It accepts progress, change, and
evolution of consciousness with neither resistance nor anticipation but
instead floats along the river o f life by decision and acceptance rather
than by what could be misperceived as passivity or indif ference. T ranscending Neutrality . The peace and c alm of Neutrality are a welcome relief to those w ho have
transcended the lower levels and survived their inner anguish. This might
be viewed as a recuperative level for the spirit/soul that has struggled out
of the swamps of despair , depression, anguish, guilt, fear , and frantic
searching for gain, approval, an d earthly riches, only to have them turn
into ash es. Instead of regret, Neutrality looks at the past as inf ormative
and ruefully educational. Many people elect to spend this lifetime at this
level of recuperation and inner healing. While Neutrality is subjectively a very favorable state as compared to
those be low it, it is not yet an expression of the joy and rad iance of
Divinity or that of love or comp assion as an upliftment to life. Neutral is
neither destructive to life nor resistant, but neither is it an active
contributor . It serves life by non resistive participation and decli nes to be
a deterrent. This level is essentially silent, neither adding to nor
detracting from the panorama of life. In N eutrality , one is grateful to have escaped the inner house o f mirrors
by th e p rocess o f letting go and  surrendering. There is freedom from the
drivenness of ‘have to’ s’ or ‘m ust’ s’. It is no longer necessary to be a
‘winner ’, or ‘successful’, or to acquire approval or acceptance. It is not
necessary to be ‘right’, nor doe s one feel compelled to ‘do something’
about the world’ s problems. Eventually , however , because of alignment
with spiritual principles, consciousness again evolves by virtue ofinspiration, which seeks agreem ent by the will. The inner balance then
moves from neutral to the more positive side of the scale as a
consequence of intention that is supported by faith and the upliftment of
positive purpose. Because of nonresistance, the spiritual ener gy of lovingness again stirs
the sou l, which now seeks ever higher levels of awareness and
expression. The potentiality for the development of unconditional love
and compassion attracts an increasing appreciation of beauty and
spiritual progres s as a consequence of worship and prayer . Thus, by
nonresistance, th e door is open ed for the Grace of Divine ener gy that
propels the evolution of cons ciousness by which the personal will
becomes af firm ative and is drawn to Divinity by attraction and the
progressive inne r warmth of the Radiance of Divine Love it self. The
activation of spiritual potentiality is a consequence of nonresistance,
which is  like the flower that ope ns and responds to the warmth of the sun
by virtue of its intrinsic qualities imbued by Creation itself. CHAPTER 1 1. W illingness. (Calibration Level 310). Intr oduction. This ver y positi ve level of ener gy may be seen as the gateway to the
higher levels of awareness. Whereas jobs, for instance, are performed
adequately at the Neutral level, at the level of W illingness, work is done
well and  success  is common in all endeavors. Growth is rapid here; these
are the people c hosen for advancement. W illingness implies that one has
overcome inner  resistance to life and is committed to participation. Below l evel 200 , people tend t o be close-minded, but by lev el 310, a
great opening occurs. At this l evel people become genuinely friendly ,
and social and economic successes seem to follow automatically . The
willing are not troubled by unem ployment; they will take any job when
they hav e to, or create a career ,  or become self-employed. They do not
feel demeaned by service jobs or by starting ‘at the bottom’. They are
helpful to others and tend to volunteer , contributing to the good of
society . They are also willing to  face inner issues and do not ha ve major
learning blocks. At this level, se lf-esteem is high and reinforced by positive feedback
from society in the forms of recognition, appreciation, and reward. W illingness is sympathetic and responsive to the needs of others. W illing
people are builders of and contributors to society . W ith their capacity to
bounce back from adversity an d learn from experience, they tend to
become self-correcting. Having let go of  Pride, they are  willing to look at their defects and learn
from ot hers. At the level of W illingness, people become excellent
students and represent a considerable source of power for society . Discussion.Spiritual dedication and ef fort bring unanticipated rewards that confirm
the valid ity of the commitment. The seeming sacrifices turn o ut to be
well wo rth the ef fort. Spiritual gratification is an unsuspected source of
pleasure that brings a greate r sense of well-being, which is the
consequence of an increase in the flow of spiritual ener gy . There is a
greater sense of aliveness and appreciation for life as its quality
progressively improves. The e xperience is subjective, nonlin ear , and
subtle but all pervasive. Confidence and optimism replace doubt,
mistrust, resista nce, and cynicism. Struggle is replaced with e ase, and
life itself becomes innately attractive and pleasing. W ith relinquishm ent of resistance, less ef fort is required to fu nction in
the world. The intrinsic rewa rds of spiritual growth become self-
activating motiv ation that evolves into enthusiasm as a consequence of
the more positive view of self a nd life. There is an attraction to positive
participation in activities that are constructive. Life is enjoyed instead of
resisted and is a ccompanied by  positive anticipation. Motivati on is the
consequence of inspiration instead of the desire for gain. It is found that
surrendering the negative pay-of fs of egocentric positionalities and goals
results in much greater inner rewards. W illingness is cheerful, helpful, and voluntary . It has the extra ener gy
that would otherwise be waste d on resistance, delay , and complaints. W illingness ener gizes fulfilling the needs of others, and thus its social
expression is benevolent and humanitarian. It is also the attitu de of the
‘good Samaritan’ as well as soc ial trust, which, in its social ex pression,
varies from decade to decade. The ene r gy of W illingness is also the level of the Golden Rule: “Do unto
others as you would have others do unto you.” In successful
relationships, this results in a mutuality of partners as helpmates and
companions. This mutuality is the result of alignment with each other ’ s
welfare rather than just the more animal-driven emotional involvement
that ofte n has a fractious downside. W ith mutuality , partners proceed
side by side, w hereas with involvement, the relationship is better
described as ‘entanglement’, with pulling in dif ferent directions for
control. W illingness is supportive rather  than competitive for gain or dominance,
and rela tionships involve servic e to each other ’ s growth and goals ratherthan to just one’ s own. W illingness is therefore harmonious and is
expressed as the ‘win-win’ attitu de instead of the lesser levels that view
life as a ‘win-lose’ dichotomy . T o c ontribute to the welfare an d happiness of others is gratifying, and
leads to the discovery that generosity is its own reward. Some p eople are
so li mited that t hey experience this phenomenon only with their favored
pets, bu t at least that is a start. T rue generosity expects no re ward for
there are  no strings attached. The capacity for W illingness is latent in the
overall populations and invisibly surfaces as a response to major
catastrophes. T rue benevolence does not seek credit nor is it m otivated
by e go i nflation. Many truly charitable people see it as an hon or to be
allowed to serve others and are unaware that it simultaneously sub-serves
the accumulation of karmic merit. W illingness attracts abundance and supportive feedback, not as a result
of seekin g but in response to th at which it is because ‘like goes to like’. Thankfulness is a consequence of a giving attitude, which adds to the
attraction. The true-life story of an acquai ntance named Greta exemplifie s all the
above. S he cam e to the United  States from Ireland with only a limited
grade-school education and no skills and thus sought work as a maid. She found a job as an upstairs maid on the lar ge estate of a very  wealthy
and socially prominent family . Her cheerful willingness and dedication
to the family’ s welfare resulted in her progressive promotion to
housekeeper . She tended to all t he needs of the family , travelin g around
the wor ld with them in luxurious style. The father of the fa mily had
many in vestments and he occasionally gave Greta a ‘tip’ at dinnertime
about the stock market. Peculiarly enough, Greta’ s stocks always
skyrocketed. As time went on, his occasional recommendations resulted
in the expansion  of Greta’ s por tfolio, with its relatively frequent stock
splits. Eventually , she traded a block of stocks for some Manhattan (New Y ork)
real esta te and subsequently became a millionaire in her own right. Despite her now considerable wealth, Greta continued with her
dedication to the family as they grew up, had their ‘coming out ’ parties,
got married, etc. One day she rec eived a call fro m a distant uncle who was visiting from
Ireland. He called a number of f amily members to meet with him in New
Y ork Ci ty , which was a bit of a trip, but Greta was the only one who
agreed to do so. She met him for  lunch, and then he went back to  Ireland. A few years later , he died and left an enormous estate (worth many
millions of dollars) to Greta out of gratitude for her friendliness. Greta co ntinued on as the family  housekeeper and was a multimillionaire
many tim es ove r by the time she finally died. Her funeral was attended
by m any hundreds of people whom she had befriended over the years. In
her w ill, she left  a great deal to charity , along with enough to make all of
her children and relatives extremely wealthy also. Apropos of Greta’ s
story , a recent remark by ano ther acquaintance said, “Y ou know , a
million dollars just doesn’ t go very far anymore.” 
