The centerpiece of the Map of Consciousness consists of the levels themselves, along with their corresponding numerical values on the calibrated scale of consciousness from 1 to 1,000, where 1 is existence and 1,000 is the highest level of Truth that occurs on the planet.
It is very important to remember that the calibration figures do not represent an arithmetic, but a logarithmic, progression. Thus, the level 300 is not twice the amplitude of 150; it is 300 to the 10th power (10300). Therefore, an increase of even a few points represents a major advance in power; the rate of increase in power as we move up the scale is enormous.
All levels below 200 come from force and are destructive of life in both the individual and society at large; in contrast, all levels above 200 are constructive expressions of power. The decisive level of 200 is the critical factor point, the fulcrum that divides the general areas of force (or falsehood) from power (or truth).
Each one of these levels has its own paradigm of reality and values that define what is acceptable within its own domain. For example, in the energy fields under 200, it makes sense to nurse hatreds, cheat buyers, and kill the enemy. Indeed, in certain subcultures, if you fail to carry out a revenge killing, you risk your own life. Yet, in the energy fields over 200, such actions would not even occur to you. In the domain of Reason (400s), love and prayer and other spiritual realities cannot be proved with logic, yet in the domain of Love (500s), the truth of them is subjectively convincing beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The level of Shame is perilously proximate to death, which may be chosen out of Shame as conscious suicide or more subtly elected by failure to take steps to prolong life, as in “passive suicide.” Death by avoidable accident is common. We all have some awareness of the pain of “losing face,” becoming discredited, or feeling like a “nonperson.” In Shame, people hang their heads and slink away, wishing they were invisible. Banishment is a traditional accompaniment of shame, and in the primitive societies from which we all originate, banishment is equivalent to death.
Early life experiences such as sexual abuse, which lead to Shame, warp the personality, often for a lifetime, unless these issues are resolved by therapy. Shame, as Freud determined, produces neurosis. It is destructive to emotional and psychological health and, as a consequence of low self-esteem, makes one prone to the development of physical illness. The Shame-based personality is shy, withdrawn, and introverted.
Shame is also used as a tool of cruelty, and its victims often become cruel themselves. Shamed children are cruel to animals and cruel to each other. The behavior of people whose consciousness level is only in the 20s is dangerous. They are prone to hallucinations of an accusatory nature, as well as paranoia; some become psychotic or commit bizarre crimes.
Some Shame-based individuals compensate by perfectionism and rigidity, and often become driven and intolerant. Notorious examples of this are the moral extremists who form vigilante groups, projecting their own unconscious shame onto others whom they then feel justified in righteously attacking or killing. Serial killers have often acted out of sexual moralism, with the justification of punishing so-called bad women.
Because it pulls down the whole level of one’s personality, Shame results in a vulnerability to the other negative emotions and, therefore, often produces false Pride, Anger, and Guilt.
Guilt, so commonly used in our society to manipulate and punish, manifests itself in a variety of expressions, such as remorse, self-recrimination, masochism, and the whole gamut of symptoms of victimhood. Unconscious Guilt results in psychosomatic disease, accident-proneness, and suicidal behaviors. Many people struggle with Guilt their entire lives, while others desperately attempt escape by amorally denying Guilt altogether.
Guilt domination results in a preoccupation with “sin,” an unforgiving emotional attitude frequently exploited by religious demagogues, who use it for coercion and control. Such “sin-and-salvation” merchants, obsessed with punishment, are likely either acting out their own guilt or projecting it onto others.
Subcultures displaying the aberration of self-flagellation often manifest other endemic forms of cruelty, such as the public, ritual killing of humans or animals. Guilt provokes rage, and killing frequently is its expression. Capital punishment is an example of how killing gratifies a Guilt-ridden populace.
This level is characterized by poverty, despair, and hopelessness. The world and the future look bleak; pathos is the theme of life. Apathy is a state of helplessness; its victims, needy in every way, lack not only resources but also the energy to avail themselves of what resources may be available. Unless external energy is supplied by caregivers, death through passive suicide can result. Without the will to live, the hopeless stare blankly, unresponsive to stimuli, until their eyes stop tracking and there is not even enough energy left to swallow proffered food.
This is the level of the homeless and the derelicts of society; it is also the fate of many of the aged and others who become isolated by chronic or progressive diseases. The apathetic are dependent; people in Apathy are “heavy” and are felt to be a burden by those around them.
