CHAPTER 1
The First Level—Me
Although I returned to the temple often, it was years before the masters appeared again. When it became my turn to sit with the masters for the second time, after having sat in the void for so long that it filled me where once my knowledge was, I came this time empty and open, as a child, not in the universe but of the universe. I came not because I desired to know, but because I deserved to know. This time, the masters prepared to pass on the mantle. And as they did, they noted that my temple was more clean and pure. We will sit in anyone's temple, be it a shack or a palace, and place no judgment. But a temple that is clear accommodates our presence best. Your pursuit of clarity has served you well.
And then they said, Now we can share with you the great many things that there are to become aware of in life. We will speak to you of them as you become open to them so that nothing is forced upon you. The first thing we all become aware of is our-self.
Shortly after recovering from the ordeal of birth, we are given a drink of milk that soothes and nourishes us, and crying gives way to contentment. We are given nourishment and attention, and we are nurtured. Parents can gaze in awe at this sight for longer than they can give attention to most things. Cute as babies are, the sight of a human in the state of contentment is rare and attractive.
The level of awareness as a baby is that everything I need is brought to me. People clean me when I need it, and play with me when I'm bored. Contentment is easily achieved, fleeting as it is. I learn to cry on demand and expect people to know what I want. I expect people to see to my every need, to entertain me when I'm bored, feed me when I'm hungry, clean up after me, look after me, and make me happy. I am the centre of the world, and everything in it is there for me to use.
Consider this seriously: did you ever fully grow out of this level of awareness? Usually it is easier to see this in others. Everyone has this level of awareness. It is the self-serving I. It shows up in selfish behaviour and self-centred worldviews. Businesses essentially run at this level. Although they need the outside world (the next level) and they may support charities, their primary focus to continue to exist is capital gain.
This is survival mode, and when we feel fear or lack, survival mode brings us straight back to Me. Survival mode is the part of us that reasons, I know there are better ways to communicate, but I'm tired. I know this food isn't healthy, but it was cheap. In the business model, we may think, I know this appears to be unethical, but it is affordable. I know this pollutes the environment, but I don't have time to find a better system.
There is little to work with here, as the focus is inward and limited. Understanding is not even wanted. No child wants to hear the reasons why you can't buy them another toy; they just want the toy. The mentality is demanding, and often the demand can never be met—or if someone tries to meet it, it does not measure up. There are lots of archetypal characters in story tales with this level of awareness, such as the tyrant, princess, and hermit.
The outlook on this awareness is like a dot; it doesn't look outwards much at all. It is more focused inward and in the moment of now. If you've ever had to buckle up a resistant small child in a car for only a short drive who doesn't understand that it is only for a few minutes before you will take the buckle off again, you will understand what I mean here. There is no concept of relief beyond the discomfort of the present moment.
It is really fascinating to watch young children play with babies. The baby is totally in this level of awareness. If the older child plays peekaboo with the baby, the baby actually thinks the older child isn't there when they cannot see them. A two-year-old child I watched didn't understand the point of hide-and-seek, because when his sister ran off and hid, she left his awareness, and he looked for other things to do. When she called out for him, he looked confused, because he could hear her, but she wasn't there. It didn't occur to him to look for her, as she was nowhere to be seen, meaning she wasn't there.
This awareness allows some to think that if they bury their heads in the sand, the situation or danger has gone or will go. As silly as we know this to be, there is much evidence in the news every day of people, businesses, governments, and religions doing this when they don't want to deal with problems.
In problems and life situations, one anchored in this awareness only looks for what they themselves can get out of it. Seldom would this person look for a solution that benefits all concerned; rather, he or she will look after number one and act to rescue themselves. This person will even sacrifice others or life-supporting parts of the environment in order to get what they want.
The belief in survival of the fittest is common in this level of awareness, among others. It differs, however, in the interpretation of the word "fittest." In this level of awareness, the word would be defined as "the strongest and most dominant people survive." Arguments are common, as the one acting from "me" is always right. Other people should just know their place. Often situations are things that happened to "me," as this one is not interested in the views of other parties. He or she is not interested in the other side of the coin.
