violence. That was possibly how Cro-Magnon wiped out many Neanderthals.

This perspective manifests, per the law of perspectives, as simple tribal communes that hunt, forage, and perform simple rituals.

It can sometimes be perilous, as the soul may perceive non-selves or non-family members as enemies. This can lead to skirmishes and the killing of other families, clans, or tribes.

In Tetris, I illustrate this with the following diagram set. When one first learns Tetris, one’s perspective is narrow, focusing on the most immediate muscle-memory-related moves:

Diagram Set 10-1
1	2

The L piece spawns in its default location.

The player holds down “move right” for a while. The L piece rushes to the right.

The player presses rotate and “move left” simultaneously. The L kicks off the wall and reaches its intended position.

The above features 2-step finesse, a movement scheme that minimizes finger presses to place each piece optimally at its desired location.

When you first play Tetris, your worldview focuses entirely on the lower-level work of building muscle memory. High-level strategizing is not possible yet.

Additionally, many Tetris beginners focus on survival in their first versus matches. They cannot create offensive abilities to attack the opponent.

And they fear their initial opponents.

The Late Beginner Stage

In the next stage, a soul enlarges their perspective from beyond the self and immediate family to the broader community.

The soul focuses on order and structure, sometimes adhering staunchly to their societal or religious order.[3]

Such souls often live in rural or suburban areas of developed countries. However, in many developing countries with deeply rooted religious traditions, they can be prominent. About 18% of the world operates at this stage.

They often operate according to conventional morality, using simplistic concepts or dichotomies of right versus wrong. Their moral worldview is black-and-white.

Politicians in major countries that manifest this stage can sometimes be imposing and insist that their country is always right, resorting to “might makes right” solutions.

In the positive manifestation, the soul can become a model citizen or use its adherence to structure to achieve vital societal feats. This can be an orderly, crime-free neighborhood.

In the negative pole, the soul manifests bigotry, racism, prejudice, or ostracism towards other groups. They may impose their beliefs on others and refuse to accept them for who they are.

This spiritual stage can manifest, per the law of perspective, in many ways at the societal level.

For instance, if a people adhere strictly to order and structure and demand strict adherence to fundamentalist dogmas, their social system would mirror that.

This was the case in the fifteenth century, during the Spanish Inquisition and the age of colonial expansion.

Many Spanish explorers firmly believed Christ’s word was the only way, and they sought to spread their teachings to every civilization they encountered.

Those who did not adhere to it were burned or erased, such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas.

This dogmatic mindset persisted throughout much of Europe, where many who dared offer a more expansive worldview were burned, imprisoned, persecuted, or excommunicated.

This was the tragic case of people such as Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei, and Meister Eckhart.

This dogmatism affects not just religion. It can also show up in people who staunchly believe scientific materialism as dogma. It also shows up in politics.

In Tetris, from my experience, many late-beginner players often harbor arrogance and manifest dogma.

They fall into what psychologists call the Dunning-Kruger effect, where they believe their abilities are far higher than they actually are. As a result, many players become conceited, thinking that is all there is to Tetris.

Even more conspicuous, many Tetris players fall into extreme adherence to dogma. They genuinely believe in simple rules that, if followed, will make them rise to the ranks of the elites.

For instance, in my early days, I was often bombarded with Tetris dogmas, such as the idea that you should never waste a T piece in the stack because it reduces efficiency.

I mindlessly adhered to this, which led to a catastrophe because T pieces are needed to flatten jagged areas.

The explanation for non-Tetris players is difficult, but here is a visual illustration:

Diagram Set 10-2
1	2

This field is extremely jagged. It needs Ts to flatten the jagged parts.

Putting Ts typically flattens jagged areas. See how much flatter the left and right stacks are now?

Not doing so leads to overstacking (i.e., imbalanced stacking that is overly tall in some areas). The following shows this and offers an alternative to step 1 in the diagram set above:

Diagram Set 10-3
1	2

This field is extremely jagged. It needs Ts to flatten the jagged parts, but they do not arrive.

