| Color | Nickname | Social construct | Cause worth dying for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | TrueBlue | Church,Schools | The Truth |
There is a Truth that is eternal and greater than us. This is what we wake up to in the Blue stage. We surrender to something bigger than us. And that surrender brings a profound, sweet purpose and meaning to life. Before this, Truth was localized. Whoever had the most power and authority determined what Truth was. Might makes right. Now Truth is recognized as eternal and one.
God is one path to this Truth, but not the only way. Buddha woke up under a Bodhi tree just as himself, not as a god. He taught a practical path to enlightenment that anyone willing to do the work can follow. Plato based his work on the very Blue notion that the world is just a shadowy reflection of the ideal. The Greeks had no shortage of eloquent smart thinkers, but when those thinkers only focused on selfish, individual ends they just ended up with sophistry. Nothing useful could be built on that. Plato and Aristotle gave the world a glimpse of what is possible when you base your ideas on the foundation of Truth. Science needs this stage first before it can flourish.
And then there was Christ. Imagine his time. Rome was confidently in charge of its brutal slave empire. And the people suffered. Christianity has a lot to answer for, but consider what happened at the very, very beginning of this religion. Somehow, some way this man inspired a revolution that spread throughout the Western world. Women and slaves were recognized as beloved of God. Might makes right was no longer the highest truth. The cross which was a torture device used to keep people in line now became a defiant symbol of redemption. What an incredibly sneaky way to revolt against the empire! No armies were needed. Instead people were ready and willing to die for a belief. And the world was changed.
Mohammed is a similar story. Just like Christ he went into the wilderness to find himself and when he came back he had an amazing story to tell. And people flocked to him because they hungered for the Truth he was teaching. From many warring tribes people joined together to become a community of believers. And they were kind to each other. Now orphans and widows were fed and protected. And because it worked and answered the longing for a meaningful life, this new religion spread throughout Arab lands and beyond.
Consider Confucius. Genghis Khan managed only to conquer the Northern part of China. After his death it was left to his son, Ögedei, to continue. The south turned out to be too strong to be conquered by simple Red tactics alone. Instead, Ögedei was taught the very blue Confucian way. He ended up conquering the south by becoming more Chinese than the Chinese. People long for a just, moral society.
Japan had a terrible period of civil war (the Sengoku Jidai) starting in the mid 1400’s. The country suffered through countless battles for control until 1615 when Tokugawa finally managed to conquer the country for good. He established a very Blue neo-confucianist regime that launched Japan into over two centuries of peace and prosperity. He saw what was happening to lands to the south as the western traders made their way up the Asian coast, and it spurred him to do something that sounds crazy but was kind of genius. He shut the country tightly down. No one got in (especially westerners) and no one got out. And it worked. Japan enjoyed over 250 years of peace and prosperity without outside interference. It worked and worked until suddenly it no longer did. One day American battleships (the “Black Ships”) steamed into Tokyo harbor completely ignoring Japan’s strenuous objections. And on that day Japan was forced to make a choice. Change or die.