Too often, society lacks sufficient motivation to be of any real help to cultures, as well as individuals, at this level, who are seen as drains on resources. This is the level of the streets of Kolkata, where only the saintly such as Mother Teresa and her followers dare to tread. Apathy is the level of the abandonment of hope, and few have the courage to really look it in the face.
This is the level of sadness, loss, and despondency. Most people have experienced it for periods of time, but those who remain at this level live a life of constant regret and depression. This is the level of chronic mourning, bereavement, and remorse about the past; it is also the level of habitual losers and those chronic gamblers who accept failure as part of their lifestyle, often resulting in loss of jobs, friends, family, and opportunity, as well as money and health.
Major losses in early life make one later vulnerable to passive acceptance of grief, as though sorrow were the price of life. In Grief, one sees sadness everywhere: the sadness of little children, the sadness of world conditions, the sadness of life itself. This level colors one’s entire vision of existence. Part of the syndrome of loss is the notion of the irreplaceability of what has been lost or that which it symbolized. There is a generalization from the particular so that the loss of a loved one is equated with the loss of love itself. At this level, such emotional losses may trigger a serious depression or death.
Although Grief is the cemetery of life, it still has more energy to it than Apathy does. Thus, when a traumatized, apathetic patient begins to cry, we know they are getting better. Once they start to cry, they will begin to eat again.
At the level of 100, there is a lot more life energy available; fear of danger is actually healthy. Fear runs much of the world, spurring on endless activity. Fear of enemies, of old age or death, of rejection, and a multitude of social fears are basic motivators in most people’s lives.
From the viewpoint of this level, the world looks hazardous, full of traps and threats. Fear is the favored official tool for control by oppressive totalitarian agencies and regimes, and insecurity is the stock-in-trade of major manipulators of the marketplace. The media and advertising play to Fear to increase market share.
The proliferation of fears is as limitless as the human imagination; once Fear becomes one’s focus, the endless fearful events of the world feed it. Fear becomes obsessive and may take any form: fear of loss of relationship leads to jealousy and a chronically high stress level. Fearful thinking can balloon into paranoia or generate neurotic defensive structures and, because it is contagious, become a dominant social trend.
Fear limits growth of the personality and leads to inhibition. Because it takes energy to rise above Fear, the oppressed are unable to reach a higher level unaided. Thus, the fearful seek strong leaders who appear to have conquered their Fear to lead them out of their slavery.
There is yet more energy available at this level; Desire motivates vast areas of human activity, including the economy. Advertisers play on our desire to program us with needs linked to instinctual drives. Desire moves us to expend great effort to achieve goals or obtain rewards. The desire for money, prestige, or power runs the lives of many of those who have risen above Fear as their limiting, predominant life motif.
Desire is also the level of addiction, wherein desire becomes a craving more important than life itself. The victims of desire may actually be unaware of the basis of their motives. Some people become addicted to the desire for attention and drive others away by their constant demands. The desire for sexual approval has produced entire cosmetics, fashion, and movie industries.
Desire has to do with accumulation and greed. But Desire is insatiable, because it is an ongoing energy field, so that satisfaction of one desire is merely replaced by unsatisfied desire for something else. Multimillionaires remain obsessed with acquiring more and more money.
Desire, however, is a much higher state than Apathy or Grief, obviously. In order to “get,” you have to first have the energy to “want.” TV has had a major influence on many oppressed people, because it inculcates wants and energizes their desires to the degree that they move out of Apathy and begin to seek a better life. Want can start people on the road to achievement. Desire can, therefore, become a springboard to higher levels of consciousness.
Although Anger may lead to homicide and war, as an energy level within itself it is much further removed from death than those below it. Anger can lead to either constructive or destructive action. As people move out of Apathy and Grief to overcome Fear as a way of life, they begin to want; Desire leads to frustration, which in turn leads to Anger. Thus, Anger can be a fulcrum by which the oppressed are eventually catapulted to freedom. Anger over social injustice, victimization, and inequality has created great movements that led to major changes in the structure of society.
But Anger expresses itself most often as resentment and revenge and is, therefore, volatile and dangerous. Anger as a lifestyle is exemplified by irritable, explosive people who are oversensitive to slights and become “injustice collectors,” quarrelsome, belligerent, or litigious.
Since Anger stems from frustrated want, it is based on the energy field below it. Frustration results from exaggerating the importance of desires. The angry person may, like a frustrated infant, go into a rage. Anger leads easily to hatred, which has an erosive effect on all areas of a person’s life.
