The Stages of Spiritual Growth and Consciousness

This is Part 2 of a series. Read Part 1—"Is Knowledge a Light?: Quantum Physics and Spiritual Reality"—first.

In Part 1, I shared the following equation that my deepening on quantum physics and divine revelation led me to:

knowledge = light = energy = information = consciousness

If that is true—if knowledge is genuinely a frequency and not just a fact—then it follows that different levels of consciousness give us access to different levels of reality. Both science and spirituality provide evidence that our thoughts shape our experience of reality, and that some states of being literally allow us to perceive more than others. What the spiritual traditions call illumination and what neuroscience calls elevated brain states may be describing the same threshold. That is what I will explore now in Part 2.

David Hawkins's Map of Consciousness and the Stages of Spiritual Growth

My illustration of the intersection between energetic frequency and spiritual perception, showing my interpretation of how elevated states of being allow us to access deeper levels of reality. This is inspired by “The Seven Valleys” from the Baha’i writings and the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza and David Hawkins.

David Hawkins spent decades researching and developing what he called the Map of Consciousness—a logarithmic scale from 0 to 1,000 that charts the energetic frequency of different states of being. At the lower end of the scale: shame (20), guilt (30), apathy (50), grief (75), and fear (100). In the middle: courage (200) and reason (400). At the upper end: joy (540), peace (600), and enlightenment (700–1,000), among others.

What Hawkins found—and what Dr. Joe Dispenza's research corroborates—is that every shift in consciousness corresponds to a measurable shift in energy and information. Your view of life literally changes depending on your frequency. At apathy, life looks hopeless. At acceptance, it looks harmonious. At joy, complete. At enlightenment, it simply is.

These aren't just energetic or emotional states—they are also perceptual ones. The higher you are on the scale, the more of reality you can perceive, create, and experience, and the more easily you can both achieve your goals and respond to life's challenges. As Abdu'l-Baha, one of the central figures of the Baha'i Faith, wrote:

In times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect keener, and our understanding less clouded. We seem better able to cope with the world and to find our sphere of usefulness.

Dispenza explains that as you move closer to the unified field, you develop different neural circuitry and different perceptions—you begin to see a spectrum of light your brain did not previously have the capacity to receive.

This beautifully coincides with The Seven Valleys, a poetic and mystical work in which Baha'u'llah—the prophet and founder of the Baha'i Faith—describes the stages of the soul's journey toward God, like a wayfarer on a quest. The valleys are Search, Love, Knowledge, Unity, Contentment, Wonderment, and True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness. This last valley does not refer to material poverty but, as Baha'u'llah clarifies, to"being poor in that which pertaineth to the world of creation and rich in what belongeth to the realms of God."

Each valley is not merely an emotional progression, but a spiritual and perceptual one. As you reach new stages of spiritual growth, you do not simply feel differently about reality—you witness more of it. You burn away the veils that have obscured the mysteries of existence as you draw closer to the divine. Regarding the Valley of Contentment, Baha'u'llah wrote:

For on this plane the traveller witnesseth the beauty of the Friend in all things. In fire he seeth the face of the Beloved; in illusion he beholdeth the secret of reality; in the attributes he readeth the riddle of the Essence. For he hath burnt away all veils with a sigh, and cast aside all coverings with a glance. With piercing sight he gazeth upon the new creation, and with lucid heart he graspeth subtle verities.

Every thought has frequency. And the greater the frequency, Dispenza explains, the greater the energy, the greater the information, the greater the consciousness—and therefore, the greater the capacity of the mind to perceive and shape the world around it.

The Seeker as the Observer: How Consciousness Collapses Possibility into Reality

Recall from Part 1 that, according to Dispenza, the electron becomes real only when observed—the directed energy of conscious attention causes potential to collapse into physical reality. You are the observer. Your awareness creates and shapes your experience. If you are not aware of something, it does not exist for you.

But even our everyday senses—the physical powers we rely on to perceive reality—are unreliable guides to what is actually there. At a talk in San Francisco in 1912, 'Abdu'l-Baha explained:

Among the senses the most powerful and reliable is that of sight. This sense views a mirage as a body of water and is positive as to its character, whereas a mirage is nonexistent.

…A man sailing in a ship sees the banks on either side as if they were moving, whereas the ship is moving. Briefly, there are many instances and evidences which disprove the assertion that tangibilities and sense impressions are certainties, for the senses are misleading and often mistaken. How, then, can we rightly declare that they prove reality when the standard or criterion itself is defective?

If our senses are defective criteria for perceiving reality, then what we can perceive is not a fixed constant—it is directly proportional to the level of consciousness we are operating from. The higher the frequency, the more accurate and expansive the perception. This is why certitude—true knowing—requires more than sharp eyesight. It requires an elevated state of being.

The Baha'i writings describe the condition of the sincere seeker in strikingly similar terms. It is not conscious awareness or erudite thinking alone that opens the door of divine knowledge—it requires something deeper, a stronger feeling, effort, and pursuit—an attention so bright that the light dispels the darkness on your path:

Only when the lamp of search, of earnest striving, of longing desire, of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of rapture, and ecstasy, is kindled within the seeker's heart, and the breeze of His loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul, will the darkness of error be dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated, and the lights of knowledge and certitude envelop his being.

The seeker's burning desire is not separate from the physics—it is the frequency. It is the energy that elevates the brain's circuitry. Earnest striving and passionate devotion would sit, on Hawkins's scale, in the territory of Willingness through Joy—the range where life begins to look hopeful and complete, and where the unified field starts to open.

What happens then? The seeker, Baha'u'llah continues, "...will find himself endowed with a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind.”

He will contemplate the manifest signs of the universe, and will penetrate the hidden mysteries of the soul. Gazing with the eye of God, he will perceive within every atom a door that leadeth him to the stations of absolute certitude.

Absolute certitude—not confusion or doubt, but the state of knowing, because you are perceiving from a frequency where the truth becomes visible.

If you enjoyed this, Part 3—"Raise Your Frequency with the Power of Thought"—will go even deeper. Stay tuned!

A note on sources: Dr. Joe Dispenza is a researcher, chiropractor, educator, and author whose work draws on neuroscience, quantum physics, and consciousness studies. While much of what he references—including neuroplasticity, meditation's measurable effects on brain states, epigenetics, and the mind-body connection—is grounded in peer-reviewed science, some of his interpretations, particularly regarding quantum mechanics and consciousness, go beyond scientific consensus and represent his own metaphysical perspective. I share his insights where they resonate with and illuminate the Baha'i writings, not as established physics, but as a framework for exploring the intersection of science and spirituality.