©Herb Stevenson 12/31/21
Dr. David R. Hawkins over the course of 50 years as a psychiatrist and spiritual researcher developed the Map of Consciousness. It is a very practical and pragmatic guide to understanding the evolutionary levels of consciousness to be transcended in pursuit of spiritual advancement, enlightenment, or self-improvement. It also provides a pragmatic map of the obstacles to overcome in order to achieve more optimal levels of consciousness. Moreover, it lends itself well to tracking the evolution of one’s Presence as it correlates directly to levels of development, energetic frequencies, and internal evolution.
Hawkins's lower levels of consciousness, often correlated with unconscious reactivity, noticeable that at consciousness levels below 200, life could be described as rapacious. As titled in the table, this is a stage of conscious awareness of the ego that correlates with the internal experience of being a victim or abuser. It acquires its energy at the expense of oneself and/or others, and because survival is based on acquisition, it sees others as rivals, competitors, and enemies. Life up to consciousness level 200 is therefore strongly rivalrous and self-interested. Because awareness at this level sees others as potential enemies, intruders, or invaders, it would be experienced as possessive, competitive, hostile, and, in extreme expressions, aggressive and savage.
Our mind, “the ego is not overcome by seeing it as an enemy. It is one’s biological inheritance, and without it, nobody would be alive to lament its limitations. By understanding its origin and intrinsic importance to survival, the ego can be seen as being of great benefit but prone to becoming unruly and causing emotional, psychological, and spiritual problems if not resolved or transcended.” David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD
At consciousness level 200, there is a shift to the more benevolent, that is, the nature of life becomes more internally harmonious. There is a rise of choice that is driven by the courage to affirm oneself. Hence a form of permission to explore beyond learned reactivity evolves. Maternal caring appears, along with concern for others, pack loyalty, identification with others, and the beginning of what is later expressed in human nature as relatedness, socializing, play, family and pair bonding, and group cooperation for shared goals, such as survival via community activities.
Of major significance on the calibrated Scale of Consciousness is that the critical level of 200 differentiates truth from falsehood. Therefore, levels over 200, which progress logarithmically, indicate levels of power (presence plus intention), and those below 200 indicate reliance on force, whether emotional, physical, social, or by whatever expression. This differentiation is denoted by the truism that power, that is, presence in the form of the word, the thought, the intention is mightier in spiritual development than force in the form of emotion, reaction, and unconscious behaviors. Power is surrendering to the moment while force reacts to each moment. Therefore, a frequency of 200, the emergence of courage, is the beginning shift to self-creation. The paradox of courage is that it can feel like purgatory as learned fears, doubt, and self-deprecating reactions learned through life experiences and socialization processes rear their heads to assess one’s courage.
As courage becomes more stabilized as the frequency of consciousness, the evolution slowly develops into the Stage of Self-Empowerment through the emergence of more presence. The capacity to be less reactive, more responsive and accepting evolves as the ability to reflect and reason shapes the sense of being between and betwixt into a place of learning about oneself and how one interacts with the external authority of the outer world. The sense of self creatively adjusts to contradictions and other lower levels of force by experiencing an internal sense of enabling, inspiring, and merciful perceptions that lead to a new wisdom about self, life, and reality.
When the energetic frequencies of awareness stabilize, the evolution of self-realization emerges through an internal sense beyond the mind. An expanded sense of knowing without thinking emerges leading to a sense of revelation and reverence for life that opens the compassionate heart. As this compassion expands into an even higher vibration, moments of universal love for all being occur. If stabilized, the feeling becomes one of nirvana or paradise. However, if lower frequencies have not been dissolved and integrated into these higher frequencies, there can be a sudden desire to firmly hold onto the feelings as it dissipates. A relearning must occur to fully understand the frequencies are stabilized through surrendering to the presence of the energies and cannot be captured. In other words, we cannot “do” the evolutionary energies, we can only “Be” them.
The higher stages of conscious awareness and therefore stabilized energetic frequencies lead to what we call healing presence. In our being a stabilized presence, we become the embodiment of joy, peace, awareness, the void of oneness, the divine union that dissolves all dualities and eventually leads to enlightenment.
