THE WAY UP IS DOWN

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                         The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek                     
                                    Joseph Campbell

Failure is a greater teacher than success
              Clarissa Pinkola Estés 

You must always, in anything, plumb the depths
before you are permitted to go on the heights
                         Stewart Edward White

Recently I was thinking about how we all experience failure from time to time and yet not realize how much we can learn and benefit from the experience. At times it feels like a huge loss, but mostly failures are minor setbacks. As Joseph Campbell seems to suggest in the quote above, the cave we fear may contain the treasure we seek. Generally, we fear failure. That's the cave of darkness we fear. But in the darkness of our failures, we may find our treasure. 

By finding the treasure in the darkness, we empower ourselves, but if we look to power outside of ourselves, we will never claim our power within, but continue to wallow in our failures, feeling disempowered. This is stated most cogently in A COURSE OF LOVE (page118).

"Those of you who think you have traditional means of power on your side turn not to your own power, but then you wonder why those more spiritual, both currently in historically, seem to suffer hardship. Yet it is often only those who suffer hardship who will rise up and claim the power that is their own instead of looking for it elsewhere. Your perception but looks at power backward...." 

Sometimes it is said, failure is just the backdoor to success. Or similarily, the way up may be the way down as it was for James, the narrator/hero of Elysium's Passage. He had to fall down the chasm before he could re-emerge as a new man on top of the summit.

Since the idea of emergence is one of the themes in Elysium's Passage, I have included a dialogue on this topic which I'd like to share taken from Chapter 14, 'Not My First Rodeo.' 

Also, I've posted pictures of me looking into the crevice of a glacier to illustrate how we sometimes have to go down these fissions of failure before we can progress further up. We don't always see what's was coming and then find ourselves falling into despair, often feeling like a failure.

But after regaining our inward strength, we re-emerge wiser and often much humbler. We may then continue our joyful ascent, knowing what we didn't know before, doing what we before thought was impossible. In the words of Alice: 

For you see, so many extraordinary things had happened lately, that
Alice began to think that there were very few things that were impossible
                                                                                              Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I hope you will enjoy the following dialogue taken from Elysium's Passage: The Summit, where James, the hero/narrator, gets some sage advice after complaining about his struggles and failures in life.

‘Everything in life seems like a struggle,’ I said. ‘Even when life ought to be fun, often it’s not. According to my Mensa tests, I have a very high IQ, and yet I can’t seem to figure out how to live a happy and prosperous life. Not much comes easily to me, particularly in my relations with women. It seems that when things aren’t difficult, I soon find how to make them that way, as though I need to keep raising the bar to prove something to myself. Perhaps that’s why I keep taking on the most difficult challenges I can find, be it women, scholarships, career or climbing impossible Mountains like this. Maybe I’m psychotic.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ Eli said, ‘maybe just a tad neurotic now and then.

‘And yet,’ Mo said, ‘even after achieving what few others could achieve, your mind still struggles with being a failure, even though you know you’re not.’

‘I know, isn't that insane? Just because I haven’t yet found the position and relationship I fancy doesn’t explain why I need to dwell on my lack of success, rather than my achievements. Which is possibly why some women say I often come across as arrogant... to compensate for my insecurities they are quick to add.’

‘That’s very possible,’ he said, ‘but is it not also reasonable that what you’re experiencing in life is just as it should be in your conscious evolution at this time. Not because it was predetermined by karma, the gods or anyone else, but because the world you experience reflects the attitude you’ve unconsciously chosen. What if your perceived failures aren’t mistakes, or even bad karma, but rather what you unwittingly created for yourself?’

‘But why do I need to make life difficult, as if I need to punish myself? I can’t think of any reason to atone for anything I’ve done, apart from creating trouble for certain adversaries that deserved it.’

‘During our earthly years’, Mo continued, ‘we often experience failure in relationships, finances, health and recognition, to name but a few. It's called life: precisely what we all came to earth to experience, that we may experience contrast while making our way through the confusing field of illusions we create for ourselves. What if everything you experienced in life was meant to help your soul find its way to this Mountain so you would make its ascent?

‘And further to that, what if everything in your life turned out to be a failure and yet, without knowing it, all these failures caused you to go more deeply into your soul to discover who you really are: a celestial being of divine resplendence. Would that be a failure? Would that be karma?

‘Some may even say that’s what caused to you fall, that you may pay for your past sins, errors and omissions. And that’s also why, they may say, your body continues to languish in the hospital now so you can make a fresh start after paying your karmic debt. And yet, the truth is, ever since your fall you have been ascending towards something far beyond this mountain’s summit.’

