Dr. David R. Hawkins Timeline of Events
1930/age 3: Sudden awareness of existence—and the polarized fear of nonexistence. (i.e., “If I exist, it could have been that I didn’t exist.”)
1939/age 12: As a paperboy in rural Wisconsin, he found himself in a 10-below blizzard, and while nestled in a snow bank for safety, he had a miraculous transformative experience. I became oblivious of my physical body and surroundings as my awareness fused with this all-present illuminated state. My mind grew silent; all thought stopped. An infinite Presence was all that was or could be, beyond time or description. (P vs. F, 293)
~ 1943/age 16: Walking in the woods, he saw the collective suffering of all of mankind and became agnostic as a consequence. (He explains that he mistook the consequences of the ego to be the actions of God.) Additionally, after his spiritual experience in the snow bank, traditional religious teaching lost significance. “Compared to the light of Divinity which had illuminated all existence, the god of traditional religion shone dully indeed; thus spirituality replaced religion.” (The Eye of the I, 336) Dr. Hawkins was raised High Episcopal and went to Jesuit University.
~ 1945/age 18: Hazardous duty on a minesweeper during WWII with no fear of death as a result of the Presence.
~ 1946/age 19: Began medical school after WWII
1952/age 25: Began practicing psychiatry
1965/age 38: Succumbed to a progressive and fatal illness which did not respond to any available treatment. In his final moments before he felt himself dying, he called out, “If there is a God, I ask him to help me now.” The state of enlightenment replaced normal consciousness in January 1965: “The person I had been no longer existed. There was no personal self or ego, only an Infinite Presence of such unlimited power that it was all that was. This Presence had replaced what had been ‘me,’ and my body and its actions were controlled solely by the Infinite Will of the Presence. The world was illuminated by the clarity of an Infinite Oneness which expressed itself as all things revealed in their infinite beauty and perfection.” (P vs. F, 294)
For nine months the stillness persisted. In this state, he seemed unable to function effectively in the world. Friends and colleagues urged him to return to his practice, but there was little motivation to do so.
1966/age 39: Hawkins now had the ability to perceive the reality that underlay personalities: the origin of emotional sickness lay in people’s belief that they were their personalities (a consequence of the illusion of the ego). “It was clear that all pain and suffering arises from the ego and not from God.” (The Eye of the I, 340) As though of its own, his clinical practice resumed. People came from all over the United States and eventually, he built the largest psychiatric practice in New York with 50 therapists and other employees, 2000 out-patients, a suite of 25 offices and laboratories, and 1000 new patients each year.
1968/age 41: Saw Dr. John Diamond perform kinesiology and immediately saw its potential. Whereas everyone else saw a local muscular response, Dr. Hawkins’ saw an impersonal response of consciousness itself with universal applications. The technique was gateway between the world of the mind and the spirit, bridging the gap between the two dimensions.
1973/age 46: Co-authored Orthomolecular Psychiatry with Nobelist Linus Pauling, a work that was a decade ahead of its time.
1975/age 48: Left New York City (and his Fifth Avenue apartment and estate on Long Island) and moved to a small town in Arizona. Seven reclusive years were spent in meditation and study.
1977/age 50: In Rothman’s restaurant in Long Island, New York: “the Presence suddenly intensified until every thing and person, which had appeared separate in ordinary perception, melted into a timeless universality and oneness. In the motionless Silence, I saw that there are no “events or “things” and that nothing actually “happens,” because past, present, and future are merely an artifact of perception, as is the illusion of a separate “I” subject to birth and death. As the limited, false self dissolved into the universal Self of its true origin, there was an ineffable sense of having returned home, a state of absolute peace and relief from all suffering. For it is only the illusion of individuality that is the origin of all suffering; when one realizes that one is the universe, complete and at one with all that is, forever without end, then no further suffering is possible.” (P vs. F, 297)
Patients came from around the world and were healed by the Presence (although the illness didn’t necessarily remit). He silently communicated to each patient that all pain and suffering arise solely from the ego and not from God. The practice eventually became overwhelming, with patients backed up and waiting for beds to open (even with the extra ward the hospital had built to house his patients). He became overwhelmed and enormously frustrated in the face of the endless tide of human suffering that could only be encountered one patient at a time.
1983/age 56: In order to conduct research and write, Dr. Hawkins stopped all spiritual practice and focused on the world reading newspapers, watching television, etc to reacquaint himself. “And so, after a long, circular journey of the spirit, I returned to the most important work, which is to bring the Presence that has moved my life perhaps at least a little closer to the grasp of as many fellow beings as I can reach.” (P vs. F, 301)
Founded the Institute for Advanced Spiritual Research [501(c)(3) Public Charity]
1995/age 68: Received his PhD for his dissertation, “Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis and Calibrations of the Level of Human Consciousness” and published Power versus Force (calibrating at 850).
Officiated by the H.H. Prince Valdemar of Schaumburg-Lippe at the San Anselmo Theological Seminary, Dr. Hawkins became a knight of the Sovereign Order of the Hospitaliers of St. John of Jerusalem (founded in 1077) in recognition of his contributions to humanity.
1999/age 72: Invited by Dr. Jin-Hee Moon, former assistant to the Dali Lama, to speak in Korea and meet with government officials and many spiritual groups, including the Advanced Yoga Research Center in Seoul.
2000/age 73: Given the honor of being named “Tae Ryoung Sun Kak Tosa” (translated as “Great Soul, Foremost Leading Teacher/Scholar of the Way to Enlightenment”) in Soeul, Korea.
2001/age 74: Published The Eye of the I, the second book in his trilogy, calibrating at 980.
2002/age 75: Began conducting lecture series in Sedona, AZ.
2003/age 76: Published I: Reality and Subjectivity, the final book in the trilogy, calibrating at 999.8.
2005/age 77: Published Truth Versus Falsehood, a tome of over 7,500 consciousness calibrations.
2006: Published Transcending the Levels of Consciousness
2007: Published Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality and lectures on Health & Healing.
An Autobiographical Summary from Dr. Hawkins can be found here:
Power vs. Force, in “About the Author” (back of the book)
The Eye of the I, in “Prologue” (front of text) and “About the Author”
I: Reality & Subjectivity, in the “Introduction” (this is summary from Power vs. Force)
