Survival
This level is defined by almost constant worry. The worries may vary—will there be enough money? Will my partner leave or cheat? Will my kids get sick? Will I age too fast or be seen as unattractive? Will I lose my sexual power, get fired, fail to recover an investment, or lose a business deal? Will the harvest fail or oil prices skyrocket?
This is the state of just trying to secure the basics of life. What that means depends on the person. But one thing connects everyone at this level: they’ve either built or are building themselves a kind of “burrow”—a safe, cozy, predictable space where they can live until old age without disruptions.
And they don’t want that space to change. Because change threatens the feeling of safety. And safety is the goal here. Even if it means staying small.
Flight (Existence) in the Stream
At this level, a shift happens. A person begins to trust something greater than themselves—call it the Universe, God, the Cosmos, or simply their own ability to take responsibility for life. They feel supported. Life seems to organize itself in ways that protect and even enhance their experience of existence.
Worry begins to fade. It may still arise now and then, but much less frequently—and it no longer controls them. They’ve learned to live rather than survive.
Often, they no longer chase money. Money starts to show up more effortlessly, as a side effect of being aligned with something deeper. The more they experience this, the more their inner orientation shifts—from surviving to creating.
They may still work, but it’s different now. They work for joy, for flow, for the love of what they do. And money? It follows naturally.
Creativity in Flight
This is the level of mastery.
Here, survival is no longer part of the conversation. It’s not even on the radar. A person operates fully outside the survival mode. They’re not just living in flow—they are the flow.
At this stage, life becomes creation. Not just personal fulfillment or self-expression, but creation that ripples outward—into communities, systems, and spaces the person may not even directly belong to, but still feel connected to.
They begin to live in service to life itself.
Their projects don’t come from a need to prove anything or to secure safety. They create because they are creators. Their very presence becomes a doorway for others to grow. They become a living expression of space, possibility, creativity—simply, love.
Of course, there are in-between stages. These aren’t rigid levels. They’re fluid, and people move between them. But seeing them clearly can help us know where we are—and where we long to go.