Interestingly, the path to healing presence is filled with stages of being a healingpresence. As one evolves, the emergence of higher energetic vibrations fills our being. As we are those vibrations we become a healing container (presence) that invites others to rise to this higher vibration. Hence, while being present to oneself, not needing to do anything for another except to be present to the moment, we invite that person to join us, thereby potentially dissolving frozen lower vibrations pre-empting the internal evolution and emergence of the other person.
In the interwoven diagram, Figure 1 below, we can imagine that when we find the courage for self-determination and spiritual evolution there are disparate parts that feel chaotic that is seeking integration into a more fully developed sense of internal Presence as well as being part of the more evolved sense of source when we understand that Presence permeates all that it.
In the subsequent diagram, Figure 2 below, we see that once we claim ownership through courage as described by Hawkins, we are able to understand the invisible personal and collective unconscious…the internalized meaning-making constructs that create our sense of what is real. In terms of healing presence, we refer to this as the emergence of internal authority. As we move through these hidden constructs and originating experiences frozen in time, a higher level of awareness and meaning begins to integrate. Generally, one will realize a new blueprint of reality that is constantly evolving and emerging as a sense of deep knowing one’s presence and the power of living via internal authority.
If we continue this process, instead of falling prey to a tendency to linearize Hawkins’ map, though he often indicates that the process is not linear, we can begin to discover it is complexity seeking order from what appears to be chaos. The chaos reveals its order through higher levels of understanding that occur through synchronicity and simultaneity. In other words, by organizing through acausal or abductive logics.
In figure 4 above, we can infer that this process might be depicted as the spiritual call invoked by the frequency of courage. The call is a shift in desire towards self-awareness even though it might not be through cognitive awareness. This new frequency initiates new actions and behaviors that develop a sense of self-discipline to practice prayer, meditation, pursue spiritual practices, wrapped in a sense of being, often feeling compelling, new, and bewildering. As the practice evolves through the stages of Reason (Witness), Acceptance, Willingness, and Neutrality, a sense of a commitment of willingness to be in the moment as well as to witness oneself reveals that one has developed conscious choice which releases into awareness that congruent choices are being made like the weaving of two parts of oneself that has always existed but was unable to be revealed until a high enough frequency invoked by courage occurred. Some might say it is the awakening of the masculine and feminine energies that eventually unite the mind and the heart as the Higher-self.
In reviewing the evolving path to consciousness above, we can see that when the courage to develop one’s internal authority, it begins with five experiences. Like a simultaneous progression being woven together. There is an internal calling ( shift to a higher frequency) that leads to a focused drive to remember or awaken. As this occurs frozen or fossilized constructs tend to be revealed internally and we dissolve them as ruling meaning-making beliefs. This leads to paradigm shifts and a capacity to be more present and to live more in the moment…versus in the memories of the past. In short, this is the capacity to witness oneself, others, and life while staying present to the moment, neutral, and leading to the capacity to evolve in consciousness.
As one develops the evolving self, the frequency or conscious awareness awakens the emergent self. No longer lost in the well of memories, the coherent or emerging self supports the sense of evolving self like a synchronistic and holistic integration. Some refer to this as developing coherency with one’s heart. Regardless, there become a release from external imprints and a sense of internal authority develops a self-defining Self. A deep commitment to be fully present reveals incongruent beliefs, values, and thoughts that are buried in lower frequency energies often discovered in internal voices of fear and pain. Once reveal to the higher frequencies, these lower energies tend to dissolve. The simultaneous progress leads to a clear sense of one’s Developing or True Self, the feeling like a deep knowing of being a conscious presence that is unencumbered from the past.
Remember the Evolving Self and the Emerging Self are simultaneously progressing often without clear conscious awareness except for the realization of a deep sense of knowing and being different and in the present moment.
In figure 7, we can see that in the lower frequencies of Hawkins's Map of Consciousness, one is generally unconscious, living by a rules-directed identity that is basically absent to oneself. They are a socially created self, based on the external authority of culture, family, etc. that leads to a complete incongruence of one’s internal compass and intuition of the heart. As one’s conscious awareness is triggered by higher frequencies of self-creation and self-empowerment, the individual becomes conscious and coherent with one’s true self. This is a continuously developing process of fully embracing self-definition based on internal authority created from the merging evolving and emergent self.
Content has been adapted to healing presence from
Original content from Herb Stevenson Healing Den Program 2017-2022
Novelty, Ohio
© Herb Stevenson, 2017 - 2024