Jesus, Buddha, The Doc & The Map of Consciousness

Dallas, TX, April 2013

It’s 2am, and I’m sitting on a couch in a stranger’s hotel room. There’s many people here. All spiritual seekers of the ‘new age’. We’re here for a large personal development convention. There’s hundreds of us, and the energy is electric. None of us can sleep. Who has time to sleep when we’re discovering the secrets of the universe?

So instead, a few of us are hanging out in someone’s hotel room (I’m not even sure whose), and we’re discussing God, Aliens, alternate realities, and muscle testing the calibration of our consciousness.

One man in the room I recognise as an Author of a familiar book. I turn to him and say “Your book sounds interesting, I look forward to reading it.”

He stares me dead in the face and says “Don’t bother reading my book. Read this book instead” and hands me a book. It’s titled ‘The Eye of the Eye’ by David R. Hawkins.

The way he says it is so serious and full of urgency, that I immediately take a photo of the book cover, and hand his copy back to him. As soon as I arrive home, I order the book. When it arrives a few days later, I read.

And the course of my life changes forever.

Toronto, ON, August 2023 - Present Day

Introducing the Doc

The most influential spiritual teacher I’ve ever come across who lived in the postmodern age is a man by the name of Dr. David R. Hawkins, a renowned psychiatrist, physician, and spiritual teacher. (Thanks to the stranger that introduced him to me on that fateful night in Dallas a decade ago). Hawkins was lovingly referred to as ‘The Doc’ by many of his devoted students, hence the title of this entry.

Although he died in 2012 and I never met him, I still consider Hawkins to be my primary spiritual teacher. I feel a devotion to this man I’ve yet to feel for any other teacher.

If you’ve read any of his books or seen any of his lectures on youtube, you may understand why. This man is a truly enlightened being (and may I say, has the most adorable, purest sense of humour, if you can get past his almost monotone voice at times.) When I find myself ‘in a funk’ I sometimes play his lectures in the background and his voice automatically lifts my spirits.

Click Here to Check Out Hawkins Lectures on Youtube

It’s possible you’ve come across his work before. He’s the author of a well known book ‘Power Vs. Force’ and created the Map of Consciousness - a tool which many other teachers reference and use.

I personally love the understanding of the Map of Consciousness, as it really helps the human brain contextualise spiritual understandings in a linear way.

Here’s what it looks like:

Image pulled from: https://life-longlearner.com/how-to-measure-consciousness-using-the-map-of-consciousness-3-of-7/

The Basic Premise

The Map of Consciousness is a concept developed by Dr. David R. Hawkins, a renowned psychiatrist, physician, and spiritual teacher. It is introduced in his book "Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior" published in 1995.

The Map of Consciousness is essentially a hierarchical scale that categorizes the various levels of human consciousness based on their energy frequencies. According to Hawkins, every individual and aspect of life, including emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, operates at different levels on this scale. The levels are arranged from low to high, with higher levels representing greater awareness, enlightenment, and overall well-being.

The Map of Consciousness uses a logarithmic scale ranging from 0 to 1000, where 0 represents absolute nothingness and 1000 represents the highest state of consciousness attainable, which is associated with enlightened beings like Buddha or Jesus Christ.

Thank you Chat GPT for the above summary.

One thing I’ll add here is that the method by which levels of consciousness are calibrated is through muscle testing. (The methodology is described in painstaking scientific detail in ‘Power Vs. Force’ and his subsequent books).

Why I love the Map of Consciousness

Like I said before, for people who have the tendency to be quite logical and linear in their thinking, it helps us understand that there are various levels of consciousness, and within each level of consciousness different ways in which we perceive reality.

This explains the whole concept of parallel realities, or why two people can observe the same event and yet perceive it entirely differently. They are viewing it from an entirely different lens! This is also why we experience so much paradox along our spiritual journey, as one subjective truth at one level of consciousness may be completely different at another.

And yet the Map of Consciousness does not deny Ultimate Truth. In fact, it explains how both subjective truth and ultimate truth exist.

The map offers a roadmap to enlightenment. Hawkins reflections on the obstacles within each level of consciousness helps to illuminate the most common barriers that keep seekers like you and me stuck in our growth, or at the very least, doubting our growth.

Criticism of the Map of Consciousness

One of the biggest criticisms I have heard of the Map of Consciousness is this idea about a ‘higher’ state of consciousness versus a ‘lower’ state of consciousness. When one denotes a high vs. low type of hierarchy, the human ego can’t help but equate that to a superior versus inferior state.

Because of this, many of us may ‘strive’ to attain ‘higher’ levels of consciousness, which is not always the best path for us. (Spontaneous jumps into very elevated states of consciousness if the body is not prepared can actually be debilitating… a subject for another day).

I hear that. And for the first few years of being introduced to Doc’s work, I too ‘strived’ for a higher level of consciousness, thinking it was somehow better.

Years later, I recognised the fruitless pursuit of such a quest by the ego. But in a way it still served me. Unbeknownst to my ego, its quest of elevating consciousness led to the reduction of its power and hold over me.

Hawkins has mentioned many times in his books that a ‘higher’ state of consciousness versus a ‘lower’ state of consciousness has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. There is no better or worse state. They’re just different states.

