The difference between our Spirit and Higher Self

Our Spirit is who we are and our Higher Self is the state of mind through which we communicate with the Higher realms including our Creator.

I recently came across a new and startling understanding about the relationship between our Spirit and Higher self. I have always assumed that they are one of the same but having different terminology to describe the same thing. During a recent healing session with a client an issue came up that required me to explore these two concepts separately. I was required to work on my clients Spirit but not their Higher Self.
I immediately had a problem in my ability to work through the issue at hand because I thought that they were deeply entwined. The challenge was to understand the difference between these two energies. The outcome provided me with a new perspective on the subject. I need to explain that I use the pendulum as a tool to seek many of the answers in my healing work. I then rely on my knowledge, experience, wisdom and common sense to understand or interpret what I am finding out on the pendulum. I don’t automatically take the pendulum information as the ultimate truth. In the end the information has to make sense and fit into the bigger picture that includes all the other understandings that I have. The test being; does it make sense and does it contribute to a higher understanding of the issue or situation. This has led me to challenge many of my beliefs and I am now at a point where I am always ready to review any current understanding that I have. I don't believe that anything is so sacred that it cannot be challenged and I also believe that if it is the highest truth, it will stand up to any scrutiny that I can apply. I also believe that our Creator welcomes such open minded searching for deeper answers even if that means challenging our perception of the Creator Itself. I have tested the accuracy of a huge amount of information over nearly twenty years. I usually find that the information is accurate and the limiting factor is my ability to understand it or the ability to ask the right questions. I had to open my mind during this particular healing session. I had to let go of an old perception to allow a new one in. This is what came up for me; our individual Spirit is not connected to our Creator the same way as our Higher self (H.S.) is. The H.S. seems to be in tune with or have direct access to the Higher Truths of the Creator and the Holy Spirit. My understanding is that the Holy Spirit is the Force or Medium through which the Creator communicates or expresses Itself. It is the continuous ‘Flow of Energy' from the Creator and it holds 'allinformation' and 'knowledge' including the 'Creative Codes'. It is an energy in its own right! It is the 'Universal information highway'. I believe that this is what science is describing through its ‘Super string theory’ and other similar hypotheses. Our Spirit is very different to the H.S. because it is the essence of who we are A Brief History of the Spirit Our Spirit – the essence of who we are My current understanding is that our 'Individual Spirits' were formed when the Creator divided parts of itself into smaller units or packages of consciousness. This division may or may not have happened at the beginning of time or at the dawning of creation. (Science endeavours to explain this point of creation through 'the big bang theory'). It does not matter when we were created as much as why we were created. The purpose was for the Creator to experience what it would be like to separate a part of itself into 'individual entities' known as'Spirits'. These entities would have all the qualities of Itself (the Creator) but they would have free will (free spirit) to choose what they wanted to experience. This division is what is sometimes referred to as 'the separation'. In this way, the Creator could have many different experiences of how It could express Itself through these individuals. We, as individual Spirits, enjoyed our separation so much that we chose to become even more individualised and thus separated further from our Creator. We were allowed to do this because our free will cannot be taken away from us. We eventually became so separated that we forgot our deep connection with the Creator and so we moved away from the light of our Creator into the darkness of our separation. This is probably what the Old Testament of the Bible refers to as 'The Fall'. We were so focused on our individuality of 'Self' that we became 'Selfish' and so life became an experience of 'more about me' and less about 'Unity and being a part of the Whole'. We not only forgot our deep connection with 'the Source' but we also forgot the awareness of 'our own greatness'. This coupled with the fear created by the experience of separation can be seen as both a human and spiritual tragedy. A part of the temptation of being an individual is the experience of personal power that can come with it. Many of us now see that rejoining the unity of group consciousness and ultimately, Oneness will mean that we have to give up the power and freedom found in our individuality. Mankind's ego based desires and its craving for material gratification has over ridden the desire for spiritual connection to the Creator. The end result has been a break down in human unity and we are now rapidly heading towards the possibility of self destruction because of this selfishness and disconnection. This is the hell that humans have created for themselves. Many of us have not only forgotten our roots, we have also forgotten our deep connection with all of creation. For example; the human race shows little respect for Mother Earth and all that she provides for us. It is amazing as much as it is tragic and sad, that we are so stuck in the living hell of separation and struggle so hard to find a way out. On the one hand; we have a deep desire seek unity and find inner peace. On the other hand; we are not prepared to let go of our old beliefs and ego based