Raising Your Consciousness
April 8th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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Every level of consciousness outlined in the previous post is actually a trap.
When you make the leap to a new level, initially everything feels wonderful. You’ve discovered the secret that’s been eluding you all these years. And for a while, your new mindset seems to work just fine. You operate at a whole new level. Problems that seemed like insurmountable obstacles are now nothing but minor bumps in the road.
But eventually something screwy starts happening. The same mindset that worked so well for you in the past gradually stops working. The more you try harder and harder to make it work, the worse it fails.
As soon as you figure out that your current level of thinking is actually a trap, this realization is what springs your consciousness up to the next highest level.
Consider the level of pride, for example. The trap of pride is that your self-esteem is very fragile — it’s based on your external reality being a certain way. You end up spending more and more time defending that reality. And eventually it cracks. When you realize that defending your fragile pride is a hopeless and pointless battle, you pop up to the level of courage and begin facing your fears for real instead of pretending you’ve already conquered them.
But courage is also a trap. Initially it works well, but after a while it gets you into trouble. You become too controlling, spending more and more time trying to control what you cannot. Your frustration mounts. As soon as you realize that trying to control everything is hopeless, you pop up to the level of neutrality.
With neutrality you adopt the belief of “live and let live.” You become more mellow and accepting of people as they are. Life at this level is initially very comfortable. But eventually the trap springs. Your life becomes gradually burdened by things that start to bug you. You complain about them instead of doing something about them, and nothing happens. Things get worse instead of better. You may gain weight, have financial problems, or encounter other frustrations. Procrastination is your way of life. But you can’t solve these problems by hoping and complaining. As soon as you realize that nothing will change unless you get yourself to take action, you raise your consciousness to the level of willingness.
And willingness is itself a trap. You’re taking action and developing self-discipline. That works great for a while, but then you start to realize you’re like a mouse on a treadmill. You’re working hard, but you aren’t really getting anywhere. People take advantage of you. You start feeling bitter about investing so much effort for so little reward. And as soon as you see the trap, you rise to the level of acceptance.
Now you accept responsibility for directing your own life instead of working so hard to achieve others’ goals for you. You set your own goals, make plans, and start achieving them. You learn to focus your energy. This works great at first, but then you start failing. And failing. And failing. You’re setting goals and working hard, but you don’t really know what you’re doing. You don’t understand the natural laws that are operating in your world. You become frustrated that even less “worthy” people are passing you up. Eventually you recognize the trap here — that if you don’t understand the rules of how the world really works, you’ll never be able to succeed at achieving your goals. You rise to the level of reason.
Now at the level of reason, you take the time to learn the rules. You become very interested in absorbing new knowledge. When I hit this level, I changed my business model and started thinking very analytically and strategically. I studied sales and marketing. I did market research. I applied what I learned. And I finally released a hit product. I figured out the rules I needed to follow in order to succeed, and they worked. But the level of reason is also a trap. The more you think, the more you realize that the mind alone, no matter how intelligent and knowledgeable you become, cannot provide the context for your life. It can’t provide purpose or meaning. You can think and think and analyze and analyze, but no amount of data or information can tell you why you’re here and what to live for. You start to feel empty and ask questions like, “Is this all there is?” Your reasoning starts to run you in circles, and you finally see that it’s a trap. And then you rise to the level of love.
And so the cycle continues. The only constants are growth and change. The more you resist learning the lessons that will raise your awareness to the next level, the more pain and frustration you create for yourself.
Whenever you reach a new level of awareness, you retain the benefits of the previous levels, but you release their weaknesses. You maintain the confidence of courage without the recklessness, the comfort of neutrality without the passivity, the discipline of willingness without the frustration, the focus of acceptance without the failure, the intelligence of reason without the analysis paralysis.
