by  Patrick Hayne

It was dark early that evening outside Milwaukee Wisconsin in the USA. The cold winter wind was blowing the snow sideways. The 12-year-old boy, David was struggling to complete his seventeen-mile-long newspaper route and the wind grabbed his bag of papers and scattered them. He was cold and exhausted. He needed to shelter and so he burrowed into a snowbank out of the wind. Very quickly his body disappeared into warmth, and he experienced a profound feeling of peace and joy. He much later reported, ” Time stopped in the awareness of oneness with eternity… it replaced all thought or sense of personal self.” He entered a blissful state of peace and golden light. “The light had the quality of touching me and being with me as an infinite loving consciousness…” This was a “timeless and eternal” ineffable presence of infinite love.¹

David experienced a powerful energy coursing through his body. His personal self “seemed obliterated by profound love.” All thoughts stopped; the infinite Presence remained.

“That which I am, in truth, existed before all universes and will exist beyond all universes.”  “The experience was total, and at every instant it was all-encompassing, timeless, serene and complete…”  “It was a state of love and peace beyond description.” ²

David’s worried father found him in the snow and roused him from his seeming sleep.

David could not tell his father what he had experienced. He knew that no one would understand. It was years later that he was open to tell of it. That experience could be labeled a near death experience but more accurately it was a mystical vision or experience. Our labeling for such extraordinary experiences is not fully refined. Significantly on that day David lost his fear of death.

Dr. Richard Bucke, the Canadian psychiatrist published the book Cosmic Consciousness in 1901 to put forth the message that they have been among us, individuals gifted with a profound new faculty, an evolutionary next step; cosmic consciousness. The list of names discussed in that book is genuinely eye opening and worthy of our attention.  Cosmic Consciousness is still in print over 120 years later.

In 1967 Pandit Gopi Krishna of Kashmir India published his autobiography, Kundalini the Evolutionary Energy in Man in which he testified about the true evolution of the brain and his dramatic voyage through the awakening of kundalini. The many books that he went on to write all declare that mystical vision — higher consciousness is the almost unimaginable destiny of mankind. He implored science to rigorously investigate this crucial phenomenon.

Pandit Gopi Krishna understood, like Bucke, that many persons from history were the biologically and spiritually evolved forerunners of the humanity to come, and that the power known in India as kundalini, and elsewhere from time immemorial, is the true driving force of genius, creativity and higher consciousness. He knew that examining the lives of mystics, geniuses and saints would confirm for us that the process of kundalini is in fact an innate faculty of the human organism and spirit. Literary research would attract attention to this new and vitally important topic.

It is rewarding to identify geniuses and mystics, research their lives, and their personal, subjective experiences and messages, to find the consistent array of psychophysical experiences arising from the profound awakening to higher consciousness granted by kundalini.

Mystical vision, genius and higher consciousness has been granted to many, many since before recorded history, and continues to be experienced by more souls than we know of, and so it is a timely task to uncover examples of this transformation in human consciousness and make it more fully known.

Studying mystics such as Swedenborg, Hildigard of Bingen, Krishnamurti, or St John of the Cross can be stirring at a deep personal level, as they relate their experiences and teach us things which go beyond our normal faculties and touch our core. In the life of Emanuel Swedenborg we see intellectual elevation, inner light, moral elevation, compassion, expanded consciousness/perception, a religious/spiritual impulse, and an updated interpretation of Christian theology.³  Jiddu Krishnamurti reported his sense of intoxication in love, inner light, joy and beauty, and the pain of the energy in his body. He attained paranormal gifts of clairvoyance, prophecy, and healing and left for us writings that draw spiritual seekers to this day.⁴ In the life of Saint John we note a sudden illumination, inner and outer light, at first intermittent but then later more long-lasting. There was ecstasy and joy and an absence of a fear of death coupled with a sense of union with the creator.  Saint John wrote brilliant spiritually themed verses and books to reveal our connection with divinity.⁵ 

The Adventure

Joseph Campbell in his best-selling book Hero with a Thousand Faces told us that there is a common storyline in all myths of the hero.  These myths are about a journey that each of us might go on, and that any of us can be a hero. (Today Campbell’s thesis it is not embraced by all but has received broad acceptance because its match to many life experiences is intriguing.)

