Why Christians should be aware of the term ‘Christ consciousness’

Kate Orson draws on her own experience of the New Age movement, as she unpacks how language can mask beliefs that differ significantly from the biblical understanding of Jesus.

Have you heard the term ‘Christ consciousness?’ Like other spiritual phrases such as the divine feminine (previously discussed in Woman Alive) it sounds spiritual, it sounds like it could have something to do with becoming more Christlike. But what is its origin, and what exactly does it mean?

I first heard the term Christ consciousness being used by an online new age influencer, a year or so before I became a Christian. It is a term for describing the higher state of consciousness that many people who follow new age philosophy believe we can reach. New agers see Jesus as just a man, not the son of God, but an ‘ascended master,’ an enlightened being who achieved enlightenment during his lifetime. There are theories that in Jesus’ ‘lost years’ he went to India to learn yoga, and meditation, or Egypt or the UK to study the occult.