Self-actualization is the ability to reach that higher place of consciousness, from which all our activities and creations originate. At this stage we are far beyond satisfying our basic needs for food, shelter, and social contact. We now are at a place where our full human potential can be realized.
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We are now free to be creative and innovative, profound and wise. We no longer have to slave for our daily food and we can go beyond the day-to-day survival game. And yes, it can be lonely there. Even though modern life offers so many comfortable advantages, not many people are ready to make the effort to go beyond the search for daily satisfactions. Or they don’t know how.

The media are screaming for more attention to our outer appearances and very little attention is brought to finding contact with our souls. Not a lot of economic value is placed on understanding who you are as an eternal being, endlessly connected with the underlying order of the cosmos. When was the last time you saw a spiritual master’s enhanced and filtered selfie go viral?
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Perhaps the rarity of self-realization makes it that much more precious. Yet everyone has the potential for it. For self-realization is never measured against what others achieve, but always relates to how much more we have grown within ourselves.

Consciousness shares some aspects of quantum phenomena in that in cannot be seen or studied directly, using scientific instruments. It can only be postulated.
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If we try to examine an sub-atomic particle (or wave) with a scanning electron microscope, we will alter the atomic structure as we shine light onto it. In other words, the viewer interacts with what it being viewed. This is true for consciousness as well. It cannot be seen and if it is, it is uniquely colored by the perceptions and interpretations of the experiencer.

We cannot locate the place in the brain where consciousness occurs. But we all know when we are conscious and aware. Some say there are only three states of consciousness: Deep sleep, dreaming or REM sleep, and waking awareness. In that sense, we are talking about physical consciousness. The brain kicks into gear during waking consciousness and we join the world of activity. One day we can no longer manage waking consciousness and we die.

But does our consciousness die with us? No. Too many people who have had near-death or even death experiences and have returned, tell us that they are still aware, they are just floating unseen above their bodies. That kind of consciousness is our eternal Soul. It can never die, even if the body fades away.

All we can do is go by our own experience and by what others have sworn to. If you can feel the cosmic consciousness that endures beyond the decay of the body, you have encountered your Soul. And like the invisible particles and waves that make up the atoms in our very convincing physical reality, we cannot see or measure this level of consciousness.

People who deeply question life, its meaning, its purpose, the difficulty of suffering, the agony of loss—all experience the Dark Night of the Soul. It happens when we are lying awake in the middle of the night and everything seems dangerous, hurtful, painful, frightening, and pointless. We have lost our faith in anything spiritual and feel disconnected from all of life. It seems like a bitter joke and everyone dies anyway.
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This is a necessary step that brings us to our knees as we move along on our spiritual paths. It forces us, through despair and agony, to surrender to the Higher Power that is purposeful, organized, and often beyond our comprehension. We have nowhere to go but to trust in this Higher Power. We know that simply ending it all is not the solution for our Soul can never die. And when we get through to the other side of this Dark Night, it all appears light and clear to us.

It doesn’t take specialness to merit the Dark Night of the Soul. It happens to everyone who is a sincere spiritually-oriented being. And we can’t force it. It happens just at the right time for our growth and enlightenment. We just have to know that it is not the end. It is not hopeless and is a natural, though painful, part of our expansion during this human experience.

It takes work, discipline, and practice to overcome the negative bias of the human mind and the fearful projections of “lower” consciousness. Many people are not willing to put themselves through the training it requires to achieve levels of consciousness beyond the mere day-to-day survival.

Many people do not even think it is possible or even care. They are consumed with getting by with the least amount of pain and loss. They have relied on others, such as priests and authority figures to tell them that such states exist but do not think they are capable of such exalted states of being.

To find their way to their inner light and Soul seems too difficult or impractical. They think that higher consciousness would interfere with accomplishing their daily tasks as they bask in the ecstasy of inner bliss. This is a misconception and comes from visions of hermits living in caves meditating in the mountains instead of people actively engaged with life.

