A moment of exaltation is a different experience at every level. The supreme exaltation is hinted at in the Bible: "Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Many religious people will say that it is impossible for man to be perfect; but it is said in the Bible just the same.) At all times the knowers and seers have understood that there is a stage at which, by touching a particular phase of existence, one feels raised above the limitations of life, and is given that power and peace and freedom, that light and life, which belong to the source of all beings. In other words, in that moment of supreme exaltation one is not only united with the source of all beings, but dissolved in it; for the source is one's self.

The source is greater than we can put into words. We can try to conceive it by comparing it with a seed, which is the source of the flower, the leaves, the stem, the branches, and the fragrance, while if we take the seed alone we do not see all those in the seed; yet they were there all the time. On the other hand we cannot really compare even the seed with the source, for the seed depends upon the sun and water and earth for its growth, whereas the ultimate source does not depend upon anything. It is all that is strong and powerful; it is beyond words and beyond our limited conception even to think of the source, except that when we get greater inspiration, peace, joy, and magnetism, we appreciate things much better. In this way we may understand a little how great the source must be. The greater we are, the closer we reach to that source.

As the great Indian poet Khusrau says: 'When I become Thou and Thou becomest me, neither canst Thou say that I am different, nor canst Thou say that Thou art different.'

The different grades of exaltation are as the different notes in music. As we distinguish lower and higher notes, so it is with the different grades of the experience of exaltation. Even reading a beautiful poem can produce exaltation; good music gives exaltation, and a feeling of great joy does so too. It all breaks up congestion; there are free cells of the nerves which become free, and the body experiences relaxation.

There is a difference between sensation and exaltation, but when we come to words, there is always confusion. One can say that exaltation is the fusion of all sensation, but if one says that through sensation exaltation is experienced, it is true also.

As much as we need sensation in life to make our experience of life concrete, so much or even more do we need exaltation in order to live life fully. The lower creation such as birds and beasts also have glimpses of exaltation. They do not only rejoice in grazing and in finding seeds, in making nests or in playing in the air, in singing and in running about in the forest. There are moments when even birds and beasts feel exaltation. And if we go into this subject more deeply we shall understand what we read in a most wonderful verse of Islamic tradition: "There are moments when even rocks become exalted and trees fall into ecstasy." If that be true, then man, who is created to complete the experience that any living being can have, must experience exaltation as much as he experiences sensation.