The Purpose of Higher-State Experiences

In the early stages of our own spiritual development, we are dependent upon the experience of euphoric states to be able to see, feel, and know that higher potentials really do exist. The bliss and ecstasy of those states temporarily breaks the deep and often unconscious shackles of postmodernity: nihilism, cynicism, narcissism, and materialism. It frees our awareness to expand in all directions, to embrace not only the outer limits but also the innermost core of our larger body, the entire Kosmos. When we share that liberating existential clarity with others, a truly enlightened perspective emerges. Together we can see and feel, directly cognize, and intuit a glorious future that is possible to create here and now, in the present moment—not as a remote ideal but as the most screamingly imminent potential imaginable.

~ Andrew Cohen,
taken from Andrew Cohen's recent blog post From Spiritual Intoxication to Spiritual Evolution.