For Campbell the hero starts out in the ordinary world and then receives a call to adventure. The hero may not accept the call, but if he or she does adventure forth, he or she, enters a strange world. He or she faces trials and hardship. Some of those challenges are severe. When the adventurer survives the odyssey he or she is gifted with special powers.  What finally earns this soul the title of hero is the decision to return to his or her beginning with a gift for the world.

When we get to study the life and thought of a modern mystic or genius, we are very fortunate to have first-hand reports and biographers, with no obscure, ancient language and customs to decipher.  Doctor of Truth —The Life of David R. Hawkins, written by biographer Scott Jeffrey was published in 2012.⁶   So we can go on our own journey into the life of this wonderful healer, and teacher.

Will we witness ‘the hero’s journey’ in the life and work of Dr. Hawkins? 

Will well come face to face with his genius and his awakened consciousness? 

Will we be open to the gifts he brought to us?

These are the questions we will confront.

The recounting of David’s struggle in the blizzard at the age of twelve shows us his profound experience of light, love, oneness and silence— all indications of mystical experience. Notably, David reported that he felt his selfhood or individual essence to be loosely tethered even as early as age 3 or 4 years.

To the Reader

Everyone knows who is meant by Churchill, Darwin, Einstein, Gandhi, Gretzky. A surname is precise and consistent, but it is also a shorthand, and can become impersonal, even disrespectful. An alternate naming custom has been chosen for this essay, which avoids the impersonal quality of the surname alone and is respectful of the very special person who is the subject of this work.

Early Years

David R. Hawkins was born in 1927 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. His parents were educated, church going, and fun loving. They cared deeply for their gifted son. The whole family were avid readers. In his teen years David was reading classics in philosophy. He could not be bothered with fiction books. He was drawn to the ancient philosophies of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus. They fed his keen intellect and his seeming innate drive to find truth.

By all accounts David was an extraordinarily talented youth. By the age of 12 he was awarded a first prize in reading comprehension and speed at a Wisconsin reading competition. He was enrolled in the Milwaukee Art Institute and showed real talent. At the same time his musical ability in composing, voice and instrument was graded top for his age. Even the periodic table of the elements grabbed David’s interest, and so he memorized it.

David was a very responsible, energetic, and versatile youth. He worked in the family garden and chicken coup. He sold eggs, vegetables, and goats’ milk by the roadside, as well as puppies, rabbits, cookies, paper, and scrap metal.  He was a popular babysitter and a quick pin setter at the local bowling alley.

David was gifted, perhaps even genius in his youth. He was certainly multi-talented, high achieving and focused. These attributes, according to Pandit Gopi Krishna, can predispose one to the transformation of consciousness.

David struggled to relate to his school classmates. His very busy intellect, imagination and shyness hindered those connections.  He appeared typical to the world, but his inner world was very different. He reported years later that as a youngster his sense of self was practically nonexistent at times. While in class one day his personal self, including his body, mind and name might disappear. David later commented: ” it seemed like it would disappear into nothingness, .. into infinite awareness itself, and the individual self would no longer exist” ⁷

David worked to intensify his identification with his personal self, to bring himself back to being here, now. Such a report of a sense oneness is perhaps, for us observers, the most fascinating phenomenon to read about.

When 15 years old, David had a life changing experience while walking in the woods. He subjectively saw and felt “the immensity of the suffering of humanity throughout time.”  This was an experience of darkness. “It was overwhelming and like a visit to hell.” David decided that he was an atheist. “How could God allow such suffering to occur?”⁸ This was his question for years to come, and so reason was his chief resource through his years of work and study.

In 1944 David was only seventeen years old when he enlisted to serve in the war effort. David served on a navy minesweeper; a boat equipped to clear underwater mines and save the lives of sailors. He was a positive influence on his fellow sailors. His acceptance of the possibility of death created a mindset of focus and calmness in the crew, but David fell victim to a sailor’s habit of alcohol. David brought that home from the war, and it became an addiction. 

