Various languages parse the levels of consciousness differently. English divorces soul from mind, where German has no word for 'mind' and 'seele' encompasses soul with what English has isolated as mind.

Having divorced soul from mind, and having reified mind as the linear/ logical/ reasoning part of our consciousness, English has biased the thinking of its speakers to denigrate and dismiss that which is 'illogical/ unreasonable' - including the feeling, intuitive, and spiritual aspects of our lives. Quoting from my recent blog entry on right and left brain hemisphere functions and preferences/ biases: "In Western society we have been addressing many aspects of our lives through the part of the spectrum of reality that is restricted to the hue of logic/ reason/ linear deductions based on assumptions that are comfortable to our prevalent belief systems. Conversely, we have excluded from mainstream focus those parts of the spectrum that are colored by heart/ feelings/ intuition – declaring them to be illogical, unreasonable and unreliable. Note that in these criticisms we are simply saying that they are not logical/ reasonable/ linear in their processes. In the pejoratively negative connotations we have come to assign to anything that does not fit the left-brain hemisphere model of reality, we discourage ourselves and others from exploring and validating these right-brain hemisphere aspects of reality."

Once we are entrained in self-reinforcing, self-perpetuating loops of beliefs and disbeliefs about what our consciousness is and is not supposed to encompass (which is far more than is designated in common parlance as 'mind'), it becomes difficult for us to allow ourselves to step outside the box in which we have enclosed ourselves. (Much more on reasons we find it difficult to comprehend and accept heart-wisdom and soul as aspects of our consciousnessin my editorial in the International Journal of Healing and Caring - On line, January 2009, Volume 9, No. 1.)

My personal sense of the functioning of the various levels of consciousness is that they are in a nested hierarchy of individuation that we can identify separately, but which all work together as do the chemicals, proteins, cells, tissues, organs, and diverse energies in concert  - in the physical levels of organization within an organism.

On the level of consciousness, each organism is then a "cell" in the energetic/ consciousness nested hierarchies that extend from personal sensory awareness... associative memory from current life...  memory from past lives...  group consciousness of personal/ family/ social/ societal/ global relationships (current and past lives)...  collective consciousness of humanity... collective consciousness our planet, and every sentient aspect of Gaia... our participation in the All and its learning through our experiences... beyond human awareness and comprehension. More on this in Volume 3 of Healing Research - Personal Spirituality: Science, Spirit and the Eternal Soul

Any disharmony in an individual also has its reflections and reverberations in the other levels of beingness, and conversely, disharmonies in the collective produce their effects in individuals.

To ground the above theoretical discussion in a practical focus:
Individual humans contribute their actions/ thoughts/ feelings to the collective consciousness. For instance, over many millennia, individual anxieties, fears, angers and hurts have accumulated, creating a collective post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in humanity. This becomes self-perpetuating, as individuals who have been traumatized and abused will often become abusers of others and of themselves, even to the point of suiciding. Similarly, the human collective consciousness is an abusive one - leading individuals and groups of individuals to repeat the abuses on 'others' and on ourselves. Collectively, humanity is self-abusing, abusing/ genociding other species and the environment, and suiciding.

Individual healings can be contributions to healing the collective. This can be done a pixel at a time, or in pixel clusters. I believe it is also possible to extend individual healings out into the collective consciousness.

In summary, I strongly think/feel that broadening our mind-set to include intuitive and spiritual awarenesses is an effort worthy of our  investments in time, efforts and every possible resource. Without such shifts in consciousness, our planet may not survive. With such awarenesses, we open to consciousness of being part of the ecobiological oneness of our planet. Within that awareness, harming our planet is immediately perceived as harming a part of ourselves. If we are clear of our personal and collective angers, fears, hatreds, and hurts - so that we are no longer avenging our collective PTSD on others and on ourselves, then harming our planet becomes unthinkable. 

Blessings

Daniel Benor - WHEE-MD