It is the development of this state of consciousness that brings us _en rapport_ with the esoteric world. The question now arises, how are we to develop this much desired condition? It can only be accomplished through the harmony of the moral attributes of the spirit. Harmony is the only passport to Heaven, and the absence of harmony, which is discord, is the only passport to what christianity terms Hell. Therefore, heaven and hell are only conditions of the spirit, which are beautifully illustrated in the 20th chapter of the Apocalypse, where it describes the angel descending from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a chain. With the key he unlocked hell, and with the chain he bound the devil for a thousand years. The angel is the representative of holiness and purity, which is only attained through the harmony of the spirit; the key is a symbol of light, and the chain that of truth; hell is supposed to be the abode of darkness, and the devil a spirit of falsehood and error. We will now ask the question, is there anything to banish darkness, but light? Anything to disperse falsehood and error, but truth? Christ was an Essene, and this secret order was a branch of the Kabbalah. St. John was his favorite disciple, whom he fully initiated into the mysteries. During this disciple’s exile on the Isle of Patmos or Patmo, he wrote the Apocalypse, which is a profound Kabbalistic production, describing the unity, duality, ternary and septenary of the Kabbalah. The ancient adepts found from experience, that in order to develop the interior or subjective consciousness, it was necessary (allegorically speaking) to “wear the cloak of Apollonius;” that is, to withdraw from the outer world, practice to the fullest extent, self-denial, and spend their wakeful moments in esoteric meditation. In order to isolate themselves from society, they established secret sanctuaries, in which they met for mutual communion and religious exercises.