David’s loss of fear of death had persisted since his experience at age twelve. The knowing of eternal existence is beyond us observers but has long been a tenet of most traditional spiritual and mystical teachings and was noted by Pandit Gopi Krishna as a genuine sign of awakening.

The Journey Begins

In 1946 David started his studies in preparation for medical school. He initially focused on the sciences, but by 1948 he was studying philosophy, theology, ethics, and logic. He enjoyed pondering such concepts as first cause and eternity. His personal view evolved to an agnostic perspective from his earlier atheism.   The puzzle of the mind challenged him, so he switched his studies to psychology and psychoanalysis. He decided that he wanted to help those patients in their mental/emotional suffering and practice an honorable profession. David earned both his bachelorette and medical degree at age 26 and was awarded highest honors for his academic achievements.

In 1954 he took his wife and infant daughter to New York where he would receive top-notch psychiatric training.  He was but 27 years old when he became a resident physician at the Manhattan State Hospital, and within two years he was awarded a fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital, and soon after he became the supervising psychiatrist for the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene, while being a staff psychiatrist at the New York Neuropsychiatric Center. 

By the end of that decade Dr. David was working at the two hospitals and building his private practice on Fifth Avenue in traditional psychoanalysis. His new goal was to open his dream project; a mental health clinic for low-income patients. His North Nassau Mental Health Center was supported on donations, fundraising and patient fees, with no government funding. The patient fees were discounted. The need for such medical help was great, and the clinic ballooned to include seventeen psychiatrists along with four psychologists and two social workers. They were serving five hundred patients.

Geniuses and mystics find a herculean capacity for focus and work. A brief summary of Dr. David’s studies and career to this point show such drive and talent. He lived that from an early age through to his 80’s.

Sigmund Freud had addressed neuroses but not psychoses, including schizophrenia, but David’s clinic was doing pioneering work in the treatment of schizophrenia and alcoholism. At The North Nassau Clinic, they were able to bring positive changes for schizophrenic patients with large doses of niacin (vitamin B3) administered along with vitamins C, B6, B12, and lithium. Sugar was eliminated from patients’ dietary regimes, and thyroid medications and exercise were prescribed.  That same treatment proved to be effective in reducing the depression associated with alcoholic addiction. Dr. David’s prescription of avoiding sugar and supplementing with vitamins proved the accuracy of the diagnoses in patient after patient when their hallucinations and erratic behavior disappeared. David’s goal was always to reduce suffering even if a cure was not possible.

By the 1960’s many psychiatrists visited the clinic each year to be trained in this new megavitamin therapy, and the clinic’s success drew in many therapists who wanted to join in the work there.  Patients were coming from as far away as South America, Africa, Europe, India, Australia, and Britain. The patient roster had grown to nearly a thousand patients annually with no government funding. The work continued to expand to two thousand schizophrenic out-patients on the megavitamin therapy. Remarkably, the majority of those patients returned to functioning in day-to-day life without further help. That level of success in alleviating the suffering of psychotic patients was a ground-breaking achievement.

The clinic’s huge success attracted the attention of the medical establishment, but not always favourably.   The conservatives of the medical community spread the idea that megavitamin therapy could be toxic. In 1973 The American Psychiatric Association assembled a team whose agenda was specific: Stop the orthomolecular and megavitamin movement. 

As one pushback to his critics, Dr. David wrote a remarkable research paper. He reviewed 58,000 patient histories and published the findings: Orthomolecular treatments had prevented Tardive Dyskinesia (facial grimaces and other repetitive movements). The treatments had incidentally prevented a side effect of the tranquilizers commonly prescribed to mental patients. Even with overwhelming evidence, the profession was slow to see his view. Years later David wrote:  “99% of what relieves human suffering has nothing whatsoever to do with scientific method as it is construed today.”⁹

Dr. David was a clinician and a healer, and then a scientist. Scientific or controlled experiments involve two or more groups of subjects or patients to test a hypothesis or treatment. At least one group is denied treatment. This is normal research practice, but that did not fit Dr. David’s goals. How could he help in healing while denying treatment?  He did not want to turn any suffering souls away, so he chose to use unconventional solutions while carefully observing outcomes. 

