The Higher Self
One of the most common questions I get asked about is on the topic of the Higher Self. It’s a familiar yet elusive concept that can mean a range of things. This role has even gone by different names in esoteric terminology, so even though the title Higher Self is how we have come to know this aspect of our being, it has also been regarded in mysticism as the Atman, and Atma-Buddhi.
The Higher Self is the multiverse condensed into a consciousness that is on a journey of exploring the infinite nature of reality. It is the accumulation of all the experiences, wisdom, and lessons a soul complex has acquired thus far through its conscious evolution. It has a vast resume spanning off planet, as well as both higher and lower dimensions.
The Higher Self operates from what we would call the future. It is our true self, the eternal essence we are comprised of at our very core. When we project our eternal essence into the lower densities of a universe, the magnitude of our being is scaled down similar to a fractal formation so that we become more like an ambassador of a consciousness too vast to actualize at full capacity within this dimension. We are the vehicle for our higher aspects to interact and experience different realities.
With it being the personification of all that is, you can imagine how multifaceted and multidimensional the Higher Self actually is. Its perception of right and wrong, good and bad, fortunate and unfortunate, has the potential to differ vastly from our own due to this broader vantage point. Another way to describe the Higher Self is as a representative of the entire cosmos that is channeled into a unique expression of the totality. This being exists outside of Time and Space and belongs still to an even larger expression of the universe known as the Oversoul.
The Higher Self and the Oversoul
The Higher Self and the Oversoul share many overlapping attributes. Depending on which school of thought one comes from, these beings are either two distinct entities with differing functions, or their qualities are merged into one all-encompassing divine essence.
The biggest distinction made between the Higher Self and the Oversoul is that the Oversoul is a grouping of individualized streams of consciousness called a soul stream. Essentially, we are soul streams. We are extensions of a larger consciousness that contain our own past lives, dharma, affinities, thought forms, karmic imprints, and attractor fields. Some soul streams incarnate into bodies at any one time, others not. Some are human and others are not.
Role of the Higher Self
The Higher Self is the aspect of our being guiding us through the 3rd density, orchestrating our lessons in each incarnation with the intention to create the greatest amount of growth for the soul. In addition to this, the Higher Self provides assistance through various channels, intervenes when possible, and prepares us for our journey beyond this realm. We are immensely large beings, much larger than we realize. Our consciousness can hold many concentrated points of attention at once, each focal point exploring a different dimension of reality as the Higher Self is continuously evolving.
When we refer to having the ability to create our own reality, we are referring to the level of the Higher Self. It’s not that we don’t have the ability to manifest, we can manifest a great deal through various means. Knowing our human design and implementing the strategy of our energy type alone can manifest greater quality of life.
But to create one’s own reality is to awaken to reality. What we are attracting into our reality at any given time is ultimately that which will merge us with the Higher Self so that we become the full throttle expression of our soul in body. Life will inevitably bring catalysts for growth into our experience specifically to reach this aim. We are then left with the choice to suffer long or suffer well. We can embrace our struggles in a way that creates a deeper union with ourselves and in doing so, a deeper union with our soul, or we can unknowingly recycle our suffering mistaking ourselves to be at the mercy of a cruel and vague fate.
The Higher Self will attract experiences into our field that will best challenge our level of consciousness in order to set us up for a breakthrough. Time spent under tension develops deeper awareness and forces us to change. When we are stuck in between a rock and hard place so that both backward motion and forward motion are equally unappealing, that is the Higher Self cornering us so that the ego embraces discomfort. The actions we take from this state are meant to encourage the proliferation of the soul. This is true across all scales. The most observable of this sentiment is the fact that we deliberately tear our muscles for them to grow back stronger when working out.
Although our hardships can serve a divine purpose, they are by far not the only means employed to embody our Higher Self. Presence and joy are both powerful catalysts that are reminders of our true state of being. Even Gnosticism, the bleakest of ancient worldviews, taught of the spiritual Seeds of Joy. They knew joy to be much more than a temperament. To them joy is salvation. It is the secret key to accelerate the mystic beyond the vibratory rate of this dimension—ascension through joy.
Connecting with the Higher Self
We are always connected to our Higher Self even if we don’t feel like we are, but there are ways to strengthen our connection so that we can receive its guidance more directly. We can do this by first understanding that the quantum field is a feedback loop that responds to our choices.
This field starts off as countless possibilities that begin to narrow into probabilities through the choices we make. These probabilities continue to drop off and further narrow the more that we focus our choices until probability turns into actuality, the manifested. When we choose to expand our consciousness, the quantum field organizes a new trajectory with the full unfoldment of that choice containing all possibilities and probabilities. The more our consciousness awakens, the stronger the timeline of that choice becomes, establishing a feedback loop between us and the Higher Self so that the future is sending those resources to the present. This is reflected in the spiritual wisdom, “You cannot travel the path until you become the path itself.”
What this means is that our journey is shaping us. To directly connect with the Higher Self, we have to practice its qualities. This begins by cultivating stillness which will radically help us identify when we are receiving higher guidance versus listening to the mind’s chatter. We cannot distinguish between the two unless we are attuned to our internal experience, and we do that through stillness.
Communication will also differ depending on each person’s strongest form of receiving information. Those who are empathic will receive information mainly in the form of feelings and sensations. If we mainly receive information through a direct knowing, we will be communicated to strongest in that form. The same goes for receiving visual information, so becoming aware of how we best receive communication is an important step to connecting with the Higher Self. Not everything we feel, or think, is higher guidance, but the more attuned we become to our own energy field, we will cultivate the ability to sense when our intuition is speaking to us versus when we are in our habitual mind.
You cannot effectively receive information from your Higher Self if you excessively doubt yourself. This is what I tell the clients in my practice who I work with on developing their natural abilities. A healthy amount of doubt will keep us honest and open, however if we have excessive doubt, we won’t be able to validate when we are receiving messages or trust in our capability to do so.
Many times, we are being communicated to by our guides or our Higher Self, but we simply don’t recognize it. When this is the issue, developing a practice of self-validation greatly helps. It can be something simple like spending time in front of the mirror each day validating anything and everything that comes into mind whether it be your current feelings, a situation you just experienced and how that made you feel or finding things to congratulate yourself on that were never given any prior recognition. You can free flow with whatever comes to mind that you would like to validate, the important thing is to get into a space of being able to connect and honor yourself. This is a part of developing the feedback loop that eventually makes communication with your Higher Self natural.
Eventually, life itself will warp into an interactive field. You will be communicated to through synchronicities, number sequences, license plates, the open page of a magazine on the counter at a cafe. A neighbor will come to your door and say something unremarkable, but you will understand it to mean something much deeper. A street sign you’ve passed by a thousand times before, but never noticed, will one day be an answer. You will stare too long at the mail man. The divine will speak to you through everything.
© 2021 Sarah Elkhaldy
