My thoughts on 'descent' are entirely different, Priya. I view the word with trepidation. Here's a quote I didn't know belonged to Virgil, "“The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies.” So when I think 'descent' I often think of 'descent into hell.' And the more modern adage of that is, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Jeanine, thank you for sharing. I can resonate with the trepidation. Sometimes I come across writing where the descent is valorized and the arrival made inevitable, and it can be hard to keep in mind that sometimes descent is ..descent. That it does not come with a guarantee of anything. Perhaps what may happen is we learn to make meaning of our experience and that seems to be what we do as humans, a kind of transforming of our pain- is that the real arrival? Thank you, that is a formidable quote.
My thoughts on 'descent' are entirely different, Priya. I view the word with trepidation. Here's a quote I didn't know belonged to Virgil, "“The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies.” So when I think 'descent' I often think of 'descent into hell.' And the more modern adage of that is, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Jeanine, thank you for sharing. I can resonate with the trepidation. Sometimes I come across writing where the descent is valorized and the arrival made inevitable, and it can be hard to keep in mind that sometimes descent is ..descent. That it does not come with a guarantee of anything. Perhaps what may happen is we learn to make meaning of our experience and that seems to be what we do as humans, a kind of transforming of our pain- is that the real arrival? Thank you, that is a formidable quote.