Pride, which calibrates at 175, has enough energy to run the United States Marine Corps. It is the level aspired to by the majority of our kind today. People feel positive as they reach this level, in contrast to the lower energy fields. This rise in self-esteem is a balm to all the pain experienced at lower levels of consciousness. Pride looks good and knows it; it struts its stuff in the parade of life. Pride is at a far enough removal from Shame, Guilt, or Fear that to rise, for instance, out of the despair of the ghetto to the pride of being a Marine is an enormous jump. Pride, as such, generally has a good reputation and is socially encouraged, yet as we see from the chart of the levels of consciousness, it is sufficiently negative to remain below the critical level of 200. This is why Pride feels good only in contrast to the lower levels.
The problem, as we all know, is that “Pride goeth before a fall.” Pride is defensive and vulnerable because it is dependent upon external conditions, without which it can suddenly revert to a lower level. The inflated ego is vulnerable to attack. Pride remains weak because it can be knocked off its pedestal back into Shame, which is the threat that fires the fear of loss of pride.
Pride is divisive and gives rise to factionalism; the consequences are costly. Man has habitually died for Pride; armies still regularly slaughter each other for that aspect of pride called nationalism. Religious wars, political terrorism and zealotry, and the ghastly history of the Middle East and Central Europe are all the price of Pride, which all society pays.
The downside of Pride, therefore, is arrogance and denial. These characteristics block growth; in Pride, recovery from addictions is impossible, because emotional problems or character defects are denied. The whole problem of denial is one of Pride. Thus Pride is a very sizable block to the acquisition of real power, which displaces Pride with true stature and prestige.
At the 200 level, power really first appears. When we test subjects at all the energy levels below 200, we find, as can be readily verified, that they all go weak. Everyone goes strong in response to the life-supportive fields above 200. This is the critical level that distinguishes the positive and negative influences of life. At the level of Courage, an attainment of true power occurs; therefore, it is also the level of empowerment. This is the zone of exploration, accomplishment, fortitude, and determination. At the lower levels, the world is seen as hopeless, sad, frightening, or frustrating; but at the level of Courage, life is seen to be exciting, challenging, and stimulating.
Courage implies the willingness to try new things and deal with the vicissitudes of life. At this level of empowerment, one is able to cope with and effectively handle the opportunities of life. At 200, for instance, there is the energy to learn new job skills. Growth and education become attainable goals. There is the capacity to face fears or character defects and to grow despite them; anxiety also does not cripple endeavor as it would at the lower levels of evolution. Obstacles that defeat people whose consciousness is below 200 act as stimulants to those who have evolved into the first level of true power.
People at this level put back into the world as much energy as they take; at lower levels, populations, as well as individuals, drain energy from society without reciprocating. Because accomplishments result in positive feedback, reward and esteem become progressively self-reinforcing. This is where productivity begins. The collective level of human consciousness remained at 190 for many centuries and, curiously, only jumped over 200 in the 1980s.
Energy becomes very positive as we get to the level that we have termed Neutral, because it is epitomized by release from the positionality that typifies lower levels. Below 250, consciousness tends to see dichotomies and to take on rigid positions, an impediment in a world that is complex and multifactorial rather than black-and-white.
Taking such positions creates polarization, and polarization in turn creates opposition and division. As in the martial arts, a rigid position becomes a point of vulnerability; that which does not bend is liable to break. Rising above barriers or oppositions that dissipate one’s energies, the Neutral condition allows for flexibility and nonjudgmental, realistic appraisal of problems. To be Neutral means to be relatively unattached to outcomes; not getting one’s way is no longer experienced as defeating, frightening, or frustrating.
At the Neutral level, a person can say, “Well, if I don’t get this job, then I’ll get another.” This is the beginning of inner confidence; sensing one’s power, one therefore is not easily intimidated. One is not driven to prove anything. The expectation that life, with its ups and downs, will be basically okay if one can roll with the punches is a typical 250-level attitude.
People of Neutrality have a sense of well-being; the mark of this level is a confident capability to live in the world. This is, therefore, experientially a level of safety. People at this level are easy to get along with and safe to be around and associate with, because they are not interested in conflict, competition, or guilt. They are comfortable and basically undisturbed emotionally. This attitude is nonjudgmental and does not lead to any need to control other people’s behaviors. Correspondingly, because Neutral people value freedom, they are hard to control.
