Levels of consciousness vs Healing

Levels of Consciousness

This is my personal summary of the levels of consciousness described in Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins. His work is based on calibrations measured through kinesiology muscle testing, which he used to create a scale ranging from 1 to 1000. Human consciousness is said to span from level 20—representing the most miserable human state—to level 1000, the realm of enlightenment, like that of a Buddha. Most people operate below the critical threshold of 200, a range marked by life-destructive patterns. However, the average human consciousness level has recently risen just above 200. This shift, according to Hawkins, happens because a single individual at a high level can energetically counterbalance many others who are below that threshold.

Kinesiology-based testing may seem unconventional—or even implausible at first. I used to be skeptical myself. But over the course of my journey, I’ve come to value the insights it’s offered. At times, it helped support emotional healing and accelerated my personal growth.

That said, Hawkins’ book is not without controversy. It can seem to suggest that one must attain higher consciousness rather than unlearn the false beliefs that obscure our natural state. This is why I don’t recommend the book outright. Instead, I offer my interpretation of these levels.

We need to let go of the chase for enlightenment. Rather than striving for transcendent concepts, we should ground ourselves in the simplicity of joy. True joy isn’t elusive—it’s familiar. Most of us experienced it regularly as children.

To embody the level of Love (500), for example, we don’t need complex techniques. Any mother touches that state from time to time, until the analytical mind pulls us back into limitation. We move fluidly between different levels of consciousness, often without conscious awareness. At higher states, we analyze less and feel more. There’s an exercise in module 9 that helps us recognize when we’ve accessed these higher states. Thanks to neuroplasticity, we can increase how often we live there.

The lower levels of consciousness are rooted in resistance. This resistance often stems from repressed emotions—those we suppress because we’ve judged them unacceptable. We build mental strategies to avoid discomfort, but evasion is futile. When we stop running or striving, we’re left with the thing we were avoiding all along: ourselves.

As we rise through the levels, resistance gives way to tolerance. Doing becomes being. Force turns into power. Clarity replaces confusion, and we enter a state of flow.

Level 20 – Shame

This is the lowest rung of human consciousness. At this level, we hold narrow, rigid beliefs about ourselves and the world. Our emotional landscape becomes difficult to navigate. We strive to function like emotionless machines, ashamed of the feelings we’ve suppressed or lost touch with. When shame does surface, we often lash out and project it onto others. “Shame on you,” we might say—mirroring what we carry inside.

If we were taught that being “good” means neglecting our own needs, then meeting those needs feels “bad,” and we learn to equate that with rejection or punishment. Shame steps in when we internalize these ideas. It can make us afraid to set boundaries or speak truthfully, and that fear begets more shame.

From this point, our beliefs, opinions, and actions often turn self-sabotaging. We violate our own boundaries and others’. Shame keeps us acting rather than feeling, and we disconnect from our emotional lives. We begin to see ourselves as flawed, broken, and unworthy—because we treat ourselves that way.

Below level 200, a negative spiral of resistance can drag us into this state. Unless we become conscious of that pattern, we descend automatically. Breaking free requires presence and self-compassion: feeling instead of avoiding. Practices like body scans and yoga help reconnect us with our physical and emotional selves. Shame is the opposite of self-love, just as allowing is the opposite of resistance.

Ironically, the pursuit of self-improvement can become another form of resistance. We try to fix ourselves instead of accepting the pain that fuels our shame. This isn’t a call to embrace self-hatred—it’s an invitation to sit with what lies beneath it. When we operate at this level, the mind becomes so full that it filters out reality. We don’t truly see life anymore. Our thoughts dominate our perception, and those thoughts are narrow, repetitive, and often harsh.

Those stuck in shame may even attack those who try to help, because change feels too threatening to the ego. Shame often walks hand in hand with loneliness—a sense of deep disconnection not just from others, but from ourselves. In my experience, loneliness is a cry from the inner self, a signal that we’ve abandoned parts of our being. These parts—fragmented and disowned—are still calling for wholeness.