This allows only vertical S, Z, and I pieces to be placed. Flatter placed O and L pieces will cover the holes.

Here, the player does not place Ts on the stack to smooth out the jagged areas in step 1. This leads to the disaster in step 2.

Dogmatism and arrogance run high at this stage, where people truly believe there are only fixed, universal rules for playing Tetris.

Honestly, this happens even to “pro” Tetris players.

When I hear a “pro” preaching or insisting, “You wasted a T piece in the stack! It’s a sin!” or “This Tetris game is the best version that shows the highest Tetris skill,” I just ignore their dogmatism.

The Intermediate Stage

The leap in consciousness occurred when many European societies entered the next soul age.

Many people no longer subscribed to rigid dogmas and instead realized they could aspire to be anything.

They started questioning the rules, leading to the formation of new social and technological systems that benefited humanity.

This characterizes the next spiritual stage, which is achievement-oriented. Souls at this level broaden their perspectives to encompass the nation, or their respective corporation or organization.[4]

About 35% of the world functions at this stage, and it is almost the dominant expression of the current planetary consciousness. China, Singapore, the United States, and Japan mostly manifest this stage.[5]

They desire to win and dominate the world. They aspire to master and alter the physical world. However, they rarely look within and can be psychologically empty inside.

Their morality is based on social contracts, mutual benefit, and instrumentalism.

Souls at this level often lead affluent, urban, cosmopolitan lifestyles in central cities. They may be found in the higher ranks of academia, the corporate world, politics, or science.

In the positive manifestation, souls can achieve monumental technological and societal feats.

One can imagine the impact of souls like the Roman Empire’s Julius Caesar or Tesla’s Elon Musk, who operate from this perspective.

On the other hand, souls can resort to Machiavellian methods to get what they want, sometimes through crime.

This is evident in people like Al Capone or Bernie Madoff. They can act with little regard for others to accumulate vast amounts of wealth. They then become so identified with them that they fail to look within.

Societies that manifest this soul stage can achieve levels of material, scientific, and technological wealth that confer vast benefits to humanity.

Think of the development of advanced chips, AI, robotics, energy, and automation in powerful countries such as China and the United States.

However, on the negative side, this can manifest as uncaring, zealous exploitation of the world’s resources and people.

This leads to extreme inequality and hardships for the lower rungs of society. Humanity is undergoing the throes of late-stage capitalism.

The following showcases this spiritual stage, using Tetris as an analogy. In this Tetris developmental stage, the player has mastered basic muscle memory and can move on to the core fundamentals.

The following illustrates the principle of field harmony, which states that some pieces combine better to form a more cohesive aftermath shape:

Diagram Set 10-4
A	B

This is a field-harmonized pattern, as the L placement flattens the field.

This is not field-harmonized, as the Z placement makes the field jagged.

A’s aftermath shape leads to safer and more consistent stacking and survival.

Another concept that Tetris players must master is parity management (managing a jagged stack):

Diagram Set 10-5
1	2

The field is jagged.

He inserts a T piece in the cavity, which flattens the field and makes stacking easier.

See how easy it is to stack the horizontal orientations of some pieces (L, O, J, and I here) cleanly and flatly?

The above illustrates the principle of parity management, where you flatten jagged areas by placing T pieces in them.

A flatter stack can then accommodate more pieces, which reduces the chances of stacking into dead-ends.

Understanding these two core fundamentals streamlines many thought processes and elevates one to an intermediate player. Win rates start to increase exponentially.

In this stage, based on my observations of intermediate Tetris players, many may fall into elitism, reveling in their newfound abilities and power.

They may succumb to arrogance, believing that there is only one way to play Tetris: to win. They dislike losing.

The entire ego complex around this level revolves around getting an outstanding 40-line sprint time, ultra score, or one’s rating or level in Tetris games like Puyo Puyo Tetris, Tetris 99, and TETR.IO.

Many players have a narrow-minded view of Tetris. They can impose their worldviews on others, disparaging those less skilled than they are.