There is a more positive side to this level of awareness, which is the state of independence. When we strive to do things for ourselves and achieve our personal best, we are focused on ourselves. The balance can swing easily here from too much to too little of our focus being on ourselves, but there is a midpoint. There is also, in the times when we sit alone and focus within, opportunity for reflection, which is crucial for our growth and self-improvement. This archetype would be the monk and the soloist.
As everyone has this level and operates from it at least a bit of the time, we will assume you are familiar with it and not draw out our explanation here.
I withdrew from the temple and pondered this insight into the nature of all things.
A six-year-old boy I know had an incident with bees and was stung twice on his face. He is not allergic and didn't even suffer any swelling, just the pain of the stings that didn't seem to bother him after an hour. It is very understandable that after such a traumatic incident, one would be twice shy. In fact, it would be understandable for some people to develop a lifelong phobia of bees after such an incident.
What happened for this boy was now he thinks that everything that flies or buzzes is not only a bee, but it's also trying to sting him. He doesn't want to go outdoors anymore, because it's gravely dangerous. If there is a fly in the house, he goes into a panic. If the door is open a crack or an open window has a hole in the fly wire, he feels unsafe. Despite numerous conversations with the boy explaining how bees don't want to sting you, because then they die, and unless you threaten them, they won't defend themselves, he remains totally paranoid.
I watched bees with him, showing him how uninterested they are in him. I even touched one while it was on a flower. It ignored me, but the boy remains convinced that anything flying is a bee trying to sting him. He is thoroughly immersed in the "me" level or awareness. "They're out to get me" is exaggerated to the point that the world is unsafe.
This is understandable in a six-year-old child, but I see this level of paranoia in adults, too. Many people cut down trees, because "one day it's going to fall down, and I don't want it to fall on me." Or they clear away the vegetation, because "there may be snakes in it." There are many examples of this paranoid behaviour in the military, governments, shire councils, business, insurance companies, churches, and community groups. Indeed, it is everywhere.
CHAPTER 2
The Outside World
It was winter, which in Perth means mostly beautiful, open, blue skies and twenty-two degrees Celsius. I was walking in the hills and went to a waterfall that I love, as it had rained recently and the falls were really gushing. The falls are at the head of a small gorge, and when at their base, I climbed up the rock face to a favourite vantage point to perch on and look at the magnificent falls.
From here, I also have a beautiful view of the gorge and can see down it as it opens out to the Swan Coastal Plain, where Perth city stands in the distance. The mist from the falls threw rainbows in the air as the sun illuminated it. There is a snake that lives among the rocks I perch on here, as it is in the full sun all day and must be a great winter home. I looked for it and found it bathing in the light that shone in between the cracks of the rocks. This land was created by the rainbow serpent, and I felt the energy here strongly as I slipped into the dreamtime. I found my temple, and before I knew it, the masters had come to sit with me once again.
And again they spoke. The next level of awareness we open to is the outside world. There are things happening out there that are independent of "me". Here, one struggles to discover that nothing out there is really in service to "me." Many parents observe this awareness in their children as what is commonly called the terrible twos.
We put up much resistance to accepting that our caregivers have other things they want to do that doesn't involve "me." But this outside world is interactive, and we have the ability to alter the world around us and make creations in it (e.g., I can plant, water, and feed seeds that later will be of service to me as food). And so we develop our understanding of exchange.
There is a reactionary aspect here that alters our interactions with the world through fear. We will change our interactions if they might have a bad outcome—for example, if we play with fire, we may get burnt. We will remove parts of the world around us in order to reduce the likelihood of the bad outcome. We clear trees and vegetation away to prevent fires.
This level of awareness overlooks the function of the parts of the world that are removed to prevent fires unless later it is revealed that the removal of the vegetation is a more serious threat than the fire. Did you notice that without the vegetation, the birds and animals all left, and now the vegetables you grow for your survival are being plagued by leaf-eating bugs? You have to do something; otherwise you can't eat.
