The first time I saw my husband’s Map of Consciousness, it was on a chalkboard in the hallway at home. I asked him, “What’s that?”
He said, “Oh, that’s the Map of Consciousness.” He explained to me that he’d created it to help people understand the world. “Each level of consciousness has its own view of life, view of God, view of self, emotion, and process. On a single chart, you see the entire world. It shows a path out of the pits of despair all the way to the state of Enlightenment.”
As soon as David explained the Map to me, I saw how it could bring hope to humanity. For decades he had worked as a psychiatrist with all kinds of people who were suffering, even cases of extreme mental illness. He knew the importance in psychiatry of giving someone a tool to inspire them to come out of their despair. He created the Map as a tool for learning and inspiration.
I said, “You’ve got to share this with people!”
He told me he wasn’t sure he wanted to go out into the public, so I spoke the words I knew he couldn’t refute: “David, this Map would really help people!” After that, he published his first book about the Map, Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. Little did I know that we’d spend the next 20 years traveling the world, sharing the Map of Consciousness.
When I was onstage with him, I witnessed how he would say things in a powerful way and suddenly people’s faces would light up—they got it! It was so fulfilling to see that response and to know that someone’s life was changed. For Dave, it was never about himself—he cared only about the message and its impact on others. He had a contagious sense of humor; it was impossible not to laugh whenever he was laughing. He didn’t care about appearances or getting approval from others, because he knew who and what he was.
The Map that David created has a scale of consciousness from the bottom of human experience to the top. He developed it so we would understand why there are both low and high energies in the world, and why some people do horrible things while other people are purely loving. The scale goes from 0 to 1,000, and it’s logarithmic. Dave hired a statistician to make sure the logarithms were correct. Then he put the emotions and other elements that go along with each level of consciousness so we would understand what it feels like to be in Shame (20) versus Love (500). Some people go for the numbers, others for the words. Dave presented his work in different ways to reach people with different learning styles.
David wanted to reassure those who are suffering that there’s something better ahead. As you’ll read later, he himself experienced the whole Map, from the very bottom to the top. He lived by the Map and demonstrated it in his life, in his lectures, and through his sense of humor. I’ve never met anyone as driven as he was to do anything he could to help others. That’s why he created the Map. He used it as a tool to inspire people to become more loving and compassionate.
Nearly every day, I hear from someone who says the Map changed their life. Some people have gotten free from the grips of heroin, alcohol, and other hopeless addictions. Others have healed from various illnesses and emotional struggles. Whatever the life problem, the Map gave them a pathway out of their suffering.
If this is your first book on this subject, you don’t need to feel intimidated. The Map is a simple, commonsense tool, and you don’t have to be a genius to understand it. The pages ahead have everything you need to know to move forward in your life, explaining how the world works, why things happen as they do, and how you can realize your fullest potential. The Map can explain some of your life’s problems and also remind you of your highest calling. Just read and see for yourself how it applies to you.
Anyone can use the Map, from any religion or no religion. When I was in high school, one of my best friends, who happened to be Jewish, asked me, “If there’s a God, why do we have all the wars?” The Map tells us why. It puts the world into perspective. Wars allow millions of people to die for something larger than themselves. At the moment that they walk into a hail of bullets, they cross over the critical line of Courage on the Map.
Dave said that our biggest problem, spiritually, is the self-centered ego, and it takes courage and dedication to overcome it. That’s the courage we see in soldiers who risk their lives for something higher than their egos—their country or God or fellows. Athletes do it in their way when they seek to win for their team or their country, instead of wanting fame for themselves. Or they dedicate their efforts to someone suffering from cancer or another illness. When we dedicate what we’re doing to something larger than ourselves, then we are coming from a higher place. The Map shows us that terrible things, such as war, actually serve a purpose. They help us to evolve spiritually.
When people are down, they need hope. The Map gives hope. It shows us that if we are down in self-hatred or hopelessness, we can turn our lives around by aiming for a higher level. We see this turning point every day in groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, with people recovering from addiction. From a place of total despair, their life turns around. When they reach the level of Courage (200) on the Map, that’s the point when their lives change, because they’ve found the courage to tell the truth about themselves instead of blaming someone else. From there, the level of Willingness (310) is important. That’s the level of being willing to learn, willing to be helpful to others, willing to grow, willing to be kind, willing to work at something.
There’s always hope, even on the worst days. Some days are so hard, I say to myself, “I don’t ever want to redo today!” The Map helps us know that one bad day isn’t the end of life. As Scarlett O’Hara said in Gone with the Wind, “I’ll think about it tomorrow!” The Map shows that we are all on a journey. Just because we don’t like the scenery where we are now doesn’t mean the whole journey will look bad; beautiful scenery lies ahead if we have the willingness to trust the process.
