Higher Consciousness

By Justin Stone Autumn 1986, ©The Vital Force

People often speak of “higher consciousness.” A man is coming from another state to
videotape me in a research project to find those in “higher consciousness.” The truth is,
there is no such thing. There is only Consciousness–and, at the deepest level, it is not
individual. Sometimes this consciousness is obscured, and then there seems to be “lower”
consciousness. It is usually obscured by habit-energies and tendencies; ultimately, this all
proceeded from thought and thought-patterns.

The sun remains the same, always, but we speak of “weak sunshine today”, or talk of the
strong sun in the autumn season. When clouds obscure the sun, we see it as “weak
sunshine”, but the sun has not changed. Similarly, consciousness remains unchanged but,
when obscured by what Orientals call “the dusts”, it appears “low”. Just as the life
essence remains unchanged as there is constant transmutation, so consciousness is not
affected by the obscuring elements. One Zen Master spoke of keeping the mirror clean,
wiping away the dusts so that the basic nature of the mirror–which reflects
unchangingly–will not be affected. Consciousness is like the mirror. It is necessary to
remember that consciousness can only exist where there is duality. The polarity of
subject-object relationship makes consciousness possible. When we enter deep
meditation, where there is only subject and no subject-object relationship, the world
disappears. With the reappearance of thought, consciousness and the subject-object
relationship reappear, along with self, other, and God.

By Justin Stone
Reprinted with permission from The Vital Force, Autumn 1986