Level 30 – Guilt

At this level, life feels punishing. You may see yourself as a sinner, unworthy of forgiveness or joy. Guilt convinces you that you must suffer as penance. You become unable to accept anything kind or beautiful, because deep down, you believe you don’t deserve it.

Guilt shows up frequently in collective thought. As we grow more aware of our environmental impact, we may unconsciously try to “buy” our way out of guilt. Historically, the church introduced the idea of original sin. Today, we’re encouraged to offset guilt through concepts like carbon taxes or personal consumption budgets. These efforts can unintentionally widen the gap between rich and poor, framing poverty as a form of virtue.

To move beyond guilt, we need to face it directly. Rather than moralizing, we have to feel it and eventually forgive ourselves. Guilt loses its grip the moment we meet it with compassion. If you’re someone who supports others working through guilt, be ready for blame or projection. Stay grounded—and wait for a true invitation to help.

Level 50 – Apathy

Apathy is the realm of hopelessness. Here, life feels meaningless, and you identify as a victim. You’re caught in duality—desperately trying to feel one side while suppressing the other. Many flee toward the light, denying their inner darkness. Yet paradoxically, the more they chase the light, the dimmer it becomes. Life shrinks into something narrow and colorless. At this level, there’s little strength to face inner pain, and the darkness remains unconscious.

Those in recovery often crave trust, but resist the fear that must first be felt—two sides of the same coin. This is true for individuals with chronic conditions like ME/CFS, who may linger in apathy for years, quietly hoping for things to change. They rarely do. This is depression’s domain. Ask yourself: Which side of the coin are you yearning for? And what side must be felt first?

To the ego, apathy feels safe. Healing, on the other hand, demands discomfort. Subconsciously, we resist the deep work required to move forward, welcoming excuses with open arms: “It’s not my fault—something came up.” “I can’t meditate.” “I can’t limit screen time.”

These justifications prevent us from engaging in habits we already know are helpful. But doubt sets in: How can I be sure these efforts will work? Maybe there’s still a magic pill. Maybe science will save us. In today’s world, pharmaceuticals are often used to dull the ache of unhappiness—spiritually numbing us rather than addressing root causes.

Level 75 – Grief

This level introduces deep sadness, often following the loss of someone—or something—important, like your health. Life still feels tragic, but there’s now a shift: you’re emerging from numbness. Regret may rise. This is the call to embrace your grief, not resist it.

Be gentle. Feel it in the body. Crying can loosen pain that’s been buried for years. Comfort your inner child. You may feel sadness without fully identifying it as your own. Let the waves come. Tears may drain you—but bottling them up takes a deeper toll. Go at your own pace. Treat yourself kindly.

Level 100 – Fear

At this level, the world appears threatening. Trust is absent—you don’t feel safe, and everyone seems suspect. Fear can linger for years, especially if you’ve endured experiences like abuse or betrayal. Anxiety becomes chronic as you mentally strategize how to block or outrun fear. But running from it only compounds the problem. We’ve learned to fear our own emotions, and repression often manifests physically over time.

Fear is society’s engine. It fuels education, employment, public policy, health care, agriculture, and environmental neglect. Entire systems are rooted in it. In module 12, there’s a meditation that invites you to explore fear through visualizing worst-case scenarios. By consciously experiencing what we resist most, we dissolve its grip. Otherwise, the energy we spend avoiding fear only draws it closer. Let yourself feel it—it’s okay if fear is present.

Suppressing fear—or shame—gives us the false sense that we’ve conquered them. But they don’t vanish. They simply wait until we’re safe enough for them to return. And return they will, often disguised as physical ailments. The same is true for anger.

Fear typically activates flight—an urge to escape. But if you revisit the triggering memory through healing methods like EMDR, you can process the fear rather than avoid it. Of course, even that idea might feel scary.

