PDF Summary:Power vs. Force, by David R. Hawkins

Despite its title, Power vs. Force by David R. Hawkins is really about human consciousness: what it is, how to measure it, how you can boost your consciousness, and the benefits of doing so. Hawkins believed that as well as having individual consciousness, we all have access to a universal consciousness. By boosting your consciousness level, you can connect to this universal consciousness and glean its insights. Further, the higher you boost your consciousness level, the happier you’ll be, and the more you’ll contribute to the world.

Our guide to Power vs. Force will explore Hawkins’s theories on the link between your level of consciousness and your beliefs, behaviors, and emotions. We’ll also describe why higher levels of consciousness create positive outcomes for both you and the world. Our commentary will compare Hawkins’s ideas to influential religious and spiritual teachings, particularly those of Hinduism and yoga. We’ll also examine his ideas through a scientific lens, showing how the core ideas in Power vs. Force echo concepts in psychology and animal behavior.

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How Truth and Falsehood Affect Your Muscles

Hawkins describes several different kinesiology tests, but the common theme is that your muscles become weaker when you’re exposed to something that’s untrue, unhealthy, or undesirable. For instance, if you say something true and then lift a dumbbell, you’ll find it much easier than trying to lift that same dumbbell after saying something false. Crucially, this isn’t testing whether you think the statement is true; it tests whether the statement is objectively true, which is possible because of your connection to the universal consciousness.

The same holds true for testing whether something is good or bad for you. For example, setting a glass of soda in front of you will make that dumbbell much harder to lift than doing the same with a glass of water.

Different Perspectives on Applied Kinesiology

Applied kinesiology is popular among chiropractors and other alternative medicine practitioners, who say that it’s a noninvasive and highly accurate method of diagnosis. Many health care providers seek training in applied kinesiology and offer it as a service to their patients. For example, they commonly use applied kinesiology to identify food allergies—in other words, whether a particular food is good or bad for the patient.

However, some experts in the larger scientific community claim that applied kinesiology is pseudoscience. Some studies have found that applied kinesiology is no more accurate than random guessing, and scientific reviews say that the work published by supporters of applied kinesiology is scientifically unsound and untrustworthy. In short, these doctors and scientists found that claims about applied kinesiology were not verifiable, and test results were not repeatable.

Energy and Coercion

We’ve explored Hawkins’s studies into the nature of consciousness, the system he devised for measuring it, and why 200 is such a critical point on the consciousness scale. Now, we’ll look more closely at why he believed low levels of consciousness (below 200) are harmful for you and for the world—and, conversely, why high levels of consciousness (200 and above) lead to happiness for you and those around you. We’ll also explain why Hawkins titled this book Power vs. Force, and we’ll describe the key differences between those two things.

The Critical Point of 200

Hawkins says that 200 (bravery) is the point on the scale where you contribute at least as much as you take from society. The higher on the scale you go, the more of a net positive you become for the world. At higher levels of consciousness, you understand that the purpose of society is to help everyone live the best life possible and that contributing your resources and abilities to the common good will also improve your life.

People below 200 on the consciousness scale don’t understand this. They’re self-absorbed, so they take whatever they can from others without reciprocating. For example, someone with a consciousness level below 200 might ask his neighbor to babysit his kids but refuse when the neighbor asks him to do the same.

Selfishness and Altruism in Animals

In behavioral terms, Hawkins is describing altruism (contributing to the common good) and selfishness (taking resources without reciprocating). As biologist Richard Dawkins explains in The Selfish Gene, all animals—not just humans—engage in some combination of those two behaviors.

According to Dawkins, all animals in a given population being altruistic at all times would lead to the best possible outcomes (in biological terms, this means that the animals would have more offspring, and the population would grow to its maximum possible size). This echoes Hawkins’s statement that contributing as much as possible to the common good is best for everyone, including you.

The Coercion Scale

The lower end of the consciousness scale (below 200) represents what Hawkins calls force: aggressive, harmful, and egotistical states of consciousness. We’ll refer to this as coercion to emphasize that these states are undesirable and hurtful. When you rely on coercion, you try to get what you want by bullying or manipulating others—in other words, you work against people rather than cooperating with them.

If you usually resort to coercion, you probably view life as a competition or a battle; you think in terms of “winners” and “losers” and believe that you can only get what you want by taking it from someone else. For example, you might think that the only way to get a promotion is to undermine your coworkers, making yourself look better by comparison—in other words, your colleagues have to “lose” so that you can “win.”

