Climbing the Ladder of Ascension with Joviel Straw by Julia Griffin

As a Flower of Life Facilitator, Joviel is closely aligned with Drunvalo and his work. Joviel has devoted his life to his own process of growing into the Light as well as helping others to do so, and offers many useful insights about who we are and where we are going.

Julia: Could you please explain what ascension means to you?

Joviel: Let's begin with the general meaning. The term "ascension" implies to most of us that we are no longer on Earth. The ultimate goal of ascension, of course, is to ascend into our true home, the heart of God. But some people believe that you can take your physical body with you in this process.

I do believe that eventually we will leave this planet, never to return in physical form. Even now, we leave this plane on a daily basis whenever we allow ourselves to be totally in the moment, without judgment or attachment.

But ascension also refers to a distinct, threefold process. It involves the cumulative choices we have made throughout our past lives, the daily ascension process I spoke about above, and — what most people think of when we use this term — our final departure from the Earth into higher dimensions of reality.

In 1997, a new paradigm was brought in through the opening of the portals. Since 1997, we no longer have to leave the body when we have completed a level of learning in the ascension or spiritual process.

And not only can we continue evolving in this body, but also we can now live many lifetimes in this one life. We do still have the choice of leaving the body and coming back again, but we may choose to live longer and ascend through this body. We do not have to physically die.

Humans have not had this choice before. The opportunity to progress has never been this clear. It has always been "finish your job and leave." And in the past we have created pain and devastating diseases as a means to get out of the body without having to make a choice, relying on disease to make the choice for us — not knowing that we had to make a decision.

There are many dying now from new diseases because they have not made a decision to seek ascension in a physical body.

If a person has an illness and decides that he or she wants to heal, then healing is possible. In fact, one could simply get out of bed and walk away. That is not impossible. It is called a miracle, and miracles do happen.

Julia: If we experience ascension in a physical body, then our care of and attitudes toward the body are very important. How important should taking care of the body become?

Joviel: Taking care of the body is important because if we are healthy we are able to focus our being more fully on the ascension process. It's difficult to move into new levels of consciousness if the body is in pain or is overweight or out of balance. It's difficult to do anything at all under these circumstances.

When our bodies are hurting, getting fatter or thinner, or not eliminating properly, or if the skin is not clear or the hair is falling out, these are indications that we are not in right order.

We can create what we want. So why not create a beautiful body? Why not exercise or walk and experience the beauty of the way that the world is changing.

We can change our bodies and raise our vibratory rate so that we resonate with the changes that are taking place in our reality. Why should we not experience all of this through our bodies?

Julia: Do you believe that there is a timeframe for the final ascension process?

Joviel: I don't think it's going to be the year 2012. I think that it has already started.

My information says that a portal was opened in 2001, and that the energy traveling through the portal actually collapsed the time frame for the final ascension.

A second portal was opened in 2002 and brought in a stronger understanding that we are ready to move into the next dimension (or dimensions).

Also, the dimensions are not as we have perceived them to be. In fact, even now we are living all dimensions at the same time. We are actually in the First, Second, Third, and Fourth dimensions simultaneously. But our reality does not linger in the lower dimensions, because we have integrated that energy into who we are.

The veil grows thinner and thinner as we become aware of the Self and how we fit within the realms of Self and Spirit. We are now ready to take on more knowingness and more understanding.

And beyond even the Fourth Dimension, many of us have started to see a vividness of color and form in Nature that actually indicates that we are in the Fifth Dimension.

Julia: What about people who are not ascending. Will they die when the new world comes into being?

Joviel: I think they will just be on a different level based upon the way that they see reality, which may be different from the way we see it. My belief is that, as we let go of our attachment to Third-Dimensional reality, we will just stop seeing the people who have decided to stay in the Third Dimension.

So part of the process of ascension is giving up our attachments to our way of constructing reality — the people and places that we think form our reality. We also need to give up our attachment to our "things." Things are good, but they aren't real. As we move forward, we will learn to let go of attachment to them.

It's also important not to be attached to the idea of what happens as we move into higher dimensions. It's easy to think that all of our problems will be solved through the ascension process into higher dimension, but this type of thinking can become a distraction.

It's like thinking that if you move to Hawaii in two months, all of your problems will be solved. Of course, you will just take your problems with you to Hawaii. And even as we move into higher dimensions, any distortions in our energy will move along with us.

Contemplating other dimensions and the future can be a distraction. We always yearn for what we can't have; we never yearn for the present. When we yearn, we leave the present — and I use that word in both of its meanings. There is a great gift that resides only in the moment.

Everyone feels excited whenever there is a cosmic change, like the Harmonic Concordance, for example. We think, "Now this will happen!" or "Now that will happen!" But the truth is always the same — it's not the energy that matters, but what we do with it in the moment.

The grass is never greener on the other side. The grass is at its greenest when we live in the present. Being present IS achieving ascension.

