Why Your Level of Consciousness Matters More Peak Moments of Ecstasy

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” —C. G. Jung

What happens when you seek altered states of consciousness—the high after a plant ceremony, the bliss of meditation, —hoping a peak moment will catapult you into more loving and joyful frequency? Well, it really depends on why. Are you indeed trying to deepen your spiritual connection and ready to embrace the fullness of light and shadow, or are you simply trying to escape feeling your pain?

Altered states come and go; however your baseline level of consciousness is what you return to between peak experiences. When you raise that baseline, your energy field actually expands—you think, speak, and act from a wider awareness—and you naturally magnetize healthier relationships, opportunities, and outcomes.

Altered states into altered traits

The most popular way to alter your state of consciousness is through alcohol and drugs, often done as a way to escape rather than to evolve. You can also shift states with breathwork, meditation, toning, drumming, or a ceremonial plant journey. However, the goal isn’t more fireworks; it’s converting altered states into altered traits—stable abilities like patience under pressure, truth-telling in hard moments, and daily self-leadership.

More lessons from Peru

On my recent trip to the Peruvian Amazon, I encountered spiritual seekers who sat in plant ceremonies 20–30 times a year, chasing peak mystical experiences. Back home, they slipped into old loops—because their baseline level of consciousness hadn’t changed. Ceremony had become a “spiritualized” version of the same avoidance they hadn’t fully integrated yet in their lives. Here’s the problem with chasing the summit: your mystical experience will be filtered through your current level of consciousness.

If your baseline is narrow and tunnel visioned, a Level 1 Awareness of the world that I call Unconscious Victimhood, even a luminous angelic visitation can be twisted as an egotistical drama or paranoia. I’ve actually witness this happen a few times with several people. They returned from a deep mystical experience and told me that an angel or some deity told them they were the chosen one and everyone else was out to dim their light. It was a deluded interpretation of a beautiful vision based on their baseline level of consciousness. Their level of consciousness was reflected by the way lived their lives. In this this case, they were people who manipulated others by cutting corners because they felt the Universe had dealt them a shit hand, and so they could not trust the world. Consciousness isn’t just what you see in ceremony; it’s how you integrate it and behave on Monday in the office.

So why chase altered states?

…if you’re only going to snap back to your original baseline of consciousness anyway? Altered states are like test-drives of who you could be. Like a showroom at a car dealership, new states can offer you glimpses into potential new levels of consciousness that you might upgrade into.

Since cars are on my mind, let’s go with that analogy. Imagine you slide out of your 20-year-old Buick (negative belief systems, toxic relationships) and into a Porsche (higher-octane consciousness). Two things can happen: you hand back the keys muttering, “I could never afford this,” —or you let the drive recalibrate your standards. You check your “credit” (nervous-system capacity), rework your budget (time/energy), trade in the Buick (retire negative beliefs and toxic relationships that guzzle your fuel), and commit to payments (daily practice, healthy boundaries). You switch to premium fuel (better food, cleaner habits), book regular service (mentoring and education), and before long the Porsche isn’t a fantasy—it’s part of your reality.

Most people get confused with why their life isn’t changing because they are only pursuing altered states like they are thrill laps, thinking that they are supposed to reorganise your entire life. And yes, it can, but not without putting in the actual hard yards of installing practical steps into place.

Two maps for your consciousness baseline

You might remember learning about Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in high school. Maslow was an American psychologist in the 20th century who founded humanistic psychology. He proposed the hierarchy of needs as a a simple, yet powerful idea: when basic needs are unmet, they dominate attention; whereas when they are met, more evolved possibilities like belonging, esteem, and ultimately self-actualization are available.

For example, if you desire love and belonging, but have not yet resolved physiological and safety needs first, you will find your desires do not have sufficient support. The entire foundation of this hierarchy is making sure that all unmet physiological and safety needs, in all aspects of your life, are addressed before you can ascend into the higher categories of love & belonging/esteem and finally self-actualization.

5 Spheres of Awareness

Place Maslow’s Hierarchy beside my 5 Spheres of Awareness—inspired by the Andean Medicine Wheel—you have two simple and robust maps of your consciousness level. You can think of the spheres or awareness like a camera’s aperture: when it’s narrow, little light gets in and your perspective contracts; open it wide, and the frame expands—more light, more context, and more truth comes into focus.

Use the 5 Spheres of Awareness as a map of your baseline lens—from “life happens to me” to “Life happens through me.” After reading the descriptions, rate yourself 1–5 in each of the main areas of life: Health, Family Relationships, Romance, Career/Purpose & Finances. Your lowest score reveals where you need to put your attention in order to grow your consciousness.

1) Unconscious Victimhood — Life happens to me

This is a person stuck in blame loops, commiserating and trauma bonding, fearing standing out, or are stuck in rigid/dogmatic spirituality principles as a way to gain control. When your lover doesn’t text you back in the time frame you desire you go into a tailspin of “No one ever treats me right,” and you withdraw. You might consistently find your boss’s emails triggering. Maybe, you are pulled in the vortex of doom-scrolling and uncontrolled explosive venting and find yourself proclaiming at every turn “oh woe, is me,” yet nothing changes. Maybe in your family dynamics, you unconsciously acquiesce to toxic guilt and shame patterns by not upholding boundaries, and resent everyone for it later. Even if someone in this stage of awareness is not chatty, others will perceive them as a kind of energy vampire that zaps the energy out of the room.