It is an entirely achievement-oriented stage of Tetris development.

And many get so attached to external attainments that they burn out and quit Tetris.

The Early Advanced Stage

The world is currently undergoing a seismic shift to the next collective spiritual stage.

In this stage, emotions, inner expression, internal soul-seeking, relations, and community become the core focus of one’s life.

In the later sub-stages of this development, people broaden their perspective to a transnational or even global level.[6]

Morality at this stage is based on trust, harmony, and reciprocity. It transcends ego for the first time, where souls see each other not as worldly traits or achievements, but as souls.

About 34 to 35% of the world holds this perspective. Because of planetary shifts, this level has recently matched and is actively surpassing the number of souls in the previous spiritual stage.

Britain, Germany, Finland, and some parts of China manifest this stage.

At this stage, something incredible happens: the soul turns inwards for the first time, culminating in many deep philosophical and spiritual developments.

The works of Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Henry David Thoreau, David Foster Wallace, and Hermann Hesse reflect this tumultuous stage.

When a soul here manifests on the positive axis, they are genuine, kind, altruistic, loving, empathic, and radiate joy.

However, a soul manifesting negatively can become dramatic, overly attached to people, groups, or outcomes, or caught in many emotional maelstroms.

People at this stage find it difficult to let others be themselves. Still, they paradoxically can embrace and tolerate many different views. It becomes the first tier that fully embraces a cosmopolitan and pluralistic social reality.

It is also the first stage in which the ego begins to dissolve, and the self turns outward to identify with the goals of a transnational or global community beyond any earlier stage.

At the societal level, the collective expression of this stage leads to revolutions in the economic, political, and sociological systems.

Countries can become highly socialist, providing universal basic income and free healthcare for all. Environmental awareness arises in this stage, leading to the adoption of clean energy.

China is one example of this transition. In the early 2000s, it focused largely on economic growth. Now, it increasingly focuses on improving people’s life fulfillment by addressing over-tuition and overwork.

The increased nuance in one’s perspective can be reflected in the following Tetris examples.

Most Tetris beginners simply do this:

Diagram Set 10-6
1	2

The starting field with a jagged pattern in the left stack.

Most players just fill it up and prepare to score a Tetris.

However, a Tetris expert has a more nuanced approach. They can do this:

Diagram Set 10-7
1	2

The same starting field as the last diagram set.

The player combines L and Z to make a T-spin.

Step 2 is difficult to spot, right? Many intermediate Tetris players cannot see such maneuvers or read the “in-betweens” of moves.

Players at this level also begin optimizing their gameplay to spot dead-ends that they can avoid to maximize their stacking smoothness:

Diagram Set 10-8
A	B

Fields with many jagged areas (red circles). These are sometimes dead-end patterns.

The above shows jagged patterns to minimize in the mid-game. They lead to poorer follow-ups for stacking and downstacking.

Players also make their gameplay more efficient by creating simpler and safer setups, like in A, and avoiding impractical ones, like in B in the following diagram set.

For the non-Tetris player, it just means more experienced players go for nuance and simplicity.

Diagram Set 10-9
A	B

This is a simple, compact, and efficient T-spin setup. Hence, one should use it often.

This is a loosely packed T-spin setup. A second T-spin “floats” over the bottom one. One should minimize excessive usage of such.

B might be terrifying for non-Tetris players. However, it is simply two stacked T-spins, like stacking a hamburger or sandwich with meat, tomatoes, or veggies!

More experienced players go for simpler, safer setups rather than extremely fancy or complex ones.

However, they do not treat this as dogma. They may break them on purpose, and sometimes do something fancy.

Why the contradiction?

Because players at this stage have already achieved many accomplishments, such as a decent 40-line sprint time and a good win-to-loss ratio.

Hence, they shift their development into authentic Tetris experiences, playing the game for fun instead of just “winning.”

Hence, many may start playing Tetris in unorthodox ways if they find such methods more fulfilling.

