Our Goal: Ascension

Excerpt from the third volume of Dr. Carol Parrish-Harra’s Adventure in Meditation—Spirituality for the 21st Century.

Spiritual aspirants need to understand just what “ascension” suggests today. The Ascension of the Christ after Easter is limited when assumed to mean only escape from the physical plane. To some, it means escaping the wheel of karma. However, let us consider ascension as a movement into and through, rather than away from.

Ascension is the realization of stages of growth wherein the consciousness travels in an appropriate spiritual vehicle from level to level, to function at different dimensions as needed or desired. In fact, the biblical statements, Christ in you, the hope of our glory, and a crown of glory that will not fade away (Cor. 1:27 and 1 Peter 5:4, respectively), have familiarized Christians with the concept of the glory body as a vehicle constructed by the Christ-Within to fulfill its purpose. Using the Lord Christ as our model, “ascension” builds upon the concept that we too are capable of ascending, capable of achieving our divine potential.

Therefore, the goal of ascension implies the construction of a vehicle that can travel to planes of higher vibrations, higher realms. As we practice our daily disciplines, we create a more refined vehicle that is better able to house a higher consciousness. Just as the physical body benefits from activity and the foods we eat, the spiritual body is nurtured by energies of subtler planes. The fabric of each vehicle—astral, mental, and spiritual—is being woven of the threads of consciousness that exist in each domain. Wise ones tell us repeatedly that once the true point of identity is build, the higher world is much more real to us than this outer, dense one.

More than a “mere” vehicle for expression on the physical plane, the body is a creation spun of the streams of energy available to us and a subtle, intimate, and accurate mirror of the present and the past. This earthly cocoon directs our attention to imbalances upon which we need to focus. Because it is a record, every subtlety seeks to reveal valuable information—each line in the hand, each bump on the head, even the shape and size of our ears and our feet.

Our goal is to make increasingly smoother shifts into the greater consciousness.
Just as personality is to blend divergent aspects in order to advance, the mental and emotional natures must harmonize. Our ability to respond sensitively increases as the centers (chakras) above the waist quicken. Bringing the energy of the soul-star downward hastens the process. As unconditional love flows, soul qualities transform the mental working unity. We know these steps as “initiations.” We are forming the light body, the radiant form Jesus the Christ revealed on the mountain during the transfiguration—“the glory body.”

In understanding true ascension, our goal is not to escape this earthly domain but to ascend into higher consciousness and return—with loftier levels of awareness intact. The concept of ascending to go free capitalizes upon a glamour, but behind each glamour is indeed a seed of truth. Many have a distorted view of this great process, like something easily acquired or a mere phenomenon. An imitation is but an inexpensive copy of a treasure.

We create the light body—out of sight to the physical—so we can move into higher reality, gather what we can, and as our inner mechanism becomes capable, bring back what we discover to integrate it into physical life. We do not have to die or slip out of body to escape into the new celestial body. Our goal is to make increasingly smoother moves into the greater consciousness; somewhat like the shifting, we do with seed-thought work, then to return with greater clarity, new realizations, and useful insights for others and ourselves. Working collectively, a well-developed core of light beings will uplift humanity.

Humanity is preparing for the birth of high consciousness—some embracing purification and a smaller number truly seeking soul infusion. Holy Ones have charted the course of out future, leading us along a glory trail—called crucifixion, resurrection, and then ascension. We gather momentum until the chrysalis breaks and Christed Souls emerge as true Light Beings with densified bodies for all to see. Then, the new kingdom will have come—the kingdom of Souls.

back to top | Articles Page