Question: Is the “consciousness” we are aware of in the human form the same in all the spiritual planes?
Answer: “The unfoldment of consciousness in the lower evolutionary stages, mineral, vegetable and animal, is perfected in the human form. The consciousness you have now in the human form continues the same throughout all the spiritual planes—the subtle, mental and supra-mental. There is this difference. In the lower evolutionary process culminating in the human, the consciousness at various stages differs in point of degree. It is a continuous process of unfoldment, always progressive, resulting in the full and complete consciousness of the human form. In the planes, however, the perfected consciousness of the human remains the same, but its scope or field of play becomes greatly extended.
“For instance: you are now conscious only of the gross plane; the subtle and mental worlds you are not aware of. Likewise, one in the subtle plane has consciousness of the subtle world only and is not conscious of the gross and the mental; also one in the mental plane has the consciousness of the mental plane only and is not aware of the gross or the subtle; one in the seventh plane—the supramental, the plane of perfection—has consciousness of all the planes: the mental, the subtle, and the gross.
“You can thus see the consciousness of the human form continues throughout; and the field of play varies not in degree but in depth and extensiveness. In evolution there is a definitely determinable difference in the various stages of consciousness which is an incessant and persistent state of unfoldment resulting in the all-complete consciousness of the human form. In the higher planes, although this consciousness remains the same, there is an infinite difference between the consciousness of the subtle and mental, mental and supramental. This difference is sharp and defined, as there is no point of fusion or expansion as that which existed when consciousness was unfolding. It is on this account that one in the subtle plane identifies himself with that plane and deems this consciousness to be Perfection. Similarly, one in the mental plane identifies himself with the mental plane and the consciousness hereof is considered as Perfection. It is not Perfection at all; it is an illusion, rather self-delusion.
“You can now understand why one gets stuck in the plane where one is. It is extremely difficult for one to step into the mental plane from the subtle. It is impossible for one to go from the mental into the supramental unless helped by a Master.
“There is as much difference between the consciousness (in extensiveness) of the sixth and seventh plane as that between an ant and a human being. The seventh plane connotes Perfection; here one becomes consciousness itself.”
-Treasures from the Meher Baba Journals, p180