There’s that which aligns more closely with god, and that which doesn’t.

Again, this can be very difficult for the spiritual ego to let go of, so another way you can think of the map of consciousness rather than a vertical line of levels that move ‘higher’ or ‘lower’, is via a horizontal scale or even a spherical scale starting from the center and moving outward, that denotes a more ‘contracted’ vs. ‘expanded’ state.

If my graphic design skills were more advanced than my basic use of Canva, I’d attempt to create a Map of Consciousness on a horizontal or spherical scale starting with the level 0 in the center, and moving outward in a circular direction as the numbers move closer to 1000… (think of it like a dart board with the bullseye in the center as level 0).

But my graphic design skills are not that great, and that doesn’t seem like a great use of my time. So I leave you to imagine it instead.

Jesus Christ, The Buddha, and the Various Spiritual Goals along the Map of Consciousness

One of the most fascinating aspects of The Map of Consciousness for me, is the calibration of various spiritual teachers, their teachings, and where the ultimate goals of the paths ‘they taught’ reside.

Example: Jesus Christ (calibrated at 1000, the highest possible level of consciousness for a human before his death & consequent resurrection and ascension into heaven) showed us the way to Salvation primarily through love and the power of forgiveness, using prayer and contemplation.

The Buddha, who also calibrated at 1000 before his death, taught the path to Enlightenment, through meditation and attaining the state of ‘no mind’.

What’s the difference between Salvation and Enlightenment in accordance to the Map of Consciousness?

According to Hawkins, the state of enlightenment starts at the level of peace at 600 and moves through various states until level 1000. Most Buddhist streams teach 'the void’ or ‘nothingness’ as the ‘highest’ state which calibrates somewhere in the 800’s. I believe this is what Buddha himself taught until his own consciousness transcended the void and moved into the state of allness (900-1000).

According to Hawkins, Salvation which was the goal of Christ’s path (who came approximately 500 years after Buddha) denotes the level of unconditional love (starts at calibration 540 on the map of consciousness). At this level of consciousness, a human being is living a heart-based existence; they are free from the karma of past lives and thus freed from the cycle of death and rebirth (referred to as the Cycle of Samsara in Buddhism). As such, the soul is free to permanently ascend into heaven.

Although Christ himself was an enlightened teacher, Salvation was the goal of his path rather than Enlightenment, as this was (and in my view still is) a much more accessible goal for human beings. All of us can strive for a heart-based existence, whether we feel the draw to become ‘enlightened’ or not. Christ shows us how.

Some additional teachings about Christ according to Hawkins. He came to earth for only one lifetime and with a very specific purpose, different to the Buddha (who lived many lifetimes before he became ‘Buddha’). Christ’s single-minded purpose was literally to save humanity from its own self-destruction, which is where our species was headed. Had it not been for the Divine interceding through Christ on humanity’s behalf, our history would look very different.

All of this information has been calibrated and documented in Hawkins books. I can only hope my summary is adequate.

Re-contextualising Jesus as ‘Saviour’

The above understanding of Christ’s purpose and path personally helped me re-contextualise many of the common phrases used in Christian language that previously, I couldn’t stand. Such as calling Christ ‘our saviour’, and the concept of ‘God sacrificing his son for our sins’.

It’s an interesting time we live in. One where ‘no one is coming to save us’ (spoken from the context of transcending the victim mentality and a lower state of consciousness) and yet, Christ is the saviour God called upon to right the wrongs of humanity, who’s presence left an energetic signature that transcends time and space. Christ consciousness is an energy that all human beings can call on and invite to live in our very own hearts.

This is a subject I look forward to exploring more in future. (Very soon I will be sharing a discussion with a very special guest on the topic: Walking the Path of Christ in a Postmodern World)

On another note, this September I begin my foray into my Christian Divinity studies, including classes on both Old and New Testament. My husband looked at my school schedule and thought it sounded incredibly boring. Meanwhile, I’m ecstatic. I live for this sh*t. But I won’t tell him that. I’ll let him think it’s going to be a real slog, that way he can pick up more of the household chores and leave me to toil in my academic bliss.

lol, joking.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in this type of subject matter and would love to dive deeper, I’d recommend picking up a few of Hawkins Books.

’Transcending the Levels of Consciousness’ dives deeper into the Map of Consciousness and each level along the scale.

“The Eye of the Eye” goes deeply into the mechanism of the ego. It’s one of my favourites.

“Power Vs. Force” was Hawkins first book on the Map of Consciousness and his use of Muscle Testing. I found this book a bit harder to get through as it’s loaded with scientific and academic terminology, but great if you want to vet Hawkins process for yourself.

“Letting Go”, another one of my favourites. I recommend this one to many of my private clients, not only because it’s a little more accessible in language than his others, but it’s also very practical. This is my go to text on emotional intelligence, letting go and surrender at every level of consciousness.

‘Truth Vs. Falsehood’, if you want to dive deeper into Hawkins calibrations of world events, sacred texts, spiritual paths, teachers and more… this is the book for you. Many of my views and opinions on world events changed drastically after reading this one.

As Doc would say,

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Glory to God in the Highest