Introduction: The Cosmic and Personal Reality of Descent Before Ascent

[Opening Theme Music Plays Softly]

Welcome to the THEDOG Teachings Podcast, where we explore profound and practical teachings, offering a clear and accelerated path to higher consciousness.

I'm Gary Eggleton, and in today’s episode, we’ll uncover one of the most profound truths embedded in the fabric of reality, transformation, and awakening:

The way up was the way down.

For centuries, spiritual seekers, philosophers, and mystics have searched for the path to enlightenment. But what if the key was hidden in plain sight? What if the journey to the higher always required a journey through the lower?

This principle is not just an idea—it is a law woven into the very structure of:

• The Universe – The cosmos descended into chaos before structure could emerge.
• Matter and Life – Matter collapsed into denser forms before assembling into complexity.
• Human Consciousness – We must see all our falsities before real understanding arises.
• Spiritual Traditions – Jesus descended into Hell before He could ascend.

This is not a theory. It is the way things are.

And here’s the great paradox:

• If one tries to ascend too soon, they will be brought low.
• If one humbles themselves first, they will be raised up.
• If one clings to the false, they will never touch the true.

The path of descent before ascent is the hidden key to all transformation, and today, we will explore its implications across cosmology, spirituality, human development, and the very nature of what it means to be Hu-Man.

Let’s begin.

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1. The Universal Descent Before Ascent: The Cosmic Reflection

To truly understand why The Way Up Was The Way Down, we must look first to the universe itself—because, as above, so below.

The entire cosmos was created through descent before ascent.

Before stars could form, there had to be a collapse.
Before galaxies could emerge, matter had to differentiate.
Before life could arise, atoms had to descend into denser states.

This is not philosophy—it is physics.

The Ray of Creation: A Cosmic Fall Before the Return

The Ray of Creation, a central principle in esoteric cosmology, describes how forces first descend into fragmentation before they can return to unity.

• It starts with the Absolute—pure unity, pure presence.
• Then, it descends step by step, forming layers of existence.
• At each level, things become denser, more fragmented, more mechanical.

This descent does not stop until it reaches the lowest point—the material world. Only after reaching this lowest density does the process of return begin.

It mirrors the journey of self-awakening—before we can rise to higher consciousness, we must fully experience the lower.

The Law of Octaves: The Need for External Force

The Law of Octaves shows us that nothing ascends naturally.

• Everything descends by default, pulled downward by entropy, inertia, and mechanical forces.
• If something is to rise again, it requires external effort—intentional shocks at the right moments.
• Without these shocks, processes fall into oscillation—endless loops of repetition with no real progress.

We see this in music, chemistry, and even human growth:

• A plant must push through the soil before it can bloom.
• A person must struggle through ignorance before reaching wisdom.
• A civilization must collapse and renew before achieving real progress.

Even the stars themselves follow this pattern—collapsing before exploding into light.

The Fall Before the Light: Why Even Stars Must Die

A star does not begin as a radiant body—it begins as a cloud of dust and gas.

• It must collapse inward first, pulled down by gravity.
• Only after immense pressure builds does it ignite into light.
• And when it has spent all its fuel, it collapses again.

From this final death, the heaviest elements—the ones needed for life, planets, and consciousness—are formed.

Without the death of a star, there is no life on Earth.

The same law governs our own transformation:

• We must descend into darkness before we find the light.
• We must collapse our illusions before we can see truth.
• We must first experience fragmentation before we can unify.

This is not an accident—it is the pattern of all things.

If God allowed the universe itself to follow this path, then so must we.

This is why the great traditions speak of a descent before ascent.
This is why true growth is never without struggle.
And this is why trying to bypass the descent leads to illusion.

We cannot rise unless we are first broken.

In the same way that the universe descended first, we, too, must descend into ourselves before we can ascend.

But what does that really mean?

What does it mean to descend into ourselves?

We must confront everything false within us. We must see every illusion, every inexactitude, every self-deception.

And that is what we will explore next.

[Brief Pause for Transition]

2. The Descent into the Self: Seeing One’s Own Hell

If the Universe itself had to descend first, then so must we.

