As consciousness evolves, it expands. As a very over simplified example/analogy, consider a child. As a baby, their consciousness could be represented by the single dot in the Stage 1 diagram. They see the world only from their perspective. It’s all about them, and what they want is the only thing they comprehend. All they know is they are hungry or wet or scared or sleepy. They have no real concept of the world outside themselves.

But as they grow and evolve, they come to the realization “If I bite mommy’s finger, mommy’s going to get upset.” They are beginning to develop a comprehension of the world outside and how it “reacts” to them, or doesn’t.

Then as the child’s consciousness evolves a little more, they have the realization “If hit this other kid in the nose, they may not like me, because I don’t like it when I get hit in the nose.” In very simple terms, their consciousness has doubled. They are now beginning to look at the world from two perspectives: their own, and the target of their actions. This evolution in conscious capacity can be represented by the Stage 2 diagram.

Then as the child grows and matures, their consciousness expands even further and they have the realization: “If I call Jimmy a bad name, someone else might see me do it and not like me because I did that.” In very simple terms their consciousness has tripled. They are now looking at reality through their own perspective, the perspective of the target of their actions, and the perspective of a third, neutral observer of those actions. This can be represented by the Stage 3 diagram.

So what we see, is that as consciousness grows and evolves (in our diagrams it’s moving up) it expands. So we get the evolutionary structure represented by the Later Stages diagram. As consciousness evolves/expands, the number of perspectives it values and attempts to utilize/consider grows. This process continues until it reaches universal consciousness, or enlightenment. At that level, every perspective that exists holds value for that consciousness. People at very high levels of consciousness are able to “see things” from anybody and everybody’s perspective. They are able to understand, empathize, and build rapport with almost anyone, even those that would normally be considered their enemies.

There’s an old saying: “The simpleton’s concern is for himself and his family. The citizen’s concern is for his community. The patriot’s concern is for his country. And the saint’s concern is for humanity.” This saying illustrates different people at progressively higher stages of consciousness, as their scope of awareness, and therefore affiliation and concern, grows larger and larger.