The next reaction may be to poison the bugs. This action overlooked the function of all the other bugs in the ecosystem, and now a new problem presents itself. The manure does not break down into compost, because the composting bugs and bacteria were killed with the leaf-eating bugs. So the next reaction may be to apply synthetic fertilisers. But then the soil is not replenished, and it goes barren and lifeless. It stops absorbing water and becomes unsuitable for production. Also, the cost of producing food has evidently increased and people are unable to farm for their livelihood, they leave their family land and the community suffers the loss of their contributions.
There are many examples like this that result in the damage of the earth's life-supporting systems. Often, this damage is the preferred choice over the short-term loss of profits or the want of products like timber, water, and minerals. Every reaction appears at first to solve a problem but also results in new problems being created as the greater level of awareness of the ecosystem and how things are connected are not understood.
Usually in such scenarios, a status quo is established where debates prevent action and any likely solution will cause a similar impact or bad outcome in the near future. This scenario is evident in all levels of leadership in the Western world and appears to largely be how institutions and governments handle problems. It originates from the survival mode of thinking of fear and lack. There is little freedom here, as reaction is the usual course of action.
Reacting to something is taking action because of an event and is usually done without thinking (or much thinking). We are often in survival mode when we react. A reaction usually means that the next action taken is only done because it is thought that it will fix that problem. It doesn't usually involve lateral thinking or changing the way you do or see things. The saying "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got" refers to this level of thinking.
There is an "us against them" element to this level of awareness, too. Many people seem to need an enemy or view everyone and everything as an enemy—at least the ones they don't understand. For so long, people have fought—not just each other, but even nature—in the simple task of making a home on this planet, as if this planet was somehow in opposition to us being here. It seems that only when we come close to destroying the planet's life-supporting systems that some of us realise we need to work with nature for survival. And it seems that only when our neighbours' arsenals are so threatening that if they actually used their weapons, they would destroy us as well as themselves, leaving nothing for anyone to gain, do we seek alternatives to war.
Even today, the majority of governments still have fighting mentalities, fighting the neighbours and fighting nature. It is ingrained into our social conditioning. I'm sure you are well aware of how much you fight with your family, neighbours, business competitors, politicians, etc.—but consider how much you fight yourself.
Do you resist your own true nature? Do you resist the shape of your body? Are you naturally light or heavy, and do you battle to change that because someone gave you a number and said this is what you should weigh? Do you resist your favourite foods because someone gave you a chart saying these foods are best for you and these numbers are correct for your cholesterol levels? Do you even present yourself in attire that does not express your true nature because others expect that of you if you are to associate with them?
Do you act or speak a certain way that goes against your true nature because it is more acceptable for those around you? All of these social norms are in our lives—and not because they come naturally to us. They compromise our true natures and ultimately make us live lies. They go against the core of who we are and cause inner conflict, if not later illness and disease.
The phrase "survival of the fittest" in this level of awareness defines the word "fittest" as the pack mentality in which the bigger the mob, the more likely you are to survive. Conflicts, however, are often unresolved from this level of awareness, as one anchored in this awareness thinks that he or she can just push the other away, and if he or she stays over there, everything will be okay. Seldom does this solve anything, and in the long term, this is responsible for the wounding of many of the world's cultures today even centuries after displacement took place.
The positive side of this level of awareness is the work and reward dynamic. There is much to interact with in the wider world, and many benefits are found. We also have the choice to respond to the situations. This differs, because responding requires contemplation before action. This gives us the time to think things through and come up with a course of action that will produce a better outcome.
Our awareness of the outside world helps us learn to care for people and things we encounter. We can appreciate beauty and change things we wish to improve. We have all sorts of encounters and interactions with the outside world every day. Those with a competitive nature can find others to compete with, and those who like to play can find others to play with. The outside world is also where those who want to build and create things can find the help they need when they come to accept the fact that they can't do it all on their own.
This level of awareness is (as the first level is) common to everyone, and our awareness of the outside world begins shortly after birth. It is greatly expanded upon in the second seven years of our lives (ages eight to fourteen), as this stage of our development focuses on the family, and in the third seven years of development (ages fifteen to twenty-one), when we form our awareness of the wider world.
