Browsing tag: Alain de Botton

The term ‘higher consciousness’ is often used by spiritually-minded people to describe important but hard-to-reach mental states. Hindu sages, Christian monks and Buddhist ascetics all speak of reaching moments of ‘higher consciousness’ – through meditation or chanting, fasting or pilgrimages. Unfortunately, the way in which these spiritual people discuss their states of higher consciousness has a tendency to put a lot of secular types on edge. It can all sound maddeningly vague, wishy washy, touchy-feely – and, for want of a