gratifications that hold us back. The human race is a living contradiction! It is hard to imagine that such an outcome was perceived in the original plan of our Spiritual separation. If we were to blame the Creator for this fiasco then we would be denying our own contribution towards this outcome. We would also be denying that we are co-creators who are a part of this Oneness. However, there is always hope coupled with many opportunities to turn this around. There is currently a great shift in the numbers of people looking for answers and many of us are heading back towards the light but that is another subject There is another understanding that has been written about in regards to the purpose of our original separation; we were to deliberately forget our connection with our Creator and have no memory of our own greatness. The plan was to see how individual spirits would reclaim or remember their own greatness and thus return to the Oneness of the Creator. These spirits were given 'free will' and 'choice'. Universal laws were put in place that prevented any outside influence from interfering or overriding the choices that they made. It was during the early part of this separation that we chose to become even more individual and thus separate. This is slightly different to the previous explanation but I don't believe that it matters which one we choose to believe. The end result has been the same; we chose to become selfish and inadvertently slid towards fear and darkness that is experienced in the separation. I have done many healing sessions working people who have entities attached to them. Some of these entities are spirits who have not got a human vehicle but are stuck in this third dimension of the earth plane. Some (not all) suicides and victims of violent deaths choose not to pass over to the other side at the point of death. The choice not to cross over may come from a fear of the unknown or the sheer terror of the moment. This window to cross over eventually closes and once they make the choice to stay they get stuck in this dimension. They are now a spirit without a body and they still have thoughts, feelings, emotions and memory. They can communicate with us if we know how to connect with them. I have communicated with some of these spirits through their host subject that I am healing. When I have been able to get the spirit's trust I can help them choose to pass over to the other side. They often speak of the loneliness and even terror of being stuck in this dimension without a body. Therefore they try desperately to enter another body so as to experience life again. They are usually very angry and ultimately very frightened. This supports the understanding that the spirit is an individual energy that is separate from the whole. There are many stories of ghosts who appear in a semi human like state. These spirits can still move around and affect material objects but they are not materialised into full human solidity themselves. I won't explore this subject any further here because the subject at hand is about spirit and H.S. I bought this issue up to add more evidence that supports the reality of what an individual spirit is. The Universe can only watch because the Universal laws prevent intervention. Our freedom to express our 'free will' may only apply to this third dimension. The Universe will not let us cause any destruction to the other dimensions. However, we are affecting the third dimensional consciousness of mother earth and she is in danger of being destroyed once again. There is evidence that human technology reached the same potential to self destruct in the past. It is predicted that the Universe will not let this happen again and there will be interference from the higher realms before a nuclear holocaust happens. The destruction of the earth may have a negative rippling effect through our galaxy and Universe. This would be a violation of Universal law therefore it would not be allowed to happen. There is a dichotomy involved with the relationship between our spirit and the Creator. Our spirit is a part of the whole or 'Oneness' and it is separate as well. We know that what we focus on; we become. If we focus on being an individual we will continue to experience separation. If we focus on being part of the whole, we will start to remember who we are and move towards re-unification. The choice is ours and if the prophesies are right, there is only a few years left to take advantage of the very rare opportunity created by the energies around at this time. A time of heightened energies which can facilitate quantum shifts in consciousness; the choice is ours to make. The easiest choice will be to stay where we are and do nothing. The hard choice of moving towards re-unification will be by far the most rewarding in the long run. This move towards re-unification means that we have to give up any old belief systems that hold us back. This is very difficult because of how our brain works. Changes to our beliefs often cause stress which will cause the brain to go into 'survival mode' in which change is almost impossible. It takes conscious effort to reprogram old beliefs and it does not come easy. If you want more information on how to change your beliefs; you can go to 'feedback loop' article on the web site. The Mind The Spirit, H.S. and mind can be a confusing area to explore so I will present one model to try to explain the difference. It may be that these energies overlap so this explanation will not be entirely accurate. We need to start somewhere so keep it in mind that you probably will come to a deeper understanding in the future. You may even have a better model already. My aim is to present this model to explain the difference between Spirit thought and H.S. thought. The Collins dictionary describes the mind as; 'the human facility to which are ascribed thought, feeling and intention'. This is solely from a human perspective. I am concentrating on the thought aspect of the mind. We receive, process and create information