When we’re trapped and unable to flee, the memory becomes frozen in our nervous system. This unresolved trauma leaves us stuck in the freeze response. We default to coping mechanisms, mirroring a world that’s doing the same thing.

For many, fear is familiar—and therefore comfortable. Change, though deeply longed for, often feels too risky. Staying where we are seems safer.

Level 125 – Desire

Desire is fueled by craving—addiction to power, money, approval, fame, products, and even image. At this level, we wear masks, trying to appear opposite to how we truly feel. We sell a version of ourselves, marketing the persona instead of showing the real human underneath. We act from a place of exhaustion and disappointment, desperate to make life feel better after the hardships of the lower levels.

But desire isn’t the same as setting healthy goals. It’s often rooted in primitive and unmet needs. The pursuit of more—status, sex, wealth—doesn’t free us from internal emptiness. These distractions appear liberating, but only as long as we stay constantly occupied. Eventually, they turn into addictions.

How long can you keep numbing yourself?

Pause. Breathe. Feel what’s present. Be unconditionally yourself. What do you really need? Perhaps it’s healthier boundaries. Maybe there’s hidden anger beneath all the wanting.

Many say, “You can’t heal from a place of desire.” That’s because desire can be obsessive—driven, impatient, and urgent. But real healing moves differently. It flows. It allows. It’s softer, quieter. Yet desire whispers promises: the pill, the program, the magic cure. And many pour their savings into that chase.

Eventually, frustration builds. When you realize nothing has “worked,” you may feel furious. And honestly, you have every right to.

Level 150 – Anger

Here, the pain turns outward. Anger and frustration erupt—at the world, at others, at yourself. Often, this anger is projected. Who do you tend to blame? Who becomes the outlet for your rage?

People at this level often attract others living in fear. A sense of divine vengeance may shape their worldview. Yet anger, when acknowledged consciously, can be empowering. It helps establish boundaries and reclaim self-respect.

Suppressed anger, however, gets turned inward. It can manifest as vague, unexplained symptoms. Shame and fear often mask our anger. But this emotion is natural. It’s vital. Without it, we can’t fully step into our own lives.

Healing requires learning how to release anger constructively. As we integrate it, physical tension may release. Our eyes might even look different—stronger, clearer.

Anger, like disgust, protects something vulnerable. Have you felt disgust before? What might it have been trying to defend?

This emotion activates the fight response. When it’s stifled—especially in childhood—it freezes within the nervous system. The memory gets tucked away, incomplete. Breathing exercises, somatic work, and trauma-informed therapy can help unearth this anger and complete the energetic loop.

And when you reconnect with that fire… don’t turn it toward yourself. Or your therapist. It’s okay to feel it, but let it move through you, not against others. That’s the inner work.

Level 175 – Pride

Pride feels good—finally. But it’s fragile, because it’s built on outside validation. That’s why it often paves the way to nationalism, superiority, even conflict. At this level, we identify so strongly with our ideas and personas that any challenge feels threatening. Deep down, we may harbor indifference or feel quietly superior to others.

Sometimes pride hides in more subtle places—in our helpfulness, our activism, our self-image. Many of our “good” behaviors are tinted with subtle manipulation or ego gratification. Carl Jung called this the shadow: the parts of ourselves we’d rather not see.

Up to this point, we aren’t truly relating to other people—we’re seeing projections. Others become tools, threats, or reflections of our own story.

The real turning point comes when we can admit these truths to ourselves—and to those closest to us. That honesty relieves the tension. Sometimes arrogance shields unresolved feelings of inferiority. But honesty has the power to set us free. It also filters relationships: those who aren’t aligned fall away, while those who resonate are drawn closer.

Many people reside in this level right now. Pride provides momentum and certainty—until it becomes exhausting. Eventually, people tire of maintaining the illusion, especially when life throws challenges that the ego can’t explain away.

