David R. Hawkins (1927–2012)

This is a discourse of what it means to understand and act upon one's intuitive and higher mind capabilities. The premise is that our bodies will respond to things that are "true" or have power, with a level of ease. Alternatively, when something is "false" it will have an element of forced nature to it- trying to make something that it isn't or shouldn't be. I appreciated the simplicity of the conversation and also the scale in which we move through the levels of that sensitivity. It is not show more a scale to be graded on, as some reviewers may suggest- but rather a road map of how far we have ascended from complete unawareness, apathy, and disillusionment. show less

There are very few books I have read which I have hurled across the room in disgust. The author apparently is hoping that none of his readers remember their high school mathematics. If they did, they would find co-opted terminology and faulty mathematical reasoning leading to ludicrous conclusions. I take no issue with spiritual or "new age" books which attempt to make their case using evidence from inner experience. But intentionally dressing it up with bad math in hopes that the layman show more will swallow this hogwash as science is unconscionable. show less

This is another challenging but absolutely inspiring book by David Hawkins, leading us further on the path to enlightenment.

Hawkins depicts his own path in considerable detail, describing the various states he experienced. When reading these descriptions, particularly in the section entitled “About the author”, I myself fall into expanded states: waves of healing flow through me (I have much to be healed), occasionally accompanied by feelings of ecstasy/bliss; I also sometimes experience show more a wonderful feeling as though millions of cells or units, I don’t know what they are, in the part of my aura immediately in front of me, are deeply, deeply satisfied. This is not a feeling of love, joy, bliss or ecstasy, but such deep satisfaction that it borders on the latter. (If Hawkins’ books are not around and I wish to experience an expanded state of this kind, I say the words “I let go of resistance” or “Thy will be done”, which invariably begin a process leading to these states.)

(While typing in this review I am simultaneously listening to an interview with Panache Desai, and this gives me a wonderful peaceful, blissful feeling too.)

The author describes how he “worked with himself” (my term) to achieve enlightenment, and how he came back to resume “earthly life”, which was not easy,

Continually, he refers to his kinesiological technique by which he tests the truth of everything and its level on the “Map of the Scale of Consciousness”. On this Map, 200 is the level between Force (negative) and Power (positive), and 600 indicates “the crossing over from the perceptual worlds of duality to the nonperceptual world of nonduality”. The levels below 200 represent suffering in all its forms.

He explains that the recent major shift of consciousness of mankind from 190 to 207 is “the most profound and significant event in all of man’s history.

The Eye of the I is “the Self of Divinity expressed as Awareness”.

“There is no division between Creator and that which is created. All is self-creating as the manifestation of the mind of God --- Because the universe is self-evolving and self-fulfilling, no intervention is necessary. All is in perfect balance and harmony.”

The calling of the spiritual aspirant is of service to the whole of mankind. Every increase in the level of consciousness affects the consciousness of all mankind.

“The power of love emanated by the consciousness of only a fraction of mankind … totally counterbalances the negativity of the whole mass of humanity”.

The “12-step” groups are spiritually pure and calibrate at 540, the level of Unconditional Love.

The block to Realization is the mind itself, which is not different from the ego: they are one and the same.

“Neither Truth nor Enlightenment is something to be found, sought, acquired, gained, or possessed. That which is the Infinite Presence is always present and its realization occurs of itself when the obstacles to that realization are removed.”

The latter half of the book is devoted to transcripts of talks and meetings and comprises Hawkins’ answers to questions posed by “spiritual students”.

However, in my experience everything stated by Hawkins cannot be taken as absolute truth. For instance, his explanation about the difference between out-of-body and near-death experiences does not accord with an experience I had at the age of 14. It was an ecstatic out-of-body experience, in no way a near-death experience but accorded greatly with H’s description of a near-death experience.

We must begin by accepting that all truth, all reality, is subjective. No such thing exists as an objective truth.

H. explains repeatedly that causality does not exist - there is only identity. There is no cause of anything. In Reality, everything is already complete. “It is obvious that nothing is the cause of anything else as that would require a dualistic separation in time and space, which is impossible.”

What I have stated above gives an indication of the content of this exciting book. There is some repetition, but this repetition is not redundant, the nature of the content being such that repetition in various formulations is necessary in order to facilitate the reader’s integration of the material.

This is one of the most significant books I have read, and some of the others that would fall into this group are also penned by Hawkins. I admit that I needed to re-read many of the sentences in order to even attempt to comprehend them.

I am sure that the claim that the reading of this book and others by the author raises one’s level of consciousness is correct. Just simply by being in the presence of an enlightened master helps one further on one’s path, and reading the books has a similar effect. My experiences cited at the beginning of this review bear witness to the effect of the author’s consciousness on the reader.

There were a few editorial glitches, but otherwise my only complaint is that I would have appreciated an index. show less

Not an easy book to read if you attempt to understand it with your conscious, rational mind. I found immense pleasure and insight in the understanding that happened 'beyond the mind' and found myself in unexplainable lightness and joy at times.
Hawkins description of consciousness is very interesting and thought provoking.
At what level of consciousness are you?