Transformation Three: Change Your Level of Consciousness
The late David Hawkins was one of the most successful psychiatrists in the world. He had a very high level of consciousness and performed miracle cures on his patients. In his book, Power vs. Force, Hawkins describes human consciousness using a log scale from 1 to 1,000, with 1,000 being the highest level of consciousness achievable by a human being. Hawkins postulated that only a few (e.g., Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, etc.) ever achieved the 1,000 level. He goes on to say that, for much of the past 5,000 years, human consciousness as a whole has been just below 200—the level that separates the positive from the negative. According to Hawkins, Gandhi had a consciousness of 700 and was able to defeat the British Army, whose collective consciousness was 175. That’s the power of the log scale difference between power (high consciousness) and force.
Raising your level of consciousness doesn’t just help Gandhi; it can help you as a trader. If you are trading at a low level of consciousness, you are probably trading out of fear, greed, or desperation. Now imagine how that would change if you were to trade from a level of acceptance or peacefulness. The difference would be enormous. While I’m not sure how theoretically valuable the scale might be, it is very useful. It should be quite obvious that you don’t trade well from the negative lower levels such as anger, guilt, fear, or greed. You probably are all aware of what happens when you trade from those mental states. The results are not pretty. This can be explained by your level of consciousness. Both fear and greed are very destructive states of consciousness. You can move higher on the scale, however, at least to neutrality (300) and acceptance (350), or even higher to the levels of love (500) or enlightenment (600), and then you will be a much more effective, successful trader. Now imagine how that would change if you were to trade from a level of acceptance or peacefulness. The difference would be enormous.
The following table from my new book, Trading Beyond the Matrix, shows levels of consciousness from Hawkins and two other sources.
My finding from numerous clients is that doing a lot of personal transformation work will tend to raise your level of consciousness. For example, if you change enough beliefs to raise your consciousness to the level of acceptance (about 350 on Hawkins scale), then your results would be vastly improved. What if you could trade from “an enlightened state” in which there was no internal chatter and you just see the market for what it is? The young woman who wrote Chapter 16 in Trading Beyond the Matrix, trades from such a mental state and generates truly phenomenal results.
You might think about the transformations you have experienced in your trading. If you can’t think of any, maybe just start by doing what I ask my Super Traders do – write down a hundred beliefs you have about the market and then ask yourself a few simple questions.
Where did that belief come from?
What does that belief get me into?
What does it get me out of?
Is it useful? (Does it help me reach my goals?)
This tends to be a challenging and enlightening exercise. Then you can do the same exercise about yourself. This tends to be more challenging, more enlightening and opens to door to level 2 and level 3 transformations. Good luck.