The Evolution of Consciousness
Episode 32 - Dealing with inner heaviness, the useless mind and the map of consciousness. Speaking on Divinity, Infinity and your soul's journey.
Greetings all,
I see there’s new faces among you. Welcome to the campfire. You are among others whom you cannot see, because it’s night-time and all is dark. You can barely see anything around you but you’re inside the clearing of a huge forest and trees surround you on all sides. In the middle there is only one campfire.
You are welcome here, to sit and rest. Contemplate the night carefully but try not to jump at shadows. Things move among the trees. I… don’t quite know what they are, either. But I’m trying to figure it out, slowly. One day at a time.
Because dawn is yet far.
Far indeed.
Where I’ve been
I’ve been inside, mostly. As per my last episode, I told you how my life took strange, frightening turns and, at the same time, it was all my choice to turn to it.
The mind is useless here in this space. I cannot turn to it because every time I do there is only… mmm, okay to sound less dramatic than my usual: unhelpful thoughts and images. There, that’s a soft answer.
We are used to turning to the mind for solutions to perceived problems. This is very useful in the world because it allows us to build things. As you may have noticed, the mind hasn’t stopped building things for… ehm, quite a while. Look at the cities we live in and the machines we surround ourselves with. To write I don’t move any pen or quill - I press buttons. Like, what!?
Imagine telling that to the scribes of old. Those who wrote down our collective knowledge and preserved our memory.
We go back a long time. I think we don’t have a beginning. And we have no ending, either. But we do have transition, both within and without. Both here and there, both at the level of man and at the level of the cosmos itself.
Remember always: As above, so below.
For me it all started with a question: what if one just stops running from the pain? And by ‘pain’ here I mean also the fearful thoughts that assail us on a daily basis and create the entire movement of the human engine? Because pain pushes us towards a solution or a balm, so it literally moves us to ‘do’ things, pursue goals and accomplish dreams and desires.
And this entire movement is what history has been and will be. It’s not a linear thing. It’s not a string. It’s a wheel, ever turning. This is why the times of Krishna, Buddha, Jesus and others may seem different and ancient to us, but it was still only yesterday. And it will be tomorrow, too.
So they all point within, right? All the great teachers and sages point inside. The Kingdom of Heaven is within. But the Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao.
What do you find within?
“Krishna says: "Arjuna, I am the taste of pure water and the radiance of the sun and moon. I am the sacred word and the sound heard in air, and the courage of human beings. I am the sweet fragrance in the earth and the radiance of fire; I am the life in every creature and the striving of the spiritual aspirant.”
― Bhagavad Gita
Within you find sensation or feelings or various bodily functions/noises etc. Right? But this ain’t quite right either because I’m looking again at language to describe something but that’s not it. Indeed, the Tao (the ‘Way’) that you can talk/describe/explain is not the eternal Tao.
Basically: using language to relate to it is missing the point.
Okay fine. So what’s beyond language? Well here is where the sages just shut up, smile and remain in their meditation posture for the next twenty years. Which is fair enough. But since I’m here telling you all this I have to use language.
The closest I can come to describe it is through the word ‘sensation’. What remains inside is sensation, and it’s often heavy. At times it’s subtle. Now what you’ll notice, if you’ve been paying attention to life, is that the fulfilment of all your needs, wants and desires usually brings about a ‘feeling of peace/joy/pleasure’. Essentially, it’s a change in the sensation from ‘heavy/uncomfortable’ to ‘pleasant/comfortable’ and at higher levels we encounter what we term as ‘ecstasy’. Beyond even that, they say, there is a peace unlike any we’ve ever felt.
If we want to use this model of layers, then obviously it goes also the opposite way into depression, guilt, dread, etc. So it’s as if these are the opposite ends of a wide spectrum of sensation.
