This ascending journey through life has, so to speak, its ascending and descending epochs, but they always point forwards, not backwards. These descending epochs are a vital necessity so that the being can experience higher epochs or cosmic spiral cycles later. For this reason the descending epochs, when the experience of life is viewed in its totality, are in reality to be regarded as ascending epochs. We can therefore describe the living beings' eternal experience of life or eternal life as an eternal spiritual ladder reaching upwards through an endless and limitless succession of heavens and paradises.