which level of awareness am I on?

[Tobias Zimpel]

Hi,

for some time now I'm trying to pinpoint my current level of awareness, according to the scale presented by Steve. I know that this is only a model, something artificial, but I think it would help me understand some of my problems in life and would give me a hint on what to concentrate as well as a scale to measure if something is lowering my consciousness or heightening.

If I'd be on a very low level for example, giving in to anger would be step up, but if I'm beyond anger, then it would be a step down.

I'm going to give a rough overview over different areas of my life, as well as some guesses on the according level of awareness - which made this posting way longer that I wanted it to be :-/

Financially I'm near to broke, with regular expenses that lie above my income level - because my income level sank, not because my expenses grew that much. My guess is that this comes from lightworker's syndrome, but I can't really say if there are other issues I should tackle beforehand. As Erin said in her last interview, the idea of trying what I really want and having no success frightens me, because that would ruin me financially, but the idea of having success doesn't feel a lot more comfortable to me - so I'm oscilating between enthusiastically going the first few steps on the road to my dreams, but when I feel that when I continue, I will eventually reach them, I step back and sit down at the road, making myself as small as possible. That would at least put me below the level of acceptance , but how far below?

I want to make a good job and put my abilities to the best possible use for society (that would be willingness, wouldn't it?), but I don't have the courage to do so (what would put me on a level at least below courage).

I'm having some problems with addictions: I'm addicted to sugar and other fast carbon hydrates, for example, what would be the level of desire.

Sometimes I'm full of fear, and sometimes I'm full of enthusiasm, but on the first steps I take, I feel like I'm not worthy of success and fall back into a depressed state, where it's hard for me to even stand up in the morning (or before noon for that matter), and am often spending whole days in bed making big plans I never work out. Hm... apathy, grief or fear... And ylthough I know that I myself created this mess, I often make others responsible for my mess by not supporting me enough (or living my life for me for that mater...)

I have a strong interest in self help books and personal development material - but more from a philosophical standpoint, it seems. I think I'd qualify myself as a self help junkie, what would put me on the level of desire again. But then Steve says that on such a level of awareness, I wouldn't even be interested in themes of personal development.

I guess it's also important that I believe I have asperger's syndrome - but I don't think that this would ultimately limit me in terms of the level of awareness I could possibly reach, although there might be more rocks on the road for me that for people without asperger's. But perhaps there's more to it than I believe?

I think most of my life centers at least below the level of courage. I lately recognized that I begin to move when someone gave me a real hard KITA or treated me like garbage (or at least I feel like garbage instantly after such an event), and I channel the feeling of anger I feel for that person, or a feeling of despair and helplessness, into activities like cleaning, decluttering or other household-activities, what consumes my negative feelings, and leaves me on the one hand feeling good for what I have accomplished, but on the other hand guilty for acting on a "negative" feeling like anger - although I don't use the anger for revenge or destructive activities, but to constructive activities.

But it doesn't feel too good, because I can't feel proud for what I did for the guilt described before. And I want the other person, the person who hurt me before, to feel proud of what I accomplished and to admire me in some way for it - or simply put, to send me some energy I could feed of - so I'm emotionally addicted to that person's opinion of me and what I do - what would put me on the level of desire again for the addiction or on the level of pride for wanting to feel proud for what I accomplisher - or not, because I'm not able to?

To sum this up, although of course my whole life can't on one level, I'd put my overall level to desire. Any other opinions on this?

Then there's one thing I still don't seem to understand. There's the opinion that one can't leave out levels of awareness on the way up on the awareness scale for the things one is supposed to learn on this particular level - but is that only true for the levels above courage, or also for the levels below?

And second, steve wrote that all levels of awareness are some kind of trap. And all traps have a different solution, a different way to open it, just to step into the next step. But supposed I'm on the level of desire, should I go into the trap called anger, or pride, although I intellectually know that it would be a trap? I remember steve posted something about that as well, but I can't find the posting again.

I'd really appreciate some hints on what I should concentrate on - what level does my life center around, and what would be my next steps up the road? should I give in to feelings like anger, and if so, how should I use them? Is the solution to anger to not use it in a destructive way, but to get myself moving in a constructive way? Is there another way to grouw out of the level of desire but through anger?

And last but not least: Is courage a level of its own, or just the power, the fuel that drives one up the levels, starting from the lowest level on? Is it possible to feel or use courage before I step out of pride? And how rapidly can one step through the lower levels of awareness?

Lots of quenstions and uncertainty that makes me run and think in circles.

TIA for your help. Maybe some direct tips, maybe some reading stuff, or another positive KITA - everything would be great!

[Max Power]

I'm not convinced we even need to have levels of awareness. Awareness is awareness, plain and simple, if you want to add in thought and emotion, then I suppose you could sense different levels of feeling, but awareness is like consciousness, you're either consciousness or you're not

Consciousness has no need for emotion or thought, hence the need to create physical reality to experience thought and emotion. Realise that consciousness is you, consciousness is perfect, you're just having an imperfect experience called physical reality.

No levels are required, they are just labels to make something very simple, overly complex.

Max

[Love]

Hi, Tobias!

I read your post, and then I had to check the levels of conciousness article to remember what Steve said about that. I'll post the link here, because it took me a while to find it. http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...consciousness/
Honestly, I've never really understood the levels that well, especially all the ones below courage. It seems to me that they overlap. So, I can't give you any help on distinguishing there. I also think that with such broad labels like "fear" and "anger" giving yourself that label may make you more inclined to stay there. However, maybe that's because the levels confuse me. Someone will else will have to respond and straighten us out.

Steve also has another article that might be helpful. It's about taking each area of your life, assigning it a rating from 1 to 10, and then picking something to work on. You determine what actions would best bring you a 10. I find that it gives clear focus.

Cheers!

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by Max Power

I'm not convinced we even need to have levels of awareness. Awareness is awareness, plain and simple, if you want to add in thought and emotion, then I suppose you could sense different levels of feeling, but awareness is like consciousness, you're either consciousness or you're not

Of course we don't need them - as I stated at the beginning of my posting, I'm quite aware of the fact that this is a construct.

I am consciousness, whether I'm aware of it or not - there's no energy in the universe that could do anythingagainst it. But by level of awareness I measure to which degree I'm aware of the fact that I am indeed consciousness and only consciousness. The lower I am, the more I tend to identify myself with things I'm not, like a certain job, my body, my feelings, a certain belief system, and so on.

No levels are required, they are just labels to make something very simple, overly complex.

You could be right. But after all, I'm an autist to some degree (there it is again - I'm identifying myself with it...), and at least at the monent I need some structure for my own emotional security - as well as a very structured day provides me with the emotional security I need so I can tolerate at least a bit of change or working out of my confort zone.

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by Love

Honestly, I've never really understood the levels that well, especially all the ones below courage. It seems to me that they overlap. So, I can't give you any help on distinguishing there.

Maybe someone who has read Power vs. Force can help us on this.

I also think that with such broad labels like "fear" and "anger" giving yourself that label may make you more inclined to stay there. However, maybe that's because the levels confuse me. Someone will else will have to respond and straighten us out.

I believe it would at least help me to see if I go up or down acting, feeling or thinking in a certain way.

Steve also has another article that might be helpful. It's about taking each area of your life, assigning it a rating from 1 to 10, and then picking something to work on. You determine what actions would best bring you a 10. I find that it gives clear focus.

I've read that before - but it didn't give me much clarity. I know quite well where I stand in different areas of my life, but this knowledge alone didn't get me to action.

Nevertheless, thanks a lot for your thoughts. Guess I really have to read Power vs. Force myself to find out more on this.

[unicorn]

First of all I want to appologise if the next sentence seems a bit arrogant, but in regards to your question I see no way around it: Steve's article on the levels of consciousness is a gross oversimplification of what this scale really means and how it can be interpreted. If you want to use that scale for growth you need to look a lot deeper into it's origin and the context Hawkins used to build it. To quote Hawkins himself: "A calibrated statement is only true within the context used when making the statement." Steve has changed the context slightly from Hawkin's work with this, so your should read more about it before trying to calibrate yourself.