Julia: How do we move through the learning process that you mentioned while in embodiment?

Joviel: Let's use climbing a ladder as an analogy for ascension. Let's say that spiritual growth is the ladder we climb each day. This ladder contains rungs of learning and each one represents a dimension of knowing.

When we conquer what needs to be done on one level, we ascend to the next level. And this may take a long time or a short time. There are those who quickly experience and travel through all of the levels, while others remain for a longer time at each level.

Moving easily through the levels begins to happen when we stop trying to do that, when we realize that ascension is not about trying to go someplace else but is about developing our spirituality in this embodiment.

When we have completed the learning process, we reach the top of the ladder. Then we look down and see the things we have accomplished on this ladder (dimension) and other ladders (dimensions) that we have completed.

And now there is another ladder, another dimension! So we continue, because we will always seek spiritual growth and development.

But there also is "falling back," when we are climbing the ladder and our foot slips off the rung, and we find ourselves hanging there by our hands. Still, we are on our way. All we have to do is pull ourselves back up. And realize that we never fall back to the beginning. We are always going forward more than we are slipping. Eventually, we will ascend — but only to the next ladder.

Julia: You talked earlier about ascending each day. Could you expand on this idea, please?

Joviel: Yes. It is possible to live this process of ascension on a daily basis by making this day, today, the very best day ever. In doing this, we carry out our words and actions in the physical world in a way that is peaceful, loving, and compassionate. We do not ever see things in terms of loss. We are joyful.

Lived in this way, each day is a perfect day, a day of ascension. A perfect day, lived in this way, puts you on another rung of the ladder.

Julia: How important is our connection with the angels, the beloveds, throughout the ascension process? I know that the angels are supposed to be the connecting forces between our selves and God. How does this connection work through the ascension process?

Joviel: I feel it's important at this time to ask for guidance from our angels, our beloveds, and our inner teachers. If we don't ask, we may not be receiving the guidance that we need.

If we want to move more quickly through the ascension process, for example, then asking for help from our angels is a way of making this desire into an active choice. We can ask for guidance about anything. We can ask to hold a higher vibration, or the correct frequency for health or prosperity.

Why not ask and trust? It's a much easier way of moving through ascension, and it is many times more wonderful than trying to do it on our own.

Talking with God and the angels develops trust and discipline. I myself have to constantly remember to ask my angels for help, instead of trying to do all the work myself. Also, I have to remember to be grateful and thank them for all that they do. Most importantly, I have to learn to trust and act on the messages I receive.

Many people seem to be highly intuitive, and these people are receiving guidance from their angels or beloveds, but they are not actively seeking help, and there is a difference. We don't want to deny the presence of the higher beings in our affairs, or our need to tap into this presence.

There are thousands of angels just waiting for us to ask for their help. Why don't we ask? It's much easier, and everything proceeds more smoothly in life when we do.

Julia: Are there changes in our attitudes or emotions that we should become aware of as we move through the ascension process?

Joviel: We must conquer our anger, and we must learn to be careful of our thoughts. As long as we have not conquered our anger or our unthinking words, we are not ascending. It will take longer to leave if we are not within our divine knowing, or if we take actions that do not proceed from love.

We also need to move away from judgment, from the old habit of thinking that says things are either good or bad. Whenever we move into judgment, we are moving from the present into the past. We cannot have judgment of anything or anyone as either good or bad without this mental or emotional movement out of present time.

Judgment is a form of attachment derived from our past experiences, and we need to move away from attachment of all kinds. We cannot be centered when we are in judgment.

Also, even if judgment were a valid process, we would never have enough information to do it. For example, it is futile to judge someone based on this lifetime, yet we cannot possibly see the whole picture. How do we know what that person is supposed to be learning this lifetime? In our divine understanding, there can simply be no judgment.

And I do not believe that we are judged by a higher power, either. I believe that we are always in right order, regardless of our choices.

Julia: What is the ultimate goal of ascension?

Joviel: At some point, I believe we will ascend beyond this realm and out into the universe, into the Cosmos. We will not be on planet Earth. I think that is the ultimate goal — the true "going home."

But I don't think it makes sense for us to focus on leaving the Earth at this point. We cannot grasp that level of being. It's too far beyond our understanding.

As long as we are in form, I think we will be on this Earth.

Joviel Straw is a spiritual counselor, Reiki Master, and licensed and certified Flower of Life Facilitator who holds workshops wherever called, and is an ordained minister who serves through the Circle of Angels ministry.

He has been teaching various aspects of metaphysics for the past twenty years, including working with issues of prosperity, relationships, and stress relief through meditation. Also grounded in the Huna tradition, he has developed programs and taught courses in Huna.

Joviel is retired from the United States Air Force where he was a Special Agent in the Office of Special Investigations.

Joviel's spiritual pathway is devoted to inner peace and spiritual growth. He has been practicing the Mer-Ka-Ba meditation since 1996. He may be contacted by email at Joviel@hemc.net.