The Round Table (Rational Pagans Forum)

My conviction grew that an essential distinction was being overlooked by all of the spiritual paths I had studied. After years of wondering and exploring, I began to suspect there were actually two realms involved in spirituality, not one. But none of the teachers with whom I had studied nor any books I read spoke about two realms...

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One realm of spirituality turns upward toward the light... Soulcraft is an exploration of the other realm of spirituality, which leads not upward toward God but downward toward the dark center of our individual selves and into the fruitful mysteries of nature...

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Most cultures, traditions and philosophies emphasize one pole of spiritual development or the other; few embrace both equally. The shamanistic traditions of indigenous, oral cultures emphasize the discovery and embodiment of our unique soul, as do the twentieth-century depth psychologists Carl Jung, Marie-Louise von Franz, James Hillman, Marion Woodman, Robert Johnson, James Hollis, and others. In contrast, the major world religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam focus upon the realization of – or union with – spirit, as do the theories of some transpersonal psychologists such as Ken Wilber, or the lessons of contemporary spiritual teachers such as Eckhart Tolle.

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Many ascent-oriented spiritual paths see the descent as simply unnecessary and avoidable, or perhaps as necessary but only a temporary diversion from the ascent, or, at best, an experience from which we can learn something that will help us return to the light. I have heard Buddhist teachers say that paying heed to a vision – even of personal destiny – is a distraction from the spiritual path. The light is seen as the only goal.

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Although both are transpersonal, spirit takes you in one direction from the conscious mind or personality, and soul takes you in the other. The movement toward spirit is a journey of ascent, a journey of transcendence, while the movement toward your soul is a journey of descent, or what Thomas Berry calls “inscendence,” a journey that deepens.

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A holistic approach to spirituality interweaves the ascent and the descent, rendering balance to the experience of both the upperworld and underworld.

I find that “ascendant” faiths too easily neglect the everyday in their pursuit of the light, as if the purpose of our Earthly lives is to escape them rather than live them to the full.

I am not sure that one can develop each one separately though. It seems wrong to me. I would think that one might want to focus on one for a time, but that building each one would change and open new paths on the others.

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