In the literature of the Kabbalah and Chasidism, it is assumed that every human being has some capacity for making contact with a world above the concrete world, and that the way to the supernatural is available to everyone at a particular level.
At the same time, there are exceptional individuals and exceptional revelatory situations in which this contact is much more intimate and meaningful.
The super¬natural capacity itself is a part of the whole concept of madregot (steps or grades).
The term madregot comprises the various forms of super¬natural revelation, vision, clairvoyance, telepathy, miracle, healing, release from the physical, and the like.
The relation to all these madregot (though they may also be the basis for "miracles") is like that of the Talmud: an attitude of respect and deference, together with a certain suspicion and disdain.
Thus, although madregot were considered valuable means, they were never felt to be the end in themselves.
A person could be a miracle-worker and still not be great as a person; the madregah and the person are not always on the same plane.
Much has been written about situations in which a person receives madregot without an accompanying elevation of personality or being, so that the madregot may later destroy the soul of the person who receives them.
And clearly, these distinctions have to be made.
The madregot are as marvelous as any other spiritual gifts, capable of bringing much benefit and grace.
But if they are not used correctly, they can become the very opposite.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From "Religion and Mystical Powers," p. 180, in The Strife of the Spirit by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz