[Mark Lapierre]

It seems his definition of consciousness is different from any of our definitions.

Consciousness comes into being and goes out of being. It is a matter of daily occurrence and observation.

So consciousness could refer to a state of active awareness. But does 'being' refer to existence, or to something like 'soul'?

It is a burden. Body means burden. Sensations, desires, thoughts — these are all burdens. All consciousness is of conflict.

Here is sounds like he's equating consciousness to ego.

The question ‘Who am I’ has no answer. No experience can answer it, for the self is beyond experience.

"self" is usually understood to mean the egoic projection of self, which is built from experiences. Perhaps he means "true self", whatever exists when ego is no longer present. Which would be that "essense" that you mentioned, Erock. Subjective realists would say that essense is God Consciousness, or whatever name best fits.

But when those neuroscientists turned consciousness on and off, what was their definition of consciousness? Active thought? Did they also "turn off" the subconscious mind? Emotions? All brain activity?

In reality all existence, every form, is my own, within my consciousness ... But I am beyond consciousness and, therefore, in consciousness I cannot say what I am.

But ultimately, as with so many spiritual teachers, he contradicts himself. Unless of course his definition of "all existence" allows for something outside of all existence. But if that's the case there's no point reading his words because you'll never know what he means! What's the point of trying to learn from someone if you have to spend so much time and effort figuring out what definition they apply to words which already have enough well-accepted definitions? It's difficult enough understanding people when we do have a shared understanding of the meaning of individual words and phrases.

To answer the question, if consciousness is defined as All-There-Is, then no, it's not possible to go beyond consciousness. Except perhaps complete oblivion. Not sure you want that.

If consciousness is defined as something distinct within All-There-Is, then yes, 'beyond' consciousness is possible. Then you have to figure out what consciousness is, and what's beyond it.