The Highest Level of Enlightenment

I have previously reviewed two hugely significant books by David Hawkins in these pages – Power versus Force, and I: Reality and Subjectivity. This short book serves as a good introduction to his work on Devotional Non-duality and his system of calibrating human consciousness, although there is a degree of editorial hype in referring to the possibility of total self-realisation on the part of reader. There are accounts of significant moments of enlightenment in Hawkins' own life, describing an infinite Self presence of peace and love, 'not different than that which I am.' Causality is subsumed in the totality of the field. The calibration scale of human consciousness is rated from 1 to 1000, with the limits of the rational mind at 500, and the crucial threshold between negative and positive at 200. Hawkins explains that humanity has moved from 190 to 207 and calibrates America as a nation at 421, though I could not help wondering if both the collective and US rating might have regressed over the last few years….

He characterises causation as limited force and creation as unlimited power, all operating within a formless infinite reality. At 190, the destruction of humankind is inevitable, but 207 can enable a shift of paradigm, with integrity as the new signal of social value. However, 85% of the world population is still below 200, though one avatar at 1000 'counterbalances the total negativity of mankind.' He sees spiritual work as overcoming self-centredness and the key to transformation as 'a decision to be loving and kind towards all of life, including your own, at all times no matter what, to be forgiving, to be gentle, to be that which is supportive of life, so that it becomes not what you do but what you are.' (p. 42) This is an expression of homo spiritus. Peace is in fact our natural state, so war is absence of peace, based on ignorance. We ultimately have to surrender everything to truth and God, removing the obstacles to love.