The true and noble life of man during the precious conscious interlude is the life of philosophic speculation.

Ralph M Lewis, The Conscious Interlude

Consider also:

  1. “However, as Ferrucci states, journeys into the Inner Worlds are not without their own dangers, even into the higher ones. ‘Intense spiritual stimulation may bring inspirations, but may also penetrate directly into the lower conscious, where it throws light on and excites demons, instinctual energies, forgotten memories, and so on. These then tend to rise to consciousness, causing all sorts of trouble to the surprised conscious personality. When the demons are thus aroused, the contrast between different sides of our nature is felt with particular intensity.'”
  2. “Give Ear, give Ear attentively; the Will is not lost; though it be buried beneath a life-old Midden of Repressions, for it persisteth vital within thee (is it not the true Motion of thine inmost Being?) and for all thy conscious Striving cometh forth by Night and by Stealth in Dream and Phantasy.”
  3. “Now the man who so develops himself, speedily becomes more conscious of the difficulties of his task, more sensitive to the obstacles the life of the outer world places in the way of the spiritual life. But he is taught to persist with fortitude and with prudence, to develop the highest within him with ‘fervency and zeal.'”
  4. “As the self (created by the world and our response to it) is progressively undone and reconstructed so that it may identify to greater degrees of efficiency with the Self, conflicts arise and are resolved. When Self and self become, even if momentarily, a functioning conscious unit, then the opportunity for even greater influx of Light, Life, and Love come through turning our attention to the realms of the super conscious (Keter). This however, would constitute the Work of the Paths above Tiphareth, and the 13th Path in particular, as part of the Middle Pillar exercise.”
  5. “The full Master-Mason–the just man made perfect who has actually and not merely ceremonially travelled the entire path, endured all its tests and ordeals, and become raised into conscious union with the Author and Masonic Giver of Life and able to mediate and impart that Order life to others is at all times hard to find.”