A consistent aspect of David’s character was his heart and drive to always help others.  He chose the career of medicine to do just that and never stopped striving to find new ways to help and heal. It should be observed that his devotion to helping those in trouble very likely propelled him toward a transformation of consciousness.

Unquestionably, Dr. David had achieved an eminently successful medical practice helping countless souls in need. But that is perhaps only the prologue to his story. The strain from his work was tremendous and his drive and perfectionism worked against him. He suffered from obsessive-compulsive tendencies, migraine headaches, depression, and chronic ulcers. On top of that his addiction to alcohol had carried on from wartime through schooling and into his professional life. He functioned at a very high level even with that monster on his back. He was also self-medicating with uppers and downers.

He first attempted drying out at age 35 but it did not last, and the substance abuse continued. He landed in several hospitals and sanitariums.  His withdrawal from drugs left him near insanity, even strapped to the bed in one hospital. Dr. David later described this part of his life as being a terrifying nightmare.  As his torment continued, David came to see that his intellect was not solving this massive problem.  His dear friend Bill Wilson; the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, demonstrated that belief in a higher power was part of healing, but David was a rationalist.  He did however concede that Zen Buddhism was perhaps the path of peace he was seeking.  He took up meditating twice daily amid his very demanding work schedule but was still depressed and addicted to alcohol and drugs.

By age 37 and in despair for his sanity, David hoped for death. He had 50 millilitres of Demerol in his hand but before taking the drug he said to himself: ” …this could get tacky. This could be embarrassing if I ain’t right about this whole thing.”¹⁰ David was determined to understand the truth of his existence. He was immediately taken on a visit to what he described as hell: an experience of aloneness, terror and hopelessness. And then came his plea:  “If there is a God, I asked him for help.”¹¹David blacked out and when he regained consciousness there had been a profound change. He later reported;

“In a stunning moment blackness had been replaced by an infinite, all-encompassing awareness which was radiant, complete, total, silent, and still as the promised essence of All That Is. The exquisite splendor, beauty and peace of Divinity shone forth. It was autonomous, final, timeless, and perfect, The Self of the manifest and the unmanifest, the Supreme Godhead” ¹²

In that instant Dr. David lost all desire for drugs and alcohol. He became sober with this one touch of heaven (an archangel).

 “The person I had been, no longer existed. There was no personal self or ego, only an infinite Presence of such unlimited power that it was All That Was. This Presence had replaced what had been me, and my body’s actions were controlled solely by the infinite will of the Presence. The world was now illuminated by the clarity of an infinite Oneness which expressed itself as all things revealed in their infinite beauty and perfection.” ¹³

That infinite Presence held David in absolute safety: “…strong as a rock yet soft and gentle like a warm blanket.”¹⁴   Such an experience of Oneness is sometimes expressed as non-duality and is a consistent feature of mystical experience: Union with All That Is.

The Presence was with him for months afterwards. He was speechless. The experience had been beyond words. The radiance in his interior slowly faded into the background as David continued with the responsibilities of his huge clinic. He stuck with the duty of day-to-day work but trained himself to pay attention to people to stay in the world. For him, helping others was most important, but money, fame, fortune, and power were not.

For the next five years Dr. David experienced the sensations of kundalini++ in his body. They began whenever he closed his eyes. The pleasurable energy ran up his back, through his brain, down over his face and on down to the region of his heart. This was also accompanied by a burning sensation, exquisite, even orgasmic.¹⁵ In addition experienced a variety of (siddhis) psychic abilities. He found that upon touching an object he would receive information about its owner. Healing of others in Dr. David’s presence happened spontaneously —patients with psychosis, depression, and physical problems. He discovered that whatever he thought about manifested. David felt like a witness to these events. The siddhis persisted through the rest of his life, and notably, David was frequently brought to tears in the presence of love or exceptional beauty.

From his study of ancient texts on yoga Pandit Gopi Krishna warned that the siddhis or psychic capabilities that arise as a part of the transformation of consciousness are not to be the goal but are instead a distraction from the goal of enlightenment. David understood this either intuitively or through his studies. 

