The Map of Consciousness®
What do you understand about consciousness? For me personally, I believe consciousness is like awareness but not really. We become aware through observing ourselves while consciousness is when we refer to our overall orientation. It is a state as well as describing our actions and behaviours. At the same time, I believe that consciousness is able to create our reality as it is our beliefs, emotions and thoughts – making who we represent ourselves in this world and how we would both behave and act. That said, as we are journeying into high states of consciousness, I would like to share my understanding of The Map of Consciousness® by the late psychiatrist and author Dr. David R. Hawkins. To learn more, please continue reading.
“I believe that consciousness is able to create our reality as it is our beliefs, emotions and thoughts – making who we represent ourselves in this world and how we would both behave and act. “
What do you understand about consciousness? For me personally, I believe consciousness is like awareness but not really. We become aware through observing ourselves while consciousness is when we refer to our overall orientation. It is a state as well as describing our actions and behaviours. At the same time, I believe that consciousness is able to create our reality as it is our beliefs, emotions and thoughts – making who we represent ourselves in this world and how we would both behave and act. That said, as we are journeying into high states of consciousness, I would like to share my understanding of The Map of Consciousness® by the late psychiatrist and author Dr. David R. Hawkins. By reading The Map of Consciousness® (which I truly recommend), you would understand the essential framework on human consciousness and associated energy fields where you will be then able to conduct self-reflection, meditation, by using the map to increase your energy, consciousness as well to become a happier, healthier and more powerful you.
With his belief that spirituality is able to heal people and the planet, Dr. Hawkins spent 20 years researching muscle testing and conducted more than 250,000 calibrations to define a range of values, attitudes and emotions that corresponded to levels of consciousness. And through this range of values and with a logarithmic scale of 1 to 1,000, it became what we know now as the Map of Consciousness® – which the late psychiatrist and best-selling author wrote in his New York Times bestseller, Power vs. Force. So, what do you see on the Map of Consciousness® ? First of all, you will see the levels of consciousness in the middle and emotions (which means the emotional state you are generally in) in correlation to them on the left. There you would also find the logarithmic scale of 1 to 1000 that shows the emotion shame is the lowest energy – vibrating at 20 and that of peace and enlightenment at 600, and 1000 respectively. The levels and energy will correlate to our health as well as how we would naturally behave, or act based on the different levels and emotional states that we are currently in.
Image source: https://carolmacrae.
That said, let us learn how to use The Map of Consciousness® to move away from the lower states and to reach our higher consciousness.
1. Intention
Be intentional and be clear where you want to move towards – better health, relationships, etc in the next weeks and months. Write it down and make it a commitment to yourself. Write and say to yourself often “I AM” to strengthen your intention and give the universe the signal that it has become a reality. For e.g., write “I am optimistic, “I am forgiving” or “I am love”.
2. Observation
Do observe yourself but gently and carefully – not judging yourself harshly. Each and every one of us is a gift to this world. Do keep that in mind. And once you start observing yourself, you are making the unconscious thoughts and behaviour conscious. And when you now find yourself with negative judgemental thoughts, you are able to confront them and transform them into positive emotions.
3. Action
The last thing to do is to act on it. To do so, ask yourself how you can translate your intention more and more into actions. For e.g., you want to be more optimistic, you act by practicing optimistic self-talk and do something you’d normally not do – trusting that all will turn out well.
The Map of Consciousness® – the 17 Levels
Shame (1-20)
Someone at this level feels humiliated, has low self-esteem and is paranoid. People vibrating at this level for prolonged periods become serial killers, rapists, and moral extremists.
Guilt (30)
Feelings of blame and remorse dominate here. This level cultivates destruction.
Apathy (50)
A state of despair and helplessness. Someone here is needy and dependent on others for help, such as the homeless, the poor, the aged population. The prevailing view is one of hopelessness.
Grief (75)
Feelings of regret, sadness and loss are abounded here. Many people vibrate at this level in times of loss. Grief is a higher level than apathy because one starts feeling more energy at this level, albeit of sadness and loss.
Fear (100)
Energy at this level is oriented in anxiety. Common situations of fear at play would be fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of uncertainty, fear of challenges, fear of aging, fear of death, fear of loss, fear of strangers.
Desire (125)
At the level of desire, we are pretty energetic. We pursue ambitions, money, etc. Desire also makes us addicted to things. The life view is disappointing, which ensues when one cannot obtain what one desires.
Anger (150)
The emotion at this level is hate. Anger expresses itself as resentment, frustration, and revenge.
Pride (175)
People form pride based on possessions and external conditions. It is vulnerable because such conditions can be removed at any point in time. Pride results in denial and arrogance. The life-view here is demanding.
Courage (200)
The turning point: this is the separation point between force and real power. At courage, one sees the world as exciting and filled with possibilities. It marks the start of the active pursuit of growth – where there exists a gap, the person will act to fill it. The life view is feasible – anything is manageable since the person is able to harness the power to deal with situations in life.
Neutrality (250)
The emotion at this level is trust and safety. Here, people are non-judgmental, objective, and able to see things as they truly are. They are not attached to possessions, situations, outcomes and can roll with the punches in life. If they are not able to get something, they are equally happy settling for something else.
Willingness (310)
At willingness, the individual is open to do anything and everything – he/she is not bound by others’ judgments or by limitations. The life-view is hopefulness. At this level, you have people who perform extremely well in their careers in corporations, start-ups. The question then comes as to whether they are investing their energy in the best way.
Acceptance (350)
Here, we finally realize that we are the creators and source of our life, as opposed to having relegated some part of it to someone else or a different entity. We are aware of the social constructs present in life, able to discern against (limiting) beliefs, viewpoints, and conditioning and able to consciously craft life above and beyond all these social constructs.
Reason (400)
The emotion is understanding and rationality. One seeks out huge amounts of information and analyzes it to infinitesimal detail before reaching conclusions. Reason falls into the trap of over-intellectualization, leading to the process of abstraction or preoccupation with data. The life view is meaningful.
Love (500)
This represents unconditional love – love that is pure, unfaltering, unwavering, not subjected to any external conditions. The life-view is benign. Hawkins claims only 0.4% of the population (1 in every 250 people) ever reaches this level.
Joy (540)
The dominant emotion is serenity and compassion. This is the inner joy that arises from every moment of existence rather than from an external source. The life view is completeness. Near death experiences have the effect of temporarily bumping people into this level.
Peace (600)
The emotion is bliss. At this level, there is no longer any distinction between the observer and the subject. This level is only attained by 1 out of 10 million people.
Enlightenment (700-1000)
The emotion is inexpressible. This is the pinnacle of the evolution of the consciousness of mankind. The greatest people of history have attained this level, such as Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Mother Theresa.
Credits: hedischaefer.com; artofwellbeing.com.
Michael Teh, 22nd December 2021.
Michael Teh is a meditation coach devoted to a personal mission of awakening more people to higher consciousness. He teaches self-realization through meditation, qigong, yoga and philosophy. Michael Teh Signature Workshop: The Essence of Life Series explores meditation as a powerful tool to realize our true potential. Michael has designed multiple workshops in this series to support his participants’ self-realization journey. Workshop Series 1 is currently running every few months on-ground in Kuala Lumpur, titled “Knowledge of The Self and Fundamentals of Meditation. Be sure to follow Michael’s social media channels and website for more updates: FB: https://www.facebook.com/
