The Great Updraft

The Great Updraft

byRoss Edwards

EducationSelf-ImprovementHealthFitness

The Great Updraft means sweeping upward growth. The name is a metaphor for the journey towards our greatest expression. My goal is to help you live a full life.I’ll help you become satisfied on all levels: psychological, social, financial, spiritual, professional, and more, integrating the many threads into a sublime whole.The GU is the set of tools you need to unlock your full potential.Visit my site

Episodes(40 episodes)

The Great Developmental Arc
Human ego development has an overall trajectory to it, and once you reach Ego-aware you have almost reached its end.This is a snippet from my 21/10 episode, The Ego-aware Stage of Ego Development (#167)
Published: Oct 25, 2026Duration: 3m 9s
Bitesize Summary of the Ego-Aware Stage
The defining features of the Ego-Aware stage of ego development, which we cover in great detail in my Wednesday 21/10 episode, The Ego-Aware Stage of Ego Development (#167)
Published: Oct 23, 2026Duration: 6m 41s
Episode 167
The Ego-Aware Stage of Ego Development (#167)
We discuss the Ego-Aware stage of ego development, AKA the Magician, which signifies another huge paradigm shift.This is the first postautonomous or post-postconventional stage in Cook-Greuter's model, and the eighth stage overall. It constitutes at most 1.5% of the adult population.The hallmarks of this stage are its questioning of identity, meaning, language, permanence, solidity and other.Spirit Quest Tours: Save $500 on your next trip with discount code ROSS: https://www.spiritquesttours.com/destinationsMy full series on Ego Development Theory: https://player.captivate.fm/collection/acb0bdff-509d-44d2-8e8a-c71486319354Pre-order The Boundless Body: https://deep-psychology.com/the-boundless-body...
Published: Oct 21, 2026Duration: 1h 6m 20s
Your Field Guide for Identifying Strategists
Here are some key Strategist personality traits that will help you spot people operating from this stage. This is a snippet from my 14/10 episode Strategist Stage of Ego Development (#166)
Published: Oct 20, 2026Duration: 7m 11s
Why The Strategist Stage Gets Its Name
The Strategist stage of ego development gets its name primarily from the Strategist's complex, long-term, systemic thinking process, its sense of mission, and its ability to integrate multiple perspectives.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 14/10 episode, The Strategist Stage of Ego Development (#166)
Published: Oct 18, 2026Duration: 6m 25s
How the Strategist & Pluralist Differ
The Strategist and Pluralist levels, though both Postconventional, are rather different levels of development, with distinct senses of self, worldviews, motivations and complexity of mind.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 14/10 episode, Strategist Level of Ego Development (#166)
Published: Oct 15, 2026Duration: 2m 50s
Strategist Stage of Ego Development (#166)
In this episode, we're exploring the seventh stage of ego development: the Strategist, also known as the Autonomous stage. This is where we begin to see the bigger picture: not just our own development, but of humanity too. Strategists think in systems, integrate perspectives that earlier stages tend to reject, and become deeply interested in solving complex, long-term problems.We'll explore what distinguishes this stage, how it relates to the Pluralist stage, and its strengths and pitfalls.Spirit Quest Tours: Save $500 on your next trip with discount code ROSS: https://www.spiritquesttours.com/destinationsEgo development theory series: https://player.captivate...
Published: Oct 14, 2026Duration: 55m 30s
Opening Pandora's Box of Truth
At the Pluralist level, we become open to many more truth systems than before.Until this level, truth is rather simple. We tend to adopt one truth system and reject all others.Now we can no longer do this. This is both a huge expansion and potentially maddening!This is a snippet from my Wednesday 7/10 episode, Individualist Stage of Ego Development (#165)
Published: Oct 13, 2026Duration: 2m 13s
Beyond the Norm: Postconventional Ego Development
What does it mean to move beyond conventional development? In this snippet, I explain how postconventional development involves seeing through your cultural conditioning, questioning the assumptions that shape your worldview, and recognising the limitations of your own perspective.This is a snippet from my 7/10 episode, The Individualist Stage of Ego Development (#165)
Published: Oct 11, 2026Duration: 5m 54s
The Great Postconventional Watershed
The Pluralist stage marks both a stage shift and the Conventional-Postconventional shift AND the move into the second half of the developmental arc.This is a huge watershed in your development and life trajectory.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 7/10 episode, Individualist Stage of Ego Development (#165)
Published: Oct 8, 2026Duration: 4m 38s
Episode 165
Individualist Stage of Ego Development (#165)