‘But still, I can hardly take that “something far beyond,” whatever it is, back with me, can I? Other than receiving a splendid esoteric education at your unaccredited university, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this after I return. I suppose I could join an ashram in Tibet like my friend, or possibly become a monk in the desert somewhere, but I’m not sure my heart would be in either of those. My fancy is still to be a philosopher, lecturing to the brightest minds in the world. And yet, the way things are going, my fear is that I will fail in that too.’

‘Remember when I asked you what you thought was your biggest struggle in life, you said it was struggling. And you were right, but it’s only been a struggle because of what you just identified as being the cause of all your struggles.’

‘So what did I just identify?’

‘Just listen to yourself, James,’ Mo said, ‘you just said “my fear is that I will fail.” Don’t you realize fear and failure are always a vibratory match? You only struggle because you fear failure. What has ruled most of your life has been fear; not love. That’s why you can’t experience a real loving relationship, no more than you can find the career you’re looking for.

‘If you can’t love your relationships and don’t have a passion for your workplace, it’s because you struggle with the fear of failure. And when you’re focused on fear rather than love, you get exactly what you’ve given your attention to. No one struggles in love, only in fear.

‘That’s why you must discover how to live in a state of unconditional love. Only then can failure become your back door to success. In fact, more often than not, it’s the only door to success. So we suggest you lovingly embrace your perceived failures as opportunities to lead you to where you should go. Unless you live life from all angles you will never understand or appreciate what success is, even if you have succeeded. It gives you the contrast you need to move further up and further in. You may not realize it, James, but that's how you got up this Mountain.’

‘I’m not sure I understand what you mean,’ I said.

‘Was it not failing to cross the chasm that brought you to your new Summit? Without a doubt, this was your biggest achievement so far. Not to mention the other incident when you failed to make your descent, supposedly becoming stranded on a ridge. But this seeming failure is what gave Eli an opportunity to exhibit his agility in a way that prepared you to discover your own hidden abilities, which, of course, is how you came to discover you were in a spirit body!’  

‘You know, there are many out there dying to find that out,’ Eli said with a straight face. ‘But you didn’t have to; you found another way, even with your eyes closed.’

‘And since, as Eli suggested, you were so good at this, why would you ever consider anything you’ve done in your past to be a failure when in actuality these setbacks were only various approaches towards your great achievement. Just as you failed to make it all the way up, you also failed to make it all the way down. But both so-called failures were necessary for you to make it where you couldn’t have otherwise gone.

‘Even the romantic relationships you thought were failures,’ Eli said, ‘will provide you with the contrast you need to recognize the woman you’re seeking. As we say, in many and various ways, light can only be experienced as light because darkness has given the light the contrast that’s required to experience its luminosity. Darkness has no reality unto itself, only the absence of light's reality. Likewise, fear has no reality unto itself, only the absence of love.

‘Likewise, how would anyone know they were successful unless they experienced failure as the absence of success? Each seemingly wrong turn, or fall in your case, can create new and meaningful vistas to view life. We would like you to keep this in mind when you return to pursue your future career and relationships. Remember, you will remain happiest when you call forth the guiding light of your heart’s desires, rather than being lost in your mind’s fears. That’s when you become who you really are; when you love you, then you’re most aligned with the love essence of your divine Christ Self.’

‘So from now on,’ Mo said, ‘try to view these failures as opportunities to choose again! That's what free will is for: to choose again. Choose to love rather than fear. It's the most under-rated, under-valued and under-utilized gift humanity has been given, even though determinists would like to convince you that you’re deluding yourself when you choose.’

‘Yes, but I know many who take that position,’ I said, ‘but I don’t buy it, and yet I’ve always wondered where the concept of free will comes from. Is it from an innate capacity to experience something that feels volitional?’

‘Or perhaps,’ he said, ‘it simply comes from the contrast of not being free when you remember how it was before you were constricted. Your freedom was constricted when you were stranded on the ledge, but it served to remind you how free you felt after Eli rescued you. So why would anyone even bother trying to convince others they are free,’ he said, ‘if they think they have already no choice but to think they’re not.’

‘That sounds rather strange when you put it that way,’ I said, ‘but I suppose what you say is true; to change someone’s mind about this or anything else would require them to make a choice. Unless they decided not to choose, which of course, would still be a choice – whether they chose to believe it or not.’