W illingness (cal.310) stands in contrast to ‘do-gooderism’(cal.190),
which seeks control and imposition of presumptive values on others. Ego Dynamics of W illingness. By spiritual alignment and dedication, the level of spiritual ener gy rises
and strongly activates the right-brain chemistry and physiology (as per
the char t on Brain Function). Th is alters perception and releases anabolic
neurotransmitters and endorphins in the brain. The world is therefore
seen as more b enign, friendly , and supportive. Fulfillment of goals is
facilitated by virtue of their i nternalization rather than projection to
external conditio ns. Thus, gain is internalized and valued as successful
internal growth and the gratification of reaching developmental goals. Benign intention  motivates actions and decisions that lead to choosing
positive options . Integrity of intention is concordant with a benign
conscience and results in self-a pproval and healthy self-esteem  that is
independent of the opinions of others or external gains. This results in
autonomy and the gratification  that occurs through the fulfillment of
inner potentials. A concomitance to spiritual alignment is the inner ur ge to grow and seek
perfection, which becomes an inner way of life. Spiritual p erfection
becomes an ‘egoideal’ that influences by attraction rather than
promotion. As a  con sequence to the relinquishment of the narcissistic ego, there is a
reduction of distortions of perception that are the result of self-seeking
positionalities. It is easier to a ccept the imperfections of humanness,
which, a t the level of Pride, wou ld have been handled with ange r , denial,
guilt, or projected externally . W ith a benign conscience, mistakes and
errors ca n be acknowledged and corrected without defensivenes s or loss
of self-e steem. T here is a conco mitant increase in the capacity for humor
and the ability to laugh at oneself and human foibles (i.e., “ T o err is
human, to for give divine”). The level of W illingness is ef fective in the world because it is not
impeded by resistance, and when coupled with dedication, it is capable
of b reaking through the inner barriers of the belief system of “I can’ t” to
“I ca n.” Other mottoes are “Just put your head down, keep goin g, and go
for it,” or “When the going get s tough, the tough get going,” or “W alk
straight ahead, no matter what ,” or “Create your own opportunities.”
Central to all th ese mottoes and many philosophies is the willingness to
accept personal responsibility , accountability , and the refusal to place
blame or responsibility externally . T ranscending the Level of W illingness. Success at level 310 results in inner conviction of capability and
dependability t hat af firms personal worth. The resultant o ptimism
encourages furth er growth and validation of the practical as well as the
subjective value of alignment with the pursuit of spiritual trut h and its
principles. The increase of inner  strength confirms the operational reality
of sp iritual tenets, for by their fruits are their truths revealed. Ef fective
attitudes and actions are self-rewarding and reinforcing. Suc cessfully
transcending prior limitations encourages further spiritual exploration
and reinforcement of basic principles. The limitation of this level is the focus on the personality and the
identification wi th it as the self, whereas in reality , the growth is due to
the radia nce of the Self. It is by  virtue of the progressive illumi nation of
the Self that th e willingness to surrender limitation is ener gized. The
illusion is that the personal ‘I’ is due credit. Thus, the belief that the
basic reality is the personal self is yet to be transcended. The positive
momentum of W illingness, however , leads fairly easily to its
transcendence. W illingness sees its principle tenets and convict ions as apropelling force  as though the source lies within. Thus, the belief is that
the personal self is the cause of success. The prim ary limitation is the ide ntification of the source of one’ s life as a
separate personality that becomes identified as volition itself. The
understanding yet to be realized is that everything happens as a
consequence of potentiality’ s manifesting as actuality when c onditions
are appr opriate, and that the will and intention are the trigger but not the
primary cause of this evolutionary stage. The spiritual practice of selfless service is classically termed ‘karma
yoga’, which, when combined with prayer and devotion, is
transformative. It was the pathway of Mahatma Gandhi. W illingness supports intention and facilitates the purification process of
spiritual evolution, which often requires the willingness to face inner
discomfort for the sake of reach ing a higher goal. W illingness s ummons
forth the extra en er gy required for the ef fort of overcoming obst acles and
resistances. It also requires com mitment to periods of endurance to reach
the higher goal. It includes a positive attitude toward the pr ocess of
learning itself and the acquisitio n of necessary spiritual information and
commitment. W illingness is a positive attitude as contrasted with the
attitude of willfulness, which is a form of resistance. Surrender of
positionalities i s a consequence of willingness and is therefore an
important quality of serious inner spiritual endeavor . CHAPTER 12. Acceptance. (Calibration Level 350). Intr oduction. At t his level of awareness, a major transformation takes place  with the
understanding that oneself is the source and creator of the experience of
one’ s lif e. T aking such responsibility is distinctive at this degree of
evolution, chara cterized by the capacity to live harmoniously with the
forces of life. Below c onsciousness level 200,  there is the tendency to see one self as a
victim at the me rcy of life. Thi s stems from a belief that the source of
one’ s happiness  or the cause of one’ s problems is ‘out there’. The
enormous jump  of taking back  one’ s own power is complete d at this
level with the re alization that the source of happiness is within  oneself. At th is m ore evo lved stage, nothing ‘out there’ has the capacity to make
one happy , and love is not som ething that is given or taken away by
another but is created from within. Acceptance is not to be confused with passivity , which is a sym ptom of
apathy . This form of acceptance allows engagement in life on life’ s own
terms, without trying to make it conform to an agenda. W ith Ac ceptance,
there is  emotional calm, and perception is widened as denial is
transcended. One now sees things with less distortion or
misinterpretation, and the context of experience is expanded so that one
is capable of ‘se eing the whole p icture’. Acceptance essentially has to do
with balance, proportion, and appropriateness. The individual at the level of Acceptance is less interested in
judgmentalism and instead is dedicated to resolving issues and finding
out wha t to do about problems. T ough jobs do not cause disco mfort or
dismay . Long-term goals take precedence over short-term ones; self-
discipline and mastery are prominent. The leve l of Acceptance is not p olarized by conflict or opposition; it sees
that other people have equal rig hts and therefore honors equality . While
lower levels are characterized by rigidity , at this level social plurality
begins to emer ge as a form of  resolution of problems. Therefore, this
level is free of extremes of discrimination or intolerance. There is an
awareness that equality does not preclude diversity . Acceptance includes
rather than rejects. Discussion. Consciousness l evels below 350 reflect the domination of perception by
emotionalized positions and presumed values. At levels below  200, the
emotions are harsh, destructiv e, and adversarial, and thus prone to
conflict and strife. At level 20 0, the emotionality moves away from
negativity to a more positive view of the world and self and becomes
supportive of life. By level 3 10, the emotionality and volition are
predominantly p ositive but still represent emotional drives. At l evel 350,
by acceptance, tranquility replaces disturbing emotions so that the
interference of emotionality fades into the background rather than
determines feelings. At l evel 350, th e narcissistic ego’ s demand to control others is  silenced
by virtu e of the cessation of value-driven judgmentalism and its innate
desire to  promulgate its views. Dualistic mentations diminis h, as do
judgments predicated on percep tions based on the dichotomy of good
and evil. Choice presents itself as freedom of options rather  than as
opposing moralistic categories. At the world’ s level of consciousness, to choose vanilla mean s to see
chocolate as a r ival, an enemy , or a quality to be hated. At level 350,
there is the freed om to see that they are merely alternate options  and one
can choose one flavor withou t demonizing the other . Thus, there is
release from the coercion that ensues from labeling options as severe
degrees of desirability or aversion. Critical to this le vel is the utiliza tion of the previously achieved capacity
for W illingness (which was acquired at level 310). The success  of level
350 is based on the willingness to apply the principle of for giv eness in
order to counterbalance morality and judgmental-ism. Thus,
vindictiveness is  replaced by mercy , which allows for greater inner , aswell as interpersonal and social, harmony and well-being. Error is seen
to b e in need of correction, for giveness, and compassion rather than the
justification for punitive attitudes or actions. The surrender of judgmentalism is resisted by the ego’ s inflationary self-
importance gain ed by viewing itself as righteous and a sovereig n arbiter
of m oral worth. Acceptance doe s not require denial but instead  replaces
it by  realistic perception and rec ognition of its innate limitation. It does
