Brittany Simon’s philosophy of the levels has been a framework that many people, myself included, have found both illuminating and transformative. She created an outline of how people can approach truth, meaning, and relationships at different stages of thought. From rigid black-and-white thinking in the lower levels, to radical acceptance and integration at Level 5, her system provides a way to understand not only ourselves, but the people around us. What makes the levels especially compelling is that they don’t just address abstract philosophy, but also the lived reality of how humans communicate, interpret morality, and form their sense of identity.
But as I have reflected on this system, I can’t help but feel that there is something beyond Level 5. Brittany described Level 5 as the broadest place, where one can hold contradictions, understand multiple perspectives, and practice radical acceptance. Yet I believe there is a sixth level, a step beyond integration, that takes us into the realm of the unknown, the paradoxical, and the radically possible. This is what I want to call Level 6.
Level 6, as I see it, is the acceptance that there is no ultimate truth or falsehood. Instead, everything can be true and false simultaneously, depending on context, perception, or even dimensions of reality we cannot fully comprehend. It is an embrace of the paradoxical nature of existence, where flat earth theory, evolution, creationism, afterlife beliefs, simulation theory, and multiverse hypotheses could all be true and false at the same time. Rather than seeking final resolution, Level 6 thrives in the possibility that contradiction itself is fundamental to existence.
This may sound absurd at first. After all, much of human history has been an attempt to pin down truth. Science seeks objective facts. Religion seeks divine truths. Philosophy tries to reconcile the two. And even at Brittany’s Level 5, the goal is to integrate perspectives — to accept that multiple truths can coexist depending on the frame. But Level 6 goes beyond coexistence. It says: all frames are provisional, all claims can hold, and all claims can collapse at once. The goal is not to integrate, but to release the need for resolution altogether.
Consider debates that dominate society. Evolution versus creationism. Science versus religion. Materialism versus spirituality. At Level 3 or 4, one might pick a side, relativize the debate, or explain the contextual truth of each. At Level 5, one would integrate both — seeing creation stories as meaningful cultural truths, and evolution as a powerful scientific framework, without needing to invalidate either. But at Level 6, one would go further: both could be literally true in some way beyond our comprehension, and both could be false in ways we cannot yet measure. Perhaps the cosmos allows for multiple origins of life at once. Perhaps creation and evolution are intertwined. Or perhaps reality itself is a simulation in which both narratives were programmed. At Level 6, the boundaries collapse — the paradox itself becomes part of the truth.
This is not to say that Level 6 abandons reason or dialogue. Quite the opposite. At this stage, dialogue becomes even more important, because it is only through open conversation that we can explore the infinite branching of possibility. But the dialogue is not about proving one side right and another wrong. It is not about winning a debate. It is about mapping the possible, the probable, and even the absurd. It is about practicing radical openness — not just to what is seen and known, but to the unseen, the unknown, and even the unknowable.
Level 6 requires a profound shift in how we approach knowledge. In earlier levels, knowledge is about certainty, evidence, and justification. At Level 6, knowledge becomes more like a dance with mystery. One does not demand certainty but accepts uncertainty as the natural state of existence. The goal is not to eliminate paradox, but to live with it, embrace it, and even celebrate it.
One way to understand this is to imagine truth as a spectrum. At Level 1, truth is absolute and rigid — there is one truth, and all else is false. At Level 2, truth is still binary, but the individual begins to question who defines it. At Level 3, truth becomes subjective and relative. At Level 4, truth is fluid and self-created. At Level 5, truth is integrative — multiple truths can coexist. But at Level 6, truth is paradoxical — everything can be both true and false simultaneously, and the paradox itself becomes the point.
What does this mean in practice? For one, it radically reshapes how we relate to others. At Level 6, when someone presents a belief — no matter how strange, irrational, or implausible — the instinct is not to dismiss it, but to explore it. To see it as both true and false, real and unreal. If someone says the Earth is flat, a Level 6 response is not to mock them, nor even to integrate their perspective with scientific evidence. Instead, the Level 6 response is to accept the possibility that in some frame, dimension, or interpretation, their belief could hold, while also recognizing that in other frames it collapses. It is a refusal to be bound by the demand for exclusivity of truth.