I think the major confusion stems from labeling the levels with an emotion-name. That could lead one to believe that when one is experiencing such an emotion that makes one calibrate to the corresponding level. Not true. An enlightened person above 600 will experience the full range of emotions on the scale, and sometimes even more intensely even. Above 600 is where you get direct experience of oneness with all-that-is, and that also means access to every possible feeling ever created in the universe. It just affects you differently from that level of awareness. So we are not talking about feeling the emotions, but how you relate to your emotions and how that makes you respond and interpret the world. Below 200 you are not even conscious of acting on the grounds of your emotions, or that others may see things differently. You do not sound like you have that syndrome .

Level 500 named Love is where you cross into having "pshychic" type experiences of connecting to the love energy of the universe, that is the beginning of experiencing the interconnectedness of all things. It has really nothing to do with the emotion one commonly associates with love. The main difference is starting to have experiences and an awareness of something beyond the mind and emotions, and that experience extends throughout the 500's until reaching enlightment at 600+. At 540 judgements become irrelevant as one then starts experiencing the interconnectedness so much that one habitually is able to see and love the innocent spirit behind negative behavior-patterns and negative emotional stuckness, that's why it is labeled Unconditional love.

From your post I would say you are somewhere between 400 and 499. Your intellect is well developed, you are able to reflect on your actions. The fact that you feel fear and experience emotions from further down the scale does not place your dominant level of awareness there. So the next logical step for you would be going for moving into love at 500. The way to get there is to meditate, and condition your mind by reading material from teachers that calibrate above 540, like Eckhart Tolle, David Hawkins and others. Look into courses on developing sensitivity beyond the 5 senses.

The most important thing is to accept your emotions and not give too much attention to where those belong on the scale. Just observe your emotions without judging or ranking, observe without acting on them. Ranking them according to this scale will only fuel the mind and perpetuate them. Having the courage to deeply feel what your emotions are and look them squarely in the eye is what will eventually bring you across the border of 500. It's like yin and yang in chinese philosophy: below 400 is the yin in surplus - emotions without guidance from the intellect, between 400 and 500 it is the yang in surplus that wants to control and master the emotions, at 500 yin and yang finds balance and that leads toward moving to a consiousness beyond the yin/yang polarity at 600+. So that is why I place you in the 400ds, your mind is dominating and wanting to control and work on your emotions, ranking and judging them according to the minds definition of what is beneficient. Your next step is letting go of that need for control and allowing equal weight put on emotions and intellect.

I hope this helped. Sorry Steve for the judgment on the article, I do not mean to put it down, it was a nice try to make the levels of consciousness idea useful with few words for a large topic, and that normally leaves ample grounds for misinterpretation. As my post here probably does too

[Jayne]

Tobias, based on what you have said, I think you would enjoy reading Hawkins' book. I think Steve gave a good summary of the levels, but the details of the book might provide you better with the solution you are looking for. My 2 cents: borrow the book from the library or purchase it and derive what meaning from it makes the most sense to you.

[Tobias Zimpel]

unicorn, if you'd be here I'd simply hug you! Thanks a lot for your posting and the time and effort you put into answering my questions. You gave me some profound insighs into myself and the concept of the levels of consciousness.

Originally Posted by unicorn

First of all I want to appologise if the next sentence seems a bit arrogant, but in regards to your question I see no way around it: Steve's article on the levels of consciousness is a gross oversimplification of what this scale really means and how it can be interpreted.

I believe Steve's quite aware of that.

If you want to use that scale for growth you need to look a lot deeper into it's origin and the context Hawkins used to build it. To quote Hawkins himself: "A calibrated statement is only true within the context used when making the statement." Steve has changed the context slightly from Hawkin's work with this, so your should read more about it before trying to calibrate yourself.

That sets Power vs. Force on top of my reading-list. The book has been waiting for me in my bookshelf since last year's xmas ;-)

I think the major confusion stems from labeling the levels with an emotion-name.

That's what confused me, too

That could lead one to believe that when one is experiencing such an emotion that makes one calibrate to the corresponding level. Not true. An enlightened person above 600 will experience the full range of emotions on the scale, and sometimes even more intensely even.

But as I am aware of them, it's my choice how (if at all) I react on them, right?

Below 200 you are not even conscious of acting on the grounds of your emotions, or that others may see things differently. You do not sound like you have that syndrome .

Hm... there are situations where I clearly act on my emotions without being aware of them at all - until someone tells me so. But... no, n ot really.

L

evel 500 named Love is where you cross into having "pshychic" type experiences of connecting to the love energy of the universe, that is the beginning of experiencing the interconnectedness of all things.

That sounds like the level where certain drugs can put you to temporarily. It sounds familiar to me (as does the level above 600) - like I can remember that I've been there, and not in another life or before this one! -, but I'd put my overall level below that, as you do, too.

From your post I would say you are somewhere between 400 and 499.

I've just read the description of that level in Power vs. Force, and it resonates with me.

But how can it be that my life is such a mess then?

Just to sum this up: I'm financially challenged, have little or no self discipline, my health and fitness are simply below par, not to mention my eating habits, and although I know that I created or intended all that mess in some way, it simply overwhelms me to a degree that I don't even dare to move for most of the time. I'm only able to focus on a thought for longer than a second if there are very strong emotions (mostly "negative" ones) attached to it.

OK, the way I wriet about it puts me to Reason again

But I have the feeling that I've missed something on the lower levels, as I have to learn skills I should have learned before.

I think I'm overintellectualizing this, too. But I have the feeling that I have to embrace it before I can transcend it - so what...

So the next logical step for you would be going for moving into love at 500.

Sure

The way to get there is to meditate, and condition your mind by reading material from teachers that calibrate above 540, like Eckhart Tolle, David Hawkins and others.

I've got "Power vs. Force" and the german translation of "The Power of Now".

Am I right that "Ask and it is given" would also be a good reading, since Esther Hicks channels Abraham which/who sould be on a level above that.

Although I'm not a christ, the Sermon on the Mount has a lt of meaning to me, too.

Look into courses on developing sensitivity beyond the 5 senses.

Like what? I don't know if I understand the term "sensitivity beyond the 5 senses" the right way (english is not my mother tongue). Do you simply mean to develop my intuition? Or paranormal things? ESP? Channeling? Or all of that? Or something of that that I'm interested in? I'd very much appreciate some clarification on this point.

The most important thing is to accept your emotions and not give too much attention to where those belong on the scale.

Not rating them on a scale I know is artificial to some degree is the easy part of it, I think. To accept them is a lot harder, as they tend to overwhelm me when they get too intense.

Just observe your emotions without judging or ranking, observe without acting on them.

What would not acting on them look like? For example, when I feel anger, go out of the situation that caused the anger, and start beating a sandbag, would that be acting on anger? IMHO yes, but at least it doesn't harm anyone in my opinion, although it would be better if I could stay in the situation and simply let the anger pass away.

Having the courage to deeply feel what your emotions are and look them squarely in the eye is what will eventually bring you across the border of 500.

Sounds like vipassana (simply labeling all emotions that arise, but then letting them go) should be a goot thing for me.

I hope this helped.

It helped a lot, thank you very much (and I can't rate your reputation as high as you deserve). I'd love to hear your opinion to my followup-questions, if you find the time to answer them.

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by Jayne

Tobias, based on what you have said, I think you would enjoy reading Hawkins' book.
[...]
My 2 cents: borrow the book from the library or purchase it and derive what meaning from it makes the most sense to you.

Thanks, Jayne. I came to the same conclusion ;-) And I own the book already, for more than a half year. I simply never got into reading it, because after reading the preface, my ego must have concluded that it would get into serious trouble if it'd allow me to read this book ;-)

[unicorn]

Originally Posted by Tobias Zimpel

I believe Steve's quite aware of that.

I think so too, it's a very hard topic to cover in a short article. I admire him for daring to take it on.

But as I am aware of them, it's my choice how (if at all) I react on them, right?

Yes.

Hm... there are situations where I clearly act on my emotions without being aware of them at all - until someone tells me so. But... no, n ot really.

That happens to most people below 600, do not worry about it. Self discovery may seem like a neverending story...

That sounds like the level where certain drugs can put you to temporarily. It sounds familiar to me (as does the level above 600) - like I can remember that I've been there, and not in another life or before this one! -, but I'd put my overall level below that, as you do, too.