not feel compelled to ‘take a stand’ about what is perceived o r to take
action a nd feel compelled to ‘fix it’. Therefore, Acceptance can see and
accept the limitations of human life and the world of distortions without
losing its balance and equanimity . Acceptance is a result of wisdo m as well as surrendering posit ionalities
in that it accept s that the varied expressions of life are in acc ord with
Divine w ill and that Creation is  thereby multitudinous in its expressions
as ev olution. Acceptance does n ot get caught in the ‘either -or ’ of ‘black
and whit e’ duality and is able to bypass the temptation of judgm entalism. Acceptance sees that perceived qualities are innate to the human
condition and are reflective of individual as well as group karma and
innate to  the species Homo sap iens. Society includes an admixture of
dif ferent levels of evolutionary development, including a panorama of
options and alternate ways to go in the existential ‘house of mirrors’. Acceptance at level 350 is harmless because it does not seek to judge,
control, change, or dominate others. It is not out to ‘save the world’, or to
condemn it in its multitudinous expressions. By surrendering the wish to
change or control others, there  is a reciprocal freedom of not being
controllable by others’ opinions and values, nor is there a desire  or need
for their approval. W ith freedo m from the need of approval by others,
there is release f rom the compulsion to seek and crave social ag reement. This is,  however , in contrast to and dif ferent from passivity or
indif ference, which innately devalue others as a protective maneuver . Ego Dynamics of Acceptance. Acceptance appl ies to the inner as well as the outer world. W ith  spiritual
education, it becomes apparen t that the ego, by virtue of i ts innate
structure, is prone to perceptua l error , and that by the willingness to
surrender a positionality , these distortions of perception are transcended.The maturity of Acceptance incl udes the ability to tranquilly ac cept both
personal and human limitations without loss of self-esteem because
value ju dgments have lost their validity and are now seen to be primarily
arbitrary , perso nalized choices . Thereby , personal opinions become
dethroned and lose their tend ency to dominate by sheer e motional
pressure. The co nscience (superego) th en becomes benign as it h as been
‘defanged’, and therefore it is n o longer necessary to deny it, fear it, or
project it onto t he world. By acceptance instead of moralized denial as
repression, anim al drives are ac cepted as just being part of nature to be
counterbalanced by positive h uman characteristics. By tran scending
judgmentalism, the most primit ive instinctual drives do not have to be
compartmentalized or otherwise distorted and attributed to othe rs. At the
same time, primitive drives sti ll exist and are acknowledged but not
acted upon. Acceptance precludes pretense and allows for realistic
objectivity . At this level, un emotional disc ernment replaces judgmentalism, which
itself is usually highly emotionalized by anger , indignation, or
vituperative den unciation and attack. While it is obvious that there are
many elements and forces in the world that are deleterious to human life
and happ iness, it is not necessary  to hate or demonize them but i nstead to
merely m ake ap propriate allow ances and avoid them. Thus, w hat was
formerly demonized now appears to be more like bad weather , a tidal
wave, o r a force of nature to be reckoned with but not ha ted. Life
survives not by hating lightnin g but by avoiding where it is likely to
strike. Surrendering ju dgmentalism re sults in freedom from pejorative and
hateful emotions that in themselves bring up either conscious or
unconscious guilt or unconscious fears of retaliation and paranoia. Humility avoids the ego inflation by which the narcissistic core of the
ego sees others as ‘wrong’ and the self as ‘right’ and therefore superior . Humility results in surrendering the ego’ s self-importance and
narcissistic gain that arise from judgmentalism. T o decline the role of
moral a rbiter allows the surrendering of that function to God
(“‘Judgment is mine, ’ sayeth th e Lord”) and results in detachm ent from
the w orld’ s endless debates over moral, ethical, legal, political, religious,ethnic, j udicial, and social positionalities. While the ego would like to
view tha t putting  in one’ s ‘two cents’ worth’ is a glorious celebration of
the right s of free speech, etc., humility acknowledges that hum anity has
managed to survive this long without one’ s personal opinions and
advice. Self-honesty requires examining the ego’ s ulterior motives that are
concerned with a vainglorious image, expressed as rhetoric and
ar gument. Hum ility observes that the world is as it is, despite the
millions of self-appointed exper ts in it. There is usually resistance to this
humble realization because the ego loves to get on a soapbox. Does acceptanc e then mean th at one’ s personal life is of little worth,
value, or significance? On the contrary , with humility , it loses false value
and accepts its true power and function that increase spiritual en er gy and
power , thereby influencing the world, especially through the collective
consciousness o f mankind. The spiritual power and integrity of every
individual help raise the sea and all the ships on it. Moralistic exhortation
brings a bout its opposite as counterforce, whereas the integrity of
humility radiates power to which there is no opposite. In surrendering the egotism of t he ego, it is also necessary to realize that
failure to condemn is not the same thing as condoning , nor is
condemning a moral obligation. Everybody knows that crime is  ‘wrong’,
which has hardly resulted in its cessation. T ranscending Level 350. By relinquishing  emotionalized judgmentalism, the way is clear to enter
into harmony and peacefulness as a consequence of the decrea se of the
pressure of emotionality . For giveness and mercy allow for contemplative
reflection and the emer gence of the balance of discernment and
understanding. The resistance to emotion-free clarity is the consequence
of th e ego’ s reluctance to give up its narcissistic role of self-im portance
as judge and arb iter of worth and morality . The ego pretends to be pious
and secr etly feed s on its ‘holier than thou’ attitude, which is the ener gy it
absorbs and prizes. It fears it will diminish in worth, value, and
importance if it surrenders posit ionality and thus become only a servant
of God instead o f being God in its own secret estimation. Thus, the coreof resis tance is the ego’ s care fully concealed illusion and claim to
omnipotence and divinity . The ego fears l oss of its illusory sovereignty , which is actua lly only
grandiosity . Of greater importance than pomposity are sagacious wisdom
and astu te observation and analysis, which are the faculties of the
intellect and intelligence, unimpaired by emotionality and bias. Emotions
obscure comprehension, significance, and meaning, which can only fully
evolve a nd deve lop at the high er level of consciousness that i s free of
emotionality and  positionalities. Thus, the level of Acceptance clears the
way for the next evolutionary step to Reason and Logic. The narcissistic  ego is humorless and reveals its true natur e by its
‘sensitivity’ and other neurotic  traits. It lacks the capacity to laugh at
oneself and the foibles and paradoxes of human life. Thus, developing a
sense of humor assists the evol ution of consciousness through deflating
the ego’ s puf fed-up self-image  by which it imbues its emotionalized
opinionating and vanity . Humility precludes making a fool or spectacle
of o neself to gain attention or control others by bombastic shou ting and
gesticulation. Acceptance declines drama and allows calm plurality
without getting mar ginalized by the inflation of pumped-up
positionalities that, by their very inflation, attract ar gument and attack. Acceptance brings peace by inclusion rather than by rejection or
denunciation, th us of fering the s ecurity necessary for the development of
rationality and the intellect. CHAPTER 13. Reason. (Calibration Level 400). Intr oduction. Intelligence and  rationality rise to the forefront when the emotionalism
of the lower lev els is transcended. Reason is capable of handling lar ge,
complex amounts of data and making rapid, correct decisions; of
understanding the intricacies of relationships, gradations, and fine
distinctions; and  of expert manipulation of symbols as abstract concepts
become increasi ngly important. This is the level of science, medicine,
and generally increased capacity for rationality , conceptualiza tion, and
comprehension. Thus, knowledge and education are highly  valued. Understanding of information and logic are the main tools of
accomplishment that are the hallmarks of level 400. This is the level of
Nobel Prize winners, great statesmen, Supreme Court Justices, Einstein,
Freud, a nd many other important figures in the history of thought as
represented in The Gr e at Book s of the W estern W orld (for convenience,
reprinted from T ruth vs. Falsehood ). The sho rtcomings of this level are the failure to clearly distinguish the
dif ference between symbols (i.e., r es cogitans ) and what they represent
( r es externa ), and the confusion between the objective and subjective
worlds that limits the understanding of causality . At this level, it is easy
to lo se sight o f the forest for  the trees, to become infatua ted with
concepts and theories, and to end up missing the essential point. Intellectualizing can become an  end in itself (e.g., ‘relativism’ and its
negative impact on academia). R eason is limited in that it does n ot af ford
the capacity for the discernment of essence or the ‘critical point’ of a