This very positive level of energy may be seen as the gateway to the higher levels. Whereas, for instance, jobs are done adequately at the Neutral level, at the level of Willingness, work is done well and success in all endeavors is common. Growth is rapid; these are people chosen for advancement. Willingness implies that they have overcome inner resistance to life and are committed to participation. Below the 200 calibration level, people tend to be closed-minded, but by level 310, a great opening occurs. At this level, people become genuinely friendly, and social and economic success seem to follow automatically. The Willing are not really troubled by unemployment, for they will take any job when they have to, or create a career or self-employment for themselves. They do not feel demeaned by service jobs or by starting at the bottom. They are naturally helpful to others and contribute to the good of society. They are also willing to face inner issues and do not have major learning blocks.
At this level, self-esteem is innately high and is reinforced by positive feedback from society in the forms of recognition, appreciation, and reward. Willingness is sympathetic and responsive to the needs of others. Willing people are builders of, and contributors to, society. With their capacity to bounce back from adversity and learn from experience, they tend to become self-correcting. Having let go of Pride, they are willing to look at their own defects and learn from others. At the level of Willingness, people become excellent students. They are easily teachable and represent a considerable source of power for society.
At this level of awareness, a major transformation takes place, with the understanding that one is the source and creator of the experience of one’s life oneself. Taking such responsibility is distinctive of this degree of evolution, characterized by the capacity to live harmoniously with the forces of life.
All people at levels below 200 tend to be powerless and see themselves as victims, at the mercy of life. This stems from a belief that the source of one’s happiness or the cause of one’s problems is “out there.” An enormous jump—taking back one’s own power—is completed at this level, with the realization that the source of happiness is within oneself. At this more evolved stage, nothing so-called out there has the capacity to make one happy, and love is not something given or taken away by another but created from within.
Acceptance is not to be confused with passivity, which is a symptom of Apathy. This form of Acceptance allows engagement in life on life’s own terms, without trying to make it conform to an agenda. With Acceptance, there is emotional calm, and perception is widened as denial is transcended. One now sees things without distortion or misinterpretation; the context of experience is expanded so that one is capable of “seeing the whole picture.” Acceptance has to do essentially with balance, proportion, and appropriateness.
The individual at the level of Acceptance is not interested in determining right or wrong but instead is dedicated to resolving issues and finding out what to do about problems. Tough jobs do not cause discomfort or dismay. Long-term goals take precedence over short-term ones; self-discipline and mastery are prominent.
At the level of Acceptance, we are not polarized by conflict or opposition; we see that other people have the same rights as we do, and we honor equality. While lower levels are characterized by rigidity, at this level social plurality begins to emerge as a form of resolution of problems. Therefore, this level is free of discrimination or intolerance; there is the awareness that equality does not preclude diversity. Acceptance includes rather than rejects.
Intelligence and rationality rise to the forefront when the emotionalism of the lower levels is transcended. Reason is capable of handling large, complex amounts of data and making rapid, correct decisions—of understanding the intricacies of relationships, gradations, and fine distinctions—and expert manipulation of symbols as abstract concepts becomes increasingly important. This is the level of science, medicine, and generally increased capability for conceptualization and comprehension. Knowledge and education are sought as capital. Understanding and information are the main tools of accomplishment, which is the hallmark of the 400 level. This is the level of Nobel Prize winners, great statesmen, and Supreme Court justices. Einstein, Freud, and many of the other great thinkers of history also calibrate here. The authors of the Great Books of the Western World calibrate here.
The shortcomings of this level are the failure to clearly distinguish the difference between symbols and what they represent, and confusion between the objective and subjective worlds that limits the understanding of causality. At this level, it is easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees, to become infatuated with concepts and theories, ending up in intellectualism and missing the essential point. Intellectualizing can become an end in itself. Reason is limited in that it does not afford the capacity for the discernment of essence or of the critical point of a complex issue. And it generally disregards context.
Reason does not in and of itself provide a guide to truth. It produces massive amounts of information and documentation, but lacks the capability to resolve discrepancies in data and conclusions. All philosophic arguments sound convincing on their own. Although Reason is highly effective in a technical world where the methodologies of logic dominate, Reason itself, paradoxically, is the major block to reaching higher levels of consciousness. Transcending this level is relatively uncommon—by only 4 percent of the world’s population.
Love as depicted in the mass media is not what this level implies. On the contrary, what the world generally refers to as love is an intense emotionality, combining physical attraction, possessiveness, control, addiction, eroticism, and novelty. It is usually evanescent and fluctuating, waxing and waning with varying conditions. When frustrated, this emotion often reveals an underlying anger and dependency that it had masked. That love can turn to hate is a common concept, but what is being spoken about, rather than Love, is an addictive sentimentality and attachment. Hate stems from Pride, not Love. There probably never was actual Love in such a relationship.
