Full Idea
The Young Hegelians logically put to men the moral postulate of exchanging their present consciousness for human, critical or egoistic consciousness, and thus removing their limitations.
Clarification
'Young Hegelians' were later followers of Hegel
Gist of Idea
Young Hegelians proposed changing our present consciousness for liberating critical consciousness
Source
K Marx / F Engels (The German Ideology [1846], §1.A)
Book Reference
Marx,K./Engels,F.: 'The German Ideology', ed/tr. Arthur,C.J. [Lawrence and Wishart 1985], p.41
A Reaction
It seems there are three views here: this one (that we can change our consciousness), the Aristotelian view (that consciousness is 'given'), and the Marxist view (that society determines consciousness). The truth is somewhere between them.