complex issue. Reason is disciplined by the dialectic of logic as a necessity t o discern
the linear truth of confirmable facts. It produces massive amounts of
information and documentation, but it lacks the capability to  resolve
discrepancies in  data and con clusions. All philosophical ar guments
sound co nvincing on their own. Although Reason is highly ef fective in a
technical world where the methodologies of logic dominate, Reason
itself, p aradoxically , is the major block to reaching higher levels of
consciousness b ecause it attracts identification of the self as mind. T ranscending this level is relatively uncommon in our society (only four
percent do so), as it requires a shift of paradigm from the descriptive to
the s ubjective and experiential. That a shift of paradigm is req uisite to
understanding higher levels of consciousness and spiritual real ity is not
as yet recognized by even s uch fields of study as ‘scie nce and
consciousness’ or ‘science and theology’ that seek for confirmation of
spiritual realities (nonlinear , which calibrate from 500 and up) in the
limited linear domain of the 400s. Discussion. The con sciousness levels of the 400s represent the emer gence of the
capacity to synthesize and utilize linear abstractions and symbols of great
complexity and to extract signif icance and meaning as well as predictive
verification. Intelligence comprehends hierarchical fie lds of
or ganizational rank and discerns  value as to reliability , implied worth, or
significance. It stratifies prior itization via sequence to classification
systems that are analogous to paradigm, domain, category , class, species,
subspecies, gen us, and then fin ally , a specific example. This complex
function is analogous to a rapid sorting system that is simultaneously
capable of integration and selection. Although the content is linear , its
overall d irection and source of f unctioning are nonlinear , and its overall
domination is in accord with the power of the consciousness level of the
field itself. In addit ion to the above colossal capability , the complex pr ocessing
functions simultaneously and automatically give a variable weight to
each pie ce of data with ascribed degrees of credibility , im portance,
plausibility , wor th, and value. Thus, they draw on an enorm ous data
bank, both individual and collective, created by humanity over the ages. The capacity to think and reason  spawned the academic fields of science,
psychology , phi losophy , metap hysics, and psychoanalysis, as well as
spiritual and esoteric psycholo gy . The word ‘dynamic’ was added to
aspects of all o f these to incre ase the emphasis on the impo rtance of
function. Superimposed on the above were learning theory , behaviorism,
operant conditioning, feedback and reward systems, facilitation, and
inhibition. Through research, science elaborated further to describe and
correlate patterns of functioning  with neuroanatomy , neurochem istry , the
tuning o f the autonomic (sympa thetic/parasympathetic) nervou s system,
brain ho rmones, neurotransmitters, and their modification by ex perience
in genetics. While a ll the foregoing represents an impressive mass of info rmation,
the basic  questio n remains the same as it has throughout all o f history:
What does it a ll ‘mean’ (i.e., hermeneutics)? Pondering the implied
subtleties of meaning has occu pied the greatest minds of his tory and
produced the great wealth of ph ilosophy and its central issues, such as
epistemology , th eology , and metaphysics, which addressed the problem
directly as does ontology (the science of ‘being’). W ith the evolution of conscious ness, reason, logic, and the int ellect are
ener gized by alignment with commitment to truth, which is actually an
aspect o f Divini ty and the invisible source of the power of the field of
mind itself. The gift of the align ment with truth results in compr ehension
and the  accumulation of wisdom and sagacity in the exercise and
application of the function of re ason. Thus, it is still up to the individual
will to choose the degree to which reason is prioritized in relation to
emotionality . The individual is  free to ignore reason or to f ollow its
dictates and interpretations of reality vis-à-vis imagination, wishful
thinking, fantasy , or emotional options and their degree of expression. Thus, thinking and reasoning o ccur in an overall field of an e valuative
emotional tone that may be facil itating or limiting. The overall e motional
tone also reflects collective social input and varies from culture toculture. W ithin each culture, it is distributed in various subgroups that
emphasize or detract from the value of reason and the intellect. In
general, higher education has ha d a social-status value superimposed on
its in nate and in trinsic worth. It reached its highest esteem in th e Golden
Age of ancient G reece in approximately 500-300 B.C. and then received
valuable input over the centuries in Europe. It declined during  the last
century in academia in both Eur ope and America via politicalization and
the inroads of philosophical/moral relativism (as described in T ruth vs.
Falsehood ). A mature culture endorses ed ucation and learning as positive life-
supporting patterns evidenced b y the spreading popularity of the self-
improvement movement. The ‘cultural creatives’ movement is an
example (Anderson and Ray , 2000) that has an overall positive impact on
society in general. The consci ousness calibration level of the United
States is  current ly at 421, which  is evidence of the major influence and
importance of the consciousness  level of the intellect. Of significance is
that at the level of Reason, the calibrated level of ‘happiness’ is at
approximately eighty percent, which is in marked contrast to  its low
percentages below level 200 (one to twenty-two percent). Humanitarian ef forts to assist the disadvantaged emphasize education as
the m ost ef fective way out of poverty . The higher the educatio nal level,
the l ower the bi rthrate, infant mortality , disease, and other conc omitants
of deprivation. This is dramatically demonstrated by the recent
emer gence of the economic ‘Celtic T iger ’. After centuries of abject
poverty , the Irish economy sur ged to become the current leader in
Europe as a co nsequence of establishing free higher educa tion and
concomitant progressive economic and political/ legal reforms. Ego Dynamics of Reason. The combination of reason,  logic, and education is a strong
counterbalance to of fset the pressures of the primitive narcissistic core of
the e go that feel s threatened by the higher values of personal a nd social
integrity . An enemy of rationality is the self-servingness of n arcissism
itself, which warps and distorts reason to facilitate its own ends. At lower
levels of consciousness, the mi nd is merely used as another weapon to
enforce positionalities, control others, and allow for the actin g out of
rationalized anim al instincts. The reason of the intellect can be distortedas rheto ric to serve emotional, egoistic goals rather than those that are
integrous (e.g., the philosophies of relativism [cal. 180], or Marxism [cal. 130]). The distortion of truth to subserve positionalized ag endas is
characteristic o f Lower (ego) Mind rather than Higher M ind (see
Overview , Section II). Lower mind substitutes narcissistic intellectualization for the disciplined
dialectic of logical truth. The best example is the decline in the level of
academia consequent to the corrosive inroads of ‘moral relativism’,
which is succinctly described in the following quotation f rom the
Philadelphia T rumpet (June 2005): 
 
Moral Relativism. “Moral r elativism is the belief that defining right and wr o ng is an
individual and personal choice. Denying the pr esence of absolute law ,
this ideology teaches that every decision is a matter of personal feeling. Moral r elativism means that adultery , for example, is not objectively
wr ong. W hile I may believe that adultery is wr ong and that it  destr oys
marriages, you ar e entitled to believe it is right and str en gthens a
marriage. The same r easoning applies for mur der , stealing, pedophilia,
and every other facet of human life. W ith this ideology , ther e is no
absolute definition of right and wr ong— only what you per ce ive to be
right and wr ong. This dis torted principle has made gr eat inr oads into our uni versities. Cr eated by secularists, mora l r elativism is a by-pr oduct of the
evolutionist theo ry , which itself permeates university cultur e, e specially
the scien ces. By denying the existence of God, the theory of evolution
sowed t he seeds of moral r elativism. If ther e is no God, se cularists
r eason, then ther e is no absolute law . Using m oral r elativism as their weapon, liberal secularists can destr oy
any absolute law they desir e. Even the laws that govern society can be
destr oyed. Most people r ecognize that American law , ideology , and
morals ar e essentially governe d by Judeo-Christian belief in the T en
Commandments. Since ther e is no God, accor ding to secularists, then all
we have ar e ten Suggestions; ther e is no law . W ith no absolute laws,
defining right and wr ong is a strictly personal matter . This is why W ar d Chur chill, Harris Mirkin, and other secularist faculty
members can espouse such ideologies as anti-Americanism and
pedophilia. If a person doesn’ t b elieve in absolute law , then he or she is
not r equ ir ed to believe that pedophilia is wr ong. Moral r elativism
destr oys the law that defines right and wr ong, moral and immoral. These a r e a few examples of the immorality and moral r elativism that
pervade our universities. The idea that it is the individual’ s r esponsibility
to decid e right and wr ong is fi rmly entr enched in the minds o f today’ s
university students.”
