Happiness is what every individual strives for. But few individuals take the time to question the nature of happiness. Unless we can define happiness, how can we attain it? And if we don’t know what we’re actually seeking, how will we know when we find it? Happiness is more than just a feeling or an experience. Happiness is a state of mind.

This means that whether or not we are happy has nothing to do with anything outside of us. Our happiness has nothing to do with any thing, experience, or condition. Nothing in the world can make us happy. The Source of our happiness comes from inside us. We are happy when we align the vibration of our thoughts—our consciousness—with high-frequency vibrations. We tune our metaphorical radio tuner to the Happiness station, and we feel happy. Because we feel happy, the Law of Attraction brings us all sorts of wonderful things and experiences. The wonderful, prosperous and fun things and experiences are the effect of feeling happy, not the cause of it.

Happiness, then, is entirely the result of our consciousness. All we have to do in order to be happy is to tune our vibration to match the vibrations of happiness. We do this automatically whenever we choose the best-feeling thought currently available. Even if we accept that if we follow this path consistently, we will eventually get to “Happy,” there’s still a part of us that keeps asking, “Are we there yet?”

The journey that we take to get from wherever we are now to “Happy” is a journey through the levels of consciousness. In order to navigate the realms of human consciousness, we’ll create a series of maps. We will base these maps on the work of Rev. Michael Beckwith and Dr. David R. Hawkins, combining, integrating and slightly modifying their models.

Four Kingdoms of Consciousness

Rev. Michael Beckwith, whom you might know from The Secret, created a very simple model to understand human consciousness, based on the work of his mentor, the late Dr. Homer Johnson. Beckwith proposes that consciousness can be divided into four segments, or “Kingdoms.” Each Kingdom represents a fundamentally different experience of “little r” reality.

First Kingdom is known as Victim Consciousness. In First Kingdom, things are done to me. First Kingdom is the domain of the ego.

Second Kingdom is the domain of the Linear Mind. This is where we encounter the Law of Cause and Effect, and where we manifest things in form. In the Second Kingdom, things are done by me.

Third Kingdom is the domain of Spiritual Reality. In the Third Kingdom, The Law of Attraction supersedes the Law of Cause and Effect. In the Third Kingdom, things are done through me.

Fourth Kingdom is the domain of Illuminated and Enlightened States. Rev. Beckwith states that in the Fourth Kingdom, things are done as me, but this is not strictly correct. The Fourth Kingdom is the realm of Enlightenment where there is no longer any sense of separation or individual identity. It is the ultimate destination of our journey. When we reach this level of consciousness, the “little s” self is replaced by the Presence, and there is technically no longer a “me” for things to be done as.

We will work extensively with this simple map of consciousness, exploring key concepts from the vantage point of the different kingdoms.

Power vs. Force

Dr. David R. Hawkins is perhaps the foremost researcher into the field of Human Consciousness. Dr. Hawkins’ research uses the science of Applied Kinesiology, or muscle testing. When the human body is in the presence of a positive, truthful influence, the acupuncture system in the body gives a strong response. When in the presence of negativity or falsehood, the acupuncture system goes weak. Using this system, Dr. Hawkins created a scale that he uses to map human consciousness.

The scale is a numerical measure of levels of power. It begins at 1, which is the minimum level of consciousness for something to be considered alive (the level of bacteria and viruses), and goes up to 1,000, which is the maximum level of consciousness possible to experience in a human body. This is the level of consciousness of the great Avatars, Buddha, Christ, Krishna and Zoroaster. Only a handful of individuals in history have reached this level of consciousness.

The scale is logarithmic, so each increment is actually a factor of 10. Rather than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… the scale is 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, etc. Even a small increase in the scale represents a tremendous increase in power.

Dr. Hawkins discovered that the critical point on the scale is the calibration level of 200. Things that calibrate below 200 make the body go weak, while things that calibrate over 200 make the body go strong. Everything that calibrates below 200 represents Force, while everything that calibrates above 200 represents increasing levels of Power.

The difference between Power and Force is tremendously valuable to understand. Force is inherently weak. Force lacks sufficient energy to sustain itself, and therefore must constantly consume energy. As Isaac Newton observed, Force always creates an equal and opposite counter-force.

Power, on the other hand, is whole and complete in and of itself. Power is self-sustaining, and creates energy rather than consuming it. Power is life-affirming and entirely cooperative, because there is no opposite to Power.

What really matters for our purposes is that Power feels better than Force.

Dr. Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness correlates certain emotions and experiences with key levels of consciousness. When we combine Dr. Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness with Rev. Beckwith’s model of the Four Kingdoms of Consciousness, we get this:

Notice that First Kingdom calibrates below 200, and contains all of the “negative” emotions: Shame, Guilt, Apathy, Grief, Fear, Desire, Anger and Pride. The critical line of integrity separates First Kingdom from Second Kingdom. The most important thing we need to understand about this map is that the higher up we go on the map, the better we feel. In fact, advancing in consciousness is the only reliable way to become Happy.

Dr. Hawkins has even correlated the rates of happiness with each of the levels of consciousness. At the level of Shame (20) there is only a 1% rate of happiness; Guilt (30) has a 4% rate; Apathy (50) is 5%; Grief (75) is 9%; Fear (100) and Desire (125) have a 10% rate of happiness; Anger (150) has a 12% rate; and Pride (175) has a 22% rate. When we cross out of Victim Consciousness to Second Kingdom at the level of Courage (200), however, the rate of happiness more than doubles to 55%. As we progress through Second Kingdom, the rate of happiness continues to increase: Neutrality (250) is 60%; Willingness (310) is 68%; Acceptance (350) is 71%; and Reason (400) is 79%. When we cross into Third Kingdom at Love (cal 500), the rate of happiness jumps to 89%, and at Joy (540) the rate of happiness is 96%. At the level of Enlightenment (600+) there is a 100% rate of happiness.