‘The sounds even stranger,’ Eli said.

‘Most likely it did,’ I said, ‘but you know, I’ve seen a lot of fancy dancing around this question. I still have yet to hear a satisfactory answer. As you may have guessed, my department is full of determinists but I don’t argue with them anymore. What’s the point; they’re determined to prove their thoughts are determined!’

‘I guess that’s their choice,’ Mo said, with a wry grin, ‘freely and willingly determined. Word plays aside, there still is some truth to what determinists say in reference to those who remain asleep in their complacent state of consciousness, or should I say unconsciousness. When one forgets they have a choice, they react as though they have no choice. But to react is not the same as to act. There is no freedom in reacting; only with intention can one truly act. Since everyone has the capacity to be intentional, everyone has the capacity to experience freedom by exercising their will.’

‘Without being aware of your inherent freedom,’ Eli said, ‘it’s easy to fall into a deep slumber and become a mere pawn to fear. Regardless of what happens, you're neither a pawn nor a victim, even when it feels that way. Unless, of course, that’s what you choose to believe. Even so, when the decisions you’ve made don’t go well, you're still free to choose again. When you choose to see things differently, you’re able to see with eyes of love rather than eyes of fear. Once inward vision is illuminated by the heart’s divine light, nothing is perceived as it was in darkness.’

‘That’s why I say there’s nothing you’ve done in your life that should be considered a failure,’ Mo said. ‘Your failure to cross the chasm is what made it possible for you to successfully cross over the spiritual chasm to become what you now are. It’s what brought you to this Summit, allowing you to view life from the vista you sought when you left the Lowlands. You achieved what some would say was impossible. Some failure!’

‘Too bad I can’t add that to my curriculum vitae,’ I said. 

‘Who says you can’t,’ Eli said, ‘and while you’re at it don’t forget to mention how, even before breakfast, you can ascend up to five mountain peaks. Who else can do that except maybe the Queen of Hearts? As I recall, she said, why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. And so it is, as you believe, so shall it be. Now, what other impossible things can you do – before or after breakfast?’

 ********************************************************************************** 

   

Summary of Elysium's Passage Series

 

THE is a series of seven Elysium’s Passage narrations regarding a young British philosopher named James Phillips who finds himself living in an altered state of reality while still remaining on earth.  

After experiencing a near-fatal fall while climbing to the summit of a remote mountain in the Andes, James awakens in a new dimension. He soon encounters two mysterious beings who provide him with a very different perspective on the nature of his existence. Over the next year, before his body recovers from the coma, he is challenged to re-examine his understanding about life’s meaning and purpose far beyond anything he previously believed or could believe.

An engaging and sometime surreal adventure with intimations of impending romance, the narrative explores the most important questions about life, death, reality and our ultimate destiny.

The Plains of Elysium (Champs-Élysées) was described by Homer, Hesiod, Virgil and many other poets as the paradisiac afterlife realm reserved for heroes. As the title suggests, this is about a journey through a passage that leads towards Elysium’s exciting realm of existence.

PENDING PUBLICATION OF ELYSIUM’S PASSAGE SERIES

                                          Amazon in 2024

 

THE ASCENT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE SUMMIT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

QUANTUM LEAPS: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

SURREAL ADVENTURES: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

MYSTICAL ROMANCE: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE ELIXIR: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE RETURN: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

 

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1. The Ascent is the first novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage that’s foundational to everything that happens in the following narratives that embark on an adventure that will surprise and delight the reader like no other book.

It all begins with an extreme adventure of climbing a remote and challenging mountain somewhere in the Andean Mountains. Just as James, the protagonist, is about to reach the mountain summit, he falls into an abyss that leaves him in a coma for almost a year.

After being airlifted by a forestry helicopter and flown back to London, where his body remains for almost a year. Eventually, he learns it was not him but his body that was rescued. Several days later, without understanding what happened, he continues to climb to the summit in an alternate dimension of higher consciousness.

Fortuitously, he meets two adventurers on the summit ridge who are no longer of this world. After that, his surreal life leads him to several new adventures in the subsequent chronicles that include a rich mix of adventure, romance, and fantasy, along with profound discussions of philosophy, spirituality and the afterlife.

 
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2. The  Summit, the second novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, carries on where James, the narrator and protagonist, is taught more about a multidimensional reality that he finds difficult to comprehend.

Not only does he find he’s not as clever as he imagined, but his off-world companions on the summit demonstrate that much of what he believed about life was not just parochial but wrong. At first, he finds this difficult to comprehend since their teachings are contrary to his limited understanding of non-material reality.

