As we navigate these new times, I have noticed that my toolkit needs updating. One of the tools I find I’m using a lot is the concept of levels — levels of being, levels of engagement, levels of perception.
Mixing of levels can lead to misunderstandings and difficulties. A simple example: my partner is having a moment of profound insight about something. New perceptions are coming in, he is on the threshold of new understanding. At that moment I walk into the room unannounced to say that so-and-so is on the phone and wants to talk to you. To put it mildly, my intervention is unlikely to be welcomed. He loses the thread of his thought process and struggles to get back back to it after the interruption.
For my own clarity, I have assigned names for the different levels. Here they are.
Let’s start with the domestic level. This is the level of good housekeeping: of oneself, one’s life, one’s affairs. This is the level that gets me to work on time, appropriately dressed. It is the one where I am polite to my colleagues, share a joke with them. It gets the job done and reminds me to do some shopping on the way home. It reminds me to keep improving, to expand my horizons. This level provides a stable platform for the rest of my life. If it is unsettled, then worry and uncertainty creep in, bringing everything else down like a house of cards. It’s the maintenance life.
Then we move up a level, to the evolving/exploratory. This level brings up questions such as, where am I going? What does it all mean? A person at this level says things like, there has to be more to life than this! Pondering on such questions can lead to a desire to make a contribution, to feel useful.
People express this in many ways, from the grand to the almost unnoticed. A person may pursue a dream, or train for one of the caring professions, or try to bring love into what they do. I recently visited a friend at the local hospital and met a tealady who had that last quality. When my friend was wheeled back into the ward after an operation, she came to his bed. She was attentive to him. She talked to him as if she knew him. She clearly cared about the man who was otherwise a stranger to her. In cultural terms she was at a much lower stratum than the qualified medical and nursing staff, but what she brought was palpable. Because of that desire in her to bring settlement, she enhanced and eased the situation for all. I was so glad she was there, and I told her so.
Going up another level, the atmosphere is getting rarer. Let’s call it the influenced.
When we meet people who are operating at this level, we treasure the memory of the encounter. We remember small things they said or did, because everything about them seems imbued with meaning. When we engage with them while they are at that level, so many things make sense, beyond what they say or do. They have a presence about them. They are influenced by something beyond themselves — hence the name.
When we are fortunate enough to access that level in ourselves, for however long it may be, then every moment is new and fresh. There is a sense of joy, of wonder, of awe at the fact of being alive in a body, of being able to experience such richness. We look at the stars in the night sky and feel that we are all part of the same story. Looking inside, my body has trillions of cells, all unbelievably complicated and yet it all works without my having to understand most of it.
Meditation becomes effective at this level. It allows us to dwell, abide with such insights that otherwise are taken for granted as the backdrop to our everyday lives. Original creative expression — ideas, writing, music, art, for example - come from here.
There are levels higher than this, I am sure. When people operate from there, our whole world is changed. They bring new ways of understanding, new ways of seeing. Some of them are remembered in our history books, many others probably not. Maybe some of them become the subject of legends. We could call this level the connected, as they are joined to something greater than themselves.
Those are some of the higher levels. There is much more to say about those and the lower ones, which I’ll go into in chapter 2 of this exploration.
Why are the levels important?
A friend likened it to opening the windows in an advent calendar. Opening the domestic window, I see one world. Opening the influenced window, I see another. And yet both worlds are valid. A recognition of levels helps me to appreciate where I am coming from, where another person is coming from, and for me to adjust as best I can.
At home, my partner and I have developed a protocol. When we want to switch level, we’ll ask: can I talk to you about a domestic matter? Or, can I say something? As I said, a useful tool in the toolkit.
to be continued …
