Four levels of seeing

When we look at clearing or shifting energy—for whatever purpose, but especially when it's part of our spiritual path (or is helping us walk that path), it's helpful to realize that what we can do easily varies with our level of perception. The shamans of Peru present four levels of perception that they say we function with. It's important to understand that these are only partly aligned with, say, a spiritual progression—that is, while we are here in these human forms, we're likely to move between all of them depending on circumstance.


The first level of seeing is that of serpent. You could roughly correspond this to the first two levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, since it's very simple: food, shelter, security. It's being very physically in the world, very concerned with physical needs.

The second level of seeing is that of jaguar. This is the perception of the mind and emotions. For example, take the breath. At serpent, we're only concerned with being able to breathe—in fact, we're mostly unconscious of it as long as it keeps going. At the level of jaguar, we assign meaning to the breath: quickening under excitement, perhaps stopping altogether with shock. We're able to manipulate the breath to purpose: deep breathing for trance work or to calm ourselves; a single deep breath to gain control, and so forth. In the words of Alberto Villoldo (The Four Insights) "We're aware that our experiences are influenced by our thoughts and that everything isn't necessarily what it seems to be in the physical realm."

The third level of seeing is that of hummingbird, where we are aware of bigger patterns, of divine purpose, that things are expressions of the divine. It is the perception of the sacred, of the soul. We are aware of our connection to the divine—a level of perception we might correspond to the 3rd eye/brow or crown chakra.

The fourth level of perception is that of eagle: this is spiritual perception. This is the level of creation, not simply awareness of the divine hand in creation. When we are in the realm of eagle, we are not aware of a connection to the divine, we are simply connected. We see everything as spirit and connected.

I believe it's at this fourth level—eagle—where we shift energy. This is where we embody prayer. Change, of course, happens at all levels: in serpent, instinctive reaction to enticements or threats will have us changing course: we're hungry, so we pull into the closest place that satisfies our need or our tastes. In jaguar, we can make conscious choices based on what we see beneath the surface: jaguar is the level at which we can begin healing our past, making choices about the use of power, and so forth. It's where we can be aware of the physical expression of energy and how it affects us: the things we learn from our past, from our friends, families, and lovers; from all our relationships. It's the point from which most of us begin our spiritual journey. These changes are emotional, psychological, and they encourage us to explore further. At hummingbird, we gain awareness of patterns of destiny, of past life karma and inter-life choices, of soulmates and soul groups. At hummingbird, we are aware of how interconnected we are, and how we connect to divine purpose and energy, and we begin shifting energy. It's slower here than at eagle, though, because in eagle we don't need reminders of how to dismantle barriers. We don't have to stay in trance to heal, or to shift energy because we simply are and do. This level is available to us no matter where we are or think we are in our spiritual practice—this is the level at which physical obstacles simply dissolve, because we drop ego (which is our awareness of being separate) and simply allow...twisting spoons, spontaneous healing, superhuman feats to rescue a child...just in case you thought this was reserved for monks or others who live lives of devoted spiritual attunement!