The 500 level is characterized by the development of a Love that is unconditional, unchanging, and permanent. It does not fluctuate, because its source within the person who loves is not dependent on external conditions. Loving is a state of being. It is a way of relating to the world that is forgiving, nurturing, and supportive. Love is not intellectual and does not proceed from the mind. Love emanates from the heart. It has the capacity to lift others and accomplish great feats because of its purity of motive.
As this level of development, the capacity to discern essence becomes predominant; the core of an issue becomes the center of focus. As Reason is bypassed, there arises the capacity for instantaneous recognition of the totality of a problem and a major expansion of context, especially regarding time and process. Reason deals only with particulars, whereas Love deals with wholes. This ability, often ascribed to intuition, is the capacity for instantaneous understanding without resorting to sequential symbol processing. This phenomenon may sound abstract but is, in fact, quite concrete; it is accompanied by a measurable release of endorphins in the brain.
Love takes no position and thus is global, rising above the separation of positionality. It is then possible to be “one with another,” as there are no longer any barriers. Love is therefore inclusive and expands the sense of self progressively. Love focuses on the goodness of life in all its expressions and augments that which is positive. It dissolves negativity by recontextualizing it rather than by attacking it.
This is the level of true happiness, but although the world is fascinated by the subject of Love, and all viable religions calibrate at 500 or over, it is interesting to note that only 4 percent of the world’s population ever reaches this level of the evolution of consciousness. Only 0.4 percent ever reaches the level of Unconditional Love, at 540.
As Love becomes more and more unconditional, it begins to be experienced as an inner Joy. This is not the sudden joy of a pleasurable turn of events; it is a constant accompaniment to all activities. Joy arises from within each moment of existence, rather than from any external source; 540 is also the level of healing and of spiritually based self-help groups.
Level 540 and up is the domain of saints, spiritual healers, and advanced spiritual students. Characteristic of this energy field is the capacity for enormous patience and the persistence of a positive attitude in the face of prolonged adversity. The hallmark of this state is compassion. People who have attained this level have a notable effect on others. They are capable of a prolonged, open visual gaze, which induces a state of love and peace.
At the high 500s, the world one sees is illuminated by the exquisite beauty and perfection of creation. Everything happens effortlessly, by synchronicity, and the world and everything in it is seen to be an expression of love and divinity. Individual will merges into Divine will. A Presence is felt whose power facilitates phenomena outside conventional expectations of reality, termed miraculous by the ordinary observer. These phenomena represent the power of the energy field, not that of the individual.
One’s sense of responsibility for others at this level is of a different quality from that shown at the lower levels. There is a desire to use one’s state of consciousness for the benefit of life itself rather than for particular individuals. This capacity to love many people simultaneously is accompanied by the discovery that the more one loves, the more one can love.
The level of revelation in the high 500s, then, opens the way to transfiguration and compassion that lead to ecstasy and the states close to 600. These are states of Bliss and the beginning of states of illumination and Enlightenment. They are often accompanied by feelings of Light. For example, the room lit up when Bill Wilson of Alcoholics Anonymous had his spiritual experience. He said the room was lit by the Infinite Presence (cal. 575). That was the beginning of the approach toward the energy field of 600. The Radiance suffused out into the world as the great worldwide 12-step movement through which AA has brought about the recovery of millions of people.
Near-death experiences, characteristically transformative in their effect, have frequently allowed people to experience the energy level between 540 and 600.
This energy field is associated with the experience designated by such terms as transcendence, Self-realization, and God-consciousness. It is extremely rare. When this state is reached, the distinction between subject and object disappears, and there is no specific focal point of perception. Not uncommonly, individuals at this level remove themselves from the world, as the state of bliss that ensues precludes ordinary activity. Some become spiritual teachers; others work anonymously for the betterment of humankind. A few become great geniuses in their respective fields and make major contributions to society. These people are saintly and may eventually be designated officially as saints, although at this level, formal religion is commonly transcended, to be replaced by the pure spirituality out of which all religion originates.
Perception at the level of 600 and above is sometimes reported as occurring in slow motion—suspended in time and space—though nothing is stationary; all is alive and radiant. Although this world is the same world as the one seen by others, it has become continuously flowing, evolving in an exquisitely coordinated evolutionary dance in which significance and source are overwhelming. This awesome revelation takes place nonrationally, so that there is an infinite silence in the mind, which has stopped conceptualizing. That which is witnessing and that which is witnessed take on the same identity; the observer dissolves into the landscape and becomes equally the observed. Everything is connected to everything else by a Presence whose power is infinite, exquisitely gentle, yet rock-solid.
