Book Review
Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
by David Hawkins MD, PhD
Reviewed by Marc Sullivan
With Power vs Force, Dr David Hawkins details his remarkable map of consciousness, and explains the characteristics and significance of the different states of consciousness up and down the scale.
Although it makes a pretense of being scientific, this is really a very spiritual book. Readers on spiritual paths will recognize the stages of their own self-development as calibrated and defined by the author.
Hawkins utilized kinesiology, or muscle-testing, via the traditional arm-out technique involving two participants as the means of creating and validating his map. Initially he took the "anyone can do this with accuracy" approach to it. When others found they weren't getting accurate results with test questions, Hawkins discovered that both participants need to be at a consciousness level of 200 or above to achieve accurate results. Subsequent printings of the book have been revised to reflect this finding.
Hawkins' consciousness scale is from 1 to 1000, with the lowest consciousness level being Shame (1-20). Enlightenment (700-1000) is the highest level, with 1000 being the level of the Avatar, the highest consciousness attainable in a human body. At levels of 200 (Courage) and above, one begins to amass energy, or personal power. At and above 200 we experience emotions like affirmation, love, forgiveness, acceptance and bliss. At levels below 200 one is weak and subject to forces in the world around them. The lower levels are where we give our energy away, and are characterized by emotions such as hatred, despair, blame and scorn. These are the emotions that weaken us.
What makes the 200 level so important is it is where we stop placing blame for what happens in our lives on things external to ourselves. At 200 we cease being victims. It's the level where we have the courage to take full responsibility for our lives as well as our actions.
Because of the logarithmic nature of Hawkins' map, there are enormous differences within and between the different levels. A level of 220, for example, is about twenty times more conscious than 200.
Hawkins uses Mahatma Gandhi as an example of how the power of consciousness, an invisible commodity, was able to overcome the military force of the British Empire. Gandhi was indeed a spiritually-driven individual of comparatively higher consciousness, who defeated the British through deliberately non-violent means. In Hawkin's interpretation Gandhi applied real consciousness-based personal power against physical force and emerged victorious.
According to Hawkins, one individual of higher consciousness can have a tremendous impact on the overall consciousness level of humanity. In his examples a person at level 300 will counterbalance 90,000 below level 200. One person at 700, the level of Enlightenment and conscious unity where all ego-based perception of duality ceases, will counterbalance 70 million people below level 200.
As more and more people evolve their awareness, the overall level of human consciousness continues to climb. Today, according to Hawkins' research, about 25% of the world's population has reached or exceeded level 200. Where for centuries humanity's consciousness taken as a whole was stuck at 195, in the last twenty-some years it's gone from 195 to well over 200. This transformation in overall consciousness can be attributed to people below 200 reaching higher levels, as well as the overall effect of the ones above 200.
Hawkins postulates that mankind is now in the midst of making an evolutionary shift, evolving from Homo Sapiens in to what he terms Homo Spiritus.
What makes Dr Hawkins' perspective so invaluable and unique is not just his training and decades of experience as a clinical psychiatrist. Years ago, in a moment of extreme personal anguish, Hawkins experienced a spontaneous enlightenment. In a moment's time he was transformed from an avowed atheist to one who sees the divinity, or Presence of the Creator, in everything. From that state, it took him years to learn how to convey what he sees and experiences to the rest of us. Two subsequent publications, The Eye of the I, and I, put forth that perspective.
If you're interested in human consciousness and how it affects attitudes and behaviors, you'll find Power vs Force to be a book well worth your time.