Or higher consciousness has been mystified to be like an endless psychedelic trip of colors, lights and disorientation. This false concept of higher consciousness deters people from “going there.” How are they going to get anything done if they are in a constant state of uninterrupted joy and distracting visual effects? But higher consciousness is nothing more or less that realizing that we are one with the Universe and that it is working through us.
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Because of:

• All the untrue ideas about higher consciousness
• Ignorance that it even exists
• The belief it is the special province of anointed religious figures

. . .most humans have not attained the levels of consciousness of which we are all capable.

Everyone, no matter what their physical state, is a valuable Soul and is capable of expressing love and intelligence. This is because, as Tielhard de Chardin said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
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This means that no matter what your physical state: Paralyzed, old and decrepit, young and green, sick or well, the body is not who you are. You are a soul who happens to be inhabiting a body this time around.

Nobody has it easy in the body for any length of time. Even babies bang their heads and fall down when they learn to walk. If we determined who should live or who should die based on their physical perfection or lack of suffering, not many humans would be left to exterminate. And who would make this decision? Just because someone is suffering for the moment doesn’t mean it won’t get better for them even in an hour.

No matter what condition our bodies are in, they are the homes of our Souls and important to our Soul’s journey. Paralyzed people like the scientist Steven Hawking, the artist and author Christie Brown, and actor Christopher Reeve continued to shine their light in the world and provide inspiration for others.

The mind and soul are two different entities. Some mentally challenged people express spiritual and loving qualities because they allow their souls to shine through. Our clever minds can often be an impediment to these beautiful qualities. We are constantly judging, comparing, seeing what is wrong, being unhappy because reality doesn’t match up to the ideal we hold in our heads. And we must be right about it all.
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Mentally challenged people are not so heavily invested in their minds and therefore they can be freer and more in touch with their inner selves.

I have personally known people with Downs syndrome and other learning disabilities who have shown wisdom, tolerance, and a love of life that far more educated people were never able to attain.

Several years ago I had a personal trainer who had Downs syndrome. He understood the human body with intuitive acuity and communicated it well in his own way. I learned a great deal from him and his sage-like approach to strength and skill. He was patient and kind and I will never forget him. The strength of his soul far outshone the limitations of his physical brain.

It is a big mistake to think that intellectual giftedness and the Soul are interrelated. Again, the intellect has very little to to with the soul and can often block its manifestation in our lives. The mind is a very good analytical tool but the soul come from a different area, more like from a combination of the heart and the gut. Therefore, if a person is mentally challenged, he or she may be more receptive to the qualities of Soul and be more tuned into the pulse of the Universe than those of us who think we are our minds.

Please refer to my comments to the question, “Do Narcissists have a soul?,” which is also on this website:

Do narcissists have a soul and when people bring up the concept of a "soul"do they understand what it is?

Usually, people with personality disorders are completely run by their lesser minds. They spend their lives protecting them, bolstering them, and adding to them. They cannot see beyond their demanding, chattering minds that focus on “me, me, me!” They use others to construct an insubstantial self that demands more and more attention. Therefore, they cannot find their way to enlightenment.
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Sure, they can occasionally have peak experiences when they feel the awe and wonder of it all, but they quickly turn them into serving their smaller selves. These small selves love to stir up drama and have uncontrolled mood swings. All of these attitudes of thought interfere with enlightened states of consciousness, which are always beyond the ego-mind and its turmoil.

Higher consciousness is a characteristic of any living being that is in touch with the inner light that corresponds to the fundamental intelligence of the Universe as a whole. Dolphins, dogs, and other creatures may have this higher consciousness, even if they can’t put it into words or communicate it in other ways. It is an awareness of our connectedness to it all at the deepest level. It goes beyond the daily grind, survival tactics, fear, and anything that is ego-based.

