David R. Hawkins
M.D., Ph.D. · 1927–2012Dr. David R. Hawkins was a nationally renowned psychiatrist, physician, researcher, and spiritual teacher who devoted his life to the scientific exploration of human consciousness. Over a career spanning five decades, he brought together the disciplines of clinical psychiatry, theoretical physics, nonlinear dynamics, and the contemplative wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions.
Dr. Hawkins received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin and his doctorate from Columbia Pacific University. He maintained a private psychiatric practice for more than fifty years, treating tens of thousands of patients across the full spectrum of mental and emotional illness. His clinical experience and philosophical inquiry eventually led him to a deeper inquiry: what is the nature of consciousness itself, and can it be measured?
The answer emerged through decades of rigorous research. By refining the application of applied kinesiology — the neuromuscular response of the body as an indicator of truth — Dr. Hawkins developed a reproducible, verifiable method for calibrating the relative truth of statements, beliefs, and levels of human consciousness. This method became the foundation of a new science of consciousness.
In 1995, his doctoral dissertation — Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis and Calibration of the Levels of Human Consciousness — introduced the Map of Consciousness®, a logarithmic scale from 1 to 1,000 that charts the full spectrum of human awareness, from the lowest states of shame and apathy to the highest states of enlightenment and pure consciousness.
This work was published as Power vs. Force, which became an international bestseller translated into 15 languages, endorsed by scientists, physicians, and spiritual teachers worldwide. Dr. Hawkins went on to author more than twenty books, and his lectures — delivered at universities, conferences, and spiritual centers around the world — represent one of the most comprehensive and rigorously documented explorations of human consciousness ever assembled.
The Institute for Spiritual Research, Inc. was established to carry forward Dr. Hawkins's life's work — to preserve and share his teachings and to support the ongoing upliftment of human consciousness for the benefit of all humanity.