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Power vs. Truth: Peering Behind the Teachings of David R. Hawkins
In their quest for meaning and higher truth, many people seek out a teacher or a path. The longing for higher consciousness, spiritual growth, and a connection to God directs us to someone or something we believe can provide answers and point the way.
Power vs. Truth examines the teachings of David R. Hawkins, a psychiatrist-turned-guru who claims to have discovered a bulletproof method for discerning the “absolute truth” about anything. He heralds his muscle test for truth as “the most important discovery in mankind’s history.”
A few of today’s spiritual luminaries agree, singing the praises of Hawkins’ best seller, Power vs. Force. Wayne Dyer, an outspoken promoter of Hawkins’ work, called it “the most important and significant book I’ve read in the past ten years.”
Power vs. Truth examines Hawkins’ claims, his teachings, and his muscle test for truth, deconstructing them for serious students dedicated to discovering higher consciousness.
This work invites readers into an honest conversation that contemplates challenging Is it fair to question the validity of Hawkins’ claims? Are there characteristics inherent in the Hawkins community that place it in danger of becoming a cult? Is it possible that some students following Hawkins’ “path” are experiencing dissociation, life repression, and other mental disorders?
Written by Hawkins’ authorized biographer—formerly one of his most devoted and outspoken students—Power vs. Truth is a brave examination of Hawkins’ life and works. Including revelations uncovered during the research for Hawkins’ biography, this book offers an intimate and sobering look at the teachings that have captivated tens of thousands of students worldwide.
Power vs. Truth examines the teachings of David R. Hawkins, a psychiatrist-turned-guru who claims to have discovered a bulletproof method for discerning the “absolute truth” about anything. He heralds his muscle test for truth as “the most important discovery in mankind’s history.”
A few of today’s spiritual luminaries agree, singing the praises of Hawkins’ best seller, Power vs. Force. Wayne Dyer, an outspoken promoter of Hawkins’ work, called it “the most important and significant book I’ve read in the past ten years.”
Power vs. Truth examines Hawkins’ claims, his teachings, and his muscle test for truth, deconstructing them for serious students dedicated to discovering higher consciousness.
This work invites readers into an honest conversation that contemplates challenging Is it fair to question the validity of Hawkins’ claims? Are there characteristics inherent in the Hawkins community that place it in danger of becoming a cult? Is it possible that some students following Hawkins’ “path” are experiencing dissociation, life repression, and other mental disorders?
Written by Hawkins’ authorized biographer—formerly one of his most devoted and outspoken students—Power vs. Truth is a brave examination of Hawkins’ life and works. Including revelations uncovered during the research for Hawkins’ biography, this book offers an intimate and sobering look at the teachings that have captivated tens of thousands of students worldwide.
- GenresSpirituality
332 pages, Hardcover
First published January 14, 2013
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September 16, 2024
[a modified version of my review from Amazon I wrote in 2013]
Interesting that there are no reviews of this book on Goodreads, but quite a few on Amazon 🤔
Being only a fan of some of Hawkins' work (some of his spiritual teachings) and never having found his calibrations or testing method convincing, I felt a little reluctant to write a review, since this book seems addressed more toward people who are part of his work.
But I figure there are probably many people like me who might read this book. People who found Hawkins to have insights into spirituality based on his personal experience while the rest of his work they can leave.
What does the book actually say? In the simplest terms:
-Hawkins has had profound experiences of deep states of realization which he has sincerely tried to communicate to others.
-Hawkins, like everyone, interprets experiences based on his personal viewpoint [culture, time of birth, worldview, personality....].
-Hawkins's attempt to support his views "scientifically" using kinesiology and his calibrations do not hold up to even the slightest critical and scientific inspection. He also occasionally misleads people and lied to promote his work.
-His map of a linear development can be both useful and misleading. Useful because it shows development is real, both conventional and spiritual development. Misleading because it doesn't take into account other complex factors like: people don't develop evenly across all domains (i.e. morals, cognitive, emotional...), there are many things that effect human behavior [environment, past experience, karma.....) not just their "energy field" and the map tends to conflate particular emotions with development levels. Other reasons are explored in the book but I think these three give a general flavor of the critique.
-Because of his own traditional worldview [which tends to be absolutistic: right vs. wrong, us vs. them, good vs. bad, truth vs. falsehood} Hawkins's' groups have fundamentalist leanings and strong in-group out-group dynamics. These dynamics can have negative effects on individual's psychological health and spiritual growth.
-Hawkins seems to have dissociated from aspects of his personal self into transcendental states. This does not negate the transcendent experiences, but it leaves him at times unable to integrate personal life with such realizations and thus leads to some peculiarly dissociated views about higher spiritual development.
Of course the book goes into much more detail on these points and others. The only surprising thing I found out was how Hawkins lied sometimes to promote his teachings. That was a little disappointing. The rest I already thought, but the book fleshed out the insights and gave some insiders information.
One of the things I find so interesting about Hawkins is that a conservative minded person could be in a "state" of "enlightenment." Most modern American nondual teachers tend to be liberally oriented. But historically and worldwide there seems to be quite a range of "enlightened" people coming from all sorts of "value" systems and worldviews. It is indeed important not to confuse the certainty that might come from realization [or temporary peak experiences] with the absolutist certainty that my "views" are truth.
I gave the book five stars not because I agree with everything Scott Jeffrey says, but because it was so fun to read, it was well presented, it was well argued and also it was clearly a difficult and courageous book to write given Scott Jeffrey's context of being a true believer at one time. There does appear to be some resentment still present within the author, but he does a decent job of not letting that cloud his presentation too much.