Hawkins says that coercion might lead to short-term satisfaction, but never to true happiness. At this low level of consciousness, you’re unreceptive to the truth—you can’t determine what you really want out of life or how to get it.

(Shortform note: Countless self-help books explain that, in order to be truly happy, you have to do something that improves the world (rather than harming it through coercion). For example, in Ikigai, the authors say that ikigai is a Japanese word meaning “reason for being.” To find your ikigai, consider four criteria: what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about, what you can be paid for doing, and what the world needs—that last criterion is incompatible with the harmful, aggressive levels of consciousness on the coercion scale. Furthermore, all four of these criteria involve uncovering the truth about yourself and the world, which according to Hawkins is the opposite of being unreceptive to the truth at low levels of consciousness.)

Develop an “Infinite Game” Mindset

One way to reduce your reliance on coercion (and thereby boost your consciousness level) might be to give up on the idea of “winning” at life. You might do so by abandoning a “finite game” mindset in favor of an “infinite game” mindset, as discussed by Simon Sinek in The Infinite Game.

When you rely on coercion, you’re viewing life as a finite game: a situation with fixed rules and a clear endpoint, wherein some players win and others lose. The goal of a finite game is to win by any means necessary, including by working against other players to make sure they lose. Anything you’d normally think of as a game, such as video games and sports, falls into this category.

However, Sinek says that life is actually an infinite game. Everyone in the world is a “player” in this game, and the “rules” include laws and social norms. However, the crucial difference is that there’s no way to win an infinite game because the game never ends—even when you die, the rest of the world will go on playing. The goal, then, is simply to play as well as possible for as long as possible, and that often involves cooperating with other players for mutual benefit. Shifting to an “infinite game” mindset may help you shed your desire to win at all costs.

Sinek adds that when you have an infinite game mindset, you don’t just think long-term, but also large-scale—how will your actions affect the people around you? Your community? The world as a whole?

Use Coercion Cautiously

Hawkins does acknowledge that coercion is sometimes necessary. For example, even an enlightened society would have to resort to coercion when arresting a dangerous criminal. In doing so, that society would harm that one person to protect the common good.

However, coercion should be used sparingly. To continue the previous example: Once that criminal is in custody, an enlightened society would work with them through rehabilitation, rather than working against them through punishment. This leads to better outcomes for the individual—who can be free and happy again after rehabilitation—and for society—which gains another contributing member instead of spending resources to keep them imprisoned.

Coercion and Energy in Animal Behavior

Scientists have functional models supporting Hawkins’s theories about using coercion in an otherwise altruistic society. For instance, animal behavioral studies mirror what Hawkins says about human behavior.

We previously talked about Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene. Specifically, we discussed his ideas on selfishness and altruism in animals and how a purely altruistic population would have the best possible outcomes. However, Dawkins says that while pure altruism is the best strategy in theory, it doesn’t work in practice. A few selfish individuals would easily take advantage of that situation, taking far more than their share of the available resources and starving out their altruistic counterparts. Therefore, the most effective strategy in practice is what’s called retaliation: being altruistic most of the time, but countering selfish behavior with short bursts of aggression.

The Energy Scale

A level of 200 and above on the consciousness scale is associated with what Hawkins calls power: cooperative, loving, and understanding states of consciousness. For clarity, we’ll refer to this state as energy, to signify that it’s productive in and of itself—as opposed to coercion, which is only useful when used against something else.

Hawkins says that you reach this level of consciousness when your actions, goals, and morals are all aligned with one another. In other words, everything you do gets you closer to one of your goals; and those goals are based on your values, meaning that reaching them will make you happier. For example, if you value health, one of your goals might be to lose 10 pounds, so you take actions such as exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet.

When you’re in an energetic state over 200 on the consciousness scale, you work together with others to achieve the best possible outcomes for both yourself and everyone else. First, you’re receptive to the universe’s truth signals, meaning that you can understand how to live a life that will make you truly happy. Second, you give more than you take—in other words, you improve the world around you.

(Shortform note: According to Stoic philosophy, you can use reason to recognize that making the world better makes your life better. For example, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations—one of the definitive texts on Stoicism—says that, logically speaking, working for the common good is the only way to live a happy and fulfilling life. Aurelius’s reasoning is that, to feel fulfilled, you must have a consistent goal and spend your life working toward that goal. However, people are naturally inconsistent; your personal desires and goals will change frequently. Therefore, any fulfilling goal must be selfless, rather than oriented around your ever-changing personal preferences.)

