By Steve Pavlina

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/03/darkworkers-lightworkers-and-levels-of-consciousness/

How can a darkworker experience higher levels of consciousness like unconditional love and peace? 

The original descriptions of the levels of consciousness are lightworker-biased.  For a darkworker the level of unconditional love is directed inwardly as love of self.  It’s like a highly concentrated form of arrogance.  It may not be expressed outwardly in the form of a smug attitude, but inwardly the person comes to embrace the idea that s/he is the most important person on earth and should act accordingly.  Honoring this perspective can actually lead to a state of peace that is virtually the opposite of humility.

While some might label the darkworker path as evil path, I dislike using words like good or evil to describe these paths.  They’re really two different sides of the same coin.  A darkworker experiences unconditional love by recognizing that s/he is God, adopting a life of service to self.  A lightworker learns to see God in others, adopting a life of service to what s/he perceives to be the greater good.

Ultimately these two paths lead to the same place.  The lower the level of consciousness, the more distinct they seem.  As you go up in levels, the dividing line becomes blurrier, and the actions of lightworkers and darkworkers become increasingly similar.  This is because ultimately service to self and service to others become the same thing once you reach the level of awareness to recognize it.

Think of it like this.  We human beings are all individual cells in a larger body.  The darkworker path is to devote your life to doing what’s best for your own individual cell.  The lightworker path is to do what’s best for the whole body.  As you, the individual cell, become more aware (i.e. smarter), you will eventually recognize that these two paths lead to the same place.  A healthy body cannot exist without healthy cells, and vice versa.

At lower levels of consciousness, these two paths seem distinct because the individual cell doesn’t yet have the understanding to know what’s truly best for itself or for the whole body.  So it makes a lot of foolish decisions and mistakes.  The darkworker cell competes with other cells, taking resources from them as needed to ensure its own survival, thinking that’s a smart way to get ahead.  But then other cells suffer, and the body suffers as well.  Eventually there’s a backlash against the darkworker cell to preserve the health of the body.  It gets punished for hurting the body.  This is what I call Darkworker Syndrome.  It’s what happens when a darkworker simply isn’t aware enough to recognize that his/her own good and the good of all are inseparably linked.

Similarly, the newbie lightworker cell decides to nobly sacrifice its own well-being for the good of the whole body.  The body may initially benefit from this, but if that lightworker cell convinces too many other cells to do the same, then we’ll see too many dumb sacrifices being made, and the body begins to suffer.  Imagine your heart sacrificing itself to save the brain.  This is what I call Lightworker Syndrome.  It’s what happens when a lightworker simply isn’t aware enough to recognize that the good of all and his/her own good are inseparably linked.

If a single cell in the body were super intelligent, it wouldn’t matter if it was a lightworker or a darkworker.  It would recognize that its own good and the good of the whole body are the same good.  It would have the wisdom to make decisions that would improve its own long-term well-being and that of the whole body simultaneously.  This cell would serve as a role model for others, such that if every other cell followed its lead, the whole body would thrive.

We individual humans, however, aren’t super intelligent.  We don’t yet have the far-reaching mental clarity and the awareness to make optimal decisions in every situation.  The knowledge on which we must base our decisions is always imperfect.

By selecting one path or the other and focusing on it exclusively, we gain tremendous clarity in decision-making as well as the motivation to act.  Consider the darkworker path.  When you devote your life to doing what is absolutely, positively best for you as an individual, a lot of decisions that would have otherwise confused you become crystal clear.  Things that were only shoulds become musts.  You tap into a new level of drive and ambition that was previously dampened.  Are you following the diet that is best for you?  Are you exercising in a manner that’s best for you?  Are you working in the career that’s best for you?  Are you making enough money to fulfill all your desires?  A darkworker will do his/her best to optimize all of these — no lame excuses.

Similarly, a lightworker will always be asking, “How can I increase my service?”  This provides tremendous clarity, and those shoulds become musts.  Of course you must maintain your health.  Of course you must fill your life with supportive relationships.  Of course you must pick a career that gives you a tremendous outlet for service.  Again, wimping out is simply not an option.  There are no lame excuses for lightworkers either.

Now the interesting thing is that these paths lead to the same place.  For example, when we act as darkworkers from total self-interest, we eventually see that we must account for the health of the whole body.  If the body dies, we go down with it, which does not serve our own needs.  When we act as lightworkers from a passion for service, we eventually recognize that our own well-being plays a big part in our ability to serve.  If we don’t thrive as individuals, we aren’t much good to anyone else.

But the key you must understand is that if you don’t pick a path and really throw your whole life into it, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll achieve your own happiness.  You’ll never tap into your deepest levels of motivation, and you’ll always end up wondering what might have been.  Your life will fill up with excuses instead of action and results.  “Why bother?” will become your mantra… or “I don’t have the energy.”  If you really want to live out your existence as a hapless drone, that’s your choice.  But be certain it’s a choice you’re making consciously, rather than something that’s been conditioned into you.

The darkworker path and the lightworker path are not for everyone.  As I mentioned before, I’d say less than 1% of people are either lightworkers or darkworkers; most are neither because they haven’t decided to polarize.  Polarization is an accelerated path of personal growth.  With the darkworker path, you gain a much deeper understanding of what is truly best for you as an individual, and you take action to optimize your life to make it better and better.  With the lightworker path, you broaden your perspective to thinking about the good of the whole planet, and you learn to optimize the service you provide to the world.  Most people, however, never understand this fundamental decision and end up living out their lives without seriously learning to tap into their deepest levels of passion and motivation.

People who haven’t polarized may aim to live a balanced life.  But in so doing, they simply get sucked in by distractions, and their lives reflect it.  They chose careers that don’t fulfill them and which don’t do much good for the planet either.  They live in a very half-assed manner.  There’s no fire behind their eyes.  They don’t even know why they’re here, so they go through the motions in a confused daze, like a cartoon character who just got bonked on the head.

A lightworker or darkworker, however, is an intensely committed individual.  They know why they’re here, and they center their lives around what matters.  It’s either complete and total service to self or complete and total service to others.  They’re both capable of overcoming obstacles that would intimidate a non-polarized person.  These people are alive and passionate.