Bridging Science, Human Development and Enlightenment

I like to use this blog to introduce ideas, people and resources for the purpose of personal and spiritual development. Today I’d like to share about the work of Dr. David Hawkins, an enlightened, yet scientific-minded individual who created a bridge between science, human development and enlightenment. Two of his well known books are Power vs Force (detailed below) and his later book Letting Go, which describes a “simple and effective means to let go of the obstacles to Enlightenment and become free of negativity”.

The brief excerpt below is taken from an article from the website http://personality-development.org/. It begins by introducing David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., and then gives a brief summary on part of his book Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. In this book he shares what he determines to be the level of consciousness of the planet around the year 2000. It would be interesting to note how the consciousness level has increased over the past 20 years or so. Various teachers and mystics have said it is beginning to increase at an accelerated pace.

Please enjoy:

David Hawkins is a psychiatrist who not only tackled years of clinical experience, but has conducted extensive research. His career spans from 1952 when he earned his MD from The Medical College of Wisconsin (established as Marquette University School of Medicine). In 1995, he also earned his PhD. in Philosophy from Columbia Pacific University. In his lifetime, he has founded and led several research laboratories and clinics.

Levels of Consciousness in “Power VS Force”

The most well known publication of Dr. Hawkins is “Power VS. Force – The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior” (Hawkins, 2002). In the book, Hawkins extrapolates a hierarchical model of personality development. Hawkins argues that the personality can be described in a scoring system which ranges from 0 to 1000 (0 being the lowest score, 1000 being absolute enlightenment or pure awareness) (Hawkins 2002, 75-85). It is of interest to note that Hawkins argues that objective truth is not only existent, but may be reached and understood by any individual using a technique called kinesiology. By accessing the “Database of Consciousness,” an individual may have questions answered with 100% certainty. His research shows that results are repeatable and accurate (Hawkins 2002, 29-30), regardless of the individual who performs the kinesiologic testing.

Each energy level outlined by Hawkins is extrapolated in the book. These levels of consciousness permeate the individual’s entire perspective and dictate the way they relate to their life experiences. For Hawkins, moving upward into higher states of consciousness is the only way to make meaningful progress in one’s life. Sadly, the average individual only moves up 5 points in their entire lifetime. However, a focused effort to move into higher states can lead to incredible leaps of awareness in relatively short periods of time. Individuals will fluctuate between different points on the scale, but an overall average number can be calculated using kinesiological testing. Briefly, here are the energy levels outlined by David Hawkins:

20: Shame

30: Guilt

50: Apathy

75: Grief

100: Fear

125: Desire

150: Anger

175: Pride

200: Courage

250: Neutrality

310: Willingness

350: Acceptance

400: Reason

500: Love

540: Joy

600: Peace

700-1000: Enlightenment

Although Hawkins goes into great detail about the various levels of consciousness, he points out two turning points as most crucial.

“On our scale of consciousness, there are two critical points that allow for major advancement. The first is at 200, the initial level of empowerment: Here, the willingness to stop blaming and accept responsibility for one’s own actions, feelings, and beliefs arises – as long as cause and responsibility are projected outside of oneself, one will remain in the powerless mode of victimhood. The second is at the 500 level, which is reached by accepting love and nonjudgemental forgiveness as a lifestyle, exercising unconditional kindness to all persons, things, and events without exception.” (Hawkins 2002, 238).

These two thresholds are primary challenges for many individuals today. Moving beyond them represents a significant barrier which can only be overcome through a significant shift in personality. After moving beyond these realms, progression into increasingly higher states is very natural and less challenging.

Measuring Collective Consciousness

Through kinesiological testing, David Hawkins and his researchers estimate the energy state of humanity’s collective consciousness to sit around 207 (Hawkins 2002, 95). This is just above the 200 threshold, in which we move from an overall destructive force to an overall creative force on the planet. Therefore, Hawkins is very optimistic about the progress being made. However, Hawkins warns that “Any meaningful human satisfaction cannot commence until the level of 250, where some degree of self-confidence begins to emerge as a basis for positive life experiences in the evolution of consciousness.” (Hawkins 2002, 96).

Counterbalancing Lower States of Consciousness

Individuals in states below 200 are explained as counterproductive to society. Their actions, in general, cause more harm than good. Furthermore, Hawkins warns that more than 85% of humans alive today still calibrate below the critical 200 level threshold (Hawkins 2002, 95). This is not surprising given that the majority of humanity still lives in extreme poverty, in which development of consciousness is nearly impossible.

The reason that our collective score sits at 207 is because the scale is logarithmic. Individuals who maintain higher states of awareness counterbalance large numbers of minds in lower states. Although only 4 percent of people alive today have reached the critical energy field of 500, individuals in these states have extremely powerful influence on the well being of society as a whole. In fact, Hawkins points out that only .4 percent of the population reaches 540, and only 1 in 10 million people will ever reach the level of 600 (Hawkins 2002, 95). He also points out that there are currently 12 persons on the planet who calibrate at 700 (Hawkins 2002, 282).

To gain perspective of the power of individuals who reach higher states – and it emphasize the importance of our individual capacity to reach these higher states – Hawkins lays out the mathematics (Hawkins 2002, 282):

One individual at 700 counterbalances 70 million individuals below level 200

One individual at 600 counterbalances 10 million individuals below level 200

One individual at 500 counterbalances 750,000 individuals below level 200

One individual at 400 counterbalances 400,000 individuals below level 200

One individual at 300 counterbalances 90,000 individuals below level 200

Twelve individuals at 700 equals one avatar at level 1000

Because of the logarithmically increasing power of individuals at higher states of consciousness, humanity has finally reached a level above the critical threshold of 200. Hawkins stresses that each person has the capacity to have significant influence on the well being of society by prioritizing progression of their individual consciousness.

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