Great works of art, music, and architecture that calibrate between 600 and 700 can transport us temporarily to higher levels of consciousness and are universally recognized as inspirational and timeless.
This is the level of the great ones of history who originated the spiritual patterns that multitudes have followed throughout the ages. All are associated with Divinity, with which they are often identified. This is the level of powerful inspiration; these beings set in place attractor energy fields that influence all humankind down through the ages. At this level, there is no longer the experience of an individual personal self as separate from others; rather, there is an identification of Self with Consciousness and Divinity. The Unmanifest is experienced as Self beyond mind. This transcendence of the ego also serves by example to teach others how it can eventually be accomplished. This is the peak of the evolution of consciousness in the human realm.
Great teachings uplift the masses and raise the level of awareness of all humanity. To have such vision is called grace, and the gift it brings is infinite peace, described as ineffable, beyond words. At this level of realization, the sense of one’s existence transcends all time and all individuality. There is no longer any identification with the physical body as “me,” and therefore, its fate is of no concern. The body is seen as merely a tool of consciousness through the intervention of mind, its prime value that of communication. The self merges back into the Self. This is the level of nonduality, or complete Oneness. There is no localization of consciousness; awareness is everywhere equally present.
Great works of art depicting individuals who have reached the level of Enlightenment characteristically show the teacher with a specific hand position, called a mudra, wherein the palm of the hand radiates benediction. This is the act of the transmission of this energy field to the consciousness of humankind. This level of divine grace calibrates up to 1,000, the highest level attained by any who have lived in recorded history—to wit, the great Avatars for whom the title “Lord” is appropriate: Lord Krishna, Lord Buddha, and Lord Jesus Christ.
On the Map of Consciousness, two critical fulcrums allow for major advancement.
Our research shows that levels of consciousness are the determining factor in many societal variables and individual behavior, as visible in the chart below:
| Level of Consciousness | Rate of Unemployment | Rate of Poverty | Happiness Rate (“Life Is OK”) | Rate of Criminality |
| 600+ | 0% | 0.0% | 100% | 0.0% |
| 500–600 | 0% | 0.0% | 98% | 0.5% |
| 400–500 | 2% | 0.5% | 79% | 2.0% |
| 300–400 | 7% | 1.0% | 70% | 5.0% |
| 200–300 | 8% | 1.5% | 60% | 9.0% |
| 100–200 | 50% | 22.0% | 15% | 50.0% |
| 50–100 | 75% | 40.0% | 2% | 91.0% |
| <50 | 97% | 65.0% | 0% | 98.0% |
Let’s attempt to better understand the determining effect of consciousness levels through an example. Imagine a so-called bum on a street corner:
In a fashionable neighborhood in a big city stands an old man in tattered clothes, alone, leaning against the corner of an elegant brownstone. Look at him from the perspective of various levels of consciousness, and note the differences in how he appears.
From the bottom of the scale, at a level of 20 (Shame), the bum is dirty, disgusting, and disgraceful. From level 30 (Guilt), he would be blamed for his condition. He deserves what he gets; he is probably a lazy welfare cheat. At 50 (Apathy), his plight might appear desperate, evidence that society cannot do anything about homelessness. At 75 (Grief), the old man looks tragic, friendless, and forlorn.
At a consciousness level of 100 (Fear), we might see the bum as threatening, a social menace. Perhaps we should call the police before he commits some crime. At 125 (Desire), he might represent a frustrating problem—why does somebody not do something? At 150 (Anger), the old man might look like he could be violent; or, on the other hand, one could be furious that such a condition exists. At 175 (Pride), he could be seen as an embarrassment or as lacking the self-respect to better himself. At 200 (Courage), we might be motivated to wonder if there is a local homeless shelter; all he needs is a job and a place to live.
At 250 (Neutrality), the bum looks okay, maybe even interesting. “Live and let live,” we might say; after all, he is not hurting anyone. At 310 (Willingness), we might decide to go down there and see what we can do to cheer him up, or volunteer some time at the local mission. At 350 (Acceptance), the man on the corner appears intriguing. He probably has an interesting story to tell; he is where he is for reasons we may never understand. At 400 (Reason), he is a symptom of the current economic and social malaise, or perhaps a good subject for an in-depth psychological study, worthy of a government grant.
At the higher levels, the old man begins to look not only interesting but friendly and even lovable. Perhaps we would then be able to see that he was, in fact, one who had transcended social limits and gone free, a joyful old guy with the wisdom of age in his face and the serenity that comes from indifference to material things. At level 600 (Peace), he is revealed as our own inner self in its temporary expression.
