While study definitely participates in raising one's consciousness, study alone will not make you spiritual. As rising in the air yieds a new perspective on the environment, taking the high ground in consciousness is a sure way to perceive reality from a viewpoint that remains inaccessible in day-to-day life.

For a number of years a form of practice has emerged in spiritual circles which consists in raising one's consciousness to what has been identified as higher vibrational frequencies. Coaching is offered, for free or for a fee, to help elevate your energy levels.

During the same period a "new" phenomenon is taking place around the world with a growing number of testimonies from victims of serious accidents. In 1975 a seminal research was published by psychiatrist Raymond Moody based on the testimonies of 150 people who had reported near-death experiences (NDE).  Such ground-breaking investigations have grown since thanks to the spectacular rise in ressucitations taking place on operation tables. Compelling reports from "experiencers" have lead surgeons and scientists alike to take NDE very seriously.  Typically, various psychic gifts such as precognition, channeling and healing abilities manifest in experiencers. People who'd lived self-centered lives turn to caring for others as a newfound vocation and sense of purpose.

Besides NDE, out-of-body experiences (OBE) can also trigger similar shifts upwards from ordinary awareness. We will cover this phenomenon in an upcoming article.

These (not so new) developments cannot be underestimated in that they highlight the importance of transormation as opposed to simple faith, or intellectual knowledge. Its's about incarnating spirituality above other personal qualities.

A word about the terms “vibration” and “frequencies”. A vibration is the continued movement or oscillation of particles or energy waves. The concept includes both the physical kind of vibrations, as in atom and molecule movements, and the energetic level, such as the vibrations of our thoughts and emotions. The frequency of vibration denotes the number of times something oscillates within a given unit of time. Hertz is a measure representing the number of cycles per second. For example, a light that blinks rapidly has a high frequency, while one that blinks slowly has a low frequency.

Related to spirituality and metaphysics, vibration is the energetic quality of a person. Everything in this universe, down to our thoughts and feelings, is imprinted with some kind of vibration that corresponds to a unique energy signature which interacts dynamically with the broader energetic field of the universe. A high vibration person is one who radiates positive energy by living in the frequency of love, joy, peace, and gratitude. Most of these persons are very sensitive to their feelings and never break the connection with their inner guidance. Having developed a deep sense of self-awareness, they live a life full of purpose that exudes charisma, magnetism, and openhearted presence.

During the early 1970s in the West new communities have formed around such personal development. The New Age is a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture, with an interest in spirituality, mysticism, holism, and the environment. Unlike many scholars, those involved in the New Age rarely consider it to be "religion"—negatively associating that term solely with organsized religion—Instead they describe their practices as a unification of body, mind, and spirit. Theologically they accepts a holistic form of divinity that pervades the universe, which is accompanied by a common belief in a variety of  entities such as angels, with whom humans can communicate by channeling through a human intermediary. Typically the New Age posits a forgotten age of spiritual wisdom that declined into periods of increasing violence and spiritual degeneracy, which will now be remedied by the emergence of an Age of Aquarius, from which the movement gets its name. There is also a strong focus on healing, particularly using forms of alternative medicine, and an emphasis on unifying science with spirituality.