David Hawkins have made a video on addiction and levels of consciousness where he sayes exactly that: drugs and alchohol removes your "clouds" and take you to 500. Ther reason you get addicted is that you then buy into a lie: that it is the drugs producing the state. Then you give your power away to the drug. The truth is that the drug temporarily gave you an experience of getting in touch with your true self by confusing disconnecting the mind and emotions so you could have a direct experience of what is beyound those. It is the lie that makes the drugs addictive, the truth will break the addiction and set you off looking for your true self without the drugs.

But how can it be that my life is such a mess then?

Just to sum this up: I'm financially challenged, have little or no self discipline, my health and fitness are simply below par, not to mention my eating habits, and although I know that I created or intended all that mess in some way, it simply overwhelms me to a degree that I don't even dare to move for most of the time. I'm only able to focus on a thought for longer than a second if there are very strong emotions (mostly "negative" ones) attached to it.

OK, the way I wriet about it puts me to Reason again

But I have the feeling that I've missed something on the lower levels, as I have to learn skills I should have learned before.

I think I'm overintellectualizing this, too. But I have the feeling that I have to embrace it before I can transcend it - so what...

Actually the 400-499 is the level that can be the hardest with emotional problems and can create the biggest messes. Reason without anchoring in ones emotional nature can lead you very much astray. Reason is linear, reality is not. Emotions are the sensory channels that gives you information about non-linear parts of reality and your preferences within your reality. It is sort of an alarm-system alerting you to what is going on in your mind and around you. It is meant to be a navigational system, but most people in the reason range are too disconnected from that concept. When reason takes control it will try to dismiss emotional information with logical linear rationalisations. Emotions that you try to dismiss will get stuck in your system. If you keep doing that for a while you get a faulty wiring of the alarm-system, it's almost like having a fire-alarm starting to buzz for all kinds of events that have nothing to do with fire. Basically your mess is a result of a conflict between reason and emotion, they are not working together to guide your life. The way to get around it is to stop trying to change the emotion when reason say you should, instead allow reason to rest for a while and ask the emotion what it is trying to tell you, then pay attention to what drifts into your mind. Then bring back reason and see if the "reason for the alarm" is a true fire or a faulty wiring. No matter if the emotion is due to faulty wiring or a true fire, show gratitud towards the emotion and aknowledge that the intention for it was good and trying to help you. Then it will normally let go, as it's purpose was only to inform your conscious mind of something. When you acknowledge that you got the message, the purpose for the emotion is gone, and it is easy to let it go. Then you can make a choice on how to act/react with much greater clarity. Your mind will love that, and the process will be easier for each time you do it.

I've got "Power vs. Force" and the german translation of "The Power of Now".

Am I right that "Ask and it is given" would also be a good reading, since Esther Hicks channels Abraham which/who sould be on a level above that.

Hawkins and Tolle is both my favourites. Ask and it is given may be a little more counterproductive. I think it leaves more room for confusion, and is not necessarily the best tool for trancending the level of reason. That's just my opinion. Based on my own experience it does not describe the universal law of how things manifest nearly good enough. Maybe you will see what I mean when you read Power vs. Force. The levels of consciousness have very much to do with the power to manifest reality. Above 560 even casual thoughts can manifest really quickly, below 200 nearly no thoughts manifest at all unless you act on it, just to give a hint. Ask and it is given I think produces the same confusion about labeling vibration with emotion-names and just get people in the 400 range more reason to supress and control emotions, which is why so many can't get it to work I think.

Although I'm not a christ, the Sermon on the Mount has a lt of meaning to me, too.

Well you seem to have had glimpses of where you are going, let those be your best guide on how to proceed. Compare advice and reading material on how much they resonate with those glimpses and you have a great tool for discernment on what you should listen to and what to reject.

Like what? I don't know if I understand the term "sensitivity beyond the 5 senses" the right way (english is not my mother tongue). Do you simply mean to develop my intuition? Or paranormal things? ESP? Channeling? Or all of that? Or something of that that I'm interested in? I'd very much appreciate some clarification on this point.

All of the things you mentioned. What I have been very satisfied with for my self is remote-viewing/remote influencing courses on audio that allows you to practice for reaching higher states of consiousness. There are lot of similar things out there, go for what you feel attracted to and that gives you a feeling of exitement. Luke-warm interest is rarely supportive to learning new skills... I mean something that lets you practice intense focus and stillness of the mind. That could also be martial arts, extreme sports, whatever gets you to be in the now without thought.

Not rating them on a scale I know is artificial to some degree is the easy part of it, I think. To accept them is a lot harder, as they tend to overwhelm me when they get too intense.

It is your minds resistance to them that makes them turn the volume up. Think of the alarm analogy. It is your body screaming for attention. Listen to the message and pay attention to your emotional side with a loving eye and it will only have to whisper to get through to you.

What would not acting on them look like? For example, when I feel anger, go out of the situation that caused the anger, and start beating a sandbag, would that be acting on anger? IMHO yes, but at least it doesn't harm anyone in my opinion, although it would be better if I could stay in the situation and simply let the anger pass away.

Anger usually carries the message that one of your boundaries have been violated. Passing that information on to your mind, your mind can have a look at which boundary and in what way. Then let your mind figure out how to deal with it. Try out different strategies and learn which work and which doesn't. The emotion is great as a messenger but very poor as a strategical decisionmaker. That is why mind and emotion needs to be friends and work together, yin and yang in balance, like I mentioned.

Sounds like vipassana (simply labeling all emotions that arise, but then letting them go) should be a goot thing for me.

Yes that is a very good practice. When doing that you will more and more develop the habit of seeing solutions instead of problems.

Best of luck. By the way, I have never met any spiritual teacher that treats the ego with as much love as David Hawkins, so tell your ego not to worry. It will not have to die, it will only get superb assistance in doing it's job and lots of loving understanding from Hawkins teachings. This whole process of spiritual development is about learning how fantastic you really are!

[Max Power]

Originally Posted by Tobias Zimpel

I am consciousness, whether I'm aware of it or not - there's no energy in the universe that could do anythingagainst it. But by level of awareness I measure to which degree I'm aware of the fact that I am indeed consciousness and only consciousness.

If you know you are indeed consciousness and you believe it, then why are you even trying to measure it? Trying to measure your true self is like trying to grasp it, you are forever in denial right up until the point when your not.

There are no half way measures, accept or reject, you can't be both.

Max

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by unicorn

That happens to most people below 600, do not worry about it. Self discovery may seem like a neverending story...

Well, I guess I'm always trying to be perfect - here and now -, instead of just giving my best. That's a pattern I'm dealing with since childhood.

David Hawkins have made a video on addiction and levels of consciousness where he sayes exactly that: drugs and alchohol removes your "clouds" and take you to 500.

I believe that some drugs can push you far beyond 500 - although I could be wrong, because I might mix it up with things like OOBE, Astral Projection and other things that might happen to people on certain drugs.

Ther reason you get addicted is that you then buy into a lie: that it is the drugs producing the state. Then you give your power away to the drug. The truth is that the drug temporarily gave you an experience of getting in touch with your true self by confusing disconnecting the mind and emotions so you could have a direct experience of what is beyound those. It is the lie that makes the drugs addictive, the truth will break the addiction and set you off looking for your true self without the drugs.

Just to ensure that got it right: Drugs are disconnecting mind an emotions? Or do you mean that it connects them again to the point my mind can observe my emotions without being confused by them? I don't believe you meant any of this.

Do you have a source where I could dive deeper into this topic?

Actually the 400-499 is the level that can be the hardest with emotional problems and can create the biggest messes. Reason without anchoring in ones emotional nature can lead you very much astray.

As David himself writes: It's very uncommon in our society to transcend this level. And I can see why...

Then I have a strong feeling that as I seem to "be" very uncommon, I'm also here to to some very uncommon things.

Reason is linear, reality is not. Emotions are the sensory channels that gives you information about non-linear parts of reality and your preferences within your reality. It is sort of an alarm-system alerting you to what is going on in your mind and around you. It is meant to be a navigational system, but most people in the reason range are too disconnected from that concept.

