After the Fall . . . consciousness was needed to safeguard man from the yawning abyss below. But consciousness also shuts man off from the superconscious, divine reality and prevents intuitive contemplation of God. And in seeking to break through to superconsciousness to the abyss above, man often falls into the subconscious the abyss below. In our sinful world consciousness means . . . dividedness, pain and suffering. . . . Unhappy consciousness can only be overcome through superconsciousness.

Nicolai Berdyaev, The Destiny of Man