Yesterday afternoon I had a breakthrough of my own. After being at the level of reason for about 6-1/2 years, I finally reached the level of love. Of that I’m certain. This isn’t the emotion of love — it’s the consciousness of unconditional love. It’s hard to put into words, but part of it is a feeling of total oneness with all that exists. It’s a feeling of being a conduit for life itself, like being part of a much larger whole instead of just an individual ego. For about a year now, I could see the signs that I was getting close to making the leap, but yesterday it finally hit me, and the full awareness of this new level of consciousness flooded into me.
I caught my first glimpse of the level of love in 2002. It started with profound flashes of intuition and surges of synchronicity. At first they’d last a few days or a week, but there would be months between these episodes. I’d document them in my journal but otherwise ignore them. But then I got curious and started acting on them in small ways, and I gradually became convinced that there was some higher intelligence working through them. When I started trusting my intuition and these synchronicities more often, their presence in my life swelled, and they’d lead me to new solutions, shredding even the toughest problems far more effectively than reason and logic could. But I still didn’t fully trust them. Eventually though, I was able to let go, and these intuitions and synchronicities switched on permanently and never turned off — now the conduit is always open.
It’s going to take me a while to get used to this. First, I have to celebrate though, especially after working so consciously and so hard at this for 6-1/2 years. It was not remotely easy, but it was worth it.
April 8th, 2005 at 10:11 pm
I like the ideas you present about different levels of consciousness. But, don’t you think that it is a little too narrow to define these levels into such precise incremants.
I know you mentioned that you’re experiences flicker between them time to time, but whats to say you experience reason before you experience neutrility?
I can’t believe that all of these levels are clearly linear, or even clearly steps, perhaps they may be different levels of awareness or conciousness, as you stated earlier. I often feel sections of reasoning in my life, also pride. However, I can’t say I generally experience neutrility.
I’m sure I have a long way to go, but I am young and I suppose the true path towards a higher level of conciousness is through experience and observation, and a concious effort to improve myself.
I’ve read all of your articles at dexterity, and here, and I’m pretty sure most of your blog entries (usually as a little motivator when I’m feeling down or lazy). I particularly enjoyed the ones about lucid dreaming, still working on that one though…
Keep up the great work.
April 9th, 2005 at 6:25 am
I see Hawkins’ levels of consciousness as abstractions. Even within each level there are varying degrees. Throughout my life this was a fairly linear path though, usually with many years separating each level. I think even this linear model is valid because early levels become prerequisites for later levels.
We can temporarily experience any of these levels. Through meditation we can experience peace, for example. But where does our default consciousness reside right now? Which level encompasses your current world view at this moment?
You can access the power of reason at any level, but you can’t get your full consciousness to stay there if you don’t have the self-discipline and focus to make reason your default choice for all key decisions. Similarly, if you want to achieve a pervasive state of peace where nothing can phase you, all the previous levels must be mastered first.
When you hit a new level, it literally changes your entire life. It gives you a whole new view of the world. Your spiritual beliefs, the way you relate to people, your career direction — everything will change, often dramatically. This is not the kind of thing you’ll see every day. These are the kinds of changes that cause people to go vegetarian, to consciously switch careers, to get a divorce, to start their own business, etc. If someone close to you reached a new level, there’s no way you wouldn’t notice. It would be plainly obvious that the person had changed massively.
April 9th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
I can only remember experiencing one massive shift in my personal thinking, but I’m not currently sure what levels it would have been going from one to the next.
Still, I agree with your past points. Once you reach that new level you see the old mentality as a trap and you can’t possibly imagine living with that mentality.
April 9th, 2005 at 7:36 pm
Excellent post. How do you think we can identify the inhibitors to get to the next level? Is there some sort of awareness that needs to grow to “unlock” the path to the next level? I don’t think sheer personal effort or force of will is enough, particularly at higher levels. For so many of the more advanced levels, you have to involve others to get there, and you can’t push them along. Very thought provoking. Thanks.