 
It is also  notable  that the curren t Pope, upon taking of fice, decl ared that
the forem ost problem threatenin g the world is that of moral relativism,
which re places Divinity by declaring the sovereignty of the na rcissistic
ego. The impact on society h as been noted by many curre nt social
commentators (e.g., Bruce, 2003). Consciousness l evels in the 400s denote that although emotions are still
present a nd taken into account, they no longer dominate or replace logic
and reason. ‘Thinkingness’ is merely random mentation, whereas reason
is constrained by the dialectics, discipline, and limitations of the  rules of
logic, which are well represented by mathematics. Lower Mind is less evolved an d characteristic of children, immaturity ,
and lack of education. In its more primitive condition, men talization
subserves emotionalities and personalized needs and wants. Thus, Lower
Mind subserves communication of subjective states or opinions, which
are n ot i n the same category as the mental constructions of Hig her Mind
that are intended to represent m ore objective, verifiable statements that
thereby require higher standards  of validity or proof. Thus, Lower Mind
is ruled by ‘wan ts’, and Higher Mind is disciplined by accountability that
requires adherence to standards of truth, with concomitant requirements
of ethic s and responsibility . T o present falsity as purported truth is
excused in children but can h ave major consequences in adult life. ‘Postmodern’ philosophies (Marcuse, Chomsky , et al., as listed  in T ruth
vs. Falsehood , page 209) calibrate between 135 and 185 because they are
attempts to distort reason in trying to justify and legitimize falsehood as
truth and pretend that they are of equal validity . Thus, the downside of
the intel lect is that it is subject  to the distortions consequent t o naïveté
and wishful thinking that subve rt meaning to narcissism (e.g., “A wordmeans ju st what  I choose it to m ean,” says Humpty Dumpty in Carroll’ s
Thr ough the Looking-Glass ). Falsification of reason is indicative of nonintegrity and is also a primary
characteristic of psychopathic personality traits. Mendacity by public
figures constitutes a major focus of the current media, which thrives on
scandal. The superego, or cons cience, also constrains the intellect, and
therefore integro us reason and logic are a consequence of mor ality and
ethics that reflect context and not just content. Lower Mind
characteristically ignores context because it would impose a constraint
on emotionalized distortions of truth (a ruse frequently employed in
political rhetoric). As beco mes obvious, violation  of truth can also be a consequence of
purposeful distortion of the  meaning of words by virtue of
politicalization a nd social theories that calibrate below 200 (e.g., ‘new
think’, language police, political elitism, etc.). Disciplined reason and
logic adhere to the dictionary definitions of words. The adh erence to reason and logical truth as a social standard has
declined in the j udiciary and in public discourse as a consequence of the
exploitation of the concept of ‘free speech’ to mean that anyone can say
anything they wish to with no consequences, and that actions and
behaviors are ‘symbolic speech’. By legitimizing any and all behaviors
as a ‘right’, the road to anarch y and degenerative social disruption is
aided an d abetted. Historically , the great empires thus crumble from
within by moral decay . Actually , the First Amendment prohibits only the
government fro m censoring speech. In the social arena, adherence to
truth is no longer a requireme nt, thereby giving greater voice to the
expressions of illogical premises that have exploitive media value rather
than intrinsic worth. As fictio n replaces truth, the calibrated levels of consciousness reflected
by comm unications have declined although some have resisted the trend
for which, paradoxically , they  are now criticized rather than being
respected (see T ruth vs. Falsehood , Chapter 9). Mentalization is the processing of symbols at random. Linear thought is
prone to  error as it deals with co ntent. The content is known by  virtue of
the quality of aw areness, which is the attractor field of consciousness bywhich contextualization occurs. Content thinks ; th e field knows . In
contrast, Self is . The dist ortion o f integrous reason to subserve egoistic goals is the prime
source of social conflict, moral discord, and human suf fering. The
negation of reason, with its intr insic strengths, allows for the release of
atavistic propen sities of the an imal instincts relegated to the primitive
aspects of the e go, which sees logic, proof, and rationality as t hwarting
its inten tions. The massive consequences to the distortion of logic and
reason a re evident not only th roughout history but also in the world
today . Whereas truth is aligned with survival, falsehood accoun ts for the
death of tens of millions of lives in just the last century alone. W ith ma turity , the intellect is in tegrated with positive emotions that add
value and motivations, such as t he pleasure of accomplishment. Spiritual
alignment results in prioritizing spiritual principles by which to resolve
conflict. In so doing, it brings Reason to its highest develop ment. T o
commit to the en deavor to serve the highest good means to subo rdinate it
to God’ s will. The perc eptions of ‘good’ or ‘bad’, as Socrates noted, are often primarily
the result of desire or illusion rather than any objective reality . If desired,
a circum stance or an option appears to be ‘good’; if not desired, it is
rejected as ‘bad’. Thus reason counterbalances emotionalized distortion,
as it s intention i s to discern truth rather than rationalize fallacy . Spiritual
principles are often accorded preference over more limited
intellectualizations by which faith in reason is supplanted by faith in
God. Reason and logic (i.e., science) are of great value within their appropriate
paradigm. By level 500, via spiritual alignment, subjectivity also
progressively be comes a major focus of experience that emphasizes the
values of for giveness, mercy , love, and devotion. It adds a dif ferent
understanding to meaning and value that thereby influences the selection
of options and choices as perceived by the intellect. T ranscending the Limitations of the Intellect. The intellect accumulates, sorts, processes, and assimilates spiritual and
religious information. It seems to be a paradox that at the same time, itcan beco me a limitation to the e volution to a higher consciousness level,
which r equires transcending th e mind. The limitation of the mind is
evidenced by its structure in th at the functional ego is linear , dualistic,
and dom inated by the Newtonian paradigm of causality that r einforces
the illusion of a separate, personal ‘I’ as a self-actualizing causal agent. The tran sition from the consciousness level of the 400s to the lev el of the
500s is a paradigm jump from the mental realm of linear sy mbols to
nonlinear subjectivity . The mind is satisfied with the acquisition of
knowledge but then discovers th at alone it is insuf ficient to bring about
transformation, which requires a further step to convert data into  an inner
experiential reality . The inte llect is used to being sa tisfied by hearing ‘about’ a su bject and
may naï vely conclude that the information itself should be s uf ficient. While th is is often partially true, at other times, the transfer from the
acquisition of information to subjective experience comes about through
spiritual practice, meditation, contemplation, and devotion, assisted by
prayer . By rejecting egocentricity and by spiritual declaration, practice, and
commitment, th e spiritual ener gy flows into the ener gy sy stem as
lovingness rather than as personal love limited to personal relat ionships. The transformative ener gy fields  from 500 up are calibratable, nonlinear ,
self-ef fulgent, r adiant, and beyond objectively verifiable scientific
definition. Hindrances are the result of cl inging to limitations for their personal
gain, such as p ride in intellectual acquisition of information itself. Although the shift from the mental to the truly spiritual is volitional and
proceeds by consent, it is not c ontrollable as was the acquisition of the
mental material and information . The transition is best describ ed as the
classic passage from ‘have’ to ‘do’ to ‘be’ and is facilitated by
surrendering the  attempt to con trol the process. It is more important to
place faith and trust in spiritual intention and surrender to Divinity by
which potentiality transforms into actuality when conditions permit. Thus, surrender is a necessary and almost constant attitude that is
subserved by humility at great depth. A resistance that is often
unrecognized is attachment to  the familiar by what can be called
‘paradigm allegiance’. For instance, this limitation is demonstrated, aspreviously noted, by conference s and publications dedicated to the fields
of ‘ science and religion’ or ‘science and consciousness’ that are
academic and therefore calibrate in the mid-400s. They characteristically
preclude recognition of the primary importance of subjectivity , the realm
of the Self, only by which can spiritual realities that calibrate at 500 or
over be recognized or understood. The lim itation of academic science is most markedly obvious in its
ambivalence and distrust of first-person experiential testimony and
information (Gi nsbur g, 2005). Scientific intellectualization about the
‘reality’ of personal experience  reflects a dithering about the academic
respectability and credibility (from the Newtonian paradigm) of human
experience. Thu s, true spiritual reality is excluded from study a lbeit the
presumed goal of such projects. This is like looking for the lost  car keys
at night under the lamppost ‘because the light is better there’, or looking
for ghosts with a Geiger counter . Of obvi ous major importance is that, by virtue of paradigm blindness,
the world’ s primary source of spiritual information—the historical record
of th e world’ s great mystics a nd enlightened major spiritual teachers
(including its greatest A vatars)—is excluded. Science is linear; Spiritual
Reality is nonlinear , which one would think should be clearly obvious. By s piritual intention, the intelle ct can be sanctified so that it b ecomes a
springboard and  roadway to un derstanding spiritual reality ins tead of a
dead en d or a roadblock. Spiritual study utilizes the intellect to reveal
that the intellect itself has to b e transcended from ‘knowing about’ to
