Is "higher consciousness" another code name for gods or spiritualism, entering via the back door?

A person can have a higher awareness of the world and its issues, a person can be more empathetic, a person can be more intelligent, but that is all as a human being; and that's all we're ever going to be. Evolution is not a self-initiated process, it's the process of natural selection for a species survival. One can't "evolve toward a higher consciousness" any more than I can evolve toward bigger arms.

The terms you use, "our energies with the earth, animals the universe etc" have no rational meaning. This is mysticism. That's how I would answer it, and how I believe most atheists would.

As a person who leans toward the concept of universal consciousness, I feel that your questions are meaningful and worthy of discussion. Although universal consciousness is not currently a part of the body of scientific knowledge, the concept has been conjectured by various prominent physicists.

If, as many think, our sense of self is only an illusion, it can be supposed that our bodies are only robotic machines with no conscious awareness or free will. Yet we do experience consciousness—that is all we experience. We are Consciousness. In that sense every conscious being is an expression or extension of universal consciousnesses. We are one.

Compassion is more than just an emotion—it is a realization of unity. When I feel compassion I am feeling compassion for Myself, a single being. It is not about trying to be a good person. A compassionate person can’t help herself—it is a logical necessity to be compassionate.

When I look at the pictures of your dead animals all I see are dead robots. I don’t think nature gives a damn about individual organisms. They are frail, temporary arrangements that were slated to suffer and die. Nature is working the way it is supposed to work, and it is neither good nor bad. What is of value is the whole continuum of life.

Heralding in the age of not being a dick. That time when the human species matures into adulthood and is capable of genuine shared empathy. Not just with human beings but with all beings. This is something that shouldn't be hard and it definitely shouldn't be discussed in New Age or Spiritual jargon. There is no such thing as a higher consciousness or harmonic vibrations and all the other gobbledygook we hear. It's just growing up and putting down tribal crap. Amare incondizionatamente.

We can use simple English without these convoluted jargons.

Higher Consciousness to me is ... "Being Alert about a purpose or purposes higher than yourself."

It is about leaving ego and thinking of a purpose beyond yourself. In other words, it just means being selfless and being a good human being.

I always stay away from things, people and places that use these convoluted terms to sound superior and intelligent. Life is not complicated when you decide to be just a good human being. You will start seeing things clearly. To me, that is the highest goal above money, career, property, fame and all else.

We are Energy and everything which happens to us, happens for (good) reasons?, to merge our good energy with energies of other's, of the Earth's and the universe. I'm not a philosopher or other but have a good grasp of things in general.

Most of us do not believe in such claptrap and your attempt to get us to discuss it AS IF it were an actual thing is disrespectful and annoying.