We are a microcosm of the macrocosm.

The same laws that govern galaxies and stars govern our consciousness.

If God descended into matter, then we must descend into ourselves.

This means facing everything false within us.

Every lie, illusion, contradiction, and inexactitude.

This is the great work of transformation—to see the false for what it is, so that what is real may emerge.

The Illusion of Already Being Awake

The first and greatest lie we must confront is the illusion that we are already conscious.

• We assume that because we think, we understand.
• We assume that because we act, we have free will.
• We assume that because we feel, we are awake.

But this is not true.

The Mechanical Man: Living in Sleep

Most of what we call our "self" is simply a collection of reactions.

• We react with emotion—not from understanding, but from habit.
• We react with thoughts—not from real contemplation, but from conditioning.
• We react with actions—not from choice, but from programming.

Gurdjieff called this the mechanical man—a person who believes they are awake but is really just a machine, running on past impressions and automatic responses.

To see this truth is to begin the descent into self-awareness.

Why We Must Confront Our Falsity

To awaken, we must see all that is false in us.

• That we believe we are good, yet act selfishly.
• That we believe we are intelligent, yet cannot hold attention.
• That we believe we seek truth, yet only seek confirmation.

This is not comfortable work—it is a descent into ourselves, into the hell of our own contradictions.

And yet, without this descent, there is no ascent.

Disillusionment Before Enlightenment

Many seekers believe that the spiritual path will only bring peace.

But before peace comes the storm.

• False faith must collapse before real faith can emerge.
• False identity must dissolve before true being can arise.
• False knowledge must shatter before wisdom can take its place.

This is why every great transformation begins with disillusionment.

• The artist reaches a moment of crisis, frustration, and doubt before breaking through to mastery.
• The mystic endures a "dark night of the soul" before enlightenment dawns.
• The seeker is first brought to nothingness before they can build something real.

If we avoid the descent, we avoid the truth.

If we refuse to see ourselves, we remain trapped in illusion.

If we cling to the false, we will never touch the true.

The Descent into Hell: A Pattern of Redemption

The symbolism of descent before ascent is found in nearly every sacred tradition.

• Jesus Himself descended into Hell before He rose again.
• Buddha sat beneath the Bodhi Tree, facing every illusion before he awakened.
• Dante’s Inferno describes a journey through the depths of Hell before reaching paradise.

The descent is not punishment—it is purification.

It is a necessary stripping away of the false so that what is real may emerge.

If even Jesus had to descend before He could rise, what does that say about us?

If falsehood must be seen before truth can emerge, then why do we resist the descent?

What would happen if we fully embraced it?

[Pause]

We like to think of enlightenment as a moment of clarity, an instant of divine illumination, a gift bestowed upon us for our efforts. But what we do not often consider is what must come before that moment.

Before the light, there is darkness. Before revelation, there is confusion. Before certainty, there is doubt.

Disillusionment is the doorway to truth.

When a seeker embarks on the journey toward awakening, they often expect joy and peace. Instead, they are met with struggle. Their beliefs are tested. Their assumptions are shattered. They find themselves doubting everything they once held to be true.

This is not failure. This is necessary.

• False faith must collapse before real faith can emerge.
• False identity must dissolve before true being can arise.
• False knowledge must shatter before wisdom can take its place.

Those who cling to illusion never reach truth. Those who embrace their own fall rise higher than they ever imagined.

The artist, after years of practice, reaches a point where their skills no longer feel like progress. They begin to doubt whether they will ever improve. But if they persist, something shifts. They break through the barrier, and suddenly, their work transforms.

The mystic, after years of seeking, reaches the "dark night of the soul," a place where all meaning seems lost. They question everything. They wonder if they have been deceiving themselves. But if they endure, something emerges from the depths. The clarity they sought appears—not because they found it, but because everything that was not it has fallen away.

The student, after years of learning, realizes that they know nothing at all. The weight of accumulated ideas, theories, and beliefs collapses under its own falsity. But when they relinquish their attachment to knowledge, they finally understand.