‘becoming’, which it accomplishes by spiritual practice, discipline, and
devotion. Mentalization: Thinkingness. A major deterrent to spiritual evolution and transcending identification
of the self with mind is the pro cessing of data, symbols, and words via
random mentalization, which is presumed to be ‘thinking’. During
meditation, this  mental chatter is frustrating and becomes a s ource of
anxiety . T o try to silence the mind via will power is inef fective , and the
results are limited and brief. By understanding the source of the flow of
mentalization, it can be transcended, revealing the silence out of which
thinkingness arises. Mentalization i s of egocentric origin, and its primary function is
commentary . Un less requested, thought is a vanity , an endless procession
of opinion, rationalization, reprocessing, evaluating, and subtle j udgment
by w hich the t houghts are given value or importance via p resumed
significance bec ause they are ‘ mine’. The ego is enamored o f its life
story and its central character . It is  confrontive to the intrinsic vanity of the ego to accept that unless
requested to solve problems, its mentalizations are superfluous and of no
intrinsic worth or value. Thus, ‘importance’ is a self-appointed vanity ,
and the ego pres umes by inflation that it has the ‘right’ and is entitled to
intrude u pon peace and silence with endless childish babble and chatter . The mind has an imaginary au dience and carries on a monol ogue for
self-adulation an d presumptive importance. The undisciplined mind has
an o bservation commentary or opinion on everything. Who cares? Who
asked fo r it? Its thoughts are frequently repetitive, plebian, mon otonous,
and mundane. It is a relief to let the min d become silent and just ‘be’ with
surroundings. Peace results, and  appreciation and calm prevail. In order
to re alize that a running commentary is not necessary or even au thorized,
the will gives the mind permi ssion to be silent. When deva lued and
humbled, the vanity basis of thinkingness collapses, and in its place one
discovers the joy of inner silence, which actually constitutes ni nety-nine
percent of the mind. Only one percent is actually chattering. The well-discipl ined mind should only speak when requested to perform
a task. Untrained, the mind becomes an unruly ‘on stage’ performer and
a nuisance. The self needs to learn respect for the Self and the Silence of
the Pres ence. By observing the mind, it becomes apparent that it
represents the disruptive, unruly child who constantly seeks attention. It is usually frui tless to try to block thought or force the mind t o be still
without removing its motivation and pay-of f. Its motivational roots can
be id entified and surrendered. I t is then surprisingly possible to make a
decision: just do not thin k about anything . Th is is made possible by
aligning with the Infinite Silence out of which thinkingness ar ises. It is
located not between but just before the emer gence of thoughts. A useful technique to bypass mentalization is that of creative
visualization in which the desired goal is envisioned and held in mindperiodically . Potentiality tends to manifest when conditions are
favorable, and intention (plus karmic propensities) is a contextual
influence. In ordinary mentation, logic and sequence are seen as causal
and also needful of ef fort. En visioning is influential on outcome by
entirely dif ferent (and easier) mechanisms.Section Three. Calibration Levels 500-599. Spiritual Reality . Overview: T ranscending Linear Duality . Chapter 14. Love. (Calibration  Level 500). Chapter 15. Joy . (Calibration Level 540-599).Section Thr ee – Overview . T ranscending Linear Duality . Intr oduction. While the transition of consciou sness level 200 is the major obstacle to
most of humani ty (approximately 80 percent worldwide and 50 percent
in the United States), the transcendence of the domination of the linear
mind at conscio usness level 500 is relatively infrequent (only 4 percent
of the world’ s population), a nd the evolution of consciousness to
Unconditional Love at level 540 is rarer still (0.4 percent). Below consciousness level 200, awareness is dominated by negative
emotions, but between 200 and 400, the emotions become prog ressively
positive. Then, in the 400s,logic  and reason prevail over emotio n. There
is another major paradigm ju mp at consciousness level 500, from
emotionalized, conceptual linear content to the predomin ance of
nonlinear contex t. The more powerful fields of consciousness levels 500
and up reprioritize meaning, sig nificance, and value. The move is from
what the  world considers ‘objective’ to experiential subjectivi ty as the
dominant quality of awareness experience. The tran sition is one of changing the focus of importance from the
descriptive qualities of the observed to the subtle qualities of the
observer . This subjectivity recontextualizes the observed in terms of
pleasure, satisfaction, significance, and prioritized worth. T he shift
profoundly influ ences decision and choice, as well as long-te rm goals
that influence relationships, career choices, and innumerable decisions in
life. Shift of Paradigm. Importantly , level 500 indicates that the subjective condition called Love
has now  becom e not only sign ificant but also dominant, not just as a
feeling a nd emotion, but as the  guiding principle. While the ener gy of
Love m ay be focused as a consequence of interest or m otive, itrepresents a breaking away fr om restriction and limitation of self-
interest. Love serves, whereas ego seeks to be served in its pursuit of
gain. T o  Love, the long-term satisfaction and pleasure of gi vingness
replace the evanescent, short-term ego satisfaction of gain. The ene r gy of Love has a unique, timeless quality that gratifies
potentialities that are subtle and dif ficult to logically describe. As Love
becomes progressively spiritualized, it emer ges as an alignment with
Divinity , which is the ultimate source and province of Love. I t thereby
becomes viewed as holy , sacred, and the substance of devotion, religious
faith, and mystical awareness. From consciousness level 500 and up, the attraction of beauty , peace, and
inner quietude becomes increasingly important. The spiritual p rinciples
of t he great te achers become  incorporated into one’ s lifestyle and
eventually become dominant. C onflicts arise, not about whether to be
for giving, loving, or compassionate, but about how they can best be
instituted and fulfilled. Thus, the linear specificity and content of actions
become dominated by the power of the overall field of context. Eventually , the Divinity of life itself becomes self-revealing, and all of
life becomes valued. The adv ance of paradigm is ch aracterized by a shift from reliance on
perception and mentalization to the discernment of essence. This
transition is a c onsequence of and in concordance with what has been
classically terme d the ‘opening of the third eye of the Buddhic body’,
which represents the emer gence of spiritual vision. While perception focuses on linearity , spiritual vision represents the
capacity to discern the inner reality that reflects the overall field. Its
closest e xperiential relative in ordinary life is frequently alluded to as
intuition, which  implies that it is not the consequence of linear , logical
processing. The etheric, spiritual ener gy  bodies emer ge progressiv ely and
concomitantly with the advance of consciousness levels from ‘lower
mental’ to ‘higher mental’, then to ‘causal’ and progressively to the
Buddhic, Chris t, and Atmic b odies. W ithin each body , the ener gy
concentration is  analogous to the chakra system. At the highe st levels,
they cor relate with Christ consciousness, and finally , at the crown chakra
of the Atmic body , with u nrestricted dominance of the Divineconsciousness o f Enlightenmen t via the identification with Divinity
innate as the S elf. It is by this level of consciousness that God
T ranscendent an d God Immanent are recognized as the overall U nity out
of w hich All Ex istence /A wareness / Creation arise, and the a wareness
out of which subjectivity and consciousness occur . Calibrated Level of Consciousness. The ener gy of each predominant level of consciousness is set by the
spiritual will whereby alignment arises. As mentioned previously , it is
comparable to the setting of the compass of a ship, in which des tiny (i.e.,
‘the fut ure’) becomes dominant and influences the decision s of the
present by virtue of underlying intention. The per iodic fluctuations of emotions, like choppy waves at sea, call
only for correction and do no t mean that the destination has been
af fected or changed, which is only accomplished by the will. Periods of
unanticipated di f ficulty are to be expected that may seem like ‘setbacks’
but merely mean that some tr end (often primarily unconscious) has
surfaced for recognition in order to be processed. Similar perio ds in any
inner uncovering process, su ch as psychoanalysis or inner -depth
analysis, can occur consequent to any investigation of the self, such as
the Fourth Step in the T welv e-Step Program (‘take an inner moral
inventory’). The self-honesty arising from the self-examination requisite
to ‘know  thyself ’ requires not o nly courage but also the willingness to
relinquish self-judgment and to surrender to God. The general human experience t hroughout time has been that tr ue, inner
self-honesty at great depth is possible only with God’ s help, for
understandably , the ego alone is quite unlikely to cooperate with its own
demise and extinction as the moving, dominant force in one’ s life. Initially , spiritual work has to do with transcending emotionalities and
perceptual positionalities, which are considered to be primarily personal,
but at higher levels, the limitations are those of context and paradigms. When described , these may sound abstract, but operationally , they are
the obstructions  to ever -higher awareness. Thus, they pertain to the
overall fields of constraints that are generally out of awareness  and that
could, academically , sound as though they belong to the realms oftheology , metaphysics, epistemology , or ontology and discernment of the
nature of existence/beingness itself. The fra ming o f paradigms of subjective awareness is often by
unconscious pre sumptions that are ordinarily beyond conceptu alization
or e ven attempts at description. These become more problematic at the
level of the ephe meral and inef fable, which are primarily fundamental to
the bas ic experiential qualiti es of existence as a refle ction of
consciousness. Questions arise as to the source of the capacity to even realize Existence