They may try other, more casual Tetris games or modes, such as the creative mode. This mode involves making specific shapes out of tetrominoes, and line clears like this:

Diagram Set 10-10
A	B

The player creates a heart shape.

A Christmas tree.

For experienced Tetris players, there is no single fixed way to play. They start finding more ways to feel fulfilled in the game.

They can be very serious and play Tetris efficiently and simply. Yet they can also create fancy methods for pure fun.

Hence, many intermediate players may question such a player’s actions, wondering whether they have gone off-beat.

But it is the person who does not hear the music who declares those who hear it as mad.

The Mid-Advanced Stage

At this tier, the soul, after having gained independence and empathy from the earlier stages, is now at peace with itself.

The soul continues to turn inwards, but slowly detaches itself from the emotional dramas and material preoccupations of the earlier stages.

The soul expands its perspective for the first time beyond the global level to the cosmic one.[7]

It can transcend the narrow divisions of caste, class, wealth, gender, status, ethnicity, religion, or ideology. Here, the soul expands outward, continuing one’s trans-egoic evolution.

As the soul develops, so does the diminishment of one’s ego. While a soul can still maintain a strong individual identity, it slowly comes to realize the inherent unity and interconnectedness of the entire cosmos.

Such a soul’s morality would become planetary, ecological, or galactic in scope, transcending the narrow frontiers of earlier stages of the soul.

About 12% of the world holds this perspective. They are often scattered across the globe, rarely found in established domains as high-ranking officials.

Because they renounce the world, they are most often found in quieter communities. Countries operating at this level include Iceland and the Netherlands.

In the positive expression of this soul stage, the individual can become authentic, universally loving, enlightened, and wise.

In the negative variant, the soul can become withdrawn, entirely detached, isolated, reclusive, and uncaring about the world.

On a global and societal level, this collective soul stage manifests, ironically, as simplicity once more, in line with Taoist beliefs that less governance is more.

The world becomes an aggregation of people, loosely grouped by interest and united firmly by the universal creed of embracing all beliefs.

In Tetris, this stage correlates with the expert level. As said earlier, the earlier stages involve learning the basics, such as muscle memory and core principles like field harmony.

In the Tetris expert stage, the player would know how to apply many specific, concrete Tetris methods. These form a base of memories and sub-skills to draw from for their higher-level strategizing. Here is an illustration:

The lowest base of the above pyramid: The player now knows many specific sub-methods in all domains, including survival, T-spins, timing, Tetrises, openers, stacking, field harmony, and jaggedness management, among others. This entails concrete decision-making.

The middle tier: The player understands the pros and cons of each method. He knows when to use some techniques and when not to. This entails tactical decision-making.

The top layer: Now the choice is to assess a situation and decide whether to stack, defend, or T-spin. For instance, once a player has decided to make a T-spin instead of dig down, he then remembers the pyramid’s lowest tier’s knowledge and constructs specific T-spin setups. This entails strategic decision-making.

Here, the player is freed from the bonds of overthinking and excessive conscious deliberation, as seen in the earliest stage’s muscle-memory formation of placing pieces with one’s fingers, the mid-tier stage’s foundational methods, and the next stage’s nuanced, specific approaches.

The player now has mastery over the entire spectrum of sub-skills. They now preside over the world like a Buddha atop a lonely mountain.

Here, the player detaches themselves from attachments, no longer seeking external or social validation of any form.

They become the word of Tetris, embodying it, not because they wish to become, but simply because they just want to be.

The Late-Advanced Stage

Very few souls in the physical plane manifest the next stage, where their perspective shifts from a planetary or galactic level to a truly all-that-there-is, beyond-cosmic level.

This is a stage at which the soul begins its psychic merger with the all-that-there-is.

The soul begins to transcend its ego, perceiving others as oneself. When this happens, the individual sees the One in the many, and the many in the One.

Universal love becomes second nature because one is the other, and the other is oneself.

From this point on, any studies on what is at or beyond this stage are, at most, vague.