People say that the Map helps them have compassion for humankind. They see that a lot of the world lives on the lower levels of consciousness such as Guilt, Fear, and Anger, and this means that such people can’t help but lie, kill, and steal. Each level has its own reality. If you live on the level of Fear or Anger, that’s how you act. Just knowing this helps us not to judge those who act in ways that seem strange to us.
Even if you’re at the level of Courage or above, you probably don’t stay there all the time. Something comes up to test you. Everyone goes through episodes of the lower levels. For instance, after the death of a loved one, you might have a lot of Grief to process, or Fear of the unknown. In the case of divorce, you might be angry for a while—until it dawns on you that you’re actually better off without that person and situation!
As Dave writes in this book: life gives us trials. We are going through difficulties for a purpose. When we’re right in the throes of a struggle, it’s hard to see the meaning of it, so we have to have faith that there is an overall purpose to it. David taught me that we can ask, “What’s the purpose of this?” We come to know that we’re not alone in it; there’s a Higher Power looking out for us to help us grow. For example, when we really want something but don’t get it, then we may realize later, “I’m so glad I didn’t get that!”
Dave often said, “Love brings up its opposite.” This means that when we commit to becoming more loving, life will bring us people who are difficult to love! Every action brings forth an equal and opposite reaction. I’m tested every day by people and situations. Dave taught me that you can’t please everyone, and that’s a hard lesson to learn. Sometimes it’s necessary to say no. Sometimes, when someone snaps at you, it’s better to walk away rather than stand there and argue with a negative person. If you walk away, this gives them the chance to feel the impact of their negativity. It can be a teaching moment if they are willing. In all life’s moments, learning occurs. Sometimes we’re the teacher, and sometimes we’re the student.
A wonderful goal is to live at the level of Love (500), but this isn’t easy. Many people come to me and say, “I’m in the 500s.” They think they live at the level of Love, but it’s more fantasy than fact. When you read about that level of Love in this book, you’ll see that there’s almost no one who lives at it! You’d have to be close to a saint. If you’re in the 400s, which is the level of Reason, high functioning, and seeking the Truth for its own sake, then you’re doing well. You might have glimpses of a higher level, but it takes constant devotion to live there, and no one can take you there. You can experience it, and then you have to do the inner work to get there and stay there. You can’t force yourself to “achieve” a higher level; that’s ego. It has to come from willingness, essence, and heart.
David says in this book that basic kindness to others plays a major role in daily life and spiritual progress. For instance, if you see an old lady having trouble with her grocery cart, let her go in front of you. Maybe she’s tired of standing. Be kind to the pregnant mom with a screaming kid in her cart. Instead of giving her a dirty look and judging her as a “bad mother,” let her go in front of you. What’s 10 more minutes? If your goal is to evolve, then kindness is a vital tool.
Another point that Dave emphasizes is that one level is not better than another, because each level has its own responsibility. Just try to be as good a person as you can be, and to live in that space for as long as you can. When you reach the level of Acceptance (350), then you have embraced who and what you are. We all come in at different levels, and it takes total commitment to evolve to a higher level. Wearing white robes and saying the right words doesn’t mean you’re on a higher level; it means your ego thinks you are!
If you have the capacity to be honest and not judge anything as “high” or “low,” then you’ll have a good self-understanding, an inner sense of where you are on the Map. If you want to evolve, just look at where you can improve yourself. Be honest about your weaknesses. Maybe you are impatient and need to be kinder. Maybe you’re attached or addicted to something and need to have the courage to surrender it. Maybe you’re a doormat and need to stop letting people walk all over you. I like the saying “First time, shame on you; second time, shame on me!” Just because someone is a family member or colleague doesn’t mean you allow them to mistreat you.
Sometimes people think they will evolve by immersing themselves in the highest energy fields. They tell me, “I’m only going to listen to music and read books that are at the very top of the Map!” They judge everything in the world as “lower.” This is the spiritual ego’s holier-than-thou attitude. If they were at the level they think they are, they would see their error.
The ego likes to be special. The ego says, “I’m here, and you’re there.” That’s not what the Map is for. It’s a tool for you to learn and grow. If you’re honest about what you struggle with, you’ll see how to overcome it and automatically move up the Map.
Dave never once said, “I am an enlightened teacher,” yet I saw him live at that level. He was very humble and down-to-earth. He didn’t see himself as any better than anyone else. He just knew he had a responsibility to share what he was and help the world any way he could. When you are it, you don’t have to say anything about yourself. At the higher levels, you have no interest in promoting yourself. I saw Dave meet with people who needed his help as a doctor, and all they gave him in return was a sack of coffee. After he passed away, it took me two years to do something with all of that coffee!
This book is dedicated to his memory, because his life gives us a wonderful example of selfless service for the betterment of humankind. I hope and pray you find this book helpful for your journey. As Dave told us: “Straight and narrow is the path. Waste no time!”
—Susan J. Hawkins,
President of the Institute of Spiritual Research,
founded by Dr. David R. Hawkins