++Kundalini was the biographer’s term and likely David’s belief as well.  Kundalini was unheard of in the west as recently as the 1970’s but since then Pandit Gopi Krishna transformed the world’s thinking about consciousness and yoga. It makes sense that Dr. David had read Pandit Gopi Krishna’s autobiography about kundalini.

Dr. David still had a huge personal dilemma. His addiction to alcohol had taken its toll on him physically, and his drive, perfectionism, and obsessiveness, all mixed in with the constant conflicts with the medical profession, and he was due for a rethink about his path.  He turned to the teachings of A Course in Miracles, and The Sedona Method; an emotional releasing technique. He prayed, he surrendered, he canceled old beliefs. He took medications. One by one over twenty personal health problems which he had suffered from diminished and healed. Through his own healings, his respect for psychiatry diminished. He had learned to heal his emotions and his body in ways that psychiatry had not yet imagined. He had discovered that consciousness is more powerful than medicine.

At age 52 Dr. David moved to Sedona Arizona and left behind everything in New York. His professional associates were stunned, but David was due for a personal reset. 

Early in his new life in Sedona David spent long hours in meditation and contemplation. He frequently experienced kundalini energy++ flowing up his back and into his brain. On more than one occasion it extended beyond his body to affect others, bringing healing or peace. David was affected physically as well by these experiences:

“As though the nervous system was handling more energy than it was originally designed to handle. The body’s nerves often felt as though they were high tension wires burning with high-voltage electric current.”¹⁶

It is important to note that the prana (life energy) that circulates upon the awakening of kundalini will work to rebuild the brain and the body, but it can be harsh and painful, even dangerous in a system not prepared for it.  This very likely was what David was going through.

A major personal loss led to an epiphany for David. He was overwhelmed in his grief over the death of his dear stepdaughter, but finally he committed to facing it, and going through it, as he had learned in his studies. After eleven days of pain and surrender David’s grieving was suddenly over: “A profound sense of inner stillness and peace beyond anything I thought imaginable occurred.” “That which was David disappeared and in his place was an infinite Presence.” ¹⁷   That Presence was a new experience, more intense than ever before.    

The Hero’s Return

David still had work to do.  He chose to rejoin the world. His first task was to be that individual: David.   He could have chosen, like many before him, to retreat and spend his time in meditation and bliss, or pass on out of this life, so transporting is the experience of higher consciousness.

He took up lecturing on The Sedona Method, A Course in Miracles, and on meditation while continuing his lifelong practice of study, this time of the teachings of masters from China, Japan and India. He founded an institute to explore and teach consciousness-raising techniques, and help people overcome illness and evolve spiritually.  Meanwhile his inner world continued to be extraordinary. In the Preface to his first book he wrote, “Suddenly without warning a shift in awareness occurred, and the Presence was there, unmistakable, all-encompassing. ”  “ It has no counterpart in ordinary experience. The profound shock entailed is cushioned by the Love of the Presence. Without the support and protection of that Love one would be annihilated.”¹⁸ 

And he went further to explain:

“… the state fluctuates and suddenly ceases for no apparent reason.”  “… one must transcend this level…”   “…the glory of ecstasy then has to be relinquished…“  ” …but while it is one thing to happily give up the restraints of ego, it’s quite another to abandon the golden chains of ecstatic joy.”¹⁹

Love, ecstatic joy. David has told us, as well as he could about something which we can barely touch with our imagination. It is mystical.

And:

     “When vacillation between heaven and hell becomes unendurable, the desire for existence itself has to be surrendered… in this final apocalypse of the self the dissolution of the sole remaining duality, —that of existence and nonexistence, identity itself —dissolves in universal divinity and no individual consciousness is left to choose. The last step then is taken by God alone.”²⁰    

After Oneness

After the experience of Oneness what does one do? David’s answer was to go back to the practice of psychiatry in Arizona in his 60’s. He was a pragmatist and a true helper/healer. He became Chief of Staff for a local residential school for teenage girls. He did this while running a part-time psychiatric practice and serving as medical advisor for three nursing homes.  From all these demands his health did suffer and so he used affirmations, visualization and surrender to bring healing.