This moment—the breaking point, the fall, the undoing—is where real transformation begins.

We do not reach enlightenment by adding more. We reach it by removing everything that is false.

But this is painful.

No one wants to see that the things they have trusted were illusions. No one wants to admit that their carefully constructed identity is hollow. No one wants to let go of the ideas that have defined them.

And so, most people resist. They fight against the process. They seek comfort instead of truth. They hold onto the false, hoping they can still find the real.

But the false and the real cannot coexist. One must die for the other to live.

This is why the descent into self is so difficult. It is not just about seeing what is false—it is about letting it go.

Not just understanding our weaknesses, but surrendering our illusions of strength.
Not just recognizing our ignorance, but abandoning our attachment to knowledge.
Not just seeing our false self, but watching it dissolve.

It is a kind of death.

And that is why disillusionment always precedes enlightenment.

We do not like to descend. We do not like to face what is false. But the great irony is this: The only way to truly rise is to first fall.

And yet, there is an even greater irony.

Sometimes, what we think is ascent is actually a fall.

Sometimes, the path that seems to lead upward is the very thing that will bring us down.

The Parable of the Guest at the Banquet: The Fall of the False Climber

We assume that climbing higher means we are rising. That if we push forward, if we reach for status, for knowledge, for enlightenment, we will be lifted. But the truth is far more complex.

Sometimes, the way up is actually the way down.

Jesus illustrated this in the Parable of the Guest at the Banquet:

“When you are invited to a feast, do not take the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you arrives, and the host says, ‘Give this person your seat,’ and you will be humiliated. Instead, take the lowest seat, so that the host may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’”

A warning to those who seek to elevate themselves.

Because if you grasp for greatness before it is earned, you will be brought low. If you claim wisdom before understanding, you will be exposed as a fool. If you take what is not yours, it will be taken from you.

The way up, when taken prematurely, becomes the way down.

A man who seeks power before wisdom destroys his own kingdom.
A false teacher who claims knowledge without understanding is eventually revealed.
A person who rises without humility is always humbled.

This is why those who exalt themselves are cast down, and those who humble themselves are raised up.

If one climbs too soon, the very thing they sought will be denied to them.
If one takes the lowest seat, they will be asked to move up.

It is not punishment—it is law.

The universe does not tolerate imbalance for long. That which is not earned cannot be kept. That which is built on falsity must collapse. That which seeks to rise without roots will be swept away by the first storm.

The false climber falls, not because they were struck down, but because there was never anything holding them up.

The one who descends willingly, who humbles themselves, who does not grasp for what is not yet theirs—they are the ones who rise.

This is not morality—it is physics.

The higher must always be supported by the lower. The lower must always be purified before it can hold the weight of something greater.

The strongest tree has the deepest roots. The tallest mountain has the broadest base.

A man who is built on nothing is a house of cards.

This is why false ascent always leads to a fall.

And that fall is often far greater than if one had never tried to climb at all.

[Music Slowly Fades Out]

What does this mean for us?

It means that if we try to ascend falsely, if we chase greatness without humility, if we try to rise before we are ready, we will only be setting ourselves up for a greater collapse.

And yet, there is a way to rise.

There is a way to reach the higher.

But it is not the way we think.

It is not by climbing up—it is by descending first.

By seeing ourselves fully, by facing what is false, by letting go of illusion, we make room for something real.

And when that happens, something incredible occurs.

We do not climb—we are lifted.

Not because we demanded it, but because we became something that could not be kept low.

And that is the great secret of the ascent.

It is not a grasping. It is not an effort to push higher.

It is a falling away of everything that keeps us bound to the lower.

And when all of that has been burned away, there is nothing left but what is real.

The Final Transformation: Becoming a Bridge Between Worlds

When the descent is complete, something new emerges.

A being that no longer serves the self, but something far greater. A being that no longer clings to illusion, but moves in alignment with what is real. A being that is not seeking the Higher, but is used by the Higher.

The false self has burned away.
The lower has been transformed into the higher.
The servant has become the master.

This is the final transformation—not an ascent to a throne, but an alignment with something vast, something that has always been there, waiting for us to remove the barriers that kept it out.