or Beingness, and whether such qualities are innate or are
superimpositions by silent paradigm presumptions. One asks, By what
quality does the abstract even become discernible, and is not that
knowingness its elf merely a hig her level of abstraction? Again, although
these may seem academic to the intellect, experientially , th ey are a
priority and profoundly transf ormative as the light of the levels of
consciousness. At the highest levels, they represent the last clouds that
hide the radiance of the sun of Divinity . While conscious ness level 600 formally denotes the onset of t he states
classically referred to as Illumination/Enlightenment, Realization of the
Self is character istic of the cons ciousness level of the 700s. In the mid-
800s, there is th e obstacle of the  illusion of the V oid to be bypassed, and
then, wi th the actual death of th e limitations of context, the sp lendor of
full Enli ghtenment bursts forth;  it is Gloria in Excelsis Deo and fulfills
the promise of the world’ s great A vatars.CHAPTER 14. Love. (Calibration Level 500). Intr oduction. The 500 level is characterized by the development of an ener gy field that
is progressively unconditional, unchanging, and permanent. It does not
fluctuate because its source within the person who loves is not d ependent
on external factors. Lovingness  is a way of being in and relating to the
world an d is for giving, nurturing, and supportive. Love is not intellectual
and does not pro ceed from the mind; love emanates from the heart. It has
the c apacity to l ift others and ac complish great feats because of its purity
of motive. At t his level of  development, the capacity to discern essence becomes
predominant; the  core of an issue becomes the center of focus. A s reason
is bypassed, there arises the capacity for instantaneous recognition of the
totality of a problem and a major expansion of context. Reas on deals
with particulars , whereas love deals with wholes. This abili ty , often
ascribed to intuition, is the capacity for instantaneous understanding
without resorting to sequential symbol processing. This seemingly
abstract phenom enon is, in fact,  quite concrete and is accompan ied by a
measurable release of endorphins in the brain. Love tak es no position and thus is global, rising above the sepa ration of
positionality . It is then possible to be ‘one with another ’ as there are no
longer any barriers. Love is therefore inclusive and progressively
expands the sense of self. Love focuses on the goodness of life in all its
expressions and augments that which is positive. It dissolves n egativity
by r econtextuali zing it rather th an by attacking it. As such, it i s benign,
supportive, and  nurtures life; consequently , it is the level of true
happiness. Discussion. In terms of the evolution of consciousness, this level reflects
transcendence o f identification with the limiting linear domain and its
positionalities to the awareness of subjectivity as the primary state that
underlies all experience. Thus, the sense of reality moves from  what is
perceived to the condition or faculty by which it is experienced. Whereas the ego focuses on content, the spirit values context. The ego
values quantity , and in contrast, the spirit values quality . By
consciousness level 500, approximately ninety percent of the people
experience happiness as a basic quality of life. The barriers to Love that
arise fro m animal instincts no l onger pressure for dominance, nor does
the n arcissistic core of the ego predominate, which is a conseq uence of
humility and the relinquishment of egocentricity . Thus, personal self-
interest is no lo nger dominant as selfishness or neediness. The  view of
the s elf is that of benign adequacy and alignment with Love as a primary
goal and lifestyle. The ene r gy field of Love is innately gratifying in and of its own  quality . It is  discovered that Love is av ailable everywhere and that lovingness
results in the return of love. Although love may start out as conditional,
with spiritual intention it becomes a way of life and a way of relating to
life in all its expressions.
_OceanofPDF.com_Transcending_the_Levels_of_Consciousness__-_David_R_Hawkins.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        It accepts progress, change, and
evolution of consciousness with neither resistance nor anticipation but
instead floats along the river o f life by decision and acceptance rather
than by what could be misperceived as passivity or indif ference. T ranscending Neutrality. The peace and c alm of Neutrality are a welcome relief to those w ho have
transcended the lower levels and survived their inner anguish. This might
be viewed as a recuperative level for the spirit/soul that has struggled out
of the swamps of despair, depression, anguish, guilt, fear, and frantic
searching for gain, approval, an d earthly riches, only to have them turn
into ash es. Instead of regret, Neutrality looks at the past as inf ormative
and ruefully educational. Many people elect to spend this lifetime at this
level of recuperation and inner healing. While Neutrality is subjectively a very favorable state as compared to
those be low it, it is not yet an expression of the joy and rad iance of
Divinity or that of love or comp assion as an upliftment to life. Neutral is
neither destructive to life nor resistant, but neither is it an active
contributor. It serves life by non resistive participation and decli nes to be
a deterrent. This level is essentially silent, neither adding to nor
detracting from the panorama of life. In N eutrality, one is grateful to have escaped the inner house o f mirrors
by th e p rocess o f letting go and  surrendering. There is freedom from the
drivenness of ‘have to’ s’ or ‘m ust’ s’. It is no longer necessary to be a
‘winner ’, or ‘successful’, or to acquire approval or acceptance. It is not
necessary to be ‘right’, nor doe s one feel compelled to ‘do something’
about the world’ s problems. Eventually, however, because of alignment
with spiritual principles, consciousness again evolves by virtue ofinspiration, which seeks agreem ent by the will. The inner balance then
moves from neutral to the more positive side of the scale as a
consequence of intention that is supported by faith and the upliftment of
positive purpose. Because of nonresistance, the spiritual ener gy of lovingness again stirs
the sou l, which now seeks ever higher levels of awareness and
expression. The potentiality for the development of unconditional love
and compassion attracts an increasing appreciation of beauty and
spiritual progres s as a consequence of worship and prayer. Thus, by
nonresistance, th e door is open ed for the Grace of Divine ener gy that
propels the evolution of cons ciousness by which the personal will
becomes af firm ative and is drawn to Divinity by attraction and the
progressive inne r warmth of the Radiance of Divine Love it self. The
activation of spiritual potentiality is a consequence of nonresistance,
which is  like the flower that ope ns and responds to the warmth of the sun
by virtue of its intrinsic qualities imbued by Creation itself. CHAPTER 1 1. W illingness. (Calibration Level 310). Intr oduction. This ver y positi ve level of ener gy may be seen as the gateway to the
higher levels of awareness. Whereas jobs, for instance, are performed
adequately at the Neutral level, at the level of W illingness, work is done
well and  success  is common in all endeavors. Growth is rapid here; these
are the people c hosen for advancement. W illingness implies that one has
overcome inner  resistance to life and is committed to participation. Below l evel 200, people tend t o be close-minded, but by lev el 310, a
great opening occurs. At this l evel people become genuinely friendly,
and social and economic successes seem to follow automatically. The
willing are not troubled by unem ployment; they will take any job when
they hav e to, or create a career,  or become self-employed. They do not
feel demeaned by service jobs or by starting ‘at the bottom’. They are
helpful to others and tend to volunteer, contributing to the good of
society. They are also willing to  face inner issues and do not ha ve major
learning blocks. At this level, se lf-esteem is high and reinforced by positive feedback
from society in the forms of recognition, appreciation, and reward. W illingness is sympathetic and responsive to the needs of others. W illing
people are builders of and contributors to society. W ith their capacity to
bounce back from adversity an d learn from experience, they tend to
become self-correcting. Having let go of  Pride, they are  willing to look at their defects and learn
from ot hers. At the level of W illingness, people become excellent
students and represent a considerable source of power for society. Discussion. Spiritual dedication and ef fort bring unanticipated rewards that confirm
the valid ity of the commitment. The seeming sacrifices turn o ut to be
well wo rth the ef fort. Spiritual gratification is an unsuspected source of
pleasure that brings a greate r sense of well-being, which is the
consequence of an increase in the flow of spiritual ener gy. There is a
greater sense of aliveness and appreciation for life as its quality
progressively improves. The e xperience is subjective, nonlin ear, and
subtle but all pervasive. Confidence and optimism replace doubt,
mistrust, resista nce, and cynicism. Struggle is replaced with e ase, and
life itself becomes innately attractive and pleasing. W ith relinquishm ent of resistance, less ef fort is required to fu nction in
the world. The intrinsic rewa rds of spiritual growth become self-
activating motiv ation that evolves into enthusiasm as a consequence of
the more positive view of self a nd life. There is an attraction to positive
participation in activities that are constructive. Life is enjoyed instead of
resisted and is a ccompanied by  positive anticipation. Motivati on is the
consequence of inspiration instead of the desire for gain. It is found that
surrendering the negative pay-of fs of egocentric positionalities and goals
results in much greater inner rewards. W illingness is cheerful, helpful, and voluntary. It has the extra ener gy
that would otherwise be waste d on resistance, delay, and complaints. W illingness ener gizes fulfilling the needs of others, and thus its social
expression is benevolent and humanitarian. It is also the attitu de of the
‘good Samaritan’ as well as soc ial trust, which, in its social ex pression,
varies from decade to decade. The ene r gy of W illingness is also the level of the Golden Rule: “Do unto