That's basically what Esther Hicks said about emotions in The Secret: That emotions are there to guide us, to show us if we are on-track or not. I feel that this is true, but it's hard to get from the outside, so I guess I have to go that path myself in order to get proof on this.

When reason takes control it will try to dismiss emotional information with logical linear rationalisations. Emotions that you try to dismiss will get stuck in your system. If you keep doing that for a while you get a faulty wiring of the alarm-system, it's almost like having a fire-alarm starting to buzz for all kinds of events that have nothing to do with fire. Basically your mess is a result of a conflict between reason and emotion, they are not working together to guide your life.

That makes sense. Can I see it as a kind of overload, so these emotions then break through whenever there's the slightest stimulus to the system?

The way to get around it is to stop trying to change the emotion when reason say you should, instead allow reason to rest for a while and ask the emotion what it is trying to tell you, then pay attention to what drifts into your mind.

Is there some general guideline as to what area different feelings belong? You mentioned that anger means that someone crossed your borders - are there other general guidelines to point me in a certain direction? OR am I again traing to reason my feelings away?

Then bring back reason and see if the "reason for the alarm" is a true fire or a faulty wiring.

What if I'm not able to clearly distinguish these two? If I misinterpret my feelings, or what they mean to me?

I guess I still didn't get the concept right, did I?

No matter if the emotion is due to faulty wiring or a true fire, show gratitud towards the emotion and aknowledge that the intention for it was good and trying to help you. Then it will normally let go, as it's purpose was only to inform your conscious mind of something. When you acknowledge that you got the message, the purpose for the emotion is gone, and it is easy to let it go.

That makes sense to me from an intellectual standpoint. But I still find it very hard to apply this.

Then you can make a choice on how to act/react with much greater clarity. Your mind will love that, and the process will be easier for each time you do it.

But still I have to trust in my ability to get this right - or simply do my best, as even when I got something "wrong", I get the experience to learn from.

The levels of consciousness have very much to do with the power to manifest reality. Above 560 even casual thoughts can manifest really quickly, below 200 nearly no thoughts manifest at all unless you act on it, just to give a hint.

I guess I'll simply read Power vs. Force to understand it better. But that makes sense - below 200, you can only "manifest" thoughts though force, vs. at the higher levels, you manifest them by true power.

Ask and it is given I think produces the same confusion about labeling vibration with emotion-names and just get people in the 400 range more reason to supress and control emotions, which is why so many can't get it to work I think.

But at least some of the processes seem to resonate with me. I think I will give some of them a try.

Well you seem to have had glimpses of where you are going, let those be your best guide on how to proceed. Compare advice and reading material on how much they resonate with those glimpses and you have a great tool for discernment on what you should listen to and what to reject.

Yeah, but then again, how do I avoid trying to go the third step before the first one?

What I have been very satisfied with for my self is remote-viewing/remote influencing courses on audio that allows you to practice for reaching higher states of consiousness.

Do you have an example for that?

BTW: What do you think of the paraliminals Steve promotes here? They at least seem to help me relax and learning to focus my mind on something. But still I have the feeling that there are different ways to focus on something (active vs. passive), and that I'm getting something wrong.

There are lot of similar things out there, go for what you feel attracted to and that gives you a feeling of exitement. Luke-warm interest is rarely supportive to learning new skills... I mean something that lets you practice intense focus and stillness of the mind. That could also be martial arts, extreme sports, whatever gets you to be in the now without thought.

Something extreme sounds good to me. But I have not a really clear idea as to what might that be. Bungee jumping or parachuting sounds interesting to me, although that might overwhelm me.

I find it hard to clear my mind when IÄm only sitting or lying araoung (what is called meditation *eg*). When I do something highly repetitive like swimming, it's much easy to focus on the repetitive movement of my body to the point where I stop thinking.

Maybe things like Tai Chi, or really martial arts, could be interesting. Qui Gong seems to me more "static" that Thai Chi, though the gym I'ms sunscribed to offers Qui Gong-Courses as well as yoga.

Hm... the pure abundance of possible choices overwhelms me again, and makes it hard to decide - not for one thing, but against millions of others.

It is your minds resistance to them that makes them turn the volume up. Think of the alarm analogy. It is your body screaming for attention. Listen to the message and pay attention to your emotional side with a loving eye and it will only have to whisper to get through to you.

Autists are known to have very strong and intense emotions. I read one who said that his emotions are quite binary - he described the states as "on/off", although I qould rather descrobe it as "-/+". I'm either totally down or totally down - if I perceive emotions at all.

Anger usually carries the message that one of your boundaries have been violated. Passing that information on to your mind, your mind can have a look at which boundary and in what way. Then let your mind figure out how to deal with it. Try out different strategies and learn which work and which doesn't. The emotion is great as a messenger but very poor as a strategical decisionmaker. That is why mind and emotion needs to be friends and work together, yin and yang in balance, like I mentioned.

And that would be the level of love, wouldn't it?

Anyway, thanks for the example.

Best of luck. By the way, I have never met any spiritual teacher that treats the ego with as much love as David Hawkins, so tell your ego not to worry. It will not have to die, it will only get superb assistance in doing it's job

Then what is the job of the ego?

A quick rading of the pages indexed for the trm "ego" in Power vs. Force didn't explain it to me quite well. I thought of the ego als the part that tries to seperate me from source for fear of losing my identity. But that doesn't even sound true to myself.

BTW: What do you think of Ron Smothermon?

and lots of loving understanding from Hawkins teachings. This whole process of spiritual development is about learning how fantastic you really are!

I have a strong feeling that I am indeed fantastic (as arrogant as that may look) - but I must start to really believe it and embrace it, I think.

Anyway, thanks again for your guidance and the profound insights you shared with me.

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by Max Power

If you know you are indeed consciousness and you believe it, then why are you even trying to measure it? Trying to measure your true self is like trying to grasp it, you are forever in denial right up until the point when your not.

There are no half way measures, accept or reject, you can't be both.

Max, I understand your point. Do you understand mine?

Have you read what unicorn answered to me, especially his second answer? What do you think of what he writes?

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by unicorn

From your post I would say you are somewhere between 400 and 499. Your intellect is well developed, you are able to reflect on your actions. The fact that you feel fear and experience emotions from further down the scale does not place your dominant level of awareness there.

I just read the brief descriptions of all levels in Power vs. Force again, and although I can relate to the level of reason, I can't relate to most parts of the levels between courage and reason. I still have the strong feeling that my outer life doesn't reflect my true level of awareness if it is really reason, as you suggest. Neutrality feels very common to me, but I can't really see hte difference between neutrality and apathy, for that matter.

Yould it be that although my dominant level is be reason, for some reason I temporarily sank to a lower level - even below courage?

Or let's say, that by being on Reason, I suppose I should have developed skills like self discipline, should be willing to do what I believe is necessary to accomplish my goals, and so on... I simply still don't get how that fits with the level of reason.

Another question: On what level would a new born child start?

Hm...

[unicorn]

Hi Tobias,

I am happy you found my answers helpful so far. You raise good questions that goes right to the core of a number of ambiguities of common myths and interpretations of a lot of self-help material. I want to try to answer them as I believe I have more insights to share, but it is a challenge to present the answers as clear as possible. I appreciate your total open honesty in your self-presentation, your inquiring mind and your motivation to understand yourself, and that's why I do not want to present superficial answers. Today I am a little pressed for time and also a bit tired, so I will not try to reply to your follow-up questions now. Just wanted to check in and say I will answer when I get the time to do it.

Just one thought I can present on the fly: Power vs. force is only a superficial introduction to David Hawkins teachings. The book really should produce at least as many questions as insights for you. And questions are good, asking them is the main key to growth. So do not be so hard on yourself for not understanding all at once, that only shows that you are not satisfied with superficial interpretations and that you deeply want to be able to relate theories to your own experience, which is really the only true measure of a theory's validity.

[Max Power]

Originally Posted by Tobias Zimpel

Max, I understand your point. Do you understand mine?

Have you read what unicorn answered to me, especially his second answer? What do you think of what he writes?

The more I consider the whole concept of PD and self help, the more I see that the whole thing is so overly complex, I used to think if something was deep and meaningful, if the book was thick, if the DVD went for 3 hours, if the seminar went for 5 days, then it has to be good, but I've found that not to be true.