When approached, the old man would also vary in his response to these different levels of consciousness. With some people, he would feel secure; with others, frightened or dejected. Some would make him angry, and others would delight him. Some people he would therefore avoid, and others greet with pleasure. (Thus it is said that what we meet is actually a mirror.)
So much for the manner in which our level of consciousness decides what we see. It is equally true that having placed that construct upon the reality before us, we will react to it in a fashion predicted by the level from which we observe. External events may define conditions, but they do not determine the consciousness level of human response. We can take the more literal scene of our current penal system as an illustration.
Placed in an identical and extremely stressful environment, different inmates react in ways that vary extraordinarily according to their level of consciousness. Prisoners whose consciousness is at the lowest end of the scale sometimes attempt suicide. Others become psychotic, and some become delusional. Some in the same circumstances fall into despondency, go mute, and stop eating. Still others sit with head in hands, trying to hide tears of grief. A very frequent experience is that of fear, including paranoid defensiveness. In the same cellblock, we see other prisoners with a greater degree of energy going to rage, violent and assaultive and homicidal. Pride is everywhere present, in the form of macho bragging and struggles for dominance.
By contrast, some inmates find the courage to face the truth of why they are there and begin to look at their own inner lives honestly. There are always some who just “roll with the punches” and try to get some reading done. At the level of Acceptance, we see prisoners who seek out help and join support groups. It is not unusual for an occasional inmate to take a new interest in learning, start studying in the prison library, or become a jailhouse lawyer (some of history’s most influential political books were written behind bars). A few prisoners go through a transformation of consciousness and become loving and generous caregivers to their fellows. And it is not unheard of for a prisoner aligned with higher energy fields to become deeply spiritual, even to actively pursue Enlightenment.
Here is the take-home point from the foregoing examples: how we react depends on the world we seem to be reacting to. Who we become as well as what we see are both determined by perception, which can be said, simply, to create the perceptual, experiential world.
Contemplation of the Map of Consciousness can transform your understanding of key areas of human life, beginning with the belief in causality, which is a major barrier to advancement. As perception itself evolves with your level of consciousness, it becomes apparent that what the world calls the domain of causes is in fact the domain of effects. Nothing “out there” causes your experience of life but rather what is “in here,” which is the energy field operating in your life. By taking responsibility for the consequences of your own perceptions, you can transcend the role of victim and come to an understanding that “nothing out there has power over you.” It is not life’s events but how you react to them and your attitude about them that determine whether the events have a positive or negative effect on your life, whether they are experienced as opportunity or as stress. Nothing has the power within itself to “create” stress. The loud music that raises the blood pressure of one person can be a source of delight to another. A divorce may be traumatic if it is unwanted, or a release into freedom if it is desired. Therefore, the only way to change your experience of life is to evolve your consciousness via alignment with high-energy attractor patterns.
A: That’s called being human! The prefrontal cortex, that which makes us human, is an add-on to the old animal brain. The reptilian brain is still operative so that, if you were to choose it, you could become an instant killer, like the Komodo dragon. You’ve learned not to respond to it, but that impulse to kill still comes up, as do other primitive impulses. Just notice your killer impulse when someone cuts you off in traffic!
In terms of emotions, most people experience a wide range. Your consciousness level can be at a good level, and then suddenly you go into Guilt, Shame, Grief, Fear, Desire, Anger, and so on. These are evanescent. Your overall consciousness level is that which is dominant, but it doesn’t exclude the range of emotions coming up from the individual unconscious. Some of them are things that you projected into the world. Now that you’re taking spiritual responsibility, suddenly you feel guilty about them. But that’s a transitory processing of the energy of guilt; it doesn’t mean that your consciousness has sunk down to the level of Guilt!
Another consideration is that it takes time to assimilate and grow into the new pattern. Rather than trying to change too much too quickly, which can be very disruptive, it’s good to grow with it and let it sort of settle. Each person grows at the rate of their own capacity, their own intention, their own readiness, their own karmic ripeness. And you don’t know what that rate is.
A: Most spiritual seekers go through a variety of stages that may range from despair to joy or even ecstasy. There are also long periods where nothing seems to be happening, and you may feel like you aren’t getting anywhere. These are interspersed with periods of what seem like stagnation, frustration, self-blame, and even hopelessness. All of these periods within the overall process are normal. Perseverance and dedication carry you through. The way is easier if a true teacher or a dedicated group is available.