in our mind. This function is made possible by thought. Thoughts are energy and energy holds information. The mind process is also how we can bring the unconscious and subconscious into consciousness. It is how we become aware of something. (The unconscious is referring to information that we are not yet aware of whilst the subconscious refers to information that we have suppressed in the past and on longer consciously remember it). We know that we can have thoughts that come from our human vehicle / ego and our spirit. We can choose to think from either of these thought centres. The level of our ego's consciousness reflects the level of our spirit's consciousness to some degree. Our spirit experiences life through the ego. We can perceive and make choices from either our ego self or our spirit self. We can choose to operate more from our ego thoughts or from our spirit thoughts but they are both a part of us. In other words; they are who we are. The thoughts that come from our human and spirit mind are much entwined and it takes an aware person to know which thoughts are coming from which centre. We could say that our mind and lower mind operates in this realm. The higher mind seems to be more related to our H.S. The higher information coming in through the H.S. is received by our higher mind. This information is then filtered down into the Spirit and ego levels of the mind so as we can relate to it. Our ego mind often ignores or rejects the higher information simply because it is not aware enough to recognise neither it nor where it is coming from. We have to choose to think from our spirit mind in order to be aware enough to be able to process this information more efficiently. The H.S. and its higher mind are not restricted by our spirit's level of awareness. In conclusion; there are many levels to our mind and we can only receive Universal knowledge at the level our consciousness. The challenge is to keep opening our mind up to new information even if we don't agree with it. This does not mean that we have to agree with it, it means that we need to stay open to the possibility that it has something to offer. To reject information based purely on our belief that we know better or that we already know the highest truth will hold us at that level of awareness. This level may be a state of ignorance. There are many people on this planet that hold onto their beliefs regardless of whether they serve their highest good or not. People who are not open to change will be left behind; the choice is theirs! The Higher Self The state of mind through which we communicate with the Higher Realms including our Creator. When we connect to our higher self, we have the potential to seek the highest information and communication with our Creator. This is very different from our spirit's limitations. Our ability to communicate via this channel is influenced by how evolved we are. The level of information that we receive and our ability to interpret it will be limited by our level of human consciousness which is a direct reflection of our 'spirit's' consciousness but not our H.S. The mind of our Spirit ( not to be confused with higher mind connected to the H.S.) acts a bit like a filter that only processes information that we can understand or relate to. We can only ask the Universe questions and perceive the answers from our personal level of awareness or consciousness. The Universe will respond to our seeking at the same level of consciousness that we are seeking from. Naive questions will activate naive answers whilst profoundly wise questions will activate profoundly wise answers. This makes sense because we can only comprehend information from the level of our awareness. There is no point in the Universe sending us information that goes over our head. This understanding may not be completely accurate because the incoming information may come in on many levels and it may only be our ability to comprehend it that is the issue. Different people will interpret the same information according to their different levels of awareness. The result is still the same in the end; our ability to understand it depends on our level of consciousness. An example of this is when we read a book on new spiritual information. We take from it what we are able to understand at the time. However, we read the book again after a few years of spiritual growth. We find that we missed some of its deeper messages the first time. This is because our consciousness has evolved and we can comprehend the same information on a deeper level the second time around. We all have to prepare or train ourselves to be able to tune in to the H.S. and Universal Mind. However, the highest truths are available to everyone and we can access them if we are prepared to do the ground work. It does not require a high intellect to be able to communicate with the higher levels but it does take a certain amount of awareness and practise. It probably does not matter whether our higher self consists of many levels of consciousness or if it has access to many levels of consciousness; the end result is the same. As previously stated; our higher mind is also associated with our higher self. The state of higher self could just as accurately be described as a state of higher mind. When I first went into the state of H.S. during a meditation I got a surprise. It was not what I expected because it was not a familiar state of awareness. I found it hard to describe because every time I used a word to describe it I felt that it was not adequate. All I can say is; I was in a higher and unfamiliar state of mind and I now know this as the H.S. It was greater than love, it was beyond what I would describe as peaceful, maybe a state of super-consciousness comes as close as I will ever get for an adequate description. When I have had out of body experiences; it was me doing the travelling. I was always aware that it was me without my body but my thoughts and feelings were normal. I knew that I was my spirit and I was very familiar