Ego-developmental and transpersonal psychology sometimes classify this as the post-egoic stages, indigo, or cosmic consciousness tiers of soul development.[8]

According to the Michael Teachings, souls no longer need a physical form to grow spiritually to or beyond this stage.[9]

Hence, the percentage of the world that manifests at this stage is almost zero percent.

When these souls manifest here, they appear as benevolent teachers, such as Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Socrates, or Lao Tzu. They are the One descended into a human, and a human ascended to the One.

And perhaps, in Tetris, the analogous parallel to this stage is retirement and teaching.

Personal Applications

Every Spiritual Stage is Unique and Vital to the Whole

Every spiritual stage comes with traits, problems, and advantages that one can recognize to guide one’s life.

This has been extensively covered in many ego-developmental and transpersonal psychological theories.[10]

The soul alternates between individuation and group assimilation with each stage in a process called spiral dynamics.

The Michael Teachings also cover seven soul ages (five in the physical realm): infant, baby, young, mature, old, transcendental, and infinite.

Every soul, at every age or spiritual stage, has its problems.

For instance, the mature soul age in the Michael Teachings may make it difficult for people to detach from emotional and social dramas. The solution is to learn to let go slowly and flow with life.

The same is true for all other spiritual stages: each stage cannot be skipped and has essential life lessons unique to the human curriculum.

I have been to the Integral Spirituality and Michael Teachings forums to observe people.

I observed that many people hold on to elitism in being an “older soul” or “higher up” in spiritual development.

However, existence is not a race. Instead, it is an ongoing journey in which every step matters. No stage is “better” or “worse.”

Some people may choose to manifest at a so-called “lower” stage because they enjoy it more or wish to manifest its perspective more.

It is just like being in a university, where there are year one, two, three, or four students. Year four students are not “better” than year one students.

If we insist that year four students are better, there would be no point in having earlier-year students. Their presence drives diversity. Without them, the university would be boring.

Likewise, in life, it would be like saying only the end state matters, without the journey or preceding steps.

Before the One, all is equal. No stage is better or worse, and all are integral to the whole.

It simply matters more to be what we are, celebrating and manifesting the present and our unique individualities.

It is not a good idea to impose the perspective of a more expansive stage on others, as they need the opportunity to grow into it.

Surviving a Spiritually Unawakened World

Are you an individual who has the following traits?

You are not obsessed with materialism or external achievements.
You can easily see past the dogmas of many religious, political, scientific, or ideological systems.
You are not easily attached to the emotional highs and lows or dramas of others.
You see the bigger picture of how everything fits.

If you identify with most of these, you are likely an old soul.

Fitting into a world where most people are focused on material pursuits, caught in dogmatic quarrels, excessive competition, a focus on outward achievements and appearances, and relational dramas can be difficult.

I will illustrate this with the example of Tetris.

Analogously, my development in Tetris would classify me as a “Tetris old soul.”

I am not saying I am an old soul according to the Michael Teachings. I will leave it to the reader to judge.

In Tetris, I am surrounded by “Tetris young souls” who insist that there is only a right way to play Tetris, who only follow top Tetris players with the flashiest displays and tournament trophies, or those who are the loudest yet without depth.

I do not fit into most Tetris groups. In fact, I leave most Tetris Discord or Twitch groups and never follow others’ trends.

Yet I do not feel isolated at all. The reality is that I play and stream Tetris in a fulfilling way, without needing much from the community.

How I did this was simple:

Dispel the Maya of external achievements such as a 40-line sprint score, because a number does not make you who you are.
Find solace in solitude and playing Tetris my way rather than how many Tetris communities prescribe.
Formulate my philosophy, spirituality, and theories about Tetris from my perspective, all backed by my experience instead of mere knowledge.
Avoid dramas in the Tetris community of any kind as far as possible.
Ignore and block people who attempt to impose their limited frameworks onto me to protect my mental space.
Play Tetris as an experience and not as a chore.