Just as a nerve ending serves the body, so too does a conscious being serve something higher.

This is the law of return—the same law that governs the Universe, governs us.

The highest in one realm is always the lowest in the next.

The greatest in the lower world is only a servant in the higher.

We are the highest on Earth. But when we awaken, we become the lowest in Heaven.

The journey of transformation is not about becoming special.
It is not about achieving enlightenment for oneself.
It is about becoming something that can be used by what is greater.

And this is where the great paradox is revealed.

The Great Paradox – Why the Highest Must Enter Through the Lowest

When the false self is gone—
When there is no longer seeking, no grasping, no clinging to identity—
When the ascent has been abandoned—

The ascent happens on its own.

Not because we have willed it.
Not because we have climbed higher through effort.
But because we have become something that cannot be kept low.

Because only the empty can be filled.
And only the lowest can receive the highest.

This is the paradox that has been spoken of for millennia,
Hidden in symbols, veiled in sacred texts, waiting to be seen.

"There was no room in the inn."

This is not just a story of history.
It is a story of you.

Because what is the inn?

The inn is the mind—full of itself, crowded with its own importance.
Packed with noisy guests—false identities, vanities, opinions.
A house full of "I"s, all demanding attention, all believing they are the center of existence.

And so, when something higher seeks to enter, there is no space.

No room for truth.
No room for silence.
No room for something beyond the crowded illusions of self.

And so where must it go?

To the lowest place.
To the stable.
To the place of animals—where instincts rule, where humility exists.
To the place beneath the mind, where there is nothing left to resist.

Because when the mind is full, the heart must be empty.
And when the mind is empty, the heart can be full.

This is why the Christ-consciousness is not born in palaces.
This is why the highest enters through the lowest.
This is why the greatest wisdom appears not to the proud, but to the humble.

Because only what bows before it can receive it.

And so, the kings of the world—
The wise, the seekers, those who have seen beyond illusion—
They do not arrive to conquer.
They do not arrive to claim.
They arrive to kneel.

To bow before the presence that has no name, no self, no claim to greatness—yet is greatness itself.

This is the mystery.

And so, the lesson is this:

🔹 If we do not first empty ourselves, there is no space for something higher to enter.
🔹 If we do not descend, the ascent never happens.
🔹 If we do not become nothing, we cannot receive everything.

And when that space is made, everything changes.

Because what was once low is now lifted.
What was once empty is now full.
And what was once unseen becomes the light of the world.

This is not just a story.
It is not just a teaching.

It is the way.

And the moment you see it,
The moment you stop trying to climb,
The moment you let everything fall away—

The light enters.

And you realize,

It was never outside of you at all.

The Bridge Between Worlds – The True Meaning of Being Human

When the false self is emptied, when all that once claimed importance dissolves, something remarkable happens.

The world does not look the same.

🔹 There is silence where there was once noise.
🔹 There is clarity where there was once confusion.
🔹 There is presence where there was once struggle.

Because the higher does not need to be reached.
The higher reaches through us.

It was never something to attain.
Never something outside of us.
It was always waiting—waiting for space, waiting for silence, waiting for the room in the inn to be emptied.

And when that happens, we become something new.

Not something greater.
Not something higher.
But something real.

We become a bridge between worlds.

A being that is no longer fragmented.
A being that is no longer pulled in a thousand directions.
A being that no longer mistakes illusion for truth.

A being that stands between the formless and the formed, between Heaven and Earth—
A being that sees reality as it is, yet moves through life effortlessly, unshaken by the passing of time.

And yet, even now, the paradox deepens.

Because the lower we have gone, the weightless we have become.

We do not force the ascent—we rise naturally, because there is no heaviness left to pull us down.

Not because we have climbed,
But because we have become weightless.

And in that weightlessness,
The lowest is lifted to the highest—
And what was once empty is now full.

And yet, even in this, there is a deeper truth.

Because the very word "Human" carries this mystery.

Hu-Man.

God in Man.
The Divine in the Vessel.

To be truly human is to be a bridge.
A meeting point between the finite and the infinite, the temporal and the eternal.

