The Passion of Purple
by Tim King
As we travel up the spiral from Beige (archaic) thinking we arrive at Purple (tribal). But how we get here is as important to understand as where it is, exactly, that we’ve arrived.
One of the core presuppositions of the spiral is that the impetus to move from one level to the next is always found in changing life conditions. The basic idea is that we tend to remain on our present level of thinking, of being in the world, as long as it works. When our lives become unworkable, and life conditions demand new strategies and new ways of thinking, the next level calls to us and draws us up the spiral. Because this experience is born of a disconnect between our way of being in the world and the world as it comes to us, it can be disconcerting and downright uncomfortable. This is the root of all change and why many of us may find change distasteful and even painful. Life has a way of extruding us (forcing us out under pressure) to grow, to mature, to shift in our thinking.
With a little reflection we can see many of these shifts in our own journeys. For instance, the world we face today is a bit more complicated and challenging than, say, that of our teen or pre-teen years. Along the way, at each stage, our level of thinking was commensurate with the life we were living at the time. And, predictably, as life evolved and became more unworkable, our thinking grew, our minds expanded and through our new-found maturity we rose up to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex world.
Paul wrote “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11). While once we stressed over whether or not we’d get a passing grade on a test, in our adult years the decisions carried a lot more weight as we debated whether we’d get a passing grade on our job performance at work! Flunking a class is one thing—but losing a job while simultaneously attempting to support a family is an entirely different level of complexity.
As life advanced and our life conditions changed, so did we. And while we may pine for “the good ole days” it will do us little good. Those days are gone, never to return. Like all things in the universe, life changes, and so must we. We can resist change, we can fight change—but we’ll have a bit of an uphill battle because only everything in the universe is about change.
Constantly.
Perpetually.
Incessantly.
The adage is true: Evolve or die.
You get the picture.
And so it is that as the day-to-day world of “beige” (archaic) stabilizes, the life conditions confronting it demand new and better ways of being in the world. Specifically, convinced that he or she will live to fight another day, convinced that their world is stabilized, those of the individualistic archaic way of living soon embark upon a journey of joining with others to create family and a more safe and nurturing existence.
Welcome to the Clan
At the tribal level of the spiral the world is a magical place, full of superstitions, angels, demons and gods that possess and rule the elements such as the sun, moon and stars as well as the wind and weather. Rituals are often performed to keep such gods appeased and to ensure that the clan prospers. Religiously, we might think of the dancing and other strange antics (including self-mutilation) of the prophets of Baal in the story from I Kings. Or we get a picture of this stage from the glimpses of the various religious practices of the nations surrounding Israel as, from the outside looking in, we get brief insights into their festivals and other religious rituals.
The basic idea of tribal life is to band together for safety and comfort. The clan is usually governed by a chief, a group of elders or perhaps a powerful ancestor. Because of the high degree of reverence placed upon the traditions of the clan or tribe, loyalty is paramount.
In a clan or tribal setting, while the followers are many, the leaders are few—and powerful. This is most readily witnessed in many of the stories of the enemy nations of Israel as relayed to us within the Hebrew Scriptures. There are the Philistines and Jebusites, the Moabites and the Edomites, and of course, the dreaded Canaanites! And as the unfolding story of a nomadic band of this people known as the Israelites is told, the tribal nature of their world seems everywhere on display.
Early on we read the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot and of Lot’s choosing to leave the clan for greener pastures, specifically his desire to go and live in the valley among a city and people known as Sodom. Though initially able to ingratiate himself, eventually the citizens of Sodom turn against Lot, requiring Abraham, the leader of the clan, to go and rescue his nephew from the people of the city. While reading the account we learn that Abraham has some three hundred slaves trained in the art of battle. It is a classic example of a tribal leader and the internal workings of how his tribe is formed for safety and protection. And it is also indicative of how willing members of the clan are to go to battle in protecting “one of their own.”
Educationally, learning is best stimulated within the tribe by story-telling. The history of the tribe is carefully learned and meticulously passed on to the younger members of the clan through ritual, dance and religious practice. To lose story is to lose identity – and to challenge story or the sacred ways of the tribe is to face the threat of banishment, or worse.
The Passion of Purple
The passion of purple is probably best seen in the ways that family is foundational to all walks of life. And there’s nothing quite like times of uncertainly to kick this level of being into high gear! It may very well be true that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” but make no mistake, the tough most often get going within their tribes and clans. The wagons are circled, resources are pooled and the collective wisdom is sought as the clan or tribe tries to figure out where to go next.
Organizationally speaking, this level of being is very much alive and active in our world today. Companies work diligently to promote the type of communal service and sacrifice present within our tribal roots, encouraging employees to be more “committed” and to “give their all” for the sake of the organization, though little if anything is given in return.
Churches and denominational systems play upon these same themes in an attempt to keep, if not gain, membership. As such, sharp distinctions are drawn between “our” tribe versus “their” tribe, etc. We are marked by our rituals and practices, by our language and common foci. And most importantly, by our theologies—which are the ways that we tell our various stories among all the earth’s tribes, most of them “faithfully” interwoven with the very Word of God.
While the purple, or tribal step of our development is foundational and important in maintaining our centeredness and familial cohesiveness, it can also be overbearing and stifling, and may even be responsible for retarding the ongoing growth of the community at large.
When this begins to occur it is inevitable that some will seek to leave the tribe or perhaps move it to new heights. This will be a time of discord, of battle lines being drawn, of intense debate and sometimes even banishment of the contrary voices.
The beauty of this level of being in the world is its passion for family and all that is familiar. However, in the end, it must be weighed against the necessary transitional steps that must be taken to keep pace with an ever evolving world.
The winners are those who can keep their traditions and rituals relevant and intact while simultaneously keeping pace in a world of perpetual change.
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