This openness also extends to metaphysical questions. Is there an afterlife? At Level 6, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, in some sense, consciousness could persist after death. No, in another sense, consciousness could dissolve entirely. And yes again, in yet another sense, both possibilities could coexist — we both live on and vanish, depending on the perspective one adopts. This is not indecision; it is radical acceptance of paradox.
Some might argue that Level 6 leads to nihilism — that if everything can be true and false at once, then nothing matters. But I see it differently. Level 6 is not about collapsing meaning, but about expanding it. It is about allowing all meanings, all possibilities, all paradoxes to coexist without demanding a final answer. It is not the end of meaning but the flourishing of infinite meanings.
There is also an ethical dimension to Level 6. If everything is both true and false, then how do we decide how to act? Doesn’t this paralyze decision-making? The answer, I believe, lies in distinguishing between epistemology and ethics. Epistemologically, Level 6 refuses to declare final truth. But ethically, we still must act in the world. The guiding principle, then, becomes harm reduction and openness. Even if all claims are true and false, our actions still have consequences. Therefore, the ethical floor of Level 6 is to minimize harm and maximize the possibility for dialogue and exploration.
This balance between epistemic openness and ethical grounding is crucial. Without it, Level 6 could easily become a cover for moral relativism that excuses harm. But with it, Level 6 becomes a space of radical compassion. If we accept that everyone can be both right and wrong at once, then we have no grounds for dismissing or condemning others. Instead, we must engage with them compassionately, recognizing the validity and invalidity of their perspectives simultaneously.
What makes Level 6 so powerful is that it transcends even the boundaries of human knowledge. Science, philosophy, religion — all of these are human frameworks, shaped by our limited perception and cognition. Level 6 acknowledges these frameworks but also accepts that there may be realities entirely beyond them. Dimensions we cannot see. Beings we cannot imagine. Truths we cannot articulate. At Level 6, one lives in constant openness to the possibility of the beyond.
This is why I see Level 6 as the level of radical possibility. It is not just about holding multiple perspectives. It is about embracing the infinite potential of existence, even when that potential contradicts itself. It is about refusing to close the door on what might be, and refusing to lock reality into a single map. It is about living in the mystery, not as something to be solved, but as something to be experienced.
In this sense, Level 6 shares something with Zen philosophy, with mystical traditions, and with postmodern pluralism. But it is not identical to any of them. Zen seeks to dissolve dualities into oneness. Mysticism seeks transcendence of the self. Postmodernism deconstructs metanarratives. Level 6, while touching these, is unique because it embraces paradox as the final resting place — not a problem to be resolved, but a reality to be lived.
Level 6 is not an easy place to live. It requires letting go of certainty, letting go of the need to be right, and even letting go of the need for coherence. It requires a willingness to be comfortable with contradiction, to sit with paradox, and to accept the unknown. But in doing so, it opens a vast horizon of possibility. It allows us to see not just what is, but what could be, what might be, and even what cannot be.
Perhaps the most radical aspect of Level 6 is that it even calls into question the levels themselves. If everything can be true and false at once, then even the framework of the levels is both valid and invalid. Level 6 thus transcends the need for the framework at all. Yet at the same time, it validates it, because the levels are a useful way of understanding human development. This is the paradox of Level 6: it undermines itself, while also affirming itself.
So why do I believe there is a Level 6? Because I believe reality itself demands it. Because the universe is too vast, too strange, too paradoxical to be contained even by integration. Because even as we hold multiple perspectives, we must also accept the possibility of the unknown, the unseen, and the impossible. Because truth is not something to be captured, but something to be danced with.
Level 6 is not about having the answers. It is about embracing the fact that the answers may be infinite, contradictory, and unknowable. It is about living in radical openness, radical compassion, and radical possibility. It is about saying: everything is true, everything is false, everything is both, and that is okay.
And maybe, just maybe, that is where true freedom lies.
Leave a Reply