Achieving a higher state of consciousness – as some people call transcendence is a very essence driven subject.

People may ask themselves, “How do I know I’ve truly transcended my current state of consciousness?”

– Have I truly shed my old, unenlightened ways?
– Do I see the universe in a new perspective?
– Am I less dogmatic than before?

These are interesting questions to explore.

A very good example is dogmatic organized religion. While there may be many people who are truly devoted to the divine while identifying with a religion, there are many others who use organized religion self-righteously as a form of control which is completely devoid of essence.

Some might say – if I have truly transcended, I will have to shed my ‘old ways’ and ‘old dogmas’ by throwing the baby out of the bathwater.

The truth is, organized religion isn’t bad – like a gun, it’s what people do with it that counts.

Think of beliefs, dogmas, systems and rules of conduct as an eggshell – it is a container that is necessary to contain the egg.

If you do not have the eggshell, it will be a mess as the essence of the egg splatters all over the place.

If you have truly transcended, you do not need to get rid of the container.

A being that has come to a higher state of consciousness can still keep their containers because their containers is the vessel of their essence – giving them a beautiful flavor and package that the world can relate to.

In short, the finger that is pointing to the moon is not the moon. But that doesn’t mean that the finger isn’t useful to the point that we have to chop it off. It’s when we start arguing which finger is better than takes our true attention away from the moon.