part of the twentieth century when altered states of consciousness, as they were called, referred to the largely drug induced changes in perception and modes of perception, although many other techniques were employed as well, yoga, meditation, sensory deprivation, fasting, improvisations in diet, anything which would change our idea of who we thought we were, who we think we are. These altered states were not states of wisdom however, they were nothing more than altered states of mind. To understand the nature of wisdom which flows from different levels and layers of consciousness we have to analyze, from an inner perspective, the nature of consciousness itself, clearly more than the difference between sleeping and waking, although in one sense no more than that. We have levels of consciousness which are in effect, asleep until they are wakened, until the wisdom they manifest can be accessed. Each level beyond those we share with other living entities, animal and vegetable, requires the key shaped by the previous level to unlock the next door, a progression as intricate and consuming as our life itself.

Only when we are committed to the path of purification, the path which deliberately searches for reclamation, discarding the errors and mistakes embedded in arrogance, karma and illusion, taking refuge in His qualities, only then is the ladder of ascent put in our hands. It makes no difference where we come from, what language we speak, what religion we practise or choose not to practise, what race or color we are born to, we all have the same necessary commitment to make with an open heart and trust in God. If He has sent us here to.

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