Some folks talk about “higher consciousness”. I understand that it can be seen that way. But to me, there is another way to look at it that feels more comfortable and is, in many ways, as or more accurate.
Awakening is about finding what’s already here. It’s about finding ourselves as what we already are. It’s about finding ourselves as what’s at the “bottom” of everything. As awake capacity for the world as it appears to us. As what everything in our experience happens within and as.
Yes, we can call it higher consciousness, for whatever reason. Perhaps because it seems to come after conventional views, or it allows for a more kind way to live. (Or because it makes us feel superior and better about ourselves and we use it to compensate for a sense of lack.)
And we can also call it basic consciousness. It’s at the metaphorical bottom of everything. It’s what’s always here. It’s what’s untouched by any of its content, including any human cleverness or stupidity.
It’s what all already share. It’s what, most likely, all of existence share.
You make a good point. During a spiritual practice, the search for ‘higher consciousness’ can so easily be turned into spiritual escapism, instead of – as you say – deeper immersion into all that is.
In thinking of ‘higher’ and ‘lower,‘ I sense links to religious ideas of purity, rather than the awakening experience (or however we want to describe it).
Yes, I think “higher consciousness” is attractive if we want to be better than what we imagine we are or others are – and compensate for a sense of not being good enough.