Are you familiar with Christ Consciousness? It’s also known as higher consciousness and plays into the idea that you actually have two types of consciousness. There’s the ordinary consciousness or awareness that’s part of our everyday lives—and a more profound type of awareness, or a higher consciousness, that has the power to put you in touch with God.
While the idea of higher consciousness dates back to the Bhagavad Vita, which was written about the time Christ walked on this earth, Christ consciousness is more a product of modern-day spirituality. It was a major theme of the book I Am the Word by Paul Selig (more here) and, in a nutshell, Selig explained it like this:
While most people operate at a lower energy, guided by their ego, others are able to tap into a higher energy or their higher self. This energy is known as Christ consciousness. When you engage with life at this level, you resonate at a higher frequency. You realize that God is the frequency of every cell in your being. You know that God is in everything and everyone.
It’s important to note that Christ consciousness is not a Christian thing. Its name is merely the recognition that Jesus achieved this state in his lifetime—and that you and I can achieve this same kind of spiritual maturity, a feeling we are at one with God, regardless of our religious or spiritual affiliation. The American clairvoyant Edgar Cayce referred to it as “the Christ pattern” and described it as “the awareness within each soul, imprinted in pattern on the mind and waiting to be awakened, of the soul’s oneness with God.”
Now it’s one thing to read a description of Christ consciousness and imagine what this state-of-mind must feel like—it’s quite another to have the experience for yourself. To me, it sounds a lot like the runner’s high I sometimes get after a vigorous run. It might be the feeling you get after a meditation session or a good hot yoga class. But is this the same as Christ consciousness?
Fortunately, Selig provides an easy visualization exercise that can help “activate” the Christ consciousness within us. I’ve broken down a passage from the book into six steps and have made some revisions for clarity. (Note that Selig does not take credit for his work. His book is a channeled text and comes from an unnamed universal source of wisdom he is able to tap into. See a demo here.)
Ready to start? Before you begin the exercise, stop for a moment. I believe that to do this right, you’ve got to be in the proper state-of-mind. Calm, relaxed and sitting in a comfortable chair, as far away from the noise and distractions of the outside world as possible. Read the 6 steps a few times so that you’re aware of what they are and can move freely from step to step.
6 Steps to Realizing Christ Consciousness
- Turn your attention to the center of your heart. Imagine that in the very center there is a light, a burning. This aspect of the self, living between your breasts, is alive.
- In your heart, begin to activate this spark, this piece of light. Feel it begin to flicker and glow.
- Feel the radiating heat coming from the light at your center. When you feel this, acknowledge it, give thanks for it. This heat in your heart is a sign of the Christ consciousness within you.
- Allow the light to fill you and to become you. Imagine it filling your entire body. There’s no effort involved because the light does the work.
- As the light fills your body, feel yourself becoming aligned to a higher frequency, the source of all that is good in this world. You may call this source God. Become one with this source.
- Feel the expanded energy field around you and the vibration of the Christ consciousness within you. Know that this expansion of light is your light, available to you at all times.
“God loves things by becoming them.”
I found the words above, from the American author and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr, struck a chord. They describe what happens when we achieve Christ consciousness. Writing in the book The Universal Christ, Rohr says that the life of “Jesus was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God.” We have always been one.
He goes on to say, “when we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us and in everyone we meet.” There is no separation between us and God because, like Jesus, we are one and the same. God is in us. We are in God.