others as you would have others do unto you. ” In successful
relationships, this results in a mutuality of partners as helpmates and
companions. This mutuality is the result of alignment with each other ’ s
welfare rather than just the more animal-driven emotional involvement
that ofte n has a fractious downside. W ith mutuality, partners proceed
side by side, w hereas with involvement, the relationship is better
described as ‘entanglement’, with pulling in dif ferent directions for
control. W illingness is supportive rather  than competitive for gain or dominance,
and rela tionships involve servic e to each other ’ s growth and goals ratherthan to just one’ s own. W illingness is therefore harmonious and is
expressed as the ‘win-win’ attitu de instead of the lesser levels that view
life as a ‘win-lose’ dichotomy. T o c ontribute to the welfare an d happiness of others is gratifying, and
leads to the discovery that generosity is its own reward. Some p eople are
so li mited that t hey experience this phenomenon only with their favored
pets, bu t at least that is a start. T rue generosity expects no re ward for
there are  no strings attached. The capacity for W illingness is latent in the
overall populations and invisibly surfaces as a response to major
catastrophes. T rue benevolence does not seek credit nor is it m otivated
by e go i nflation. Many truly charitable people see it as an hon or to be
allowed to serve others and are unaware that it simultaneously sub-serves
the accumulation of karmic merit. W illingness attracts abundance and supportive feedback, not as a result
of seekin g but in response to th at which it is because ‘like goes to like’. Thankfulness is a consequence of a giving attitude, which adds to the
attraction. The true-life story of an acquai ntance named Greta exemplifie s all the
above. S he cam e to the United  States from Ireland with only a limited
grade-school education and no skills and thus sought work as a maid. She found a job as an upstairs maid on the lar ge estate of a very  wealthy
and socially prominent family. Her cheerful willingness and dedication
to the family’ s welfare resulted in her progressive promotion to
housekeeper. She tended to all t he needs of the family, travelin g around
the wor ld with them in luxurious style. The father of the fa mily had
many in vestments and he occasionally gave Greta a ‘tip’ at dinnertime
about the stock market. Peculiarly enough, Greta’ s stocks always
skyrocketed. As time went on, his occasional recommendations resulted
in the expansion  of Greta’ s por tfolio, with its relatively frequent stock
splits. Eventually, she traded a block of stocks for some Manhattan (New Y ork)
real esta te and subsequently became a millionaire in her own right. Despite her now considerable wealth, Greta continued with her
dedication to the family as they grew up, had their ‘coming out ’ parties,
got married, etc. One day she rec eived a call fro m a distant uncle who was visiting from
Ireland. He called a number of f amily members to meet with him in New
Y ork Ci ty, which was a bit of a trip, but Greta was the only one who
agreed to do so. She met him for  lunch, and then he went back to  Ireland. A few years later, he died and left an enormous estate (worth many
millions of dollars) to Greta out of gratitude for her friendliness. Greta co ntinued on as the family  housekeeper and was a multimillionaire
many tim es ove r by the time she finally died. Her funeral was attended
by m any hundreds of people whom she had befriended over the years. In
her w ill, she left  a great deal to charity, along with enough to make all of
her children and relatives extremely wealthy also. Apropos of Greta’ s
story, a recent remark by ano ther acquaintance said, “Y ou know, a
million dollars just doesn’ t go very far anymore. ” 
W illingness (cal. 310) stands in contrast to ‘do-gooderism’(cal. 190),
which seeks control and imposition of presumptive values on others. Ego Dynamics of W illingness. By spiritual alignment and dedication, the level of spiritual ener gy rises
and strongly activates the right-brain chemistry and physiology (as per
the char t on Brain Function). Th is alters perception and releases anabolic
neurotransmitters and endorphins in the brain. The world is therefore
seen as more b enign, friendly, and supportive. Fulfillment of goals is
facilitated by virtue of their i nternalization rather than projection to
external conditio ns. Thus, gain is internalized and valued as successful
internal growth and the gratification of reaching developmental goals. Benign intention  motivates actions and decisions that lead to choosing
positive options. Integrity of intention is concordant with a benign
conscience and results in self-a pproval and healthy self-esteem  that is
independent of the opinions of others or external gains. This results in
autonomy and the gratification  that occurs through the fulfillment of
inner potentials. A concomitance to spiritual alignment is the inner ur ge to grow and seek
perfection, which becomes an inner way of life. Spiritual p erfection
becomes an ‘egoideal’ that influences by attraction rather than
promotion. As a  con sequence to the relinquishment of the narcissistic ego, there is a
reduction of distortions of perception that are the result of self-seeking
positionalities. It is easier to a ccept the imperfections of humanness,
which, a t the level of Pride, wou ld have been handled with ange r, denial,
guilt, or projected externally. W ith a benign conscience, mistakes and
errors ca n be acknowledged and corrected without defensivenes s or loss
of self-e steem. T here is a conco mitant increase in the capacity for humor
and the ability to laugh at oneself and human foibles (i. e. , “ T o err is
human, to for give divine”). The level of W illingness is ef fective in the world because it is not
impeded by resistance, and when coupled with dedication, it is capable
of b reaking through the inner barriers of the belief system of “I can’ t” to
“I ca n. ” Other mottoes are “Just put your head down, keep goin g, and go
for it,” or “When the going get s tough, the tough get going,” or “W alk
straight ahead, no matter what,” or “Create your own opportunities. ”
Central to all th ese mottoes and many philosophies is the willingness to
accept personal responsibility, accountability, and the refusal to place
blame or responsibility externally. T ranscending the Level of W illingness. Success at level 310 results in inner conviction of capability and
dependability t hat af firms personal worth. The resultant o ptimism
encourages furth er growth and validation of the practical as well as the
subjective value of alignment with the pursuit of spiritual trut h and its
principles. The increase of inner  strength confirms the operational reality
of sp iritual tenets, for by their fruits are their truths revealed. Ef fective
attitudes and actions are self-rewarding and reinforcing. Suc cessfully
transcending prior limitations encourages further spiritual exploration
and reinforcement of basic principles. The limitation of this level is the focus on the personality and the
identification wi th it as the self, whereas in reality, the growth is due to
the radia nce of the Self. It is by  virtue of the progressive illumi nation of
the Self that th e willingness to surrender limitation is ener gized. The
illusion is that the personal ‘I’ is due credit. Thus, the belief that the
basic reality is the personal self is yet to be transcended. The positive
momentum of W illingness, however, leads fairly easily to its
transcendence. W illingness sees its principle tenets and convict ions as apropelling force  as though the source lies within. Thus, the belief is that
the personal self is the cause of success. The prim ary limitation is the ide ntification of the source of one’ s life as a
separate personality that becomes identified as volition itself. The
understanding yet to be realized is that everything happens as a
consequence of potentiality’ s manifesting as actuality when c onditions
are appr opriate, and that the will and intention are the trigger but not the
primary cause of this evolutionary stage. The spiritual practice of selfless service is classically termed ‘karma
yoga’, which, when combined with prayer and devotion, is
transformative. It was the pathway of Mahatma Gandhi. W illingness supports intention and facilitates the purification process of
spiritual evolution, which often requires the willingness to face inner
discomfort for the sake of reach ing a higher goal. W illingness s ummons
forth the extra en er gy required for the ef fort of overcoming obst acles and
resistances. It also requires com mitment to periods of endurance to reach
the higher goal. It includes a positive attitude toward the pr ocess of
learning itself and the acquisitio n of necessary spiritual information and
commitment. W illingness is a positive attitude as contrasted with the
attitude of willfulness, which is a form of resistance. Surrender of
positionalities i s a consequence of willingness and is therefore an
important quality of serious inner spiritual endeavor. CHAPTER 12. Acceptance. (Calibration Level 350).
Neutrality does not resist or anticipate change, but instead floats along the river of life by decision and acceptance. It is not the same as passivity or indifference, as it is a welcome relief to those who have transcended lower levels and survived their inner anguish.
What is the primary focus of Neutrality, and how does it differ from passivity or indifference?
Acceptance is not passive, as it is characterized by the willingness to accept personal and human limitations, whereas passivity is a lack of action or effort.
What is the primary difference between Acceptance and passivity?
The primary limitation of the intellect at this level is its tendency to focus on the description of the observed, rather than the essence of the observer. This is addressed by surrendering to spiritual principles and aligning with the will of God.
What is the primary limitation of the intellect at the 400-level, and how is it addressed?
The key is to surrender the ego's desire to control and instead align with spiritual principles and the will of God.
What is the key to transcending the limitations of the intellect and achieving higher levels of awareness?
The ego views reality as a dichotomy of 'good' and 'bad', whereas the reality is multifaceted and nonlinear, and it is not possible to comprehend it through the ego's lens.
What is the primary difference between the ego's perception of reality and the reality itself?