There is, in the New Age community, a considerable fixation on ascension and the process of raising one's vibration. Of course it is not surprising that seekers are so enamored with the concept. Human beings have always been fascinated with the concept of ascension. Gods are believed to inhabit heaven above, and these so called higher planes are believed to have divine qualities. Mountain heights are common mythological sites at which the veil between the mundane and the spiritual planes become thinner; some better known examples include Mt. Olympus (home of the Greek pantheon) and Mt. Kailish (upon whose peak Shiva is said to sit in eternal meditation.)
Indeed, even a basic principle of psychics suggests congruity with the ascension archetype. As a medium vibrates at a progressively higher frequency, it's density is lessened and it becomes more energetic, diffuse, and ethereal (closer to spirit). There is good reason to believe that the cardinal direction of enlightenment is upwards. My intention is not to undermine or attempt to invalid this idea; rather, I intend to present the case for an alternative philosophy and methodology which has, in my experience, proven to be more logically consistent and effective.
I am speaking, for lack of a better term of decention. Allow me first to dispel the notion that low vibrations or frequencies are somehow lesser or malicious, as it is in response to this idea that opposition shall arise. As most unconscious assumptions, this idea has it's origins in archetypes; just as ascension as tied to imagery of the catatonic. Most every mythology has an underworld into or through the souls of the deceased must pass; thus descent has become associated with the poignant sensations of mortality and loss.
Though ancient conceptions of the underworld thematically described it as a conduit through which souls pass into the afterlife, associations with sin and punishment were gradually born out, as in the Greek Tatarus and the Christian Hell. This descent distinguished itself as thoroughly wicked, and vested in it is misery becoming. Understanding the origin of these preconceptions is crucial in disentangling ourselves from them. There remain an archetype and a scientific justification of the view of positive descent which should further facilitate this aim. In literature there is a thematic recurrence from which few narratives are exempt. The hero or heroine must first descent into the underworld, as it were, before he or she is able to reemerge triumphant.
The underworld is scarcely represented with imagery a obvious as in religious mythology. Rather it is a symbol of the tribulations through which one passes into self- actualization. Here again the association with suffering reveals the archetypal influence of hell, but it bears out new imagery of transformation, empowerment, and enlightenment. This novel dimension to descent is not confined to the realm of fiction. Indeed, in Shamanic tradition the seeker travels to the underworld and realized these self- same virtues. The same principles of physics which may be construed to support ascendance also correlates the narrative of descent as the directionality of enlightenment.
While it is true that mediums with a high vibration mimic the qualities which we imbue spirit, they are also more frenetic. As you may known, molecules exposed to sufficient thermal energy will sublimate, or transform from solid to gaseous, as they become more excitable and eccentric. Effectively, high vibrations correspond to instability of constitution. The same principle may be observed in the wave forms of recorded frequencies. High frequency wave forms oscillate rapidly, frantically. Low frequency wave forms are more deliberate and calm. The personification of the lower wave form is in fact nearer in quality to the temperament we often expect from enlightenment.
But we need not on personifications alone. Neurology reaffirms the sentiment. Higher frequency brainwaves such as beta and alpha waves are typical of the waking mind, indicating alertness, concentration, and thought. This is estranged from the spiritual state of consciousness that we prefer to foster in ourselves through meditation, which is characterized by calm, ambient, euphoria, or trance like states, and which is associated with the lower frequencies theta and delta brain waves. The highest frequency brain waves, gamma waves, are associated with super conscious states and the experience of unity and compassion.
However, they are not unlocked by increasing in frequency from beta waves, gamma waves emerge from and commingle with the lower frequency brain waves associated with the meditative trance. One may notice that this pattern is congruent with the literary theme of travelling through the underworld to realize enlightenment, as monks descend through the ordinal brainwaves to achieve the gamma state. But descention, like ascension, should not be seen as a targeted destination, or as a compulsory ritual to move beyond oneself.
Descention is not a permanent moving downward, but rather a retraction of the consciousness, the soul, the so called Higher Self, into the body. Centered thus, the individual is fully present and closer to oneself, closer to the Earth, and closer to Divinity. It is all at once Spiritual and grounded, a balanced doctrine.