Consciousness.
Consciousness, as defined by Merriam Webster, is the state of being which is characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought. With this definition consciousness takes on a multitude of different forms, from waking state and dream state, to the in-between-altered states made possible through breathwork and plant medicine.
Each state or level of consciousness comes with its own subtleties and nuances, but for the purpose of this article let us focus on waking consciousness. Waking consciousness is the state of awareness in which you perceive the physical world, the people and everything else in it.
There are four primary levels of waking consciousness in which you can perceive the world, each of them presenting their own set of characteristics, which we will get to in just a moment. They are, The Victim, The Hustler, The Believer, and The Universe.
The level of consciousness in which you perceive the world will contribute to your thoughts and feelings about the world. The opposite is also true, because your thoughts and feelings each carry their own vibrational signature, they play a crucial role in creating your state of consciousness.
Level 1, The Victim – (To Me)
Unfortunately, the most prevalent state of consciousness in our society is that of The Victim. People living in victim consciousness are typically self-centred and concerned primarily with their own state of affairs.
Victims believe that life is hard, the world sucks and that everybody is out to get them. Most of this behaviour stems from childhood, where the lack of understanding and responsibility plays a role in children blaming their siblings, animals, parents, etc for whatever predicament they find themselves in. It is expected for children to play the role of victim, however, becoming a functioning adult necessitates this behaviour to be outgrown.
If a child is subject to victimisation through trauma or sexual abuse, they will most likely carry these unprocessed wounds into adulthood where they may manifest into victim consciousness.
Many children are raised in households where parents also play victim, and thus these behaviours are unconsciously inherited.
The underlying belief of The Victim is that everything is happening ‘to me.’ Bad things happen to me, people lie to me, the world is against me etc. They may frequently use terms like, “this always happens to me.” They expect unfortunate events.
The Victim thinks everything is somebody else’s fault and because their power is derived from external sources, they find it exceedingly difficult to manage their own state of emotions.
The Victim has an external locus of control, meaning they believe they have little to no control over what happens in their life. Because they believe they have no power, The Victim will complain about their parents, government, the economy, or the market rather than acting to make change.
With such a narrow point of focus it can be very difficult for The Victim to accurately assess the root cause of their drama, much less to rectify it.
For The Victim to get out of this level and move to the next, they must give up blame and replace it with personal responsibility.
Level 2, The Hustler – (By Me)
Since the rise of the great Gary Vee, hustler mentality has been idolized and worshipped as a necessity for success and accomplishment.
Hustlers have an internal locus of control, with a belief that they can achieve anything they put their mind toward. Their underlying belief is ‘everything in my life happens because of me.’
The Hustler mentality is effective, and with enough applied effort there will inevitably come a string of results, though this may sometimes come at the expense of the individual’s health or relationships.
Hustlers tend to exert some degree of control over every part of their lives. In some ways this serves them, in other ways, it can be a root to the weeds of stress and anxiety. The amount of energy required to control every aspect of their life soon becomes exhausting.
Due to their desire to control external circumstances, hustlers have a tendency to become micro-managers or ‘control freaks’ if put into positions of power, like owning or managing a business.
Because they have learned to rely on sheer effort to accomplish their goals and dreams, The Hustler may become disheartened if their initial progress is undone due to sickness or injury.
They are metaphorically swimming upriver, against the current. The harder they swim, the further they move, but if they stop swimming to catch their breath they are soon dragged by the current back to where they started.
Hustle is certainly required in both the personal and professional environments, as much in finishing a project as in developing a 6 pack. However, problems tend to arise when the hustle produces little to no overall satisfaction but has become so engrained that The Hustler cannot stop. When it’s just hustle for the sake of hustle.’
There are countless entrepreneurs, businessmen and celebrities living in hustler consciousness, and many either become burnt-out or resolve to taking drugs and medications to keep them in the game. Living in hustler consciousness is like being trapped on a hamster wheel you cannot get off.
For The Hustler to get out of this level and move to the next he must give up the need for control and replace it with faith.
Level 3, The Believer – (Through Me)
In his book, ‘The Rise of Superman,’ Steven Kotler explains the concept of flow, the optimal state of consciousness for peak performance.
Flow, as described by researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, occurs when situations of high challenge are met with high level skills. Too much challenge, and the individual may feel anxious, too much skill on the other hand, and the individual may become bored. When the two are met equally, something inside of the brain seems to ‘mesh,’ performance skyrockets and the experience becomes almost mystical.
Large studies have been undertaken to analyse the effectiveness of flow states, with scientists measuring increase in performance of up to 500%!
Competitive athletes are notorious for having the ability to enter this state on a regular basis, as well as surfers and action sport adventurers who describe the experience as having entered ‘the zone.’ This is a thoughtless state, where time tends to disappear and an intense connection forms between the individual and the activity they are involved in.
Even though the individual already possesses high skill, the task or challenge typically becomes effortless. It is as though the critical brain moves aside and the body becomes a vessel for something larger to move through.
