Power vs. force

In 1995, psychiatrist David Hawkins published Power vs. Force. The book describes a scale of human consciousness. Higher levels have power that energizes and unifies. Lower levels use force that consumes and polarizes.

Enlightenment 700–1,000

Peace 600

Joy 540

Love 500

Reason 400

Acceptance 350

Willingness 310

Courage 200

Pride 175

Anger 150

Desire 125

Fear 100

Grief 75

Apathy 50

Guilt 30

Shame 20

According to Hawkins, all levels below 200 are destructive to you and society. Unfortunately, 85% of the world’s population calibrates here.

Power first appears at level 200: Courage. You learn, grow, and overcome obstacles that defeat people at lower levels. This is the level of blue-collar workers, tradespeople, and retail commerce.

At level 350: Acceptance, you have a major insight—you can create the experience of your life. It doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong. Instead, you set goals and solve problems. This is the level of managers, artisans, and educators.

At level 400: Reason, you can handle large amounts of complex data and make correct decisions. This is the level of scientists, executives, intellectuals, and statesmen. Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, and Isaac Newton calibrate at 499. Paradoxically, reason is a block to reaching higher levels—intellectual brilliance misses the essence of things.

At level 500: Love, you have an intuitive understanding of the whole. You forgive, nurture, and support everyone. Worldly needs and possessions are irrelevant. Excellence is common. Motivation comes from personal principles and altruism. Great music, art, and architecture are created here. Only 4% reach this level of true happiness.

Level 540: Joy is the domain of spiritual healers and saints. You have enormous compassion and patience. You spread love and serenity. Only 0.4% reach this level.

Finally, only 1 in 10 million reaches level 600: Peace. Mother Theresa calibrates at 700. Mahatma Gandhi calibrates at 760. Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus Christ calibrate at 1,000.

People are doing the best that they can from their own level of consciousness.

-Deepak Chopra

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.

-William James

Personal notes

As a medical doctor and scientist, I’m skeptical that consciousness can be quantified like this. That being said, Power vs. Force has improved my understanding of people and my spiritual growth.

On another note, my life has followed Hawkins’ scale. I was in my mid-20s when I realized I had the freedom (and responsibility) to choose my own path. Until then, I had neglected my feelings in favor of parents, teachers, and experts. Since then, I try listening to both my logic and intuition.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

-Aristotle

The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse.

-Carlos Castaneda

References

Wang Y et al. (2017). Meta‐analytic investigations of the relation between intuition and analysis. Behavioral Decision Making. 30(1): 15–25.

A meta-analysis of 80 studies with 27,501 participants found that analytical vs. intuitive thinking styles were independent measures, rather than opposite ends of a continuum

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