In real life, these can be easily translated into actions for coping in a spiritually bankrupt world if you are an old soul:

Acknowledge that people are in different stages of development, and you cannot change their perspectives until they grow out of it.
Acknowledge that reality has a way of developing and maturing on its own without your intervention.
Acknowledge that experience is the fundamental nature of existence and develop all the intellectual, artistic, emotional, and spiritual gifts associated with it.
Let others be themselves as far as possible.
Protect yourself by distancing yourself from toxic groups that force their perspective onto you.
Accept that you are what you are and you need not be what society or culture expects you to be.
Detach yourself from the emotional maelstroms of others. You can show empathy, but you need not identify with them, as their lives are theirs to live, not yours.
Simply treat life as a form of observation and reflection if you cannot fit in.

The key is to be authentic while ensuring that one can at least subsist.

Social and Global Applications

Civilizational Consciousness Reflects Humanity’s Spiritual Development

Civilization reflects our collective spiritual development.[11]

According to the models mentioned earlier, earlier stages correspond to highly organized, structured religious systems.

People there may subscribe to dogma unquestioningly, like the Spanish Empire in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

As one matures, civilization becomes achievement-based, as it is today for superpowers like China and the USA. Many technological marvels arise from them.

Yet, they may suffer the malaise of modern society, such as inequality and alienation.

However, we are now moving from the old Earth into a new one based on empathy and equality. Perhaps, in the next fifty years, civilization will become socialist-based.

This process cannot be rushed, as a more encompassing spiritual stage cannot manifest if individuals skip the earlier stages.

The more loving, non-judgmental, accepting, and spiritual nature of the later stages can only permanently manifest in more egalitarian welfare systems in which no one is left out, and people are free to self-actualize.

However, this is an earned state: if you put a soul in the very beginning stage into this more inclusive stage, they could exploit others’ generosity and cause social mayhem.

Just think about unleashing a caveperson from 50,000 years ago into Paris!

Hence, civilizational progress will naturally unfold as people’s spiritual perspective expands.

If we rush it, technological and cultural progression will outstrip and overwhelm individual spiritual development.

We cannot predict how the future will unfold. However, we are at the cusp of a new Earth. We can contribute by growing spiritually. When enough people gain spiritual awareness, we may reach a demographic threshold for worldwide social revolution towards greater welfare.[12]

[1] Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000); Susan Cook-Greuter, “Postautonomous Ego Development” (1999); Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (1976); José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990).

[2] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990): Infant Soul stage; Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (1976): Impulsive stage; Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000): Archaic level.

[3] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990): Baby Soul stage; Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (1976): Conformist stage; Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000): Mythic-Membership level.

[4] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990): Young Soul stage; Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (1976): Self-Aware/Conscientious stage; Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000): Rational-Achiever level; Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics (1996): Orange vMeme.

[5] To my knowledge, Japan manifests mid-level young, America manifests late-level young, and China manifests early-mature, according to the Michael Teachings.

[6] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990): Mature Soul stage; Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (1976): Autonomous stage; Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000): Pluralistic level; Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics (1996): Green vMeme.

[7] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990): Old Soul stage; Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (1976): Integrated stage; Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000): Integral/Turquoise level; Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics (1996): Yellow/Turquoise vMeme.

[8] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990): Transcendental and Infinite Soul stages; Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000): Super-Integral/non-dual levels; Richard Maurice Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness (1901); Susan Cook-Greuter, “Postautonomous Ego Development” (1999): Unitive stage; Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Messages from Michael (1979).

[9] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990).

[10] Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000); Jane Loevinger, Ego Development (1976); Susan Cook-Greuter, “Postautonomous Ego Development” (1999); for spiral dynamics, see Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics (1996)

[11] Ken Wilber, A Theory of Everything (2000); Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics (1996). Both frameworks map collective civilizational development onto stages of consciousness expansion.

[12] José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith, The Michael Handbook (1990); Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, Spiral Dynamics (1996). Both frameworks suggest that as a critical mass of souls advances to higher stages, collective civilizational structures naturally shift to reflect that expanded consciousness.