Couple side notes or some critical thoughts:
A lot of Hawkins humor seems lost on the writer, many things are treated as serious which seem just funny to me [much in the vein of Osho's talks].
Often I found Jeffrey using quotes from Hawkins's lectures which seemed to me to be referring to the Absolute as in God, Truth, Mystery and not the absolute in the sense of absolutism and his calibrations. Nonetheless I realize these quotes are not always clear, partly because Hawkins didn't differentiate between the two clearly, and thus they are open to different readings.
The writer says physics does not support spirituality as Hawkins maintained. I agree, but there is another way to look at it. Physics seems to have become a popular metaphorical language for modern mystics to describe their insights. Much like Christian saints used Theology to describe their experiences, or Tibetan monks used mythical stories, modern physics is used by some as an interpretive language to describe internal experiences. As physics it's no good!! but as evocative language it has its moments.
Clearly Ken Wilber's ideas were useful to the writer as a critical tool to see what Hawkins might be leaving out of his map. Personally, I enjoyed his use of some of Wilber's ideas. Authentic realizers having "odd" interpretations of the implications of their own states is legion.
David R. Hawkins ranked (9/16/24):
1 - I: Reality and Subjectivity
2 - The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Is Hidden
3 - Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality
4 - Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment
5 - Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man
6 - Healing and Recovery
7 - Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
8 - Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender
9 - Truth vs. Falsehood: How to Tell the Difference
Interesting that there are no reviews of this book on Goodreads, but quite a few on Amazon 🤔
Being only a fan of some of Hawkins' work (some of his spiritual teachings) and never having found his calibrations or testing method convincing, I felt a little reluctant to write a review, since this book seems addressed more toward people who are part of his work.
But I figure there are probably many people like me who might read this book. People who found Hawkins to have insights into spirituality based on his personal experience while the rest of his work they can leave.
What does the book actually say? In the simplest terms:
-Hawkins has had profound experiences of deep states of realization which he has sincerely tried to communicate to others.
-Hawkins, like everyone, interprets experiences based on his personal viewpoint [culture, time of birth, worldview, personality....].
-Hawkins's attempt to support his views "scientifically" using kinesiology and his calibrations do not hold up to even the slightest critical and scientific inspection. He also occasionally misleads people and lied to promote his work.
-His map of a linear development can be both useful and misleading. Useful because it shows development is real, both conventional and spiritual development. Misleading because it doesn't take into account other complex factors like: people don't develop evenly across all domains (i.e. morals, cognitive, emotional...), there are many things that effect human behavior [environment, past experience, karma.....) not just their "energy field" and the map tends to conflate particular emotions with development levels. Other reasons are explored in the book but I think these three give a general flavor of the critique.
-Because of his own traditional worldview [which tends to be absolutistic: right vs. wrong, us vs. them, good vs. bad, truth vs. falsehood} Hawkins's' groups have fundamentalist leanings and strong in-group out-group dynamics. These dynamics can have negative effects on individual's psychological health and spiritual growth.
-Hawkins seems to have dissociated from aspects of his personal self into transcendental states. This does not negate the transcendent experiences, but it leaves him at times unable to integrate personal life with such realizations and thus leads to some peculiarly dissociated views about higher spiritual development.
Of course the book goes into much more detail on these points and others. The only surprising thing I found out was how Hawkins lied sometimes to promote his teachings. That was a little disappointing. The rest I already thought, but the book fleshed out the insights and gave some insiders information.
One of the things I find so interesting about Hawkins is that a conservative minded person could be in a "state" of "enlightenment." Most modern American nondual teachers tend to be liberally oriented. But historically and worldwide there seems to be quite a range of "enlightened" people coming from all sorts of "value" systems and worldviews. It is indeed important not to confuse the certainty that might come from realization [or temporary peak experiences] with the absolutist certainty that my "views" are truth.
I gave the book five stars not because I agree with everything Scott Jeffrey says, but because it was so fun to read, it was well presented, it was well argued and also it was clearly a difficult and courageous book to write given Scott Jeffrey's context of being a true believer at one time. There does appear to be some resentment still present within the author, but he does a decent job of not letting that cloud his presentation too much.
Couple side notes or some critical thoughts:
A lot of Hawkins humor seems lost on the writer, many things are treated as serious which seem just funny to me [much in the vein of Osho's talks].
Often I found Jeffrey using quotes from Hawkins's lectures which seemed to me to be referring to the Absolute as in God, Truth, Mystery and not the absolute in the sense of absolutism and his calibrations. Nonetheless I realize these quotes are not always clear, partly because Hawkins didn't differentiate between the two clearly, and thus they are open to different readings.
The writer says physics does not support spirituality as Hawkins maintained. I agree, but there is another way to look at it. Physics seems to have become a popular metaphorical language for modern mystics to describe their insights. Much like Christian saints used Theology to describe their experiences, or Tibetan monks used mythical stories, modern physics is used by some as an interpretive language to describe internal experiences. As physics it's no good!! but as evocative language it has its moments.
Clearly Ken Wilber's ideas were useful to the writer as a critical tool to see what Hawkins might be leaving out of his map. Personally, I enjoyed his use of some of Wilber's ideas. Authentic realizers having "odd" interpretations of the implications of their own states is legion.
David R. Hawkins ranked (9/16/24):
1 - I: Reality and Subjectivity
2 - The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Is Hidden
3 - Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality
4 - Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment
5 - Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man
6 - Healing and Recovery
7 - Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
8 - Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender
9 - Truth vs. Falsehood: How to Tell the Difference
Displaying 1 of 1 review