"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning of life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive."

--Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

In the Sumerian myth The Descent of Inanna (2,000 and 3,000 BC), the Goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, travels through seven gates guarded by seven gatekeepers to the Underworld to meet her sister, Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead. As a divine being, Inanna is beautifully adorned with a crown, two necklaces made of lapis lazuli beads, a jeweled breastplate, a gold bracelet, a lapis measuring rod and line, and her royal robe, all of which symbolize the seven aspects of her divine power. At each gate, the gatekeeper insists that Inanna give up one aspect of her divinity in order to continue. Eventually, she enters the seventh gate, naked and powerless, and meets Ereshkigal who condemns her to death and hangs her on a hook like rotting meat. After three days, she is rescued and resurrected by two demons sent by Enki, the God of Wisdom, and returns to the upper realm where she continues to reign supreme.

Symbolically speaking, the myth of Inanna describes just how difficult the descent into matter is for the divine Spirit. Forced to keep sacrificing itself in order to gain a more complete knowledge and experience of itself, the Spirit remains almost dead, in a state of suspended animation reminiscent of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, until rescued and resurrected by the Soul. Then, unlike the Disney movie versions where the princess lives problem-free immediately upon being kissed by the prince, the equally difficult ascent from matter back to the spiritual realm begins. This isn't as far from our everyday lives as we might imagine. On the spiritual path, we often encounter obstacles and roadblocks that seem to demand that we surrender aspects of ourselves in order to progress. Who are these gatekeepers who control our access to the upper realms, demanding that we give something up at every turn?

Our emotional states are the gatekeepers of our experience and the challenges we face every day provide ample opportunities for either descent or ascent. Most of us resist descending, thinking that it is the uphill climb fueled by positive energy that is the key to success. But, if the divine Spirit finds it necessary to experience all aspects of hell in order to attain a more multidimensional perspective of itself, why do we resist the journey into the depths of our being? Because it's unpleasant, depressing and frustrating.

When we find ourselves descending to the nether world of our own minds, we relinquish faith, hope and love and experience fear, hate and anger, instead. We become frightened at the intensity of our negative feeling and fear that we'll be stuck in the land of the dead forever. But, as Inanna's story reveals, our success is assured when we completely surrender to the experience. If while we're rotting on the hook of our negative emotions we can find the wherewithal to not only experience them, but also understand and accept them, we begin to acquire wisdom and our Soul assists us in our ascent toward the upper realms once again. Someday, we might even realize that hanging out with Ereshkigal in the underworld is simply another aspect of experiencing that heaven we call life.