I recently read an interview of a mountain climber about her ascent of Mount Everest. What caught my attention was her statement that sometimes we have to go backwards in order to make progress. As I am unfamiliar with high altitude climbing, this struck me as counter-intuitive. Given that mountains are frequently used in Scripture in connection with the spiritual life, it also gave me something to ponder.
It turns out that mountain climbing above a certain altitude is very dangerous for human beings due to the lack of oxygen. There is a certain amount of adjustment required to this kind of altitude in order simply to survive.
The ascent of Mount Everest apparently starts with a ten-day hike just to get to base camp. Once there, a pause of several days is required to adjust to the altitude. After that adjustment period, you pack up and climb up to camp one. Camp one is over 20,000 feet. You spend one night there. The next day, you pack up and return to base camp for several days of rest and continued adjustment.
The next phase is to again climb up to camp one and spend the night. This time, you pack up and climb up to camp two. After spending the night there, you pack up and go back down to base camp. Again, you spend several days there.
The next phase begins again with a climb to camp one and night there. Day two is climb to camp two and spend the night. On day three, you spend 9 to 10 hours climbing to camp three. Camp three is almost 24,000 feet. The next day, you go all the way back to base camp again.
This process is called acclimatization. It is a balance of becoming acclimated to the dangerous high altitude against the toll that the high altitude takes on your body. Without acclimatization, however, a person would die in a matter of minutes if they were simply dropped off at the top of Mount Everest.
The climber made the observation that most of us feel that progress has to happen in one particular direction. High altitude mountain climbing is one example where that is not the case. Even though you seem to be going backwards, you are still making progress. “Sometimes you have to go backwards in order to eventually get where you want to be.”
One spiritual truth that we see reflected here in the natural world is that one must become acclimated to the presence of God and the Holy Spirit. One cannot simply come into God's presence in His fullness. This is something that we grow into. If our spirit is not prepared for this type of encounter with the presence of God, we can experience it with negativity.1 This is true even though we are encountering God who is all good.
We see this in the Transfiguration.2 Jesus brought Peter, James and John up the mountain to pray and was transfigured before them. Jesus’ “face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.” A voice from the clouds said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the three of them heard this, “they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe.” The Gospel of Mark recounts that Peter “did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid.”3
These three disciples, who lived and worked with Jesus full time and had ascended the mountain with Jesus, experienced fear when they encountered the glory of God and heard His voice for a brief moment. Jesus took them back down the mountain, using this powerful spiritual experience to fortify the disciples for His approaching Passion and death. It was not until after the death and resurrection of Jesus that these men were prepared to receive the fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
For us, the three ages of the spiritual life can be a cyclical process of seeming to go backwards in order to get where we want to be.4 For example, the entry into the passive purification of the senses as one starts to leave the purgative way seems like moving backwards spiritually. Prayer was formerly easy and inspiring. Now it seems dry and lifeless. The desire for God remains, but meditation seems impossible.
Even though it feels at this stage like one has fallen from the heights of the spiritual life, this is only one of many steps “backwards” in our spiritual journey that are actually forward progress. One must remain faithful to daily prayer even if it seems like torture. Those who persevere will undergo the purification necessary to move closer to union with God and will grow spiritually. This turns out to be true throughout the spiritual journey, not just at one stage of the process.
Just like climbing Mount Everest, to win as a Christian—to successfully reach the summit of the mountain of God—one must not quit when it feels like one’s spiritual life is going backwards.5 Perseverance is critical. We find support for this in Scripture. Jesus told us, “He who endures to the end will be saved.”6
The devil, knowing this, constantly uses discouragement to try to get us to stop praying. Satan tries to convince us that we are constantly going backwards in our spiritual life. He sows seeds of doubt into our trust in God.7 We still hear the voice of the serpent today, whispering: “Did God really say that to you?”
As we enter Passiontide,8 let us continue to press forward in daily prayer. Let us firmly reject the voice of the enemy, who insinuates with his lies that God does not love us or that we are only going backwards spiritually. Each day we must turn our hearts back towards God in prayer, no matter how we feel. It is in prayer that the love of God ministers to us and prepares us to move to higher altitudes.
The cross looked like a loss, but it turned out to be the victory. We may think that we are losing or moving backwards, but as long as we persevere in following Jesus there will be a resurrection. Do not be discouraged if it seems you have to go backwards in order to eventually get where you want to be. May St. Paul’s words encourage you to continue to press forward as Christ Jesus has made you his own too.
Pressing toward the Goal
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.9
Eric A. Welter is an employment lawyer and trial attorney with a long-time devotion to intercessory prayer. He is a Catholic Christian who has been involved with intercessory and healing prayer ministry for over twenty years. The Abound in Hope Ministry website is https://www.aboundinhope.org/ministry.
This is something I discussed last year in Faith not Feelings.
Matthew 17:1-13. Bible quotations are from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, unless otherwise noted.
I previously wrote an eight-part series on “A Journey Through the Spiritual Life,” which describes the traditional three ages of the Christian’s spiritual life. Part 4, in particular, describes the transition from the purgative way into the illuminative way and the passive purification of the senses.
I recently heard a presentation at the Arlington Diocese Men’s Conference that touched on this theme.
Matthew 24:13. I wrote about the power tool of persistence in the last chapter of Effective Intercession for Our Loved Ones.
This was the first temptation of humanity: The serpent said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:1.
The final two weeks of Lent in the traditional Church calendar.
The analogy between the physical challenge & adjustments required to climb the highest & possibly the most difficult mountain in the world and one's personal spiritual development throughout temporal life, resonates well with masculine men in their twenties, i.e. my five sons. Thank you for this gift.