Although this type of peak performance state is commonly known as the flow state, it is not reserved exclusively for athletes and high performing individuals.
Taking a look at this from another perspective, this state tends be reached only when one manages to get out of their own way and surrender to the flowing energies of life.
Intense presence is a prerequisite for flow. If one begins thinking, manoeuvring, or trying to control the situation, the mystical experience of flow seems to vanish almost instantly.
Have you had an experience where, with seemingly little to no effort you thought, “holy f*ck, I’m on fire!?” Everything just seemed to fall into place and go your way. Then there are the days where the more you try, the more difficult things seem to get, and you can’t seem to land a punch on anything that matters.
The Believer level of consciousness can be observed in the man who takes bold action in his life, his every move backed by his deep sense of ‘knowing,’ in his faith that things will work out for the best.
As soon as one becomes fixated on results, the process becomes a means to an end. Obsessing over every detail blocks the universal energies from assisting in the process.
Rather than trying to control every situation, person, outcome or event, The Believer understands that the fastest way to achieve long lasting and sustainable results is to work with the energies of the universe, rather than against them.
Whereas The Hustler may become trapped in a perpetual cycle of fear and control, The Believer operates with faith and trust, acting as if he has already achieved the result he desires. In this way, the universe seems to conspire with him, helping to bring forth situations, people and events for him to take advantage of.
From the outside it may look like he is just ‘lucky,’ but LUCK is just Living Under Cosmic Knowledge. The more an individual is living in alignment with himself and the universal energies, the more ‘luck’ he will create.
Because The Believer swims downstream with the current, his effort-to-results ratio is much more efficient. The belief of The Believer is, “life happens through me.”
For The Believer to get out of this level and move to the next he must give up the illusion of separateness and replace it with unconditional love.
Level 4, The Universe – (As Me)
The pinnacle of human consciousness is reached by transcending the limited physical capabilities of our human body, to reach a vibration so high the stories of who we are disintegrate.
Unless you are Jesus, Buddha or a monk who has spent 40 years meditating, this level of consciousness will be hard to reach, and almost impossible to sustain. Nonetheless it is worth exploring this concept.
Universal consciousness is difficult to imagine as our analytical brains tend only to comprehend things which we can measure or observe. Through meditation we may experience consciousness, knowingness or awareness as space, however we observe this space through the functioning of this physical body.
To have thoughts about, or describe an experience is to separate ourselves from it. “I had an experience,” implies there is an I, and an experience. It automatically implies separation. This is how the majority of us, as humans live our lives, attached and obsessed with our own sense of self, our separateness.
This can be both a healthy aspect of individualism or a defensive protection mechanism of the egoic self. Typically, it’s the latter.
Experiencing universal consciousness is to transcend the human body, the ego and its stories to enter a divine cosmic dance with the consciousness in space where life itself arises. There is no separation there, total unity. It is to experience the universe, as the universe.
I have experienced (notice the separation as I type in my typical waking state) universal consciousness with the help of Mother Ayahuasca during a week-long retreat in the Peruvian Amazon. I was 2 hours into a relatively mild experience before I obliged to an offering of more medicine.
After an intense physical purge, I huddled over the toilet in the foetal position before collapsing of exhaustion outside the maloca. The perception of my hands shifted from that of solid matter to tiny, dust-like particles of energy which I could see almost straight through. (I know it sounds fucking crazy, but it happened.)
As my physical senses deteriorated my level of consciousness was elevated and for a brief moment, I lost contact with my body in the physical dimension. My consciousness transcended to a state where I observed, or rather became, the dynamic energetic field in which this whole reality is made manifest.
I felt life, all of life, moving, dancing and shifting through me, as me. I sensed the entire universe evolving through life and death in perfect, constant motion. Every high and every low, every dark and every light balanced in perfect equilibrium through the seemingly endless motion of a horn torus.
After ‘coming back’ into my body I was utterly confused. I had no idea what happened until journaling, reflecting and integrating on the plane ride home. It was a deeply profound and transformational experience for me, but one I could not truly capture with the grammatical limitations of our English language.
After all, how could you explain to a man with no eyes, what it is like to see?
Conclusion.
It is important to be honest with yourself about where you currently spend most of your waking consciousness.
We have all played The Victim at some stage in our lives, but choosing to remain here will inevitably squander your progression of becoming A Better Man. You needn’t blame nor punish yourself if you currently spend your days here. Rather, if The Victim seeks to take centre stage in your life begin by asking yourself, “in what areas could I begin to take more responsibility in my life?”
If you find yourself balls to the wall busy, constantly striving but ceasing to reach happiness or fulfillment, The Hustler may have taken the reigns (typical hustler thing to do.) Begin by asking yourself, “in what areas could I begin to give up the need for control?”
And if you find that LUCK is always on your side, you are currently moving in the direction of your dreams and every action is backed by an unexplainable synchronicity of events, congratulations. From the level of The Believer, you may begin to ask, “in what ways could I help others strive to become better humans?” (Take your time, that’s a pretty big question!)