2) Intentional Breakthroughs — Life happens because of me

This is a phase of consciousness that a majority of society lives in which is more ego-centric. Think of the moment a child turns into an adolescent and starts to form an identity, which then leads to certain goals and the required discipline to achieve said goals. When the ego is developed in a healthy way, there are boundaries set in place around self-care for the purpose of executing what is on your vision boards. There is a priority to belonging to a cause, a tribe, or a purpose akin to Maslow’s belonging/esteem tier. On the flip side, if something doesn’t go your way, you might go into self-criticism as a way of punishing yourself for not being ‘good enough’ to make it happen. For example, if you’re going for a promotion and you are rejected, instead of seeing it as an opportunity for continued learning, your inner self-saboteur might think that you’re not “likeable/lovable/successful enough,” which can slingshot you into a conscious victimhood, albeit it slightly more conscious version of level 1, it is still trapped in a cycle of “poor me.”

3) Synchronicity — Life happens through me

In level 3, this is where the metaphorical aperture widens to the point where there are distinct changes in how you interact with life and how life is in turn interacting with you. You are able to tune into the signs that life throws your way, almost as if decoding the symbols in a poetic and meaningful way because you have developed a trust in the infinite intelligence of the Universe. Synchronistic occurrences happen more frequently like having a dream about an ideal job, and then in real time being introduced to the right person at a party and nailing the interview to get that job. Even negative setbacks will feel like pivots versus punishments. When you get laid off, or a long term relationship suddenly ends, you honour the sadness of the moment, and yet are able to ask yourself “What is Life making more room for that I can’t quite see right now?” Every interaction, whether positive or negative, becomes “breadcrumbs” for you to meet the right mentor, or the right lover, always ushering in a higher alignment.

4) Divine Inspiration — Life happens with me

The rarer change-makers and visionaries who inspire others are moving through life channeling divine inspiration from a higher source. They are no longer seeing the world from purely an egotistical lens. Even their own healing and spiritual journey is no longer for themselves, it becomes a transpersonal experience of “I am healing my wounds for all those who have ever experienced this pain.” And you default to a state of awe, which is actually a primary human emotion seen in babies. Awe is what keeps you youthful and not jaded–a delightful innocence in viewing the world with fresh eyes. When your consciousness shifts from an ego-centric to world-centric, the separation of “you versus me” merges into a “I am you, and you are me.” This makes you more forgiving of others’ differences because you see people as mirrors of you. Labels soften and identities become fluid. The ego transforms from dictator to ally, and you co-create with Life itself, sometimes letting the Divine “drive” your vehicle. And because you live your life in service to your community and the world at large, your sense of purpose magnifies, as well as your ability to envision new big picture pathways.

5) Sacred Ceremony — I am life

Even rarer, this is a perpetual state of abiding in unity consciousness that few masters, seers and mystics embody. The very frequency of your presence without words serves the purpose of unconditional love, truth, wisdom and freedom by simply being. Every role you adopt and every action you take becomes a living prayer. In this sphere of awareness, you have transcended the world of drama and only compassion for those who are still on their journey remains regardless of what sphere of awareness they are in. Unconditional love is the ground on which you walk, not a prize to be sought after. The ancient ones call it Dreaming Life into Being, and so you dance through about Life like a waking dream—fully alive, fully aware and responsive to every single breath as a precious moment to experience the magnitude of what it means to incarnate in this specific time in history. Because there is absolutely no separation between your individual Self and the Divine, what you manifest in this life appears quickly because you are both the conductor and the symphony of the Universe playing with great clarity and ease. Every note vibrated into perfection.

Consciousness self-assessment

Which Maslow’s tier is most tender for you right now?
In your journal, rank in which sphere of awareness (1-5) you are currently operating: Health, Romance, Family Relationships, Career/Purpose &, Finances. (If you feel you are between levels, you might give yourself a 2.5 in Romance, and maybe a 1.5 in Health). This is a subjective experience and trust in your own inner authority.
Name 1-3 actions (goals, new habits or boundary setting, etc) that would elevate you into a higher sphere of awareness in the next 30 days (a new course, networking, developing a new skill, seeking a mentor, etc?)

“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” —Abraham Maslow

Bottom line: Expanded states of awareness are like peaks of mountains and are beautiful teachers, but don’t forget that your baseline level of consciousness will rule how you live your life. Grow that, and the fulfilled life that you’re seeking—safety, love, belonging, purpose, and self-actualization—arise as a side-effect of who you’re becoming.

If you are called, the next 1 Day Shamanic Healing Journey Retreat with myself and my dear friend Trudi Bannister, holistic psychologist and board director of Mind Medicine Australia is on Aug 30 th, and Sept 27th, 2025. Please book a 👉 zoom here to be considered for these intimate 12 person transformational experiences.

Also, there is still space in the 4 Day Shamanic Journey Retreat Oct 3-6, 2025 in the Blue Mountains. Check out the 👉 full retreat program here.

Baseline Vs. Altered: Why Your Level of Consciousness Matters More Peak Moments of Ecstasy