“When you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that going for me.” -Bill Murray quoting the Dalai Lama in Caddyshack.

By Michael Hooper

I have been striving for hyper-consciousness for years. I was most awakened by reading “The Philosopher’s Stone” by Colin Wilson when I was 18 years old. I was in awe of the breadth of knowledge known by the author and the great philosophers in history.

My personal quest in achieving hyper-consciousness has involved participation in multiple religions and philosophies, solitude, reading, travel, careers, marriage and raising children. This article discusses my spiritual awakening and evolution. I list 20 attributes of the hyper-conscious mind and enlightened soul.

In the early 1980s, I was fresh out of high school and living in a small town in Nebraska attending a junior college. I was involved in the Way International and later an assembly group led George Gyftakis of Fullerton, Calif., fundamental Christians. This led me to study scriptures intently. I did some evangelism in a park but I never did that again. I felt that I was too intrusive trying to force my religion on to somebody else.

The assembly group wanted me to stay in Hastings, Neb., and live there and work there and build up their church. They didn’t want me going to Yellowstone National Park (which I did), they didn’t want me going to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (which I did). I felt tremendous pressure to join their group and stay with them but my dreams were much larger.

I wanted to see the world. I didn’t want to stay at the elementary principles of being born again, confined to the study and worship of Jesus Christ, while neglecting all the other poets, philosophers and prophets in history. I wanted to study deeper levels of behaviors and humanity. The notion that I’m a terrible sinner in need of redemption over and over again became tiring and guilt-ridden.

I was looking for freedom. I started reading books like “I’m Ok, You’re Ok” By Thomas Anthony Harris. I studied Sigmund Freud, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ursula K. Le Guin. At age 19, I read “The Left Hand of Darkness” about an ambisexual society where people were equal, more or less, at least on the basis of sex. Here I was reading books by Le Guin while living in this small town community college dorm with a bunch of hicks and rednecks and fundamentalist Christians all around me. Sometimes, all alone, I would get on my bicycle and ride 25 miles.

Yet early on I was fortunate to meet two very beautiful and intelligent and very different men who became lifelong friends. One was a high school dropout, who just earned a GED and said he was planning on becoming a doctor. I believed him, I could tell he was a genius. He became a PhD scientist who discovered a gene that causes deafness and blindness. The other man was a highly intelligent, creative and sensitive friend who became best man in my wedding. Both men are spiritual in their own way but are definitely not evangelical.

I think being a person of zeal and enthusiasm, I had to learn to restrain myself, humble myself, and spend a lot of my career asking questions and interviewing people and pouring my energies into the typewriter. I have to acknowledge that I don’t know everything and I’m here to learn.

What makes a hyper-conscious person?

Somebody who is sensitive, empathetic, able to gauge what people actually need.

The hyper-conscious man may be able to intellectually solve a problem but recognizes that, sometimes, the person with the problem really just needs a hug. He comforts, listens and offers emotional support.

The hyper-conscious man knows when to be a cheerleader, knows when to be silent and knows when to speak out.

He knows when to say, “I’m sorry” and really mean it. He will commit to never make that mistake again.

The hyper-conscious man recognizes the tremendous gift of woman. In a relationship he cherishes the pursuit of shared goals with his partner.

Partners who work together can achieve tremendous goals. I feel fortunate that my wife and I have shared common goals in our 25 years of marriage. I perhaps most cherish that she’s a book reader with an enlightened hyper-conscious personality.

Hyperconsciousness combats ignorance.

Hyperconsciousness is the ability to be aware of multiple things at once, with the wisdom to know which things are important.

Hyperconsciousness is the ability to use your mind to solve problems, to heal the body, to heal a friend, to bring peace, to uplift, to inspire.

Hyperconciousness is the ability, to reach into the divine, into the mystic. Leaving behind Good karma will benefit the world.

The hyper-conscious man is comfortable in his own skin. He accepts his feminine side and his masculine side. Rather than suppress either side of his life, he embraces his feminine and masculine. I always considered myself around 20% feminine and 80% masculine. I tend to talk with my hands and have a deep appreciation for literature, music and the arts. I enjoy some sports but I abhor violence, I’m not the back-slapping foul mouthed beer guzzling redneck type.

The hyper-conscious man does not concern himself with feeding his ego. He is self actualized, no longer guilt-ridden, using his creativity in new ways, able to stand firm in his conviction.

The hyper-conscious man is a visionary. He is able to research thousands of data bases, yet has the analytical power to gather the right information to assess the current situation and see into the future.

The hyper-conscious man uses science to know nature in a deeper way. He appreciates botany and plant life and animal life. He sees the damaged yet living tree as a metaphor of his own life. The tree has been hit by lightning but it still wants to survive, even with less bark on its trunk. Yet the tree grows another branch toward the southern sun.

My body is damaged but I carry on anyway. Like the tree I want to survive too. Like the tree, the deeper my roots are, the broader my span.

The hyper-conscious man is keenly aware of the magnitude of human life. He supports children and seeks to lift them up and to explore their talents rather than run his mouth in preachy sermons.

The hyper-conscious man prays without ceasing. He sees so much need in the world, there is so much pain, loneliness and despair. The hyper-conscious man prays in silence, alone in his sacred place.

The hyper-conscious man is a volunteer. He gives of this time to causes greater than himself. I have volunteered for 15 years for a nonprofit organization, The Villages in Kansas, which benefits abandoned and neglected children. I have received no financial reward for my efforts but rest in the knowledge that children are being offered a better life.

The hyper-conscious man is not a narcissist. He is not self-absorbed. He has found the light within himself and he is comfortable with that. He sees his life and talents as valuable resources for the benefit of the world, not just for his own pocketbook or for his own family.

The hyper-conscious person is able to say no with grace. Anything that may get in the way of his goal he avoids. Using a hyper focused work style, his production increases, he is able to accomplish more in four hours than some people in eight hours.

The hyper-conscious man is a man of his word. His integrity and credibility are of paramount importance in his own life. He lives with no lies. What you see is what you get.

The hyper-conscious man is a slave to no one. He spends less than he earns, he chases no thrill to financial ruin. The hyper-conscious man lives frugally, pays off his debts and lives free. With less financial obligations, he is able to spend more time on what really matters — family, friends, home, job, world, his passion.

The hyper-conscious man realizes that he must love himself first, he must take the time to rest and fill up his emotional bank account, so that he may offer loving emotion to others. By freeing himself from distractions, he is able to focus on the eyes of the hurting soul.

The hyper conscious mind and the enlightened soul work together. The enlightened soul wants to leave behind Karma of the Divine, The Good, The Mystic. The hyper-conscious mind looks for ways to deploy virtue with sincerity and precision.

Sometimes having gone through a difficult challenge, with extreme mental anguish and agonizing physical pain, the hyper-conscious person learns to change, adapt and evolve. Discovering new dimensions of thought and vocation during a trial, a person may come out stronger, more productive, with new powers of consciousness, sensitivity and thought.

The hyper-conscious mind begins to ask questions like, how can I improve myself, my home, my neighborhood? How can I help this person? Or how can I help suffering peoples?  How can I save these trees? How can I stop violence? How can I inspire and uplift? How can we save the oceans from pollution?

The man with the enlightened soul and the hyper-conscious mind is rare, indeed, but there are men who are devoted to this and believe that it is possible to change and evolve into this kind of person.