[Glass Joe]

Thanks for the link ethereal. Great stuff. I should read some more of Hawkins' books. I liked Power vs. Force, but I don’t own that book myself so I only read it once when I checked it out from the library. But I never read anything else from him. BTW - it sounds like you really like Hawkin's books, so if you can recommend your absolute favorite book of his, I'd like to know which one.

I’m open to reading more books from him. And I’m not really sure why I never sought anything else out from him, now that I think about it. I guess I was turned off a bit after reading some criticism about him and seeing how he responds to critics by calibrating them at very low levels - deeming their criticisms too invalid to respond to - but not really saying where or why. I don’t know. I would think that at the level of consciousness he’s at on his map, he’d be indifferent to criticism either way, right?

Regardless, I agree that Hawkins' map, not to mention Wilber's and Aurobindo's maps, can correlate well with Chopra's. With Chopra’s map admittedly being the most basic and accessible of the bunch. And the other maps being more comprehensive, rather than just focusing on solely the God-aspect like Chopra does. So it’s probably more like Chopra’s map fitting somewhere into these other larger maps rather than the other maps fitting somewhere into Chopra’s. But it’s all good.

For instance, I like how Wilber's map contains "lines" of development, where you can see yourself move up in one developmental line or area of your life, yet still be very immature in other areas.

So basically, a relationship with or paradigm of God / The Universe / Spirit / Tao / Consciousness / Flying Spaghetti Monster can be seen as one of these developmental lines. And so someone can have a highly developed relationship with or paradigm of G/U/S/T/C/FSM, yet still have a horrible relationship with or paradigm of their children (for example, maybe seeing their children more like pets or like a “Mini-Me” to live vicariously through). Or someone can be highly developed in their work-life, yet still have a poor diet and poor physical fitness.

For example, I remember talking to this older Christian man who was going to divinity school on scholarship. Spirituality was a very large part of his life and he seemed to have a lot of insight. However, whenever he talked about his ex-wife, he often referred to her simply as “that bitch who left me”. This surprised me at first but I thought it was kind of funny, in a “we are all just innocent children” sort of way. I mean, I could just feel the pain in his heart along with his self-denial about any part he played in the divorce whenever he talked about her.

And you’re right about traditional religions being a mixed bag, where it's hard, if not impossible, to separate the wheat from the chaff. Personally, I pretty much stay away from any sort of organized religion or rituals. Except for maybe Christmas presents and Easter. But for the most part, I think religion and relationship/paradigm of God should be looked at separately. I mean, someone could be highly religious, yet still view God as a bearded man in the sky. And another person could barely know anything about common religious practices, yet view God from a more integral perspective. Same goes for academia vs. education.

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
--Mark Twain

So I'd borrow from the above quote and say:

I have never let my religious culture interfere with my spirituality.
--Glass Joe

Also, just as a side note and not in response to anything you wrote, I want to add that the key thing here is the relationship or paradigm of whatever we are looking at, whether it be views of God or raising children, rather than the actual results or current circumstances. I mean, your kids may hate your guts right now and even act violently towards you. Or they may think you’re awesome because you always give in to their screaming tantrums. But your relationship with your children in particular and your paradigm of all children in general is what I’m talking about here, and is what I think is more directly related to levels of consciousness.