The Healer/Scientist

David’s studies brought him a hero’s breakthrough. The chiropractor George Goodhart had demonstrated that our muscles instantly become weak if the body is exposed to harmful stimuli. From that discovery, the psychiatrist Dr. John Diamond used the muscle strength test (applied kinesiology) in diagnosing and treating psychiatric patients. He demonstrated that the body instantly goes weak in response to unhealthy emotions, attitudes, and mental stresses. Dr. David adopted the muscle strength test and applied it experimentally for over 15 years. That testing was done in numerous countries, to both young and old, to both men and women. David was determined to find out if this muscle strength phenomenon was a yet-to-be recognized feature of human consciousness. With a huge volume of compelling test results in hand David confirmed that the muscle response was in fact not linked to the test subjects’ belief systems, opinions, or logic, but rather was a response of the life force or life energy.  He could see the revolutionary value of the test response for humankind’s future:

“One aspect of this state of awareness (his state of awareness) was the capacity to discern greater significances within phenomena that were normally unobserved. Thus, the interesting clinical technique of muscle testing revealed the missing link and bridge between the mind and body, and between the manifest and the unmanifest. That which is invisible could now easily be made visible.… It was obvious that the muscle test response originated from the non-locality of consciousness.”²¹

The research paper which followed became David’s doctoral thesis and his first book: Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. —  a clear and very readable book, not an academic treatise.  It is intended for all who are searching for new insight.

Dr. David wanted to find a rigorous way to study consciousness—something which science had not been able to grapple with because it is ‘intangible’. He schooled himself in the new ideas of chaos theory and nonlinear dynamics—fields which had shown promise in finding patterns in living organisms and systems. David included a chapter on these fields of thought in his first book. We can learn from two of his observations: 1) Thoughts and feelings have energy beyond what is currently apparent to us.  Motive, spoken and written words and emotions are all potentially contagious, for good or for bad, and we need to be wary of that.  2) The mysterious mind/body connection is in fact a valuable tool for understanding consciousness and steering it toward good outcomes. The muscle (life force) response makes consciousness ‘visible’. This can have, profound impact for humanity’s progress, even beyond all prior revolutions in thought.

Testing

How can we do the muscle strength test? Testing the body’s (life force) muscle response is simple and doable by all healthy persons, and that is part of its beauty. One of two people acts as a test subject by holding an arm out to the side. The other person presses down with two fingers on the wrist held out while saying resist.  If that arm is strong the muscle will stay locked in place and the arm will not give. However, if in the presence of a negative stimulus it will instantly go weak.  Testing is done by testing a statement, an idea, a substance, an image.  The test can especially be a test for the truth or falsity of a declarative statement.

The test method has gained wide acceptance, and many are finding other muscles to use to make it possible for individuals to do the test. The test can and should be used to test itself. No test result needs to be accepted without replication, quickly and simply. Meanwhile we are surrounded by an overwhelming variety of ideas from everywhere. We are often confused and have minimal opportunity for clarity. We now have access to answers. It bears restating that Dr. David believed that humanity would benefit in unprecedented ways if the test is applied to science, business, education, politics, foreign relations etc. etc.  He offered his understanding of the consciousness/testing connection and its vital implications for humankind;

” … our own cognizance is but an individual expression with its roots in the common consciousness of all mankind.  (That) database is the realm of genius; All participate in the database, by virtue of birth. The unlimited nature of the database is readily available. This indeed is an astonishing discovery, bearing the power to change lives both individually and collectively to a degree never yet anticipated.”²²

Our New Map

David’s first book Power vs Force includes a compilation of his exploration and testing of human consciousness. His huge volume of data from years of testing revealed that human consciousness can be spread out on a scale. This is a scale of power or energy, from the very low power of shame and guilt, rising up in power to reason and love and beyond that all the way to enlightenment. The scale and the associated descriptions are called The Map of Consciousness in which there is a list of seventeen states of consciousness, each with its relative energy level, giving it its position on the scale. The scale extends from 0 to 1000 to represent the limits of human consciousness. The numbers (or power) come from the testing- the muscle testing.  For example, guilt is at 30 on the scale, while fear is at 100, and love is at 500.  Dr. David inclusion of enlightenment on the scale is important and heartening, as it validates his thesis.