with that consciousness. I was not familiar with the higher self consciousness and the two experiences were very different. We know that ultimately 'all is One and One is all' but this does not help when trying to identify the different parts of the Oneness. I have described the difference between lower and higher mind. There is also an understanding of the lower and higher self. Our spirit is neither of these but they are states that it can experience. We will not explore these concepts here because they are complex in themselves. It is enough to say that they are states of mind that the spirit can experience. Summing up this difference between spirit and H.S.; our spirit is who we are and its habitat is our human ego. The H.S. is not who we are but it is a higher state of mind through which we can connect to and communicate with the higher realms and the 'Mind of the Creator'. Spirit and H.S. Meditations There are three types of meditation that I will discuss here. One is where we meditate to create a deep state of inner peace. The second is when we meditate to connect with and seek information from the higher realms. The third is to have an 'out of body experience'. I have been in all three states and have had many out of body experiences so I can write from personal experience. One; we get ourselves ready to meditate by relaxing our body and then slowing down our 'brain rhythm cycles' to a very slow rate. These brain pulses can be felt in the body but are different to our heart pulse rate and are measured in cycles per second. In this state we can feel a deep connection with creation and the Creator. This is a 'state of being' that has a very calming effect on our body and mind; a state of calmness and feeling centred. This state is a spiritual experience or an experience of our spirit and does not need to involve the H.S. Two; we do the same as in one but set an intention to seek or receive information on a particular subject. Some people seek to communicate with spirits on the other side and also with loved ones who have passed over. This group does not involve the H.S. There is also a group who aim to communicate with another and often higher realm. This type of communication involves the H.S. Three; This group also lower their brain rhythm cycles but do it with the intention of having an outer body experience. This is when the spirit leaves the body and travels to other places. This state involves both the spirit and the H.S. Some people aim to go astral travelling whilst in this state. I believe that this can be a dangerous level to explore because there are some beings on this level that are mischievous and dishonest. I have had healing sessions with clients who have been totally confused by information coming from this level. They think that because it is a higher experience, it must be a higher truth. I personally avoid this fourth dimension when I travel. I also ask for protection against receiving any information that is not the highest truth and for my highest good. This protection has always worked for me. Our Soul Many people believe that the spirit and soul are two terms that describe the same entity. There is also an understanding that they are two parts of the same thing but have different roles to play. The Australian Aborigines believe that our spirit and Soul are different or that they have different roles to play. They talk about 'Soul Memory' inferring that the soul holds the records of everything that we have done in the past. Their belief of what a spirit is seems to fit the model of our spirit is who we are. If this is correct then we could say that 'our spirit has a soul memory' and therefore they are both a part of the one entity we call the spirit. Between Lives My current understanding is that our spirit passes over to the other side after death. At some point our spirit reviews its experience of life on earth. This is done with a team of higher and wiser Beings; similar to a review board. Our spirit agrees to a plan or blue print that is created for our next return to earth. This blue print will have the challenges needed for that particular spirit to lift its level of consciousness. Here is a very simplistic example; let us assume that someone was an extremely chauvinistic male last time. The review board comes up with a plan for them to experience what it is like to be on the receiving end next time. The next life on earth may involve being a female having to live with an extremely chauvinistic male. The purpose of the seemingly negative experience is to make the spirit aware of the negativity that they are creating. They may need to learn that the masculine and feminine energies are equal but have different qualities and characteristics. (I need to emphasize that this is an example only and not all suffering is because of this type of scenario). They need to wake up and remember who they are; an entity having both the masculine and feminine qualities of the Oneness of the Creator. All spirits will keep on repeating any given experience, maybe over many lifetimes, until they learn the lesson. The lesson may even get harder as the lifetimes pass. This is why it is so important for us to able to forgive from our hearts as well as our minds. We need to break the Karmic cycle that we originally created. It does not matter whether we are the pergitrator or the victim, once we see and act from the higher truth involved then we will balance out the energy and break the negative cycle. We can see from this perspective that negative Karma is not meant to be a punishment. It is meant to create an experience that will propel us into a higher level of consciousness therefore from this perspective it can be seen as a positive. This understanding fits with the bigger picture that 'ultimately nothing is negative'. It is only negative because we choose to see it that way. We are who we are but we are also who we choose to be. The more we understand about who we are, the easier it will be for us to choose who we want to be.