THE ASCENT

Jungian psychologist DR. JOANNA LAPRADE explores the perpetual pull of the climb from darkness.

- DR. JOANNA LAPRADE

DESCENT IS AN inevitable part of life. We all find ourselves engulfed in the inner flames of our feelings, buried in the bowels of suffering, or entangled in the unconscious corridors of the psyche. Traumas pull downward, insecurities yank off balance, loss plummets into grief, violence shatters, and heartbreak leaves us alone in the dim light.

As the Roman poet Virgil wrote: Easy is the descent to Avernus: night and day the door of gloomy Dis stands open; but to recall thy steps and pass out to the upper air, this is the task, this is the toil.

Virgil points to a truth that is normally disregarded in Western culture-finding yourself in darkness happens. The task is climbing the path upward.

In Greek mythology, much attention is given to a hero or god's descent into and time within the underworld, while the ascent is typically described in mere sentences. Orpheus descends to reclaim his beloved Eurydice and is allowed to do so under the condition that he doesn't look back at her while they ascend. Despite his entire fate resting on how he journeys upward, the only emphasis is that he does not look back. There is no mention of what was tormenting him, what it was like to hope his love and contentment could be restored, or why he couldn't trust that she followed his music. The details are passed over.