If you’ve been traveling in New Age circles, you’ve probably come across the term “the Higher Self”. I too came across the term at one point and became fascinated, mostly by how controversial the idea is and how there doesn’t seem to be an authoritative definition even. It seems everybody has a different idea and perhaps are afraid to tell you what they really think! But since this is a fascinating concept, I decided to do a deep-dive on it.
The idea of the Higher Self is ancient and spans cultures and traditions. From my research, it seems that it started with the ancient Egyptians. We also find the concept in Hermeticism, which is a practice that predates Christianity. In Hinduism, the Higher Self is akin to the soul, the divine part of you that is incorruptible and unable to be influenced by the ego or experiences here on the mortal plane.
In more recent times, I have seen the Higher Self used as a sort of stand-in for God. People may “ask the Higher Self” or “connect with the Higher Self” in ritual or meditation instead of connecting with God. Others use tarot to connect with the Higher Self rather than to connect with the divine. There is an idea here that each and every one of us has a subconscious self buried deep within us that is essentially all-knowing, but not necessarily mystical in nature. It is a part of us that we all have, that is always observing and thus carries great wisdom.
There is a more common concept though of the Higher Self that get’s a little “out there”, so hang with me! In this version the Higher Self is essentially the soul, but it’s the soul version of you after you have completed all of your lifetimes on Earth and have already ascended. So essentially, the Higher Self is the advanced version of you traveling back in time in order to help you now as one of your spirit guides.
Just like how we can send our consciousness into the future (i.e. predict the future), there is also evidence from retrocausal quantum theory that we can send our consciousness into the past and use it to influence events in the past. One can imagine that a more advanced completely evolved version of you could do this in the future rather easily. Perhaps the next step after we finish our lives as human beings is to evolve into a Spirit Guide. Being your own Spirit Guide would make sense as a beginner first assignment.
Some claim that when we sleep our Soul or Higher Self leaves our body and goes to Heaven (or whatever term you wish to use to describe the great beyond) and consults with our other Spirit Guides. Some even say that depending on the nature of our death, our Soul may have already left our body hours or even days before the actual death event. Either way, if we were to believe these accounts we are left with an impression that our Soul or Higher Self is oddly separate from us.
My Higher Self was the second Spirit Guide I met during my journey to meet all of my Spirit Guides. Interestingly enough, like other divine beings she never said she was my Higher Self, I just understood that to be true. She did give me a name to call her. I later realized that it was a play off of my own name. She does look like me, although an idealized version of me. There are no scars, no wrinkles, a more vibrant version of me. I would describe her personality the same way. She is quiet and contemplative, yet confident and self-assured. The advice she has given me has been life changing, and not at all something I could have thought up on my own with my current abilities.
The idea that speaking to a version of you that is both connected and separate from you is rather difficult to wrap your head around. However, we do this all the time with God with no problem. God is both each and every one of us, yet at the same time a separate being that we can communicate with.
When I say the word “God”, I am not necessarily using it in a monotheistic manner. I believe that there are all manner of divine entities in the Universe and have encountered some of them. However, I do believe that there is a collective entity or “Source” if you will that is omnipotent and omniscient. But let’s examine this word “omniscient” for a moment.
If God is omniscient, that means that he knows every aspect of our life and knows exactly what it feels like to be us at any moment, including every other person in the entire Universe. How is that possible unless God is also living through us in every moment? It only makes sense if we realize our soul is a piece of Source. Each and every one of us is God experiencing himself. We are one and the same with the Universe.
When you have this understanding, it then doesn’t seem so strange that our Higher Self is both separate and part of us at the same time. It then doesn’t seem so strange that our Higher Self is vaguely God-like. It is the section of Source Energy that has experienced all of our lifetimes. The Higher Self is both God and us.
The Higher Self is evidence that we are all connected. We are all evolving. And the journey never ends.