This level is the basic one, the lowest one. Level of survival and instinct, where everything is driven by internal forces imbedded in our brains. This might disturb many of you but there are many people in this world that are driven mostly by their instincts.

Have you ever thought why people get angry so quick? Why people seek revenge? Why some people are so aggressive, jealous or eager to punish others? All of these and many other personality traits are purely associated with this level of consciousness.

This state of mind is the lowest and the lessons here may be the most important ones. Only when we understand our basic instincts, come to terms with them and understand their importance and qualities, can we harness their power and move onto the next level.

This stage is associated with struggle, pain and survival. We might see ourselves as victims of our own environment. In our lives the strongest motivation of all is to try and avoid pain; instead have as much pleasure as possible. Pleasure comes from satisfying our basic needs i.e. shelter, food, family, safety and comfort. We are survivors! We dread threat to ourselves and our loved ones; we are afraid of abandonment.

When we are in this phase, we do not care how we look, what we do, what other people think. We only want to know that everything is going to be alright. When we face a threat or our lives are disturbed in any way, we will do anything to restore balance. We are even willing to kill to protect what we have.

The highest qualities of this level show as a need to serve protect and help others. Examples of this would be social workers and police officers. The only thing these people want in return is respect. Most of us have found ourselves in a situation once in their lives, where we are confronted by the Police where we have to explain something we did and perhaps face a fine. If we are humble and we respect the Officer, the Officer may be willing to forgive us and let go. On the other hand if we show no respect, and appear as though we do not care, even appearing that we may commit this crime again, the Police will enforce the law and punish us for our behaviour.

Drugs or any kind of addictions are very common among people on this level. Addictions do not have to only be the obvious things like alcohol, cigarettes and gambling. It can be addiction to drama in our lives, addiction to TV, feelings, overspending, overeating... Addiction have only one purpose, they dull our pain. If we feel stressed or there is a lack of drive we turn to a glass of wine, turn on TV or eat a block of chocolate to forget. This is the other side of aggression, when we hide and run away from problems, not realising that we fall deeper into the hole we dug for ourselves, years earlier or perhaps for our entire life.  Many people realise the serious extend of this only when they hit rock bottom. Examples of loosing money, job, and family are far from uncommon. Some people need this to find hidden treasures of this level so they can grow above it.

Now let’s see how we get on either end – aggression (abuse) or avoidance.

As on this level we are driven by fear of loss of any kind we need to learn to recognise it. In olden days, the fear was real. We were afraid that we may die of an illness or even at the hand of someone else.  In today’s world, these sources of fear are less common thanks to a much more modern society and medical science, but for some reason these fears are still present. They just transformed. We might fear loss of job, meaning loss of income and security, which in a sense can be interpreted as possible loss of life as we would be unable to access medical care, or even being able to eat proper food to keep our bodies healthy. Even knowing the fact that there might be a system in place that looks after those who are less fortunate will not rid us of this fear. Fear comes from loss of any kind. It does not matter if this loss is in our mind’s imagination or if it is real. Our brain cannot see the difference. Once the fear enters our conscious mind we have to deal with it in some way. The easiest thing, which is our instinct, is to be impulsive and fight it or be avoidant and run away from it.. If we do this when we face a real danger to our life, these responses are very useful. Jumping away from an incoming car will save our life. Running away from a screaming boss without confronting him will only emphasise our weakness and lower confidence within ourselves. On the other hand, if you start a fight with your boss and meet him with equal destructiveness, you might lose your job, which will increase your fear and lower your confidence in the same way. This is where the trap of this level is.

The paradox here is that the instinct that is designed to save our lives is actually killing many of us slowly and making our lives more and more miserable. The only way out is to recognise this pre-wired response and learn how to use it only in situations for which it was designed.

What I would suggest for the people who want to get out of this circle is to use courage and do the right thing. As soon as you recognise your addictions or your impulsive responses in your life you will find the power to let go of them. List your fears, look at them, analyse them, see where they coming form. Are they real fears or just your imagination? If you hate your job or you have not got enough money, use your courage and find another one. If you are unhealthy because of your lifestyle, quit smoking, stop drinking, join a gym, and eat healthy food. The power is in your hands. Nothing can change your life but your actions and courage to do so.

Look at fear as a tool. Fear tells you that there is imbalance in your life; and only courage is going to restore this balance and fill you up with confidence.

You have to look at your life and be brutally honest with yourself if you wish to move away form this level of consciousness. Many people are happy at this stage and will disagree with me, what it means is that their pain is not big enough to drive them to change.

To complete the picture we have to explore hidden traps that might make people think they are on the right track while they are not.

Another way to deal with fear is to be destructive. If courage increases confidence, dealing with fear in a hopeless and helpless way, full of worries and regret does certainly deal with fear but instead of increase in confidence the opposite will happen. Let me explain. Let’s use the example of a bad boss you are scared of, he treats you with no respect, pays you little money and nothing you do is ever good enough for him. We know you can choose to stay home and pretend you are sick or you can go and cut the brake fluid line in his car. The first is avoidance, the second is impulsive behaviour. Neither of these behaviours are the right choice. What if you approach him, talk to him, tell him what bothers you and he still keeps doing what he is used to? You took action so you might call it courage, which should increase your confidence and get rid of fear. It does not. Courage in this case might be looking for a new job with a better pay and a better boss. What you did was approach your boss in a very masochistic way. You suffered, you felt helpless and hopeless, and you have not solved the real problem. You feel like a victim here which actually increases your perception of loss and gives you more anxiety as a result. The line between courage and helpless action is very fine for some and hard to see. Be careful here; make sure your actions are constructive. Your actions should be helping you get rid of fears not adding to them. 

Looking around you may see how many people are actually stuck on this level. To overcome fear seems very difficult and that is why so many lives are driven by it.  The key is courage and that is something that we all have. You do not have to learn to be courageous; you just have to get used to using it.

By entering the next level you learn to use your fears in a new and positive way. You learn to coexist and use them as a valuable tool to restore balance into your life. Fears become indicators not something that drives your life.

Related Articles:

Ego - 2nd Level of Consciousness

Introduction - Levels of Consciousness