A truly wise person kneels at the feet of all creatures.
-- Mechtild of Magdeburg
The descent of the Holy Spirit is a profound image in various presentations of the Annunciation. God descended to earth to impregnate a mortal woman. The mystery in this “God-size fall” is illuminated by the angel Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary of her conception of Christ. In our ordinary lives we may reach very high planes, succeed in our undertakings, and learn a great deal about ourselves and the world. We may even become typical heroes in our journey, or God-like, if our deeds are totally holy.
But we also fail. Some of our failures are circumstantial, and some are related to our limitations as persons. Failures associated with the circumstances of our lives are easier to accept than those attributable to our own shortcomings.
Experiencing failure is a disgrace, a well-deserved punishment, or as a final devaluation comes from not understanding the mysteries of life. Soaring successes may define worldly accomplishment, but only a spiritual descent impregnates the soul, validating not only one’s human limitations but one’s potentials.
The descent to sin can be a source for ultimate exaltation. Joseph Campbell gives the example of Pope Gregory the Great of the sixth century A.D. The Pope was born of noble twins who, at the instigation of the devil, had committed incest. When his penitent mother set him to sea in a little casket, he was found and fostered by fishermen and at the age of six was sent to a cloister to be educated as a priest. Gregory, however, desired the life of a knightly warrior. He conquered the country of his parents, where he won the hand of the queen―who proved to be his mother. After discovery of their relationship, Gregory remained in penance seventeen years, chained to a rock in the middle of the sea. Although the keys to his chains were tossed into the waters, they were eventually discovered in the belly of a fish. This unexpected event was taken as a providential sign: Gregory was brought to Rome, where, despite his history of double incest, he was elected Pope.
An individual’s pain of descent does not need to be relieved. Any artificial attempt to resolve his/her conflict would bring about only pseudoresolutions and most likely generate depression, anger, and a sense of emptiness, as well as frequent undoing of his decision. The guilt, the remorse, the zest all were to be experienced; they were the ingredients of soulmaking. The solution was in the soul’s fermentation of these fully experienced conflicted feelings and not in a forced cognitive decision. This attitude may be a deviation from our usual norms, but at times deviation from norms is needed for the revelation of truth. In alchemy, this was referred to as the opus contra naturam, an effect contrary to nature.
Life is full of such mysteries and sublime paradoxes. Instead of seeing our failures as just failures, we may seek the spiritual potential within them. Perhaps the most profound symbol of this sublime paradox is that of the god crucified. The body with its five senses is left hanging on the cross of knowledge of life and death, pinned in five places (two hands, two feet, and head with a crown of thorns). At the same time, God has voluntarily descended and taken upon Himself this extraordinary agony. Thus, God assumes the life of man, and man releases the God within himself. The same door through which God descends, Man ascends. In our ordinary descents, we may be offered a pair of wings.
T. Byram Karasu, MD is the author of The Art of Serenity