April 9th, 2005 at 9:38 pm
Life itself will provide the lessons. I don’t know of any set formula or strategy to figure out how to reach the next level though. It’s a very individual process which plays out differently for everyone. For me the pattern usually starts with everything flowing smoothly for a while, then I gradually meet with resistance, then I acknowledge the resistance and try to figure out what’s going on, and eventually I finally break through to a new level of awareness. It’s never easy.
My wife and I just spent a couple hours this evening talking about our pasts and how certain painful events contributed to new understandings. It’s amazing how some of the most difficult experiences can prove to be so valuable in the long run, especially the experiences that help us learn courage.
April 10th, 2005 at 3:36 am
Steve:
I’d say you’ve found your true calling. Let me suggest a few things you might do though to improve your image. Dump the suit and get a robe; let your hair grow; Get some sun!
See you in the stars!
April 10th, 2005 at 2:13 pm
I dunno Steve…I really enjoyed what you wrote on the Dexterity site, but at this point it sounds like you’re going so high up you’re going to asphyxiate. I mean, you know why those gurus sit on mountains and do nothing, right? It’s because they piled thought abstraction on top of thought abstraction until they came to conclusion that nothing was worth doing. And we’re supposed to consider them wise?
April 10th, 2005 at 4:17 pm
Funny you should mention that, Badman, since this morning I went for a 2-hour (mostly uphill) hike along the side of a mountain in Red Rock Canyon, just west of Vegas. At the end of the trail, there was a natural spring surrounded by 12-ft reeds. I sat on a rock and meditated for a while before walking back down.
So this very morning I was indeed sitting on a mountain doing nothing.
Don’t knock it til you try it.
April 10th, 2005 at 6:55 pm
-Badman - Maybe you should read some of Steve’s posts on purpose. Maybe, he’s reaching pretty high heights, but from the sounds of Steve’s later posts your just as busy and focused as he ever was. Perhaps that is something that doesn’t diminish as you reach new levels of conciousness?
April 10th, 2005 at 9:59 pm
Hi Steve,
Congratulations on reaching the level of “Love.” Keep up the great progress. I look forward to you reaching the next level.
Steve: “… I don’t know of any set formula or strategy to figure out how to reach the next level though…”
This reminds me of the four Yogas followed and advocated by the enlightened (people who experienced the highest level of concicousness, the enligtenment), especially in India. The four Yogas are Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Jnana Yoga. I’ve read the four books - one on each of these Yogas - written by Swami Vivekananda. I’ve found them to be very interesting. They have been helping me raise my levels of consciousness by making changes in the ways I live.
And it’s said that a harmonious balance of the four Yogas is necessary for evolving through several levels of conciousness.
I’m not sure if these Yogas would work for everyone, but I’ve heard and read about people who practised these Yogas to reach higher levels of conciousness. And to clear up a block that some of my western friends have, these Yogas do NOT ask you to renounce your normal life and go to a mountain top to meditate all the time.
April 11th, 2005 at 3:49 am
Wow, folks, calm down. There are no levels of consciousness.
It’s a model, that’s all there is. It’s not real. Steve is a good guy. He is a deft marketer and a smart guy. He is sharing his knowledge and looking for an outlet for his creative energy (he’s got a lot of it). Are you going to accomplish anything simply by reading Steve’s post? Hell, no.
YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO DO THINGS, BELIEVE IT OR NOT.
April 11th, 2005 at 6:53 am
I’ll make a new post about why levels of consciousness matter and how they relate to personal growth.
April 21st, 2005 at 11:30 am
“The level of Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus. Even just thinking about people at this level can raise your consciousness.” - Very powerful. Thanks, Steve.
I have been told incidents of individuals who have experienced permanent “elevation” in their consciousness when they had the first darshan (view) of an authentic Guru as far as 50-100 feet.
Transformation was real. Avid non-vegetarians till that very moment began to shun meat from thereon, etc. These individuals neither came with any intention to be transformed nor had any expectations. No coercion, no mind tricks. Simple yet powerful tranformation.
There are probably many such effortless routes to a higher state.