After being tricked into teleporting off a ledge where he was trapped, James becomes aware of the new reality that makes him capable of far more adventures than could have ever been experienced previously in his physical body back home.

Now, if only he would win over the only woman in this life who matters, the nurse on the other side of the veil, who continually demonstrates her unconditional love toward his healing.

Warning: This book may also open the reader’s eyes to a much vaster reality than most might be aware. As with the other Chronicles, there are discussions of philosophy, the spiritual afterlife and what might seem like fantasy.

 
 

3. Quantum Leaps is the third novel in Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, where James, the philosopher-protagonist, teleports back to London to visit his body and make contact with the special nurse taking care of it in his absence. Immediately, he feels an inexplicable spiritual bond with her for reasons he remains unaware of.

Now aroused by a renewed interest in matters of love, the beginnings of a relationship begin to emerge as he attempts to reach across the chasm of their worlds. But it’s not until the fifth novel, Mystical Romance, that he encounters her in a way that he finds difficult to believe.

However, before that can happen, there is much about his failed relationships that must be resolved before he is ready to move forward in his new life in Elysium’s Passage. It is during this time he christens his comatose body as the fall guy since it took the fall for him down the abyss so he could learn the lessons he’s now learning.

That will be the next focus of his life, where in his next Surreal Adventures, he is given virtual lessons to release many of his past beliefs about life.

 
 

4. Surreal Adventures is the fourth novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, which finds James, the protagonist and narrator, escorted by his companions to a remote South Pacific Island, where he is left to reflect on what he’s learned.

During the next forty days, he battles the demons of his past as he works through some rather painful issues from his early youth. Here, in a tropical storm, he encounters an eery suspended spectre of the one he loved yet still resents for abandoning him as a child.

After this, he achieves peace of mind and is ready to return to his lodge to join his off-world companions on the Andes summit. However, just when it seemed things couldn’t get any stranger, a sixteenth-century sea captain sails his ancient ‘ghost’ ship onto the beach. Together, they sail off on a mystical ocean voyage to a couple of virtual islands supposedly in the South Pacific, where he witnesses and, at times, participates in several important life lessons.

Near the end, these encounters help prepare him for a new challenge within the interior of a mountain, where he falls deep into a dark tomb of fear. After being rescued by a mysterious stranger wielding his Excaliber, he continues on to where his life is about to be transformed in the following chronicle, Mystical Romance.

 
 

5. Mystical Romance is the fifth chronicle in Elysium’s Passage, which will surprise the reader with a romantic twist of how love is expressed in higher realms. From this lofty perspective, everything about intimacy is understood as within, so without.

After escaping his tomb, James, the narrator and protagonist, makes his way through a maze of tunnels until he arrives at a large oak door, which he opens with the golden key he had been given. There, he steps into Elysium’s Passage’s Great Hall, where his life and recent achievements are celebrated now that his eyes have been opened to perceive a fascinating interior world of wonderment… and romance.

To say more might risk diminishing the multitude of delightful surprises as circumstances begin to open to The Elixir, where James is about to re-enter his earthly body’s existence.

 
 

6. The Elixir is the sixth chronicle of the Elysium’s Passage series that prepares James, the narrator-protagonist, to awaken and return to his body in London. Before that can happen, however, his off-worlder friend presents a mysterious equation enshrouded with a light code frequency that will stimulate multidimensional DNA strands within him.

Much of this narration is centred in London, where his nurse unknowingly becomes involved in how the Elixir’s equation finds its way from a taxi cab driver to higher echelons of science. There are many twists in how she unwittingly brings the Elixir to the attention of mathematicians and physicists, after which they eventually discover how to code the equation into a laser ray to stimulate his fall-guy body into full consciousness.

Ostensibly a new Adam, he is destined to return humanity to a higher multidimensional existence. How this happens is filled with intrigue, as is his shocking return to his earthly body.

 
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7. The Return is the seventh and last chronicle in the series where James, the narrator and protagonist, has re-emerged from Elysium’s Passage as he readjusts to life in the third dimension. Many of the events experienced in the previous novels are tied together in an exciting, fast-moving, action-packed narrative over several countries.

 At first, it seems all memories have been lost, with his fall guy’s brain not being aware of what happened to him while in his coma. As a consequence, it takes a while for him to be convinced he had been out of his earthly body for almost a year.

