James' description of altered conscious states indicates why these types of consciousness are often associated with religious and paranormal events: the "higher energies" that "filter in" may be glimpses of the future, communications with other people, perceptions of distant happenings, or even links with "God," "the Ground of Being," or the energy field of the universe. When man's usual consciousness and his states of altered consciousness "become continuous" and he reacts to experiences which he subjectively interprets as religious or paranormal, some framework must be provided to make sense out of them. The structure he and/or his culture erects may emphasize the religious and de-emphasize the paranormal (e.g., Yoga, Zen, orthodox Judeo-Christian doctrine); it may emphasize the paranormal and de-emphasize the religious (e.g., voodoo, mediumistic groups), or it may emphasize both (e.g., native peyote rituals, spiritualist churches, "faith healing" services). For an individual or a culture to de-emphasize both is tantamount to repressing important elements of one's being, to ignore vital sources of strength, and to bypass critical areas of the human potential.