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Originally Posted by pokilty  Personally, I feel very open to ideas and I'd appreciate any help or tips that worked for you to get beyond Acceptance  |
Based on what Hawkins says in Transcending the Levels of Consciousness, I believe reaching the level of Reason is actually a somewhat slower and gradual process than some of the lower levels.
In the book, at the end of the chapter on Acceptance, he has a paragraph about transcending it. He said something like "the emotional calm of Acceptance allows for the development of the intellect and Reason" (paraphrased but almost exactly).
Notice that he said "development" of the intellect, not something more tramatic such as "relinquishment" of emotions or negative positions, which is what the lower levels tends to feel like.
This sentence lead me to suspect that Reason is a product of reaching the level of Acceptance, then intentionally educating yourself to "develop" your intellect and awareness of reality gradually.
In my own life I have had one single, short experience of the level of Reason, which I feel was a glimpse of it but not an entire transition to it. I was reading a book on economics and was trying to comprehend it, then at one moment I had an "aha" and I said in my mind "I understand" - meaning I understood the concept that was presented.
I instantly recognized that in Hawkins' Map of Consciousness, "understanding" is the label of the emotional process that is occuring at the level of Reason.
The aha moment felt similar to other increases in consciousness that had occurred in the past. In fact, after that experience it became obvious to me that the path into Reason is one of educating yourself willingly and intentionally over an extended period of time.
So, if you are looking to develop your intellect and reach Reason, I would say get some classic intellectual books such as "The Great Books of the Western World" that Hawkins talks a lot about, and start reading and learning from them. (However, take note that works by Marx and Engels do not calibrate at the level of Reason).
Every other book in the list, besides by authors Marx and Engels, calibrates in the 400's. The highest levels of intellect are reflect by Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Sigmund Freud, who all calibrated at 499. Another more contemporary example is Stephen Hawking, who also calibrates at 499.