The Journey of Descent and Ascent ~Angeles Arrien

The descent into darkness…the unknown and undeveloped aspects of our nature…and the ascent into greater awareness, authenticity, and faith lead us to a discovery of our essential self beyond ego and personal desires.

In both directions, we encounter our shadows, the unclaimed, undesired, and un-befriended aspects of our nature.

To become fully developed human beings, we must confront both our demons and our angels.

If we can do this successfully, we free ourselves from the illusion of who we think we are.

We are delivered into the mystery of our true, essential being and are able to generate a new domain of freedom that is anchored in wisdom, love and faith.

In his book Transformation: Growth and Change in Adult Life, Roger Gould explains that this freedom is hard won, especially in the experience of descent, which requires us to realistically and honestly look at our lives without denial, indulgence, or embellishment.

To achieve an adult sense of freedom, we must come to terms with unresolved anger, disappointment, despair, fear, and feelings of repugnance concerning death.

We can no longer harbor our illusions, aversions, or attachments.

Recognizing these feelings is only the first step.

We have to act, to descend into our inner terrain and dispel all that is false and at odds with our essential being.

The raw experience of descent prepares the way for increased self-knowledge and self-acceptance that are honest and true, anchored in a kind of self-confidence that is neither inflated nor deflated.

The descent allows us to experience the ascent with genuine hopefulness, curiosity, and ennobled spirit.

If we have done the rigorous work of descending to face our false self, we may then ascend to experience the joy of our essential self without pretense or judgment.

Throughout our lives, we witness cycles within ourselves and others as we descend and ascend.

This journey carries stories of descent into betrayal, temptation, depression and injustice: ruthless actions that derive from insecurity, pride, or desire for revenge.

It also carries the heart of all the universal stories surrounding redemption, grace, generosity, and forgiveness… ascent.

A contemporary example of the journey from descent into ascent can be found in the Delancy Street Program in San Francisco by Mimi Siebert, who has the best success rate of prisoner rehabilitation in the country.

This program is committed to sustaining the personal success of former prisoners in re-entering life without becoming repeat offenders, without flirting with the journey of descent again.

In our own lives we move from descent to ascent when we face our serious mistakes and learn from them.

This journey of descent and ascent is found within all major spiritual traditions.

Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and other faiths have specific terms to describe the journey and may refer to it as Hell (descent) or Heaven (ascent).

For example in the Old Testament story of Jacob’s ladder, Jacob encounters ascending and descending angels, one of which he wrestles with for hours.

In Buddhism, the Buddha ascends to the realm of the gods, where he sees that his recently deceased mother has not achieved final liberation or nirvana.

There he imparts the Abhidharma Teachings on the true nature of reality and liberates his mother and all the deities trapped in the realm of cyclic existence.

Many traditional and indigenous societies regard the Upper World as the place to receive guidance, blessings, and ecstatic experiences, and view the Lower World as the place to which one journeys to retrieve one’s lost soul and bring it back for re-integration in the Middle World… this world.

The process of descending and ascending is a universal human experience, where the heavens and hells in our nature are completely revealed.

They must be integrated to aid character development and enhanced spiritual maturity.

There will be times in our lives when we will descend into our own lower worlds to confront our inauthentic selves, unresolved feelings and attachments.

Each descent prepares us for the ascent, the magnificent climb that integrates more of our essential being.