And so, we must ask—what does it mean to be human?

To answer that, we must look at the mystery of Hu.

Because this has always been the journey.

And perhaps now, you can see why the Objective Exercise works.

The path we teach, the exercise we guide you through, is not a philosophy.
It is not a theory.

It is a deliberate process—a recipe, a map, a method to systematically empty the self so that the higher may enter.

It is the making of space.

And now, perhaps, you understand why it works.

Because only the empty can be filled.

And when the room is cleared,
When the struggle ends,
When nothing remains to hold onto—

The highest enters through the lowest.

And you become what you always were.

The Mystery of Hu-Man: The Divine Descent into Matter

The truth has been hidden in plain sight.

In the very word Human lies the secret of all ascent and descent.

Hu-Man.

Hu, an ancient name of God. Man, the vessel, the form, the container for the Divine.

To be Hu-Man is to be God in Man—to be the meeting point of Heaven and Earth, the place where the infinite descends into the finite, where the absolute takes on relative form.

Hu is found in the sacred traditions of the world:

• In Sufism, "Hu" (هُوَ‎) is one of the names of God, chanted in dhikr, the remembrance that dissolves the self into the Divine.
• In Ancient Egypt, Hu was the god of the creative word—the utterance that brings all things into existence.
• In Hebrew mysticism, Hu is linked to "Hu-HaMakom"—God as "The Place," the dwelling of all that is.

And so, the paradox emerges—to be truly human is to be a bridge between realms.

But what does that mean?

To be a bridge is not simply to exist between two worlds—it is to serve both.

To be a Hu-Man means:

• To be the highest in the lower, yet the lowest in the higher.
• To be a point of connection between what is above and what is below.
• To descend fully into form, yet not be bound by it.

This is why the truly awakened do not retreat from the world.

They do not run from suffering.
They do not seek to escape.

Instead, they serve.

Because once the descent is complete, once the false self has burned away, once the illusion of separateness has dissolved—there is no longer a self to protect.

There is only Hu—moving through Man.

There is only the presence of something higher, using the vessel that has been emptied for it.

And this is the final, glorious irony.

The highest achievement is not to be lifted up—it is to become nothing.

Because when one becomes nothing, one can finally be used for something real.

[Music Slowly Fades Out]

The way up was never the way up.

The way up was always the way down.

[Brief Pause for Reflection]

And that brings us to the final truth.

The secret that has been hidden in every sacred tradition.

The mystery that has been whispered through time.

That the final step in awakening is not ascent.

It is surrender.

[Soft Background Music Fades In]

WRAP-UP

That brings us to the end of today’s exploration of The Fall Before the Light – Why The Way Up Was The Way Down—the universal law that governs all transformation.

Thank you for joining me as we uncovered how the greatest ascents are always preceded by descents, and how what appears to take us down is often preparing us for something higher.

These teachings are not just abstract—they are practical tools for conscious evolution. When we understand that humility leads to exaltation, that surrender precedes empowerment, and that dissolution is necessary for revelation, we begin to engage with life’s challenges in a new way.

Take a moment now. Let it sink in. The way up was always the way down.

What does that mean for you, today?

If you’re ready to explore these principles further, visit thedogteachings.com, where you’ll find The Blueprint of Consciousness – An Accelerated Path to Awakening. This step-by-step guide reveals the precise principles behind spiritual transformation, offering practical exercises, mathematical insights, and verifiable methods to help you apply these laws in your own life.

You’ll also find a wealth of supporting materials, including podcast transcripts, diagrams, animations, and videos—all designed to help you deepen your understanding and integrate these teachings.

And if you’d like direct guidance, join our twice-weekly Sunday Zoom classes. Whether you’re working through The Blueprint of Consciousness or engaging with advanced practices like the Master Exercises, these sessions provide personalized instruction and a supportive community. Details can be found in the “Resources/Zoom Classes” section of our website.

As you go forward, may you walk in humility.

May you embrace the descent.

And may you remember that only by falling away from illusion can we rise in truth.

Until next time.

Goodbye.

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