We want it complex because we want to believe it's not simple, simple is easy, we want something challenging and full of effort and work, we want these things mainly so if we fail, we can say "that was really hard, no wonder I failed" then we feel good about failure, but if something is easy and we fail, we feel very inadequate, we feel unworthy.

I'm just not smart enough to want it overly complex or super challenging, I must be lazy, I want it easy

Max

[Groundless]

Originally Posted by Max Power

The more I consider the whole concept of PD and self help, the more I see that the whole thing is so overly complex, I used to think if something was deep and meaningful, if the book was thick, if the DVD went for 3 hours, if the seminar went for 5 days, then it has to be good, but I've found that not to be true.

We want it complex because we want to believe it's not simple, simple is easy, we want something challenging and full of effort and work, we want these things mainly so if we fail, we can say "that was really hard, no wonder I failed" then we feel good about failure, but if something is easy and we fail, we feel very inadequate, we feel unworthy.

I'm just not smart enough to want it overly complex or super challenging, I must be lazy, I want it easy

Max

So true for me. I can complicate things easily. Research and get all intellectual if needed or not.

From Jeff Foster's life without centre (2006) Non-Duality Press:

The End of The Search
This is it. This is the end of the spiritual search. Freedom and happiness and enlightenment are to be found nowhere else but here: right in front of us.

The low hum of the computer fan, a tingling feeling in the left foot, the tweet-tweet of the little birdies in the garden, hopping from branch to branch...

Why are we never satisfied with this? Why is this moment never enough?

Perhaps it is because at some point in our lives we picked up the belief that there exists something MORE THAN THIS; some sort of state in which our TrueNature (TM) is revealed to us in all its glory, in which all thoughts dissolve, in which the ego burns up and vanishes for all time, leaving no trace. Some state, in other words, that is very different than this present state.

But what reality does any of that have? Right now, there is only the sound of the little robin jumping about in the tree over there, the beating of a heart, the stream rising from a freshly brewed cup of tea, the morning breeze gently caressing my cheek...

And then the thought "There must be more than this! I'm not there now, but soon, one day, maybe, maybe even in a few minutes, I'll reach that state that I have read so much about! That state of no-state, that freedom, that release!"

Pretty good stuff. The point is it does not have to be complicated.

[Groundless]

Originally Posted by unicorn

Hi Tobias,

I am happy you found my answers helpful so far. You raise good questions that goes right to the core of a number of ambiguities of common myths and interpretations of a lot of self-help material. I want to try to answer them as I believe I have more insights to share, but it is a challenge to present the answers as clear as possible. I appreciate your total open honesty in your self-presentation, your inquiring mind and your motivation to understand yourself, and that's why I do not want to present superficial answers. Today I am a little pressed for time and also a bit tired, so I will not try to reply to your follow-up questions now. Just wanted to check in and say I will answer when I get the time to do it.

Just one thought I can present on the fly: Power vs. force is only a superficial introduction to David Hawkins teachings. The book really should produce at least as many questions as insights for you. And questions are good, asking them is the main key to growth. So do not be so hard on yourself for not understanding all at once, that only shows that you are not satisfied with superficial interpretations and that you deeply want to be able to relate theories to your own experience, which is really the only true measure of a theory's validity.

Is there somewhere to go for Power vs Force 302 instead of 101?

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by Max Power

The more I consider the whole concept of PD and self help, the more I see that the whole thing is so overly complex, I used to think if something was deep and meaningful, if the book was thick, if the DVD went for 3 hours, if the seminar went for 5 days, then it has to be good, but I've found that not to be true.

That's right - and even when the book is thick, you can probably sum it up in a few words or sentences. I not, then the book has nothing meaningful to say.

I found the moust profound insights in some very short text passages. here's an example from the sermon on the hill:

25 "I tell you this: Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about what you are going to eat and drink. Do not worry about what you are going to wear. Is not life more important than food? Is not the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not plant seeds. They do not gather grain. They do not put grain into a building to keep. Yet your Father in heaven feeds them! Are you not more important than the birds? 27 Which of you can make himself a little taller by worrying? 28 Why should you worry about clothes? Think how the flowers grow. They do not work or make cloth. 29 But I tell you that Solomon in all his greatness was not dressed as well as one of these flowers. 30 God clothes the grass of the field. It lives today and is burned in the stove tomorrow. How much more will He give you clothes? You have so little faith! 31 Do not worry. Do not keep saying, 'What will we eat?' or, 'What will we drink?' or, 'What will we wear?' 32 The people who do not know God are looking for all these things. Your Father in heaven knows you need all these things. 33 First of all, look for the holy nation of God. Be right with Him. All these other things will be given to you also. 34 Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own worries. The troubles we have in a day are enough for one day.

And it could be summed up in the last verse, couldn't it?

We want it complex because we want to believe it's not simple, simple is easy, we want something challenging and full of effort and work, we want these things mainly so if we fail, we can say "that was really hard, no wonder I failed" then we feel good about failure, but if something is easy and we fail, we feel very inadequate, we feel unworthy.

You could be right.

I'm just not smart enough to want it overly complex or super challenging, I must be lazy, I want it easy

Yeah, lazy sounds good, as you can read in my signature. But your explanation is as youseful as the following instructions for sculpturing a horse:

1. Get a block of marbe the size you want the sculpture to have
2. Get rid of every peace of marble that makes the block not looking like a horse

I totally understand your point, and would agree with you that it is indeed as simple as you tell it - as well as my sculpturing instructions are 100% correct, as long as you can see the horse in front of your inner eye in every detail and have the skills and tools to form the marble block according to your "vision".

If it is indeed that simple for you, good for you. But I have to learn sculpturing before I get my horse done the way I see it in my mind.


Edit: I know I'm already there - it's just a matter of perception. But isn't it useful to know someone who perceives reality the way I want to? So he can tell me what difference there is between our perceptions, what different his beliefs are compared to mine, what feels and looks like from his point of view, and maybe he can even help me change my point of view.

The reason I'm discusing these topics here is not to over-complify things, but to put that which seems so complicated in simple words or concepts, that resonate with me.

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by Groundless

And then the thought "There must be more than this! I'm not there now, but soon, one day, maybe, maybe even in a few minutes, I'll reach that state that I have read so much about! That state of no-state, that freedom, that release!"

Pretty good stuff. The point is it does not have to be complicated.

I can be perfectly happy with what I have right now, and still ask for more of it in the future. I am not unhappy with the present moment - how should I when I deeply feel that every moment is just perfect. But what I can do in the present moment is to ask questions and seek answers. If that leads me to anything dowsn't matter, it's still fun to me. As Steve writes in his article Self-Acceptance vs. Personal Growth, it's not either-or, but you can enjoy both at the samt time.

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by unicorn

I want to try to answer them as I believe I have more insights to share, but it is a challenge to present the answers as clear as possible.

I know that ;-) I have to deal with these challenges whenever I present my concept to someone who doesn't share the same mindset.

But it always was of great value to myself to try and get things to the point as clear as possible, as often these concepts got clearer for myself on the way. I'd guess you feel the same.

I appreciate your total open honesty in your self-presentation,

Who'd benefit from my not being honest or open? If I'm open, I get better answers, and perhaps can help someone else on the way with similar questions, or whose questions I can answer because my level would be the next step for them. I simply provides more value, and I don't even find it hard to share "my life".

I'm just beginning to blog to share some of my own insights and knowledge/wisdom in the area of personal development as well as the prograssion of society, humanity and consciousness at large. More on that in the corresponding forums ;-)

your inquiring mind and your motivation to understand yourself, and that's why I do not want to present superficial answers.

It's a pleasure to be able to discuss these questions with someone who doesn't punish me for digging to deep ;-)

Today I am a little pressed for time and also a bit tired, so I will not try to reply to your follow-up questions now. Just wanted to check in and say I will answer when I get the time to do it.

No problem! I'll await your answers when you have the bandwidth for it.

Just one thought I can present on the fly: Power vs. force is only a superficial introduction to David Hawkins teachings.

What other sources could I use to answer my questions (In addition to you *g*)? Which other books by Hawkins would help me to dig deeper?