There’s a dark streak in every human. Even people-pleasing can be rooted in self-interest. Our inner child still attempts to secure safety by controlling the dynamics around them.

But once we admit the truth—that pride is a mask—we can begin to rest. Not in pretense, but in being. And what we need for that is courage—the courage to be honest with ourselves.

Leaving the lower levels of consciousness

Level 200 – Courage

This is the turning point. After recognizing that pride is fragile and externally driven, we begin to see life more calmly. We no longer define our worth by our actions. To our surprise, others may start accepting—even appreciating—our flaws. These imperfections, once rooted in illusion and unworthiness, become a doorway to authenticity.

We start to explore our inner world with curiosity rather than judgment. Judging others becomes less frequent. Occasionally, we open up to new ideas and different emotional landscapes. Life grows more interesting, and for the first time, we feel empowered to shape it. This budding confidence often expresses itself through personal growth—though we might still call it “skill building” or “career advancement.”

Still, caution is needed. Not all personal development is rooted in truth. There’s a delicate line between self-improvement and self-acceptance. Language can deceive us—meanings shift, and words mask motivations. Even now, we may still trick ourselves.

It takes real strength to look within without becoming consumed by unconscious patterns. At this level, we begin to notice those patterns. Trauma and coping mechanisms often share a core wound: a lack of unconditional love. To explore our behavior without shame, we must feel safe, loved, and accepted—either by others or within ourselves.

Mistakes no longer feel like existential threats. We begin to hear and believe the words: “You are okay just as you are.” Welcome to the human experience.

According to Hawkins, the global collective recently reached this level. When we arrive here, life gently pushes us toward more awareness. But old negativity may resurface, pulling us back. That’s okay. Just keep choosing courage over coping. Keep questioning. Keep feeling.

Level 250 – Neutrality

Neutrality is a breath of relief. Life softens. We adopt a “live and let live” attitude. For the first time, we feel safe enough to relax, to pause, to let things unfold naturally. There’s no longer a need to overexert or exhaust ourselves.

For those living with chronic symptoms or unwanted situations, this is a powerful step: becoming neutral toward discomfort, resting without resistance. We stop craving one side of an experience while rejecting the other. Duality loses its grip.

Life flows more organically. Instead of blindly following to-do lists, we tune into intuitive impulses. But first, rest. Let neutrality dissolve stress. From this grounded place, you’ll realize you don’t have to do much to be okay. Creation replaces reaction. What rises from that stillness isn’t a plan or identity—it’s something deeper and more true.

Level 310 – Willingness

Once we feel safe and steady, we become energized. There’s a shift from surviving to engaging. Now, we act from inspiration, not pressure. Getting by isn’t enough—we begin to give our best effort, not out of perfectionism, but because it feels good to care.

Those at this level are productive, purposeful, and less inclined to complain. We feel drawn toward work that makes life—even slightly—better, not just for ourselves, but for others too.

Level 350 – Acceptance

This is where real power awakens. After discovering what we’re capable of, we begin aligning our talents with what truly matters to us. We leave behind superficial goals and pursue meaning.

At this level, we become proactive. Life is no longer happening to us—we’re participating. “Acceptance” means embracing our role and responsibilities with clarity. It often marks a time of transitions: a new career, a deepened relationship, or a reimagined worldview.

Getting here often requires a leap of faith. But on the other side of that jump is a deeper sense of alignment and purpose.

Level 400 – Reason

Now the mind shines. We begin to understand life intellectually—its mechanics, its patterns, its logic. Concepts click. Insights emerge. We see connections clearly.

But here’s the catch: we can’t live life fully from the mind. Eventually, we realize that truth isn’t found in ideas or symbols. We can’t think our way into freedom. We have to live it.

Reason is a powerful tool, but it must serve something greater. We’ve relied on it to rise through the lower levels. Now, it’s time to go beyond. Time to release the intellect’s need for control and enter a space where life unfolds beyond words.