To reiterate, the numbers on the scale reflect how states of consciousness compare with each other in terms of power or energy as determined in the tests. The most amazing aspect of the map is that the scale is logarithmic, not linear. Thus power or energy on the scale increases exponentially as we go up to scale — the power of human consciousness increases exponentially when fear is abandoned, and reason and/or love are embraced. In David’s words;

“The difference in energy between a loving thought and a fearful thought is so enormous it is beyond the capacity of the human imagination to comprehend.”²³ Choosing love is evolutionary.  

From David’s vast volume of testing, over many years, he was able to make many observations about humanity and about us personally, and the results are both glowing and troublesome:

• “85% of the world’s population has not even conceived of the concept of personal responsibility, growth and kinship with humanity.”²⁴
• “A small number of very perverse persons can create a globally negative impact on humanity’s consciousness”²⁵
• Humans collectively stayed at the level 190 for centuries, then in the mid 1980’s it jumped to 207.²⁶  That was, in fact, a huge rise and opens us up to wondrous possibilities.
• One individual at 500 (Love) on the scale counterbalances (the lower, negative power of) three quarters of a million persons below 200 on the scale.²⁷
• One person at 700 counterbalances 70 million individuals below 200.²⁸
• 15% of the population that is above the critical point at 200 counterbalances the negativity of the 85% below that critical point.²⁹

None of us is just one ‘state’, but we are a blend of many; shame, fear, anger, pride, reason and so on, yielding our personal, overall level of consciousness.  Though we change only reluctantly, even small moves up the scale (growth) in one’s lifetime represent notable spiritual advancement — for us, and consequently for humanity.  David would say —to change the world, we need only change ourselves.

David also stated that more significant rise in consciousness is possible, “… if one continuously, consciously chooses a friendly, earnest, kind and forgiving approach to life, and makes charity towards others one’s primary focus.”³⁰  This is a reaffirmation of ancient scriptural wisdom.

David concluded that 200 on the scale is an important dividing line between truth and non-truth, and that at levels of consciousness above 200 significant advancement for individuals and society is possible as we; “…accept responsibility for feelings, beliefs and actions.”³¹   

David observed that humanity, at its current level of awareness, truly lacks discernment of truth from falsehood (non-truth), and so we struggle to solve problems that we have created – very large and threatening problems. We can project that humankind will evolve and gain the clarity to end our large-scale confusion and misjudgments, but in the meantime David’s testing method and his Map of Consciousness are available to aid us, to guide us until that day.

Dr. David identified other significant points on the scale:

“At Love (500 level) a major leap into freedom is possible when love and nonjudgmental forgiveness are committed to, and continuous kindness practiced. With this commitment a new world is experienced.”³²  In all his writing David declared that kindness is appropriate and evolutionary.

And even further up the scale (map): Enlightenment 700 – 1000:  This is consciousness above and beyond what we consider normal or typical human consciousness. It represents a level and a range of power that we cannot comprehend.

“…the great ones of history – the spiritual teachers – those whose lives influenced the thinking of mankind over long periods. To have such vision is called Grace and is coupled with peace that is beyond description.”  “Identity of Self with consciousness and divinity is the hallmark. This is the level of non-duality and oneness. This is the peak of the evolution of consciousness in the human realm.”³³  

Dr. David had personally struggled through atheism, agnosticism, his perfectionism and long- standing addiction, and much illness but yet grew, in his life, by tireless drive, genius, and Grace to be a healer and a teacher of growth, love, kindness, divinity and a bright vision for humanity.  He saw clearly that all the great spiritual traditions hold a core message which is about overcoming or abandoning our lower natures (lower energies) and striving to ascend (to higher power) toward love (salvation) and beyond to enlightenment.

Pandit Gopi Krishna taught and wrote that kundalini is the guardian of evolution- physical and spiritual, and humankind needs to be aware of this to stay on the preordained path which is supportive of our evolution. Just a very small handful of verses from the preface of the Pandit’s monumental book The Way to Self-Knowledge^{34  **} tell, just as Dr. David did, of the vital nature of consciousness, truth, responsibility, and growth:

Our life can’t be a simmering broth,

Where true and false conjointly live,

But there must be a purer Path

From which we Soul’s estate can view.

