PURSUIT OF ASCENSION

digital painting, xerox transfer, watercolor, and oil paint 

Upon researching the iconography of Jacob’s Ladder from the Old Testament, I was intrigued by the astounding number of cross-cultural references I came across that similarly evoke the ideas associated with ascension. The structured medium for which multiple levels of consciousness are connected varies based on cultural interpretation from the physical representation of the Christian Stairway, the Norse World Tree Yggdrasil, and the Pagoda derived from the Buddhist Stupa. There are a number of cultural practices that historically utilize psychoactive compounds to reveal these various levels of consciousness to users including the Egyptian Blue Lotus and the Shamanistic use of the Caapi Vine and Viridis Shrub to make a trip inducing concoction known as Ayahuasca, all of which become iconic representations of the religious practice and a hallmark of the spiritual experience. These various representations defy cultural and geographical borders to serve a similar function at the fundamental level, reminding humans of a role in the universe to progress through the moral strife of the physical world for the purpose of attaining a higher level of consciousness and the ultimate liberation from the burdens of life achieved by the spirit.