The Levels of Consciousness
What is Consciousness?
In 2018 I first learned about consciousness as defined as a scale or framework of human spiritual development. The word “consciousness” had been pretty nebulous to me up until that point, with varying meanings depending on context. I understood the basic definition of the word to mean “awake.”
But awake from what?
And I intuitively understood that greater consciousness meant greater love, and that this was somehow the key to meaning. The key to understanding what our lives are about.
There were various scales of consciousness I’d encountered previously such as Spiral Dynamics and the Integral work by Ken Wilber, but I’d always found those frameworks to be a bit too academic. I could never quite access them in a way to determine exactly where I was or what I should be doing in my day-to-day life to move to the next level.
Tara Springett’s model was immediately different.
She begins by defining the nine stages of consciousness. Then she helps the reader identify where they are along the spectrum of stages, explaining that we may have some variance and movement between stages depending on context.2
From there Tara helps us see what actions and behaviors will lead us through the stages as we progress to our highest self possible. She also gives examples of what each level of consciousness looks like in others, in the world, in religious and spiritual systems, in relationships, at work, and even with kids and parenting.
Tara is a Buddhist but she approaches the topic in a style that is inclusive of all belief-systems, even if you’re in the “I don’t know” camp.
So what are the levels?
The nine stages of consciousness are ordered like a stairway with two flights of steps and one interconnecting step in the middle. It is possible to recognise these nine stages in every person, in every culture throughout history, in every organisation and even in every moment of one’s inner experience. Here is a first short overview of the stairway of consciousness:
Step 0 – Innocence: Passivity; little motivation; lack of awareness; sense of relative harmony; pleasure and trust; the individual says, ‘I belong to my group’.
Step 1 – Dominance: Wish to dominate others if necessary in a ruthless way; anger; greed; the individual says, ‘I want it and I want it now!’
Step 2 – Obedience: Submission and adherence to moral and social rules for the greater good of all; hierarchical structures in groups of people; self-denial and judging of others; the individual says, ‘I do what is expected of me.’
Step 3 – Ambition: Rational world-view; creating a successful self-image; materialism; competitiveness; the individual says, ‘I want to achieve more than anyone else.’
Step 4 – Sharing: Search for compassionate relationships; exploration of one’s emotions; egalitarianism; living in harmony with nature; the individual says, ‘I am close to others and to nature.’
Step 5 – Responsibility: Taking full responsibility for every single problem in one’s life; keen interest in personal development and following one’s vocation, the individual says, ‘I realise my dreams for the best of humankind.’
Step 6 – Love: Making altruistic love and spiritual development the most important aims in life; the individual says, ‘I send love to heal the world.’
Step 7 – Bliss: Realisation that one’s true nature is blissful loving space; development of supernatural powers; withdrawal into spiritual retreats; the individual says, ‘My true nature is spiritual bliss.’
Step 8 – Enlightenment: Infinite love, bliss and wisdom; seeing oneself as divine and the world as a paradise; the individual says, ‘I am love’.
We all must go through each of these steps, in this exact order, and there’s no skipping a step, no exceptions.
All of us (unless you’re a self-realized being) start at zero. Most of us enter the dominance stage around ages 2-3 ,and then enter the obedience stage around age 4. (Some people never leave the dominance stage and many of these folks end up in prison or politics.)
How does this relate to Christian Deconstruction?
What soon became apparent to me is that many people working their way through deconstruction are doing so because they’re moving beyond the obedience stage, which is where most churches are at today.
And once we outgrow a stage we can no longer stomach the institutions of that previous stage. We must move on. We must seek out other individuals and organizations that fit our new, higher level of consciousness.
In a future post we’ll explore what a higher consciousness faith or church might look like, but for today I have one take-away for you regarding that topic:
No matter how lost or disconnected you may feel in your deconstruction journey…YOU ARE EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE.
Moving beyond the simple obedience-level Christianity was an important step in your spiritual development. And from the perspective of growing into higher levels of consciousness, even if you find yourself identifying as an agnostic or an atheist, that’s OK.
Wherever you are, that’s OK. Every stage is needed. Every stage is neccesary.
Sort of like the awkward, difficult teenage years between childhood and adulthood, it’s all a necessary part of developing into who you will one day become, whether that’s in this life or beyond.3
The important thing to realize and accept is that we’re each moving towards something greater, and that we must be open to that greater thing that awaits us.
I see a lot of people get stuck in Deconstruction. I’ve actually watched them argue to hold onto the pain and suffering born out of their experiences with low-consciousness Christianity.
And that’s fine too.
But all I’d say in response is you have important work to do at the higher levels. We need you.
Look around.
All of humanity needs you.