The book really should produce at least as many questions as insights for you. And questions are good, asking them is the main key to growth.

I've learned that one. But it's good to get answers to my questions, and to learn from and with others makes it easier sometimes ;-)

So do not be so hard on yourself for not understanding all at once, that only shows that you are not satisfied with superficial interpretations and that you deeply want to be able to relate theories to your own experience, which is really the only true measure of a theory's validity.

Yeah, what good is a theorie if I can't relate to it in any way? What good is anything if I can't relate to it?

[Groundless]

Originally Posted by Tobias Zimpel

but you can enjoy both at the samt time.

I disagree.

[unicorn]

In order to proceed in this disussion, I will try to change the angle a bit to see if that can make understanding more clear, and comment on the other posts too.

Max Power and Groundless are stating some very valid points about going for simplicity and avoiding complexity. They are really right, the truth is often a lot simpler that one expects. What makes a lot of PD material and spiritual concepts complex is not that the truth is complex in itself, it is really because we all process information differently and uniquely. When we try to communicate with each other we tend to interpret according to the concepts we are familiar with, what kind of stuff we have learned through education and according to our life experiences. This is where complexity starts. How to communicate a simple truth in a way that is seems simple and understandable to the one listening? When I wrote my posts I was trying to understand where Tobias is starting from, what kind of filters he uses, and what is his core issues. Since he found my insights to profound, I probably understood something about him. Tobias, beware, my insights may not seem very profound to someone that processes information in a different way from you or is dealing with different type of issues. It may very well come off as gibberish and irrelevant to somebody else, and that is OK.

If one wants to build a house, and is in the middle of nailing up a wooden wall, it would make most sense to use a hammer for the nailing and not a screwdriver. If on the other hand one uses screws, a screwdriver is the best choice. Working with the levels of consciousness must be seen within such a context; it is a tool usefull for certain stages in a process. At other stages it would be utterly nonsense to bring them out and trying to use them. Discussing what is the best tool, scewdriver or hammer without taking the context and task into consideration would not really lead anywhere. So the questions here is really: Is the levels of consciousness as David Hawkins have delineated them a useful tool for Tobias? I think they may be, if he uses them for what they are useful for and do not try to make them the ultimate measurement of universal truth and the truth about himself. In order to do that he needs to understand them thouroughly.

So back to answering Tobias:

In order to comment on your follow-up questions, I will stride away from the levels of consciousness for a moment to define some other concepts that may make it easier for you to understand my answers. I will try to sum up the impression I have got of what you are dealing with, and what I believe is your real underlying questions. This is important because if I am interpreting you wrongly my answers will not be useful to you and will only add to your confusion. So please if you feel I am wrong about this first part, do not try to make sense of the rest of my answers.

The way I get you, your main issue can be summed up as this: "How did I create such a mess of my external life, and what do I need to do to fix it? How can I sort this out so that I can use my unique gifts to benefit myself and the world without eliciting negative responses from the people around me and getting hurt in return?" The way I interpret your main stumbling blocks is that you are overwhelmed by your own emotional reactions, do not feel that you understand them well and they really get in the way of your progress and relationships. You are also overwhelmed by all the personal development literature you have read, there are so many options, so much advice that you are in dire need of some sort of method to narrow down what should be your next step. What you really are looking for is some sort of standard that you can use to sort out your priorities and make a plan that is simple and doable and effective for you where you are at right now. Your curiosity about your calibration on the levels of consciousness is motivated by the fact that it could give you a tool to sort all the other information by and make a decision on what would be the first step to take..

Now if was wrong somewhere in the paragraph above, stop reading right here, and make a post to correct me. If I was close to the point, then keep reading.

Assuming I got you correctly, lets first have a look at what you are doing right in this situation:
1. You are honest and facing up to your situation.
2. You are willing to take responsibility and and are actively asking questions to figure out what your next step should be.
3. You are not settling for answers to your questions that you do not fully understand and that you are not able to apply to your situation.
4. Your questions are geared at getting a foundation for making wise choices.

It is important that you focus on giving yourself credit for what you are doing right. If you don't you will lose confidence in your ability to solve your problems. Every time you start feeling overwhelmed go back to this list and give yourself a pat on the back and give yourself a peptalk on the fact that you are doing some things right. What the deal is really about is adding points to the list above, one by one.

In regards to the advice above, you will meet your first major stumbling block:

Well, I guess I'm always trying to be perfect - here and now -, instead of just giving my best. That's a pattern I'm dealing with since childhood.

With that pattern, you will have trouble following my above advice. This pattern is a very common stumbling block. I've had it myself, my partner have had it, all my friends and most of my clients (I'm a therapist by the way). When your life is in the state of mess that you have described, this pattern is the very first thing you need to change in order to get anywhere. You have a lot of stuff to sort out, and you will not be able to stay motivated throughout the process unless you are able to give your self praise and credit for each little step forward. It is a saying that goes like this: "A journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step." If you keep off praising yourself until you have walked a thousand miles you will never even get motivated to take the first step. Then you will start accusing yourself of lacking self-discipline and you go looking for ways to improve self-discipline. That is looking in the wrong direction. It is not self-discipline that you need, because self-discipline cannot carry you on a journey of a thousand miles without help from other resources. Now what do I mean by other resources? That leads me to narrow in on one of your questions:

Which I have to continue in a new post because of the character limit

[unicorn]

Continued from last post:
quote:

Then what is the job of the ego?
A quick rading of the pages indexed for the trm "ego" in Power vs. Force didn't explain it to me quite well. I thought of the ego als the part that tries to seperate me from source for fear of losing my identity. But that doesn't even sound true to myself.

There are many definitions of ego out there using different words. It is a concept that has a variety of interpretations. It is not my place to say what is the right or wrong interpretation. I am giving my interpretation to be clear on which context I am speaking from. If you use another interpretation than I do, the rest of what I say will not make sense. This stuff is really hard to describe with words, and at best I can only give a working model that is somewhere near the truth of it, and that can give you an analogy to start working from. If you on the other hand use my definition in the context of somebody else's explanations you may get confused again, as it may not fit that context. So don't take the following to literally, try to get the gist of the meaning in relation to your own issues.

To sum up first: the job of the ego the way I understand and define it is twofold:
1. To protect the integrity of that part of consciousness you are experiencing and its physcal vehicle.
2. To provide filters and tools for that part of consciousness you are experiencing and its physcal vehicle to be creative in a unique way complementary to all other "creative parts" of consciousness.
A very important job, don't you think? Ego has got a bad reputation because when it is not guided by spirit/higher consciousness it is capable of doing a very ♥♥♥♥♥♥ job according to other egos opinions It is when you identify with it and not with spirit/consciousness the odds of it doing a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ job increases apparently. The reason for that is that when you identify with the ego you shut the flow of guidance from your higher consciousness out as being not you. It does not then get a voice into the discussion on what to do or how to interpret things. But the judgements on whether the job it is doing is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ or excellent are still pronounced mainly by other egos, so we cannot really be sure what's going on with it until we reach the level beyond the ego and make our own judgment from there. It's been reported from lots of people accessing those states that the judgements from higher levels of consciousness on the ego is not nearly as harsh as the judgements pronounced by unenlightened fellow egos. There is a saying from a spiritual order (The children of the Law of One") that goes: "Everybody wants to be the only selfish person in a group of unselfishly loving people." I think that pretty much characterises how a lot of people interact and the motivation behind the feedback one normally experiences in the levels of consciousness below 500 on Hawkins scale.

