higher consciousness

Meaning

Noun

• a supposed mode of cognition beyond human self-awareness
• the notion of historical progress in the evolution of the human mind
• a concept of mystical transcendence of human consciousness, especially in Hinduism-inspired New Age philosophy, Yoga and psychedelic drugs subculture

Origin

• In 19th century philosophy, used by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (died 1831, höheres Bewußtsein), Petr Yakovlevich Chaadayev (died 1856, высшее сознание; literally, "highest consciousness").
• The New Age sense appears in ca. 1970 in the publications of Sri Aurobindo and others
• (The psychology of the unfoldment of higher consciousness (title), Swami Omkarananda, Divine Light Zentrum, 1970).