There Is No First

Human personality is a multi-leveled manifestation or expansion of a single consciousness, just as in physics the electro-magnetic spectrum is viewed as a multi-banded expression of a single, characteristic electro-magnetic wave. More specifically the Spectrum of consciousness is a pluridimensional approach to human identity; that is to say, each level of the spectrum is marked by a different and easily recognized sense of individual identity, which ranges from Supreme Identity of cosmic consciousness through several gradations or bands to the drastically narrowed sense of identity associated with egoic consciousness.

Ken Wilbur in his essay, Psychologia Perennis: The Spectrum of Consciousness is explaining that the self as we know it, is much more than we believe it is. Ken breaks human consciousness down in five levels: The first level is the Shadow level, which is the identification of a distorted self image. At this level, we confuse the self with our own beliefs about the nature of our essence. The second level is the ego level. At that level we act out our distorted images through our personal beliefs. The existential level is the third level. We begin to blend one aspect of our consciousness with another, and take responsibility for what we perceive and create. The fourth level is the transpersonal level. At this level the spirit meets the flesh,and that mixture is expressed in metaphysical expressions. The fifth level is the level of mind. At that level there is a homogenization of the inner, body, and ego consciousness. There is a heightened awareness of other aspects of self so the inner universe begin to manifest both physically and non-physically.

Ken concept about consciousness has been greatly expanded since he wrote that essay in 1975. Consciousness is difficult to define in psychological or rational terms. Assigning levels of consciousness is the result of the hierarchies that exist within our dualistic belief structure. Consciousness is not a thing. It is the action of energy. Within that action there are different intensities, differnet focuses, different families, different links, different qualities, different fragments, and different tones.

Within the action of consciousness lies a vast field of nothing, and we are an element of that nothing expressing ourselves in physical form. All physical consciousness is the manifestation of non-physical energy or consciousness. We are essence as well as a focus of that essence. We are connected to families of consciousness, and those families continue to manifest new focused to experience physical life in this and other dimensions.

We cannot explain consciousness. We are experiencing a dualistic dimension where we believe that there must be a first and a last, a higher and a lower. We experience this dimension and ask questions like: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? These natural questions develop from a distorted view of the self and consciousness. The essence that is creating the manifestation of the chicken and the egg came first, but since consciousness is one in all dimensions there really is no first.