Through some rather unexpected events and evidence, along with his girlfriend’s urging, he is brought to an awareness of much of what occurred. It takes a while for his mind to catch up with the changes made in his heart during his stay in the alternate realm. But after experiencing several harsh realities, he discovers what he became within while out of his body. Gradually, he comes to understand the many challenges that lie ahead for him in fulfilling his future mission on Earth.

This book is filled with adventure, romance and personal intrigue that ties together all six previous narratives of the Elysium’s Passage series.

 

READER REVIEWS

The following comments are among the first Amazon reviews of Elysium’s Passage: The Summit. All are Five Stars! Others reader reviews are included below, along with excerpts from two professional reviews. To read full reviews, go to READER REVIEWS on www.elysiumspassage.com

"Quietly, gently, and without imposition, the Author unfolds the pages, creating an intricate, interlocking bridge spanning the chasm between mind and heart. Renewing, refreshing, restoring. In my bereavement, it was vigil and light…"

"A delightful mix of fantasy, reality, conjecture and humour; Mr. Meyers draws the reader into the story with a gentle narrative that captures imagination, leaving one anxious to get to the next page drawing you into his exceptional world.”

“Excellently written with an exceedingly deep understanding of this world and the next. The characters are very well written and engaging. I can't wait to complete this book!"

“Takes the reader on both a philosophical and spiritual journey, a journey that at times is both disquieting and tranquil. James, a British Philosopher can be irreverent and caustic, traits that should have left me cringing, but instead made me laugh out loud. Elysium’s Passage is a fun, enlightening and remarkable book.”

“This is a masterful fantasy, becoming a real possibility, as the reader is drawn into the story. The Summit leaves you anxious for the next book in the series, yet also leaves you totally satisfied with the world you have just visited. Genius! An exciting, yet calming, experience that is not to be missed."

"There was hardly a page on which I did not find at least one sentence worthy of hi-lighting for future reference. In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed the main character, James, whose personality and passionate verbal exchanges with the other characters, kept me coming back for more. I am reading the book for a second time while I wait for the next one in this series to be made available."

 “N.G. Meyers has clearly put a great deal of research and thought into what the afterlife may look like and I like his perspective. It’s an altogether welcoming and exciting vision. The book gives one a great deal to think about and a reassuring confidence that the end of our lives is truly the beginning of life in the next. I highly recommend it."

“The humour interjected into a serious discussion makes me laugh out loud. Totally unexpected....l may be in the presence of at least a master, if not a genius. A fair ride into reality... seeking that which is unseen, yet absolutely real.”

“An engaging story of adventure embracing man's deepest desire to search for meaning and purpose, N.G. Meyers takes the reader on an adventurous thought provoking journey. This book has substance. It is a perfect blend of adventure and fantasy combined with spiritual philosophy. It ignited my imagination. The author magically weaves a good story laced with wit and humor together with deep philosophical wisdom. This book has it all!”

“An evolution in thought is triggered by many fresh philosophical themes which could inspire readers to re-think their reality and former ideologies that have dictated their lives… the author fires readers’ imaginations to view what could be possible when spirit vacates the body.”

“This is the book spiritual seekers have been waiting for. For me, it granted a great read as well as increased inspiration to live every day with a heightened sense of purpose. I highly recommend it.

“The Summit is capable of hooking readers and luring them to search for Book 2 to discover more about Dr. Philip’s surreal trek into the mysterious unknown universe. This thick book is well worth the read and to share…”

“Mind-blowing statements and speculation (‘…everyone is a non-physical thought form conceived in the Mind of God, preserved for all eternity because God’s thoughts never die…’). Many will find Meyers’ journey up the Mountain intriguing—and possibly even life-changing.” (BLUEINK REVIEW)

“In its effort to grapple with fundamental questions about the meaning of life, it raises questions that have echoed throughout the ages, including about where we come from, where we are going, who we are.”  (CLARION REVIEW)

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CONTACT INFORMATION

WEBSITE: www.elysiumspassage.com 

FACEBOOK: Elysium's Passage Novel Series, Elysium's Passage Public Group page, Elysium's Passage Author's Page, or to my personal page Neil Meyers

TWITTER: N.G.Meyers@neil1113 

INSTAGRAM: meyersneil

LINKEDIN: Neil Meyers

EMAIL: nmeyers@shaw.ca 

BLOG POSTINGS: https://digitalbloggers.com/articles/elysiumspassage or the Elysium's Passage website

Sample press review: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/05/prweb15515775.htm