*

Ambition, passion, lust, desire,

Each impulse, urge or appetite,

Which move, propel or set on fire

Or filled with pain, grief or delight

*

The mind, must be judiciously

Brought under the control of man,

To help him climb courageously

The height prescribed in nature’s Plan.

*

And mankind must begin the ascent,

Free of the faults that block her way,

To reach the glowing firmament

Of Life-Divine without delay.

**The Way to Self- Knowledge is much more in-depth than these four excerpts. It is direct, easily understood and at the same time timeless and profound.

The Gifts

Dr. David’s book Power vs Force has been translated into 25 languages. After countless hours, days and years of research David understood, that the muscle strength (life force) test and the Map of Consciousness together are a tool of untapped value for humanity, both individually and collectively. The Map of Consciousness mirrors authentic spiritual teachings and shows the way. Dr. David has given every one of us a modern, new map.

It is now our task to open-mindedly study Dr. David’s gift, and even more importantly, to apply it for ourselves, our children, and their children. Humanity is now at the threshold of a wondrous new age, the age of awakening.

Dr. David R. Hawkins MD, PhD. passed away in 2012 at the age of 85.  By the end of his life, he had published ten books for those who seek to ‘transcend the levels’ and evolve spiritually. (Those books have power.) Study groups have been spontaneously formed where people have heard of his teachings and today there are over 100 such groups around the globe, as well as discussion forums and conversations on the web. The Map of Consciousness is in those books but is available also with an easy search of the web. Veritas Publishing www.veritaspub.com and Hay House www.hayhouse.com have all the David R. Hawkins books, as well as recordings of his teachings and talks.

And it is appropriate to close this essay the way Dr. David ended all his books:

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

(Glory to God in the Highest)

References

1. Jeffrey, Scott, Doctor of Truth—The Life of David R. Hawkins, Creative Crayon Publishers, Kingston, New York, 2012, p 31 ISBN: 978-1-938557-00-2
2. Ibid, p 31
3. https://icrcanada.org/swedenborg-the-mystic/
4. https://icrcanada.org/jiddu-krishnamurti-20th-century-philosopher-and-mystic/
5. https://icrcanada.org/saint-john-of-the-cross/
6. Jeffrey, S., op. cit.
7. Jeffrey, Scott, Doctor of Truth—The Life of David R. Hawkins, Creative Crayon Publishers, Kingston, New York, 2012, p 31
8. Ibid, p 18
9. Ibid, p 147
10. Ibid, p 92
11. Ibid, p 93
12. Ibid, p 94
13. Ibid, p 95
14. Ibid, p 95
15. Ibid, p 95
16. Ibid, p 286
17. Ibid, p 217
18. 18. Hawkins , PhD., David R., Power vs Force—The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, Veritas Publishing, Sedona, Arizona, 1995, p  22   ISBN-13: 978-1-56170-933-5
19. Ibid, p 23
20. Ibid, p 24
21. Hawkins MD., PhD., David R., The Eye of the I– From Which Nothing is Hidden, Veritas Publishing, Sedona, Arizona, 2001, p 40 ISBN-13:978-096432619-4
22. Hawkins MD., PhD., David R., Power vs Force—The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, Veritas Publishing, Sedona, Arizona, 1995, p 34 ISBN-13: 978-1-56170-933-5
23. Ibid, p 283
24. Ibid, p 278
25. Ibid, p 101
26. Ibid, p 278
27. Ibid, p 278
28. Ibid, p 278
29. Ibid, p 278
30. Ibid, p102
31. Ibid, p 238
32. Ibid, p 238
33. Ibid, p 94
34. Krishna, Gopi, The Way to Self Knowledge, Find Research Trust, Ontario Canada and The Kundalini Research Foundation, Norton Heights, CT, USA., 1985. pp 13,14,17

Note: The verses cited here were not contiguous in the Preface. They were selected for their correspondence to the theme of the essay.