The higher levels of consciousness and transforming yourself

Level 500 – Love

Most people misinterpret this level of consciousness because they haven’t truly experienced it. What we often call “love” is emotional intensity—a cocktail of desire, possession, attachment, addiction, attraction, and novelty. But these versions of love easily shift into fear or hatred. That’s because they’re still bound by ego and condition.

At this level, however, love becomes transcendent. It marks a profound shift: the beginning of liberation from the mind. The thinking mind softens its grip, giving way to presence. We no longer live life from the center of me, but as an instrument of love expressing itself in the world.

This state might feel familiar from deep meditation—a sense of wholeness, contentment, and quiet joy. Life becomes less about what we can get and more about what we can give. Compassion flows naturally. Love becomes inclusive, unpositioned, and unconditional. It erases the illusion of scarcity. For the first time, we truly see others. We listen. We understand.

Simplicity returns. We realize we need far less than we thought. And in this softness, even illness can begin to shift. Healing becomes possible, not because we fight, but because we allow.

Level 540 – Joy

As love deepens and becomes unconditional, it births a stable inner joy—one untouched by circumstance. This joy has no dependency on achievements, others’ approval, or life going our way.

It lives inside us.

At this level, even life’s challenges begin to feel meaningful. We experience a deep playfulness that we knew instinctively as children. The ego’s constant storytelling fades. Life becomes a verb—an unfolding dance. We are no longer the doer or the thinker, but the being.

We transcend not by effort, but by presence.

This isn’t a reward for finishing your checklist—it’s the opposite. Being is the purpose. We were meant to live from this state all along.

Level 600 – Peace

At this stage, something radical happens: we stop seeking. The chase for happiness dissolves, revealing what was always present underneath—a vast, grounded peace.

The attachment to thoughts, to the body, and even to identity begins to dissolve. The mind is seen for what it is: a dream. And from that clarity arises the question, “Who am I?”

But there’s no answer.

Here, the thinker realizes that any conclusion is false. So we surrender. And in that surrender, the mind—ever clever—may still cling to concepts like “I don’t exist” or “I’ve never done anything.” This is the realm of Advaita: non-doership, the illusion of self, and the futility of spiritual striving.

While it can sound cold or nihilistic, peace at this level is profoundly beautiful. Only the ego finds it negative—because it threatens everything the ego holds dear. In truth, these teachings are often bold, deeply loving, and paradoxically freeing.

When we fall out of this state, we may try to explain it—to translate peace into thoughts. But this only pulls us back into lower levels. Peace doesn’t need to be described. It asks to be felt. So sink into it. Let it hold you.

Level 700+ – Enlightenment

At this point, the “self” dissolves.

Paradoxically, others may experience this person as more uniquely themselves than ever. That’s because there’s no longer resistance. No more hiding behind personality, wounds, or roles. Just pure being.

Enlightenment isn’t becoming superhuman—it’s finally being fully human, free from the tyranny of self-concept. The body and mind become tools of expression, not cages of identity.

There’s no boundary between self and world. Everything happens within the awareness that you are. Unity isn’t a belief—it’s a direct realization. Surrender becomes total. Everything is accepted. Everything flows.

Here, peace and silence eclipse religion and philosophy. The need to explain fades. There’s no observer and observed—just pure presence. Even sleep becomes permeated by awareness. Time dissolves. Life is now one single, eternal moment.

This state doesn’t demand—it gives. The connection to source generates energy. Some speak of living on prana, of needing less food or sleep. The body softens, sometimes even appearing younger.

And in that stillness, there’s the realization: Everything has always been perfect.

Nothing needs to change. Even the words we use here are inadequate. They point, but they don’t capture. And the invitation isn’t to chase this level—but to surrender to all of them. Every thought we’ve ever held created a barrier between us and life. They served us… until they didn’t.

Now, it’s time to let them go.