In this episode, I explore the Pluralist/Individualist stage of development, the first truly post-conventional stage. We look at what happens when you begin questioning the beliefs, values and assumptions you inherited, seeing reality from multiple perspectives, and discovering a much more complex and subjective inner world. I also explore its potential pitfalls: relativism, indecision, cynicism and the loss of a stable sense of meaning.Spirit Quest Tours: Save $500 on your next trip with discount code ROSS: https://www.spiritquesttours.com/destinationsAll my episodes on Ego Development Theory: https://player.captivate.fm/collection/acb0bdff-509d-44d2-8e8a-c71486319354...
Published: Oct 7, 2026Duration: 1h 0m 56s
The Great Awakening to Self-Help
The Achiever level is when we usually get involved - or obsessed - with self-help for the first time. This fits very well with the typical Achiever traits.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 30/9 episode, The Achiever: Stage 4 of Ego Development (#164)
Published: Oct 4, 2026Duration: 5m 0s
The Achiever Level in a Nutshell
You could sum up the Achiever level in the two points that I make here. This is the heart of this level's psyche and behaviour.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 30/9 episode, The Achiever: Stage 4 of Ego Development (#164)
Published: Oct 1, 2026Duration: 1m 30s
Episode 164
The Achiever: Stage 4 of Ego Development (#164)
The Achiever level of ego development is where our identity becomes fully differentiated from others and our environment.At this level, we derive meaning from achieving goals, getting things done, improving themselves. We find our truth from science and rationality. We see ourselves as independent agents with our own likes, strengths, desires and choices.Spirit Quest Tours: Save $500 on your next trip with discount code ROSS: https://www.spiritquesttours.com/destinationsNext listen: Ego Development Series - https://player.captivate.fm/collection/acb0bdff-509d-44d2-8e8a-c71486319354Pre-order The Boundless Body: https://deep-psychology.com/the-boundless-body/Newsletter & free coaching session...
Published: Sep 30, 2026Duration: 1h 5m 48s
Meet My Textbook EXPERT Family Member
I know a person who is a textbook, textbook example of the Expert. Here I give several examples of the Expert stage showing up in them. This makes the theory extremely concrete and will help you identify this stage in others and yourself.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 23/9 episode, The Expert Stage 3/4 of Ego Development (#163)
Published: Sep 29, 2026Duration: 17m 3s
The Heart of the Expert Mind: The Need to Know
There is one simple driver behind the entire Expert stage of ego development: "I must know", "I should know".This one trait explains most of their personality and behaviour.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 23/9 episode, The Expert Stage 3/4 of Ego Development (#163)
Published: Sep 27, 2026Duration: 3m 21s
The Expert Stage: Why It's Called "Expert"
"No one can tell an Expert anything they don't know already."Let's explain why the Expert stage gets its name. Perhaps Cook-Grueter said it best when she described the Expert's belief that they know everything.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 23/9 episode, The Expert Stage 3/4 of Ego Development (#163)
Published: Sep 24, 2026Duration: 4m 30s
Episode 163
The Expert, Stage 3/4 of Ego Development (#163)
This is the Expert stage of ego development - the second of three Conventional levels, and the fifth stage of 10 overall.We can best sum it up by saying that the Expert's identity is fused with their knowledge. They define themselves via their expertise.The downside is that they can be extremely rigid and touchy in this regard. "No one can tell an Expert anything they don't know already," as Cook-Greuter puts it.Spirit Quest Tours: Save $500 on your next trip with discount code ROSS: https://www.spiritquesttours.com/destinationsNext listen: Ego Development series - https://player.captivate.fm/collection...
Published: Sep 23, 2026Duration: 1h 12m 47s
Conformist Stage of Ego Development: Key Personality Traits
Some telltale signs of the Conformist stage: sensitivity to criticism, dependence on authority, and they champion their chosen group's values and motifs.This is a snippet from my Wednesday 16th episode, The Conformist Level of Ego Development - Part 2/2 (#162.2)
Published: Sep 21, 2026Duration: 6m 4s
Episode 162
The Conformist Level of Ego Development - Part 2/2 (#162.2)
In this two-part episode, we describe the Conformist level of ego development, or Stage 3 in Cook-Greuter's Ego Development Theory.At this stage, we are defined by the groups we identify with. Our identity is literally fused and merged with them. Our identity has expanded from egocentrism to groupcentrism.This is both a staggering leap in consciousness and often a grave limitation.Spirit Quest Tours: Save $500 on your next trip with discount code ROSS: Sacred Journey Destinations | Egypt, Peru & Turkey ToursEgo Development Theory - full series: https://player.captivate.fm/collection/acb0bdff-509d-44d2-8e8a-c71486319354Pre-order The Boundless...
Published: Sep 20, 2026Duration: 46m 15s