The Levels of Consciousness

I very much want to recommend God and Buddha - A Dialogue, produced by Mystic Fire Video. http://www.amazon.com/God-Buddha-Dialogue-Deepak-Chopra/dp/B0000C23DQ

In it they broke down the different levels of consciousness and I found it to be fascinating and very clear.

First Level
Deep, dreamless sleep, the body functions automatically and a small part of the consciousness remains alert to signs of danger.

Second Level
Dreamtime. Accepted as reality, but frequently lacking rationality which the dreamer is unaware of unless they are lucid dreaming. Upon waking it is clear that you were dreaming.

Third Level
The rational mind is engaged, giving meaning to events. Interesting point made is that dying is to living what awakening is to dreaming, in that what had seemed real and rational when alive, is nothing compared to the heightened awareness and understanding that being spirit provides.

I've read so many near death experiences and they convey this heghtened perception in the following ways:
sight is 360 degrees
you understand not only why you did what you did, but how it effected everyone else
you communicate telepathically
you have instant access to information
thought manifests instantly

Death then is a higher level of consciousness than any we can know alive.

Fourth Level
Awareness of the soul. The identity expands to reveal the observer, the experiencer beyond identity. The sensing of the presence beyond reality. The understanding you are more than your personality, history and ego.

Fifth Level
Subjective Awareness of Presence. Awareness of the Presence of the Divine within.

Sixth Level
Objective Awareness of Presence. Awareness of the Presence of the Divine in the world around you.

Seventh Level
The United State of Presence.

"I am That, and You are That, and All is That and That is That."

More than "my consciousness creates the world around me" or the materialist viewpoint that the world presses in on us forcing us to adapt to survive, but the realization that both occurrences happen simultaneously influencing and co-creating with each other. This may at times appear paradoxical, but there is an underlying unity beyond the duality, co-arising simultaneously from the potential state of God.

My library system carried this dvd, it's well worth the watching and also features Deepak defining Vedantic philosophy in about ten minutes.