Up to this point, we have mainly addressed the contents of consciousness, the pieces that make up our sense of identity. This part of consciousness represents the objective watched self, the self that acts. It is the ‘Me’ of consciousness. When we say, "This is Me," we are speaking about our concept of our own identity.

On the other hand, the self-aware aspect or observer Self is the more intriguing part of consciousness. It is the watcher or observer, the part that we call ‘I’. The I of consciousness is the aspect of us that has no descriptive adjectives and adverbs. It resides behind the ‘Me’ identity. It is the subjective aspect, the being part of ourselves, or the experiencer. It arises out of awareness and helps us move into transpersonal states. In Transpersonal or Jungian psychology, this aspect is called the Higher Self or Witness.

Wilber’s model of consciousness makes a distinction between the two aspects of consciousness, the I and the Me. The distinction is important because as we develop in consciousness from one level to the next, the ‘I’ or Witness Self becomes contained in the ‘Me’ or identity self at the next level. In other words, what you experience yourself to be, your being or Witness Self, becomes what you observe as your identity, or the experience of Me, your identity self, at the next. Wilber notes, "evolution always transcends and includes, incorporates and goes beyond" (2000a, p. 5), which means that as we evolve from one level to the next, we transcend the previous level, and we then include it as a part of the new level. This transcend and include concept is central to understanding Wilber’s model.

As an example, at Fowler’s stage three development, we noted that we were yet unaware of the contents of our mind. At stage three, we experience ourselves to be our thoughts. We identify with our thoughts and our mind, and we think that we are, or exist as, our mental processes. However, as we transcend stage three and move to stage four, the I, or self-aware aspect, begins to examine thoughts as the contents of who we are rather than the experience of who we are. At stage four, the I aspect transcends thoughts and moves into the heart. This demonstrates Wilber’s idea of transcend and include, and it is crucial to understanding the expansion of consciousness. It explains how we expand our concept of who we are, and it also explains how the Witness or true Self becomes more inclusive and more wise as it continues to integrate larger and more expansive levels of consciousness. When we finally reach the upper level the ‘individual I’ becomes the object of the ‘Ultimate I’, "which is none other than radiant Spirit and your own true Self. According to the mystics, you are one with God as ultimate subject or pure consciousness" (Wilber, 2000a, p. 34). At the upper level, the Witness becomes one with all that is.

Wilber explains that, much like quantum physics, consciousness evolves in quantum leaps, and that the movement is always toward greater self-realization through self-transcendence. What he is referring to here is that each level of consciousness that he has identified has been achieved through an evolution of the human being over time. The potential lies dormant, but humankind had to evolve as a species to reach that potential. We can see the evolution if we study the course of human history and the evolution of man. Consciousness is self-transcending in that it "goes beyond what went before" (2000a, p. 20). Consciousness makes quantum jumps in evolution.

Traditional views of evolution are no longer believed to be possible, simply because the universe has not existed long enough to allow for evolution by natural selection. Because of the time constraints of evolutionary process, we must agree that "something other than chance is pushing the universe" (p. 23). Directional self-transcendence is the only rational alternative. Consciousness must be self-aware and self-directional to take these quantum leaps. Consciousness evolves from chaos to order and moves from multiplicity to unity. In other words, at its ultimate manifestation Spirit transcends and includes all that is.

All the great sages have described evolution as "Spirit-in-action, God-in-the-making, where Spirit unfolds itself at every stage of development, thus manifesting more of itself, and realizing more of itself at every unfolding" (Wilber, 2000a, p. 9). Spirit gradually becomes conscious of itself and recognizes its own true nature as it awakens and unfolds. Humankind’s movement through the expansion of consciousness clearly embodies this process.

As Wilber says, "because evolution goes beyond what went before, but because it must [also] embrace what went before, then its very nature is to transcend and include, and thus it has an inherent directionality, a secret impulse, toward increasing depth, increasing intrinsic value, increasing consciousness" (2000a, p. 37-38). This implies that consciousness has meaning in its direction. The meaning inherent and implied in consciousness expansion is that we, as conscious beings, are evolving beings, and the meaning and purpose to all of life is to grow and evolve toward ever-increasing levels of consciousness. Each of us embraces and embodies this meaning in our own unique way.

"We – and all beings as such – are drenched in this meaning, afloat in a current of care and profound value, ultimate significance, intrinsic awareness. We are part and parcel of this immense intelligence, this Spirit-in-action, this God-in-the making" (Wilber, 2000a, p. 38). Evolution of consciousness itself is the God force in each of us, and it appears to us in our own human development. It is both transcendent and immanent. It is immanent in the process of cosmic evolution, and it is transcendent in every evolutionary jump toward unity. We are invited by consciousness itself, to become self-aware.

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