Boost Your Energy With Congruence

Life coach Tony Robbins offers similar advice to Hawkins in his book Unlimited Power, and he provides several strategies for achieving your potential (or in other words, reaching an energetic state). Robbins doesn’t believe that you can connect to some greater universal consciousness, but rather that you already have incredible potential inside your mind.

Like Hawkins, Robbins says that to bring out your full potential, you must make sure your beliefs, values, and actions are all working together; he calls this state congruence. To reach congruence, first, examine what you believe and what you value, and make sure you’re not holding conflicting thoughts in your mind. For example, if you value physical health but also value the joy you get from drinking alcohol, your values aren’t congruent with each other—you’ll have to decide which one is more important to you. You must also believe that you’re smart enough to make the right decision and disciplined enough to stick to it.

Second, take bold and confident action to uphold your now-aligned beliefs and values. To continue the previous example, if you determine that your health is more important to you than alcohol, take action by drastically reducing your drinking and starting to exercise more. Because these actions are congruent with your new values and beliefs, you’ll feel energized and motivated, so you’ll achieve your new, physically fit lifestyle.

Enlightenment: The Highest Form of Consciousness

The energy scale starts at bravery, the transitional state between coercion and energy that we previously discussed. However, according to Hawkins, bravery only has a consciousness level of 200—the highest state of consciousness is enlightenment, which begins at a consciousness level of 700 and ends at 1,000 (the highest possible rating).

When you reach enlightenment, you become part of the universal consciousness and no longer think of yourself as an individual. Thus, there’s no definable emotion or action associated with this level; you simply exist in a state of perfect understanding and serenity. In other words, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that you’re happy after reaching enlightenment. Instead, you’re completely at peace, free of even the desire for happiness.

The Path to Enlightenment

The way Hawkins describes enlightenment is almost identical to the way it’s described in Hinduism: unity with God, which grants you perfect understanding of the universe and absolute peace. Paramahansa Yogananda explains this Hindu view of enlightenment in his memoir, Autobiography of a Yogi.

In Hinduism, the best way to reach enlightenment is by following the Eightfold Path of Yoga: eight practices that help you to understand yourself and understand God. Therefore, Hinduism’s concept of enlightenment arguably takes more effort to achieve than Hawkins’s method of just developing your energy and reducing your reliance on coercion. In fact, what Hawkins describes is roughly comparable to just the first two parts of the Eightfold Path—Yama and Niyama—which deal with how you should discipline yourself and treat others.

The remaining six parts of yoga include physical exercises, breathing exercises, and meditation. Hinduism teaches that you must practice all of these things for many years to gain total understanding and control over yourself; only then can you connect your mind to God and reach enlightenment.

Summing It Up: The Virtuous Cycle

Throughout Power vs. Force, Hawkins emphasizes that improving your consciousness will drive you to keep improving. He’s arguably describing a virtuous cycle: a repetitive process where each step feeds constantly into the next, leading to better and better outcomes. (You could also call this a positive feedback loop.)

The virtuous cycle that Hawkins describes has four steps: develop cooperative energy, reduce your reliance on aggressive coercion, elevate your level of consciousness, and increase your receptiveness to truth. Each step leads to the next, with the final step (increase receptiveness to truth) leading back to the first (develop cooperative energy). These four steps together produce two outcomes: become happier and make the world better.

For example, if you move from what Hawkins calls willingness (consciousness level 250) to what he calls acceptance (consciousness level 310), you’ll be so much happier and more empowered that you’ll want to keep working your way up the scale toward enlightenment.

Accelerating the Virtuous Cycle

The idea of the virtuous cycle is commonly credited to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. He built Amazon—one of the world’s largest companies—based on such a cycle: It’s an online marketplace where third-party vendors sell their products, thereby bringing in customers, which in turn attracts more and better vendors, and so on.

Crucially, Bezos also realized that bolstering any part of a positive feedback loop would naturally cause the entire system to grow more quickly. For example, offering incentives for sellers to come to Amazon, or offering special deals to attract new customers, would boost growth for the site as a whole.

This principle can be applied to the virtuous cycle of consciousness: Because the cycle feeds into itself, improving any of it will improve all of it.