Pure consciousness is that fundamental intelligence of the Universe of which higher consciousness is aware. It is the organizing principle behind all of life, the planets, the galaxies, and our souls. We can connect to it any time but we must “get out of our own way.” In other words, we cannot be running interference with never-ending streams of thought, usually based on anxiety, inability to be in the present moment, and a feeling of lack.

They are not the same, but they are related. One cannot exist without the other. If we are not aware of something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. It just means it doesn’t exist for us. Pure consciousness keeps on being pure consciousness forever. Higher consciousness depends on who attains it, who works for it, who is able to step aside from the endless bombardments of worries and fearful thoughts.
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To the animals and other beings, higher consciousness comes naturally. They do not live fretful lives and they are connected to the Peace of the Universe (unless humans interfere, cage or abuse them). Humans, however, do need to work for this peaceful state. It takes effort to cast aside the barrage of thoughts and fears. That is why meditation, yoga, and other modalities have come to be. Sometimes higher consciousness comes spontaneously to humans, especially after “The Dark Night of the Soul.” But in general, it takes intention and effort to get there.

Yes. We can go about our daily lives and not notice that someone important to us is stuck in old patterns and beliefs that we have already moved beyond. If we are on a path of growth and development while they are content to stay where they are or regress, it can be a problem. We love them dearly and yet it feels frustrating to be around them.

If we try to talk to them about it, they either don’t get it or get hurt or angry—even if we approach the subject in a gentle and loving way. If we express anger because of frustration with their stuck-ness, it creates a further wedge and does not really solve the issue. If we dumb ourselves down just to get along, it also doesn’t feel good.

It can be very disruptive when we are growing, learning, and expanding into new horizons, while “the other” is mulling around in old patterns. I had a friend for over 35 years who was on my level of consciousness, adventure, and passion for life when we met. Then she got married and took on endless responsibilities of house maintenance and drudgery. She became consumed by houses, repairing them, cleaning them, and all sorts of endless activities that were not in the same creative mode that she had displayed to me for so many years in the past. They made her cranky, distracted, and anxious—testy and difficult to be around.
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I just didn’t buy into why she had to live this life of restlessness and striving while she neglected her Soul. So you can say I outgrew her. It was not a happy experience to feel as we parted. I don’t think she had any insight into why it happened. She was completely unconscious. And I had also been unconscious as it happened through the years. But when I finally woke up, it was over.

The “easy” problem of consciousness answers questions like the following:

• How do we learn, store memories, or perceive things?
  
  
• How do we know to pull our hand away from a hot stove?
  
  
• Why do we hear our name spoken even in a noisy gathering?
  
  

The “hard” problem of consciousness asks these questions:

• Why do all those complicated brain processes feel like anything from the inside?
  
  
• What is the point of this kind of awareness?
  
  
• Why aren’t we just useful robots, capable of retaining and acting on information, of responding to noises, smells and other environmental stimuli—but totally blank and dark inside, lacking an inner life?
  
  
• How could the gelatinous, tissue inside your skull (the brain) give rise to something as mysterious as all or our experiences and feelings?
  
  

Questions like these, which blur the boundaries between science and philosophy, make some experts angry and confused because they cannot begin to answer them. Some argue that conscious sensations, such as pain, don’t really exist, no matter what we feel as we slam our finger in the door. Others argue that that plants and trees are conscious.

The Hard Problem has prompted arguments in scientific journals about what is going on in the mind of a zombie, or ask the question “What is it like to be a bat?” Some argue that the problem marks the boundary not just of what we currently know, but of what science could ever explain. On the other hand, in recent years, a handful of neuroscientists have come to believe that it may finally be solved – but only if we are willing to accept the conclusion that computers or the internet might soon become conscious, too.
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We know for certain that we have inner experience of sights, smells, touch, emotions and the rest. Some scientists say we should concede that consciousness is just the physical brain, doing what brains do. Others say that consciousness is the only thing that matters and the rest is illusion. And since no one really knows for sure, the debate goes on.