| David Hawkins M.D. (born June 3, 1927) is an American psychiatrist, mystic, author and controversial spiritual teacher in Sedona, Arizona. He is best known for his book Power vs. Force, in which he writes that applied kinesiology can distinguish the truth or falsity of any statement. He directs the non-profit Institute for Advanced Spiritual Research Inc. and operates Veritas Publishing to publish his books and seminars. |
 |
|
| Power vs. Force" comes with book jacket recommendations
from high places: no less illuminaries than Wayne Dyer, Lee Iacocca, and
even Mother Teresa endorse Hawkins' book. Thus I approached it with a
good deal of open-minded interest. However, I was not able to finish the
book, and certain of its claims disturbed me.
Hawkins' main thesis is that you can use kinesiological testing to test the objective truth of a statement. In the form of testing he uses, the subject stretches out his arm. The querent makes a statement such as "artificial sweeteners are good for you." If the subject can maintain his arm outstretched under a firm push from the querent, the statement is accepted as true. If the subject's arm can be pushed down, the statement is false.
|
||
In his works Hawkins approaches the study and practice of spirituality by
means of his personal experience and his clinical and academic background. The
stated objectives of Hawkins' research and teaching are to facilitate
metaphysical understanding and to confirm the reality of spiritual truth
focusing on various aspects of consciousness and on the road to enlightenment.
Hawkins states that his teachings alone are sufficient to take one all the way
to Self-realization, and that AK confirms this. He writes about the idea of a
new branch in human evolution called “Homo spiritus“; the limited scope of
causality; the illusion of time; general teachings on varied topics including
spiritual intention, surrender, and miracles; the concepts of nonlinearity; void
vs. allness; subjectivity vs. objectivity; content vs. context; out-of-body
experiences vs. near-death experiences; astral vs. etheric levels;
reincarnation, karma, and attractor fields.
Hawkins asserts that God is both immanent and transcendent. Theologically, he is
aligned with nondualism and Advaita philosophy. Nondualism, a highly expansive
and inclusive concept of God including all which is of form and not, may be
viewed as the belief that dualism or dichotomy (e.g. self/other, mind/body,
male/female, good/evil, active/passive) are illusory phenomena; it may also be
viewed as a practice, namely self-inquiry as set forth by Ramana Maharshi.
His spiritual teaching focuses on "Devotional Nonduality," a form of
transcendental monism, which has its origins in his research for Power vs. Force
and was further developed afterwards. He says that the concept of “Devotional
Nonduality“ resonates with many religions (such as Hinduism) that hold the
concept that “all is One.“ Other concepts stated by Hawkins to be analogous to
his description of nonduality are Logos (in the religious sense) and Tao, which
are also argued to be congruent with modern quantum physics and the concept of
nonlocality as expressed by Bell's Theorem. He sees nonduality as a potential
bridge between natural science, philosophy and cognition, similar to the merging
of physics and metaphysics envisioned by Fritjof Capra in The Tao of Physics,
the concepts embraced by quantum physicist David Bohm, particularly the one of
holomovement, as well as the new paradigm science of nuclear physicist Amit
Goswami. Hawkins' description of nonduality is also related to that of a number
of modern writers and philosophers, including Ken Wilber and G. Spencer Brown as
presented in his book Laws of Form.
Hawkins strongly encourages kindness to all forms of life, humor, forgiveness,
humility, compassion, prayer and contemplation. He deems alignment and erudite
familiarity with the existing religious scriptures measured by him to be
especially true (that is, “high calibrating“—e.g., the New Testament except the
Book of Revelation, the original teachings of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna, and
others) as a means of raising one's spiritual consciousness in the process and
incorporating some of the most evolved known levels of truth. Both seeking and
encouraging personal alignment with the Highest good, Hawkins repeatedly points
out that “all are One in God,“ thereby supporting the Christian concept of “the
Kingdom of God is within you.“
Discussing how to transcend attraction and aversion alike, and the ego position
which he deems as being the main obstacle to spiritual awakening in human
beings, Hawkins often asserts that the human mind alone cannot discern truth
from falsity and invariably will turn to other sources (ideologies, authorities,
habits, ego, etc.) to determine what to believe as true; to solve this perceived
problem, he offers applied kinesiology as a "science of Truth." He discourages
cult-like followings of any sort, cautioning his students to question all
sources of knowledge (primarily via AK testing), to “judge them by their
fruits,“ and to ask for inner guidance by the Holy Spirit.
Having closely worked with spirituality-based self-help methods and groups, as a
practicing student and later also as a teacher, and being collegially acquainted
with some of their initiators, Hawkins advocates the following due to their
stated healing results: A Course in Miracles, Alcoholics Anonymous (named the
“language of the heart“ by its co-founder Bill W.)[33] and the other Twelve-Step
programs, Attitudinal healing originated by Gerald G. Jampolsky, and Release
Technique/Sedona Method of Lester Levenson[34]. By means of writing forewords he
has favored Thought Field Therapy, Ilchi Lee, Lou Fournier Marzeles.
Sharing many of the beliefs of the New Thought movement , in 2003 he was
formally affiliated with its largest church, the Unity Church, and its
ministerial education arm, Unity School of Christianity. Conversely, his
research has led him to not recommend New Age concepts (e.g., channelling,
divination, fortune-telling, full moon gatherings, and Wicca) which are
sometimes confused by its critics and associated media with New Thought.
 |