Heightened state of conciousness

It occured to me that perhaps our individual purpose and that of society is the pursuit of a higher state of consciousness. We can pursue it individually through diet, exercise, sleep, caffeine (and nicotene), study/mental challenge, meditation and music. However we tend to go for a lower state of consciousness through escapism (TV, reading, films) and dulling our mind (alcohol). As a society we can pursue a higher state of consciousness through science and technology (brain enhancing drugs/gene therapy, and computing).