David Hawkins, one of my most trusted teachers who has accompanied my journey for the past decade, has mapped this spectrum into what he calls the ‘Scale of Consciousness’, going from the lowest to the highest. For the sake of modern man’s obsession with numbers, logic and calculation, he has also attributed a numerical value to each stage.
It is as follows:
The lowest starts at 20 (probably because at 0 there would be no sense of self) and goes all the way up to 1000, which is a state, he says, that is only reached by the great Avatars (Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, etc).
For more detailed info on this check out his books Letting Go (2012) and Transcending the Levels of Consciousness (2015).
The upwards climb
Historically there is an upper trend in the evolution of the human species. Right now because of the prevalence of technology, our level of wealth and focus on scientific progress as well as linear logic and rationality, we are collectively somewhere in the 200-300. Though, of course, there are vast areas of the world that still operate below 200, which Hawkins calls the level of integrity. At this level there is a somewhat basic care and attention for ourselves, other beings, animals, the planet, ecology/nature, etc.
The level of Non-Dual perception is numbered at 670, which is already, I’d say, a pretty far out experience for most people. It is vastly incomprehensible already as at that point language starts to break down. Anything past 700/800 is not even imaginable.
A great way to understand this is by thinking back when you were baby or small child and, if you have memories from back then, try to remember how you felt about the world of adults or even elders. It was basically a different dimension.
Hawkins also says that he capped it at 1000 because it’s the maximum level possible in the human domain. But consciousness continues on to infinity, past layers, dimensions and worlds that cannot even be alluded to.
Okay, fine - so what? So we have a map and general direction, but let’s return to the sensation. One may rightly ask: “how do I move upwards?” Well, that’s what your life journey is about. That seems to be the point and, perhaps, the point of your so-called ‘soul’ journey too, incarnating numerous times, life after life, to learn lessons and move upwards.
Yes, but how? So here the point: you can’t fight your way up the scale. You can’t ‘do’ your way to advanced realisation, but you can Do your way out of lower levels such as apathy, grief, anger, depression, etc. This is the entire self-help field: change your diet, exercise, get a job, etc. This is all well and good but there are points when that stops working because you will be confronted with deeper, repressed tendencies, beliefs, emotions, traumas and, at higher levels, even metaphysical questions about identity, meaning, volition, etc.
You don’t need some high theology or occult knowledge for this. Hawkins gives some good, simple pointers valid at all levels:
Be kind to everything and everyone, including oneself all the time, without exception
Revere all life in its expressions, no matter what, even if one does not understand it.
Presume no actual reliable knowledge of anything at all. Ask God to reveal its meaning.
Intend to see the hidden beauty of all that exists - it then reveals itself.
Forgive everything that is witnessed and experienced, no matter what. Remember Christ, Buddha and Krishna all said that all error is due to ignorance.
Approach all life with humility and be willing to surrender all mental/emotional arguments or gain.
Be willing to forego all perceptions of gain, desire or profit and thereby be willing to be of selfless service to life in all of its expressions.
The most powerful tool in the province of the will is devotion.
Ultimately, ascent is made through surrender. So going back to sensation, one must stop all interpretations and descriptions of what is felt. Do not rely on the mind’s endless stories about what is felt and why. Simply be with it, forgive it and offer it presence and space.
What else is Love but infinite allowing? If we take the word/symbol known as ‘God’ to mean Love and Truth then, perhaps, we can come to understand that the foundation of Reality itself is God because it implies a Love so great that it allows the entire spectrum of consciousness to exist and manifest: from the greatest darkness, past the demonic horrors of the underworld, through the canyons of sadness, loss and despair and then above, climbing the great mountains of bliss, of Heavens beyond description.
“All is an expression of Divinity as Creation - all is equally sacred and holy.”
For now, that’s all I have.
Blessings,
If you’d like to check out more of my work on Myth and the Mind I invite you to peruse the Grammaticon (Greek Mythology), the Rune Series (Norse Mythology) or the rest of my blog.