So when you are taking on your journey of a thousand miles to clear up the mess in your life, it is your ego that will provide the resources you need to do that. How it does that is what we really need to look at. If your relate that to the levels of consciousness you could say that the higher you calibrate, the better guidance your ego have in doing that job. But it is not until you pass 500 that your ego truly get good quality guidance, and it's not until you reach beyond 540 that the guidance will not put the ego's job down and try to make it feel ashamed and guilty about it's shortcomings. The lower you get on the scale of consciousness the more the ego is left to it's own devices. Below 200 it does not do it's job number 2, because the energy then is reversed and is no longer creative, but destructive. So if you put that to your other question about whether you can temporarily drop down and act from a lower level of consciousness even though your overall calibration is higher, the answer to that is yes. The key word to notice here though, is TEMPORARILY. Do not get too caught up in that, forgive yourself (your ego) and move on. The ego was doing the best it could while it did not have access to guidance. You may want to train your ego to be better at operating without guidance, but for doing that the levels of consciousness is no longer the best tool in your toolkit. The way to use the levels of consciousness is to look at what your average level of connection to guidance for the ego is. Your overall best access is for the time being reason. Reason does not have as much power to counter these temporary drops as love has. Normally those drops for most people happen when they meet with reversed energyfields (<200) in others. Reversed energy is contagious and you need the power from 500 and above to transmute them back to a positive charge, and normally the power of 540 at least to not be infected. So the advice would then be to avoid people and situations that carries negative fields while you are working at training your ego to use better strategies. Then you need to switch your toolkit and have a look at what is your best tools to train your ego from your current level of consciousness paralell to setting a goal at raising your level of consciousness in order to improve your access to high quality inner guidance.

The above applies to your question about whether you lack skills from some of the lower levels. I think it would be more productive to look at this from another angle: let us look at the resources the ego have and how you use those resources. Again I have to use an analogy to explain, so do not take it literally:

First imagine consciousness as an infite field/soup that is penetrating everything. This field/soup is creative and creates out of itself segments that are unique - still connected to everything else but at the same time having finite boundaries for the segment. The segments has the same properties as consciousness and are creative because they are fueled by consciousness, but they filter that consciousness in a unique way for each of them. The way the filter is set up is defining some finite limitations on what the segment will create, and when meeting with other segments the dynamic of two separate filters create a new unique creation with finite limitations. Imagine that you are one of those segments and you create a body for yourself. The segment can then be understood as being your soul/higher self. The body you create is like getting yourself a computer. You project part of your field down as hardware and then you need an operating system to make the body-computer work. The operating system would be my definition of your ego. It has the job to make sure your computer can be useful to you. Now you need programs to be able to do something with the computer. You need a program that makes your heart beat, your blood flowing, your lungs to breath etc. The programs for physical life are the first you install and when they are installed, your body is born. After birth there need to be more programs. Usually the first programs to go in are the ones for mastering moving the physcal body and the programs to elicit assistance from other segments with physical bodies to help keep the body-computer running until enough software is installed to be able to maintain full functioning independently. Now in the period of dependence on other segments with body computers, those other computers have software already installed that tells them how to operate in the physical world and cooperate with other computers. They will then feel the need to install those programs into your computer, and that is what parents and peer do as we grow up. Very often parents and peers will not be happy with the fact that "children-computers" lack a bunch of programs and because they are not aware that it's just software lacking, they will give feedback that implies the computer is broken just because it does not have the software for some action/behavior that they would like to see, or they get annoyed at the preinstalled survival software that is designed to elicit their assistance. Then they inadvertenly install a program that runs the message "if you have not installed all the programs I would like you to run, you are useless to me". That is the program that runs in all perfectionist and block them from progress. It has a submodule that tries to download every other software they see and think they need at the same time, and the operating system goes into overload. The system either crashes or starts to malfunction.

The above analogy is a off the top of my head analogy of what happens in a body-computer network with no operators present to tune the system. The operator in this analogy would be your spirit/higher self. In our world the operators are really trying to get through to help the operating system with what processes should run when, what software should be deinstalled, what software needs bugfixes and what new programs should be put in. But the OS has begun to think it is alive and acts as if it is the operator. The OS will install other software to try to fix the situation according to what seems to be the best software available on the market for such a job.

In the same analogy we can say that personal development material are more sophisticated programs written and shared out to help others tune their system. For a person running "Perfectionist 1.0" that tries to install them all at once in order to qualify for "Good enough and successful 5.0" the system will go into blue screen fairly quickly. This situation elicits the following common error messages before it crashes:

1. Alert - "motivation 2.0 not responding"
2. Alert - "self-discipline cannot access interupt 11 while motivation is using it"
3. Alert - virus found "Very.mad.employer.exe"
4. Alert - virus found "pissed.girlfriend.exe"
Again I have to continue in another post(drafted this offline in my mailprogram)

[unicorn]

Continued part 3:
5. Alert - Virus found "embarrased.parents.exe"
6. Alert - Virus found "angry creditors.exe"
7. Alert - memory low
8. Alert - disk full all installations stopped

(Now I'm taking off a bit with my weird sense of humour, but really this stuff cannot be taken too seriously either. Having been a computer programmer before becoming a therapist and a spiritual seeker all my life, I easily crack up with humor on my virtual reality view of this game of life. Sorry LOL).

Back to your situation. If you deinstall your "perfectionist" program, you will be in a much better posistion to get the rest of your system into working order. Sticking to this analogy for a little longer: In your case with Asberger we can use this analogy to say that you have installed an operating system that is a bit different from the one most uses. So the programs installed from peers and parents where not exactly compatible and written for running on your OS. This is the main reason you should not use the levels of consciousness as a tool for measuring the skills you need to aquire. You should not look at those missing skills as missing lessons from a level of consciousness, rather as lack of availabilty of compatible programs for some functions required for networking capabliltes whn you were growing up. Also when you look at personal development programs and goals, you need to take into consideration that they are written for the common OS's in order to help as many as possible. They may not be compatible with you.

What you need most to get an understanding of, is your purpose and how having asbergers is relevant to that purpose. Then set your goals according to that. They may not at all fit with where the average user of PD material is headed. So when you look at all the stuff and capabilities that PD promote as good things, they may not be so good for you. It is like you are trying to fit a square into a round whole, and when you fail in that you label yourself "self-help junkie" for not making the fit. This is your intellect seeing the good points made by the authors of the PD material without relating it to who you are and what you came here to do. I saw in another post that you consider a reading with Erin. That sounds like a very good idea as you may then be able to get information on your purpose and what gifts you have that you need to pursue. With that information you should be able to close the door on many unproductive options so choosing gets easier.

Now onto missing skills. One of the things with autism and aspbergers is that the OS is not able to run the usual programs for recognising bodylanguage representations of emotions. When these programs are not running well you are not able to respond appropriately to other people in interactions. The way we learn to label our own emotions is by mirroring other people according to what we feel ourselves and recognision of a pattern of feeling conveyed by another followed by a learning of the label of that particular feeling. Autisitic children do not have the wiring for learning by example as other children do in regards to emotions. So without special education in this they often grow up with scant knowledge on what their emotions are, and how to process them. It is easy to see the downside of that, but it also have an upside, for the high functioning ones like yourself, you are spared for having installed all the limitations that "normal" people often get installed with from emotional blackmail from parents and peers conveyed by subtle bodylanguage. Understanding the levels of consciousness may be very productive in learning to interact socially. That context is actually one of the main reasons Hawkins built that scale. He uses it for placing people and nations on the levels, and then decides what type of communication needs to be used to make oneself understood and negotiate on the level one is dealing with in other people. It is a great tool for targeting communications.That is actually what I am doing now, communicating to you as if you are at the level of reason, it seems to have worked in previous posts, does it still work? If it does, it is an argument that I placed you at the right level. I would have written this very differently to someone below the level of courage, and slightly different to someone at neutrality or willingness.

The main downside you seem to experience from aspbergers seems to be that lack of skills in regards to emotions. They can be learned. Study books on bodylanguage in order to improve your skills at interpreting emotions in others. Use you excellent mind to dive into literature on emotions that can help you understand your own. I would recommend starting with "The emotional hostage" as this book gives you both labels, desciptions and skills on handling them. Also learn EFT and practice resetting your energy system with that technique when you get overwhelmed.
Your problem with choosing is very related to the problem with emotions. In order to make good choices you need to be in tune with your emotions. Your strategy for choosing is placing to much weight on reason and not checking what feels right. In order to check what feels right, you will first need to get skills on emotions. Having the emotions stall your intellect when it is taking unproductive roads of thinking is the benefit you will get from focusing on emotional skills. So probably you should focus on the emotional skills and not try to make a choice on the various training programs I suggested in the previous post. It sounds like trying to make a choice as to what program to follow just throws you into a long debate with yourself and distracts you from doing something.

