recognized sages, saints, and great enlightened beings that represent the most advanced levels of the evolution of consciousness in the human domain.
The Map of Consciousness primarily delineates consciousness levels up to 600 because in so doing, the Map includes over 99 percent of mankind. Although few in number, the extremely advanced levels of consciousness reported by the great sages of history reaffirm the evolutionary quality of consciousness and its ultimate progression on the human level.
As will be described later, the evolution of consciousness over level 200 results in a change in the brain’s physiology as well as the development of an ‘etheric’ brain that is nonphysical and composed solely of energy patterns. The higher frequencies of more advanced consciousness transcend the response capabilities of the physicality of the Newtonian paradigm and a protoplasmic brain. They instead require a purely energy body (‘spiritual’, ‘etheric’, ‘soul’) capable of response to very high-frequency vibrational energy fields (analogous to the capacity and capability of a computer chip versus a vacuum tube). Therefore, research devoted solely to brain physiology and chemistry, as interpreted by advanced theoretical physics and mathematics, is limited, and all such academic conferences dealing with the subject calibrate in the low to mid-400s.
The processing of spiritual information requires a nonphysical vehicle, and the brain is then understood as being a receiving set for information, as described by Sir John Eccles (1986, 1989). A description of the changes in brain physiology and its mode of processing will be presented in Chapter 7 . However, it is interesting that the Buddha categorized thinkingness as a sensory modality and the brain as a sense organ, indicating that mentalization was a modality akin to sensation, touch, hearing, seeing, and taste. Thus, the Buddha listed man as having six senses rather than the traditional Western view of only five.
In summary of the above survey of the evolution of consciousness and its evolution as man, it is of critical importance to note that the capacity to think, reason, and thus mentalize did not replace the mental processes of the animal, but instead was merely added on to it. The animal consciousness is interested only in its own survival (including family and pack) and is not interested in providing for, nor does it recognize, the needs, the wants, or much less, the value of others. The downside of the consequence of the capacity for cognition when added to animal instincts is comparable to that of giving a gun to a child or a mentally impaired person.
To the ego, the intellect and reason were just additional tools and modalities of survival so that the intrinsic narcissistic core of the ego utilized mentalization to attack others. The mind could then subserve predatory purposes and pursue primarily narcissistic goals, which it still does in 78 percent of the world’s population. Thus, the spiritually unevolved ego merely utilizes the advances and technical discoveries of civilization for its own ends. Tribal war becomes nuclear war, teeth and claws become mine fields, and guns become the tools for robbery and murder. Instead of sticks, stones, and arrows, ballistic missiles subserve the pack mentality, territorial aggression, and the competitive dominance of the alpha males. Thus, humanity has been the victim of the unbridled oppression of egocentricity in its expression as megalomania (fueled by testosterone), which has killed more people than any other factor in history. (‘Malignant messianic narcissism’ calibrates at 30.)
The unbridled ego is insatiable, does not care about the rights of others or even the lives of others, and thus views Divinity as the ultimate opposition to its drive for absolute sovereignty. Cleverly, however, it solves this impasse by claiming to have God’s authorization for barbarism done in the name of “God,”