You will also discover that “Love brings up its opposite,” so that the very intention to become unconditionally loving presents the obstacles that will need to be transcended (that is, jealousy, resentment, impatience, and so forth). Love and peace are the greatest threats to the “ego,” which defends itself by resorting to entrenched positionalities that lie hidden in the unconscious. These nonloving attitudes arose in childhood from the biologic, survival-oriented animal brain and were forced underground by parental and societal pressures via the well-known psychological mechanisms of repression, denial, suppression, reaction formation, projection, and rationalization. C. G. Jung created the word shadow to refer to rejected parts of the personality that need to be acknowledged and worked with in the process of psychological development.
It can be disturbing when these negativities erupt from the unconscious just when you are aspiring to become more loving! You can expect to encounter them as a consequence of your commitment to evolve.
Unknown to the aspirant is the past karma, which is also an influential factor. Hence, you cannot compare yourself to others as to timing and details of experience. As you rise on the Map and have access to greater energy, it is possible that you earn the right to bring up and clear out negative karma, and thus there may be periods of financial difficulty, illness, and other unforeseeable challenges. What seems like a setback, therefore, is actually an opportunity to evolve.
A: Constancy. Effective spiritual endeavor is a consequence of constancy and persistence rather than fits and starts of enthusiasm. Each state of spiritual evolution is self-rewarding, gratifying, and complete unto itself. The moments of prior anguish are found to have been worth the effort.
And humility. Great leaps in level of consciousness are always preceded by surrender of the illusion that I know. Thus you have to be willing to let go of secretly thinking I know, and to say, “I don’t know.” Frequently, the only way a person reaches this willingness to change is when they “hit bottom”—that is, by running out a course of action to its end in the defeat of a futile belief system. Light cannot enter a closed box; the upside of catastrophe can be an opening to a higher level of awareness. If life is viewed as a teacher, it then becomes just that. Unless the painful lessons of life are transformed through humility into gateways of growth and development, they are wasted.
A: We have discovered that when people over 200 observe something from lovingness, they are already raising its calibrated level of consciousness measurably. For example, when we consider something or someone adorable, the calibration that was at 204 will jump to 310 or so. Do you see what this means? You don’t need to go out and do fancy things. Just witness the sacredness of all existence, approach all life with reverence and goodwill, and by doing so, you’re changing the world by virtue of Heisenberg’s principle, which states that the observation of something changes it. I don’t know if the kitty’s purr was at 500 before we contemplated it, but it is now.
The higher the level of consciousness of the observation, the greater the impact on the observed. We have literally been changing the calibrated levels of consciousness and much of society by the sheer observation of the work that we’re doing collectively. Everything we look at lovingly raises its calibration, even the Komodo dragon. He’s just being what he is, a very good Komodo dragon, who can kill with precision and eat you up with a single bite! That’s impressive, and we see the lovability of the Komodo dragon as an expression of Divinity within the unfoldment of Creation in which everything serves the Ultimate.
The world is becoming that which we hold in mind, and if it’s lovingly intended, then it’s very powerful. Look at all the power you walk around with and didn’t know it! Everything we look at, if we love it and forgive it for being what it is—if we witness the sacredness of it, if we see it as an expression of evolution, and that it serves some ultimate purpose—then our observation influences it.
Watching crocodiles on the nature channel is illuminating. If you want to learn a lot about spirituality, just watch the nature channel, because in nature you see a world without any prejudices. There’s the hippopotamus and the crocodile on the beach, and the hippopotamus has sort of a motherly instinct toward crocodiles. I mean, who could love a crocodile but a hippopotamus? Everybody is afraid of the crocodile except the hippopotamus. The hippo kills more people per year than most animals, but even the hippo has a capacity to care about the crocodile. The hippo goes over and nudges the crocodile and even licks him, making sure the crocodile is comfortable. How could a hippo have a maternal instinct toward a crocodile? They have apparently made friends over the millennia. The crocodile is twitching, and the hippo pushes the crocodile over until the crocodile is happy. Imagine licking a crocodile! Now there’s some love and acceptance! We should be more like the hippopotamus, then, nurturing toward everything that the world looks down upon as Homo horribilis!
Some of the calibrations we did in 2004 for Truth vs. Falsehood changed merely as the consequence of our having calibrated them. Do you see how consciousness is evolving simply by our being aware that it is evolving? The desire to know the truth tends to pull the truth to us. The higher your level of consciousness, the greater your lovingness, and thus the greater the impact of your observation and intention.