I know I haven't answered all your questions in this post. I have commented only on what struck me as the most important things from the totality of your posts. I believe you have the intelligence to figure out the rest yourself if you continue reading. And we can have more posts later, I've emptied my head of what came to mind today. On David Hawkins views on addiction, I would advice you to go directly to the source and get the video. He also have interviews and recordings at Beyondtheordinary.net - link in the free spiritual resources post that is a sticky in this forum, and on Shift in Action | Shift In Action which is a subsciber site for $10 a month. He has numerous audioprograms on CD available, and he has written many more books worth reading.

On an endnote, I don't know if you have seen my post where I'm looking for people willing to experiment a bit for me to work out the final version of my remote services that I plan on launching sometime soon. The type of issues you have are right in my targetgroup - if you haven't already seen them and rejected it as not for you, then check it out here Guinea pigs and feedback wanted for polishing new service

[Groundless]

My eyes hurt now.

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by Groundless

I disagree.

Nice to know... Am I right tat you want to end this discussion? If not, maybe you could post something with a little more substance to it, so I can answer more than "As you want, so be it"...

[whmcrb]

Originally Posted by Tobias Zimpel

Another question: On what level would a new born child start?

Hm...

I've been listening to David Hawkins - The Highest Level of Enlightenment. It's a series of 7 CD's that expands on Power vs Force and possibly other Hawkins books that I haven't read. Point being, Hawkins says that you already have a calibrated level of consciousness at birth. This rarely changes more than 5 points in a lifetime (believe this has already been mentioned). So if you are born at 500-600 then you will most likely end your life no more than 5 points higher than that. THis leads me to assume that even though you might be at the level of say 310 (Willingness) right now because of life's trials, you are destined to reach 500-600 love/joy.

I can only suggest you muscle test to figure out what level of you were born at if interested.

Amanda

[Tobias Zimpel]

Originally Posted by whmcrb

Point being, Hawkins says that you already have a calibrated level of consciousness at birth. This rarely changes more than 5 points in a lifetime (believe this has already been mentioned).

Yeah, it did, and I didn't quite understood it.

Let's say someone is born on 350 and ends on 355, does that mean that the next incarnation will start at that 355 again, with the potential to reach 360 but likely no more?

What LoC would a fresh soul (that has never incarnated before) be calibrated to? Do they

• all start at or around the same level
• start at or around a level that is increasing through the centuries (so a "new soul" born now is starting at some higher level that a "new soul" would have 3000 years ago
• get "assigned" a random LoC
• get their LoC in accordance to some higher plan

So if you are born at 500-600 then you will most likely end your life no more than 5 points higher than that. This leads me to assume that even though you might be at the level of say 310 (Willingness) right now because of life's trials, you are destined to reach 500-600 love/joy.

But that does only mean that I have the potential to reach that Level, not that I will inevitably get there during my life span, does it?

I can only suggest you muscle test to figure out what level of you were born at if interested.

I'll do that with my girlfriend.

We once tested on what LoC we were on some months ago. I calibrated on a level that was way above where I would have put myself on (reason), while the Level my girlfriend calibrated on seems reasonable to me (erm... why do I use the word reasonable anyways?)

Thanks for your reply. I've already forgot that I asked that question, but this is a very interesting topic.

Tobias

[pushbutton]

Originally Posted by Tobias Zimpel

Hi,

for some time now I'm trying to pinpoint my current level of awareness, according to the scale presented by Steve. I know that this is only a model, something artificial, but I think it would help me understand some of my problems in life and would give me a hint on what to concentrate as well as a scale to measure if something is lowering my consciousness or heightening.

If I'd be on a very low level for example, giving in to anger would be step up, but if I'm beyond anger, then it would be a step down.

I'm going to give a rough overview over different areas of my life, as well as some guesses on the according level of awareness - which made this posting way longer that I wanted it to be :-/

Financially I'm near to broke, with regular expenses that lie above my income level - because my income level sank, not because my expenses grew that much. My guess is that this comes from lightworker's syndrome, but I can't really say if there are other issues I should tackle beforehand. As Erin said in her last interview, the idea of trying what I really want and having no success frightens me, because that would ruin me financially, but the idea of having success doesn't feel a lot more comfortable to me - so I'm oscilating between enthusiastically going the first few steps on the road to my dreams, but when I feel that when I continue, I will eventually reach them, I step back and sit down at the road, making myself as small as possible. That would at least put me below the level of acceptance , but how far below?

I want to make a good job and put my abilities to the best possible use for society (that would be willingness, wouldn't it?), but I don't have the courage to do so (what would put me on a level at least below courage).

I'm having some problems with addictions: I'm addicted to sugar and other fast carbon hydrates, for example, what would be the level of desire.

Sometimes I'm full of fear, and sometimes I'm full of enthusiasm, but on the first steps I take, I feel like I'm not worthy of success and fall back into a depressed state, where it's hard for me to even stand up in the morning (or before noon for that matter), and am often spending whole days in bed making big plans I never work out. Hm... apathy, grief or fear... And ylthough I know that I myself created this mess, I often make others responsible for my mess by not supporting me enough (or living my life for me for that mater...)

I have a strong interest in self help books and personal development material - but more from a philosophical standpoint, it seems. I think I'd qualify myself as a self help junkie, what would put me on the level of desire again. But then Steve says that on such a level of awareness, I wouldn't even be interested in themes of personal development.

I guess it's also important that I believe I have asperger's syndrome - but I don't think that this would ultimately limit me in terms of the level of awareness I could possibly reach, although there might be more rocks on the road for me that for people without asperger's. But perhaps there's more to it than I believe?

I think most of my life centers at least below the level of courage. I lately recognized that I begin to move when someone gave me a real hard KITA or treated me like garbage (or at least I feel like garbage instantly after such an event), and I channel the feeling of anger I feel for that person, or a feeling of despair and helplessness, into activities like cleaning, decluttering or other household-activities, what consumes my negative feelings, and leaves me on the one hand feeling good for what I have accomplished, but on the other hand guilty for acting on a "negative" feeling like anger - although I don't use the anger for revenge or destructive activities, but to constructive activities.

But it doesn't feel too good, because I can't feel proud for what I did for the guilt described before. And I want the other person, the person who hurt me before, to feel proud of what I accomplished and to admire me in some way for it - or simply put, to send me some energy I could feed of - so I'm emotionally addicted to that person's opinion of me and what I do - what would put me on the level of desire again for the addiction or on the level of pride for wanting to feel proud for what I accomplisher - or not, because I'm not able to?

To sum this up, although of course my whole life can't on one level, I'd put my overall level to desire. Any other opinions on this?

Then there's one thing I still don't seem to understand. There's the opinion that one can't leave out levels of awareness on the way up on the awareness scale for the things one is supposed to learn on this particular level - but is that only true for the levels above courage, or also for the levels below?

And second, steve wrote that all levels of awareness are some kind of trap. And all traps have a different solution, a different way to open it, just to step into the next step. But supposed I'm on the level of desire, should I go into the trap called anger, or pride, although I intellectually know that it would be a trap? I remember steve posted something about that as well, but I can't find the posting again.

I'd really appreciate some hints on what I should concentrate on - what level does my life center around, and what would be my next steps up the road? should I give in to feelings like anger, and if so, how should I use them? Is the solution to anger to not use it in a destructive way, but to get myself moving in a constructive way? Is there another way to grouw out of the level of desire but through anger?

And last but not least: Is courage a level of its own, or just the power, the fuel that drives one up the levels, starting from the lowest level on? Is it possible to feel or use courage before I step out of pride? And how rapidly can one step through the lower levels of awareness?

Lots of quenstions and uncertainty that makes me run and think in circles.

TIA for your help. Maybe some direct tips, maybe some reading stuff, or another positive KITA - everything would be great!

I don't really have any comment on the levels of awareness side of things right now, but I can relate very strongly to the way you say you're feeling and the way you're reacting to some situations because I am experiencing the same sort of reactions myself lately.

I think to some extent all of that is a lot more normal than most people would care to admit, if that's any comfort. Also the really good thing about you, and me for that matter, is that because we are fully aware of these problems, and admitting to having them, we are in a much better position to learn from our reactions, mistakes, and missed opportunities (of which I have had several big ones this year) than are those who have the same issues but ignore or deny them.

I hope that makes sense to you.