the impact of consciousness on your life

I’ve always been big on making eye contact, smiling, and saying hello when passing strangers on the street. Rarely do I not get a smile back, at the very least if not a hello in return–even in big, mean, and stereotypically unfriendly New York City.

I’ve never given much thought as to why I usually receive the same energy back that I send out from a stranger until I read the following passage from The Map Of Consciousness Explained by David Hawkins (I told you this book would make multiple appearances in the Daily Notes). I recently finished reading the section where Hawkins explains the different levels of consciousness, their characteristics, and how to identify them out in the world.

To help the reader understand how their level of consciousness helps shape their perspective, which ultimately shapes their experience, Hawkins uses the example of a homeless person in a fashionable neighborhood of a big city and shares how the different levels of consciousness would see the man; I’ve summarized this section using mostly Hawkins’s words:

Shame (lowest level): the man is dirty, disgusting, and disgraceful.

Guilt: the man is to blame for his situation, “he deserves what he gets–he’s probably a laze welfare cheat.”

Apathy: the man shows desperate evidence that society can’t do anything about homelessness

Grief: the man looks tragic, friendless, and forlorn.

Fear: the man is threatening, a social menace.

Desire: the man represents a frustrating problem “why doesn’t somebody do something about homelessness?”

Anger: the man looks like he might be violent or the person viewing the man could become furious a situation like his exists.

Pride: the man is seen as an embarrassment or as lacking self-respect to better himself.

Courage: the man would lead to wondering if there is a local homeless shelter, “all he needs is a job and a place to live.”

Neutrality: the man looks okay, maybe even interesting, “live and let live”.

Willingness: would go down and see what could be done to cheer him up or volunteer at the local mission.

Acceptance: the man looks intriguing and probably has an interesting story to tell, “he is where he is for reasons we may never understand.”

Reason: the man is a symptom of the current economic and social malaise.

At higher levels, the man begins to look not only interesting but friendly and even lovable.

Peace: the man is revealed as our own inner self in its temporary expression.

Hawkins then explains,

“When approached, the old man would also vary his response to these different levels of consciousness. With some people he would feel secure; with others, frightened or dejected. Some would make him angry, and others would delight him. Some people he would, therefore avoid, and others greet with pleasure. (Thus it is said that what we meet is actually a mirror.)”

And finally, Hawkins summarizes this example and the others he provides,

“How we react depends on the world we seem to be reacting to. Who we become as well as what we see are both determined by perception, which can be said, simply, to create the perceptual, experiential world.”

If you are not happy with the experiences in your life, look within to determine where you stand on the Map of Consciousness–chances are how you view the world, receive what happens to you, and possibly how people treat you is directly related to your spot on the map. Thankfully, as Hawking explains in the book, you are not required to stay where you are.

You can raise your consciousness to change your experiences in life–but only you can do it.

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See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC