Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior

“The individual human mind is like a computer terminal connected to a giant database. The database is human consciousness itself.”

In his Original Preface, Hawkins calls this the essential message of his work. Although he uses concepts from physics and nonlinear dynamics to support his ideas, his central thesis is quite simple: Human consciousness is universal and can be tapped by anyone, introducing his theme of The Divinity of Consciousness.

“By giving confirmation of spiritual Reality as the essence of human life, and Divinity as the source of consciousness, the work reveals every aspect of human experience to be an expression of, and a pathway to, the Ultimate.”

The New Foreword by religious studies professor Fran Grace states one of Hawkins’s major themes: The source of all consciousness is divine, reflecting The Divinity of Consciousness. Her allusion to “every aspect of human experience” ties into Hawkins’s “Map of Consciousness,” which accounts for every human state and emotion from the basest feelings to enlightenment.

“Society constantly expends its efforts to correct effects instead of causes, which is one reason why the evolution of human consciousness proceeds so slowly.”

Hawkins believes that causes and effects occur simultaneously in the universe as patterns, rather than the sequences individuals perceive as a result of their limited understanding, invoking The Illusions of Duality and Causality. Effects are illusory, so attempts to correct them fail. Furthermore, attempts to correct social ills often take the form of force—ego-driven coercion—rather than power, which influences through integrity and truthfulness.

“With repeated testing—using either individuals or groups—a consistent scale emerged, which correlates well with human experience, history, and common opinion, as well as the findings of psychology, sociology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, medicine, and the famous Great Chain of Being.”

Hawkins claims that his method of calibrating the energy levels of emotions to create a Map of Consciousness confirms the wisdom of centuries of spiritual seekers and the conclusions of scientific and psychological studies. His invocation of broad categories, such as “human experience, history, and common opinion,” and entire disciplines, “psychology, sociology […] medicine” is meant to imbue his ideas with authority without having to provide specific examples of how, exactly, all of these broad and various fields prove the validity of his theories. The “Great Chain of Being” was a medieval construct that viewed all things in a hierarchy, with inanimate objects at the bottom and God at the top.

“This is the balance point between weak and strong attractors, between negative and positive influence, and between truth and falsehood.”

Hawkins claims that he found two critical divisions in the levels within his Map of Consciousness, using “weak” and “strong” attractors (See: Index of Terms). The first was level 200, which correlates with Courage and is the point at which attitudes, thoughts, feelings, associations, entities, or historical figures shift from making a person “go weak” in kinesiologic testing to making them “go strong.” The other turning point is level 500, at which Love emerges as a central motivating force.

“It is not life’s events, but how one reacts to them and the attitude that one has about them, which determine whether the events have a positive or negative effect on one’s life, whether they are experienced as opportunity or as stress.”

This is a point to which Hawkins returns frequently: An individual’s perceptual bias creates false concepts, including the idea that problems and stressors arise from within. In fact, it is a person’s response to any issue that is the “truth” of a situation and determines the effect it will have on them. Hawkins’s ideas tend to be, as here, very individualistic in terms of focus, ignoring or denying any wider socioeconomic or systemic factors that may cause stress for individuals, with Hawkins suggesting that individuals have the power to forgo stress through having an enlightened attitude alone.

“Motivation proceeds from meaning, and meaning, in turn, is an expression of context.”

Hawkins explains that the energy field of most people will only increase by five points during their lifetime by the way in which their approach to life limits their achievement. This approach is already in effect at birth, and while advancing beyond it is possible, higher levels can be attained through spiritual work.

“The balance of nature dictates that to artificially acquire that state without having earned it creates a debt, and the negative imbalance results in negative consequences.”

Hawkins devotes a great deal of attention to the problem of drugs and alcohol dependency. He says that when people achieve artificial “highs,” they attain a higher state of awareness that feels better than the one at which they usually live. However, because they have not earned this higher state through hard spiritual work, they create an imbalance, with the negative consequence of dependency. Hawkins does not address substance misuse disorder as a symptom of trauma or as a medical issue, instead presenting it as a matter of lack of enlightenment or true higher consciousness, which may be offensive to some readers.

“On examination, we will see that power arises from meaning. It has to do with motive, and it has to do with principle.”

A key factor in the distinction between Power Versus Force is intent. Power is associated with whatever supports the significance and nobility of human life. In contrast, force has the intent to dominate and to take away life and energy.

“Several recently defined concepts have relevance in understanding the nature of power. One is physicist David Bohm’s theory, which states that there is both a visible and an invisible universe […] An ‘enfolded’ universe runs parallel to the visible, ‘unfolded’ universe, which is itself merely a manifestation of that enfolded, invisible universe.”

Bohm pictured the universe as an infinite sea of space and energy. Within this sea, matter could be “unfolded” and “enfolded.” The unfolded universe is the matter that humans can usually see. The enfolded universe is multidimensional and both enfolds and unfolds in a constantly flowing movement. To Hawkins, the enfolded universe is connected with human consciousness. As an example, the pattern of an architect’s idea, which is invisible, can manifest as a visible creation: A building.

“What science has realized is what mystics have claimed throughout the centuries: that the universe is indeed coherent, unified, and organized around unifying patterns.”

Hawkins draws on concepts from chaos theory, which finds hidden patterns within seemingly random fields of data, to argue that what humans perceive as sequences of events are actually patterns, which he refers to as ABC. Hawkins’s praise for mystics reflects his belief in The Divinity of Consciousness, and what he regards as the unity of the universe is further evidence, in his view, of this divine force.

“Everything in the universe is connected with everything else.”

Hawkins argues that because everything in the universe is connected with everything else, the decision of one person affects all people. This is possible because all things, including words, deeds, and intentions, give off an energy pattern that remains forever. People must accept responsibility for their thoughts and actions, since whatever they think and do is accountable to the universe.

“The story of Bill W. is typical of individuals who have been channels of great power: the principles they convey in a brief career reorder the lives of millions over long periods of time.”

Bill W., the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, achieved sobriety after experiencing the sense of an infinite Presence. He wanted to help others to achieve sobriety as well but realized that he had to first convince them to overcome their denial, the first step in any 12-step program such as AA. Hawkins goes on to compare the influence of Bill W. to that of powerful teachers such as Jesus Christ. He believes that the principles underlying their teachings calibrate at very high levels, and the power of the principles are undiminished over time.

“Alignment with high-energy attractor patterns results in health; alignment with weak ones results in disease. This syndrome is specific and predictable.”

Hawkins advances certain theories about disease that are controversial and largely unsubstantiated by medical research. He argues that the nervous system can tell which patterns support life and which ones threaten it. High-power attractor energy fields release brain endorphins and strengthen the organs. Adrenaline, released in times of stress through encounters with low-power energy fields, suppresses immune responses. Over time, the suppression of immune responses will manifest in the body as disease. He believes that disease can be reversed by changing thought patterns and habitual responses.

“Causality occurs as simultaneity rather than as sequence; synchronicity is the term used by Dr. Jung to explain this phenomenon in human experience.”

Hawkins draws on the work of psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who posited a collective unconscious that resides in the minds of all humans, to develop his theory that consciousness is like a huge database of human awareness and experience. It is possible to “ask” this database for answers because causes and effects are simultaneous in the universe, existing within an attractor field that includes both events. It is only the limitation of human perception that creates the illusion of a sequence of events, reflecting The Illusions of Duality and Causality.

“Existence without form is not really imaginable, yet at the same time it is the ultimate reality.”

In the realm of pure consciousness, which can only be attained by mystics at consciousness levels of 600 and above, form no longer exists. The created world is continuous, and there is no separation between what is known and the knower. The “Maker” (elsewhere called God, Deity, and other names for the divine) stands beyond both, and yet is also one with both.

“In fact, this is a holographic universe.”

Hawkins provides the example of a hologram to explain the nature of the universe. When a person views a hologram, their point of view is defined by the position from which they view the image. He argues that the world is like a set of holograms in “limitless dimensions” made up of events occurring synchronously. Hawkins believes that what humans consider to be thoughts have merely been borrowed from the great database of consciousness.

“In this state, the personal self becomes the Infinite Self.”

Hawkins makes a distinction between self and Self. With a lowercase s, self is the physical body that an unenlightened individual thinks of as “I.” With a capital s, Self (also called Infinite Self or One Self) is the state reached in enlightenment. All experience exists simultaneously and is divine, reflecting The Divinity of Consciousness.

“Within this potential, the Unmanifest becomes Manifest as the Avatar—the Christ, the Buddha, the Great Teacher, the Great Guru—whose energy field calibrates at 1,000.”

Hawkins maintains throughout the text that the most enlightened beings who ever lived are those who are given the title “Lord”: Christ, the Buddha, and Krishna. He refers to them as Avatars who transmit enlightenment to the consciousness of humankind. With energy fields that calibrate at 1,000, they set up powerful attractor patterns.

“It is a not uncommon experience for students to enter into such a sublime state when in the presence of teachers whose energy fields calibrate at 550 and over.”

Hawkins gives the term “entrainment” to the process by which a person can be drawn into a higher or lower level of consciousness (See: Index of Terms). He believes that a student in the presence of a highly conscious teacher can briefly enter a similar advanced stage. At the same time, a person who lingers too long in lower levels of consciousness can become entrained in them. Listening to violent music, according to Hawkins, can have the latter effect.

“Rationality, the great liberator that has freed us from the demands of our lower natures, is also a stern warden, denying our escape to the planes above and beyond intellect.”

Reason can be a kind of ceiling in the process of spiritual evolution. While many great thinkers, including Descartes, Newton, and Einstein, calibrate at 499—according to Hawkins—they don’t break through to level 500, Love. Hawkins says this is because intellectual brilliance can quickly become tainted by vanity.

“Cynical though it may at first sound, we must admit that for every day operational purposes, truth is whatever is subjectively convincing at one’s current level of perception.”

Hawkins’s statement about truth applies to various areas within consciousness studies. He posits that it explains why people at lower levels of consciousness can accept illogical ideas. These include the belief in the “justice” of revenge that fuels some seemingly unending wars. It also explains why the level of truth in religions founded on pure principles that originally calibrated as high as 1,000 can drop significantly over the centuries. Those religions most concerned with worldly affairs see the most significant decline in their level of truth, reflecting the issue of Power Versus Force.

“Although only 15 percent of the world’s population is above the critical consciousness level of 200, the collective power of that 15 percent has the weight to counterbalance the negativity of the remaining 85 percent of the world’s population.”

Hawkins argues that the reason why the 15% of the population above level 200 can outweigh the negativity of the remaining 85% is that the scale proceeds in a logarithmic pattern. Each point on the scale represents a level 10 times higher than the one below it. Thoughts have energy, and loving thoughts have far more energy than negative ones. He argues that the way to enhance one’s power is by increasing one’s integrity, understanding, and ability for compassion.