Ascended Master Serapis Bey, December 18, 2009 through Kim Michaels.

Indeed, there are many who have taken on an impure and unrealistic image of what it means to ascend—being so focused on a secret ritual in some elaborate temple. Being so focused on the pomp and circumstance, supposedly, of the ascension process, that they raise their eyes to the sky and yet fail to see, that the ascension is a process. And as Saint Paul said, “I die daily,” so I, Serapis, say, “I ascend daily.” And you, in order to enter the ascension spiral, must also say, “I ascend daily.” But of course it is not enough to just say it. You must live it. You must be it. You must indeed be willing to daily accelerate your sense of self by doing what we might call the “nitty-gritty,” the not-so-glamorous tasks that are part of the ascension spiral.

For you see, there are indeed many students of the ascended masters who have read various descriptions of the advanced initiations that take place in the pyramid or at the Temple of Luxor or in other etheric temples. And they envision in their minds, that in order to make their ascension, they have to somehow travel in their finer bodies to one of these temples, where they are clearly identified as adepts, as advanced students, and they are surrounded by advanced masters and they are going through these advanced rituals, that could not take place of earth. And I AM, of course, not denying that at the very later stages of the ascension process, there are such rituals.

Yet what you need to recognize is simply this: How do you get to the advanced stages of the ascension spiral? Well, how do you get to the top step on a spiral staircase? By first walking on to the bottom step—and then continuing to take one step at a time until you reach the top step. It may seem more glorious to take that final step, but is it any more important than taking each of the other steps that led to that final step?

My point therefore is this: If you are so focused on the advanced stages of the ascension, you will see no connection between those advanced initiations and your daily life. And if you see no connection between your daily life and the final stages of the ascension, then how can you ascend daily? How can your daily life become one more step in the ascension spiral?

Instead, what will happen is that there will be a gap in your vision, your consciousness, between your daily life, your daily state of consciousness, and the advanced stages of the ascension process. And then you will be susceptible to the false promise, that comes in so many disguises: that by being a member of an outer organization – and that by giving certain decrees and rituals and rosaries and by studying certain teachings and by doing this and doing that – you will somehow automatically qualify for your ascension. You will somehow automatically make the leap from where you are at in consciousness on earth to the advanced stages of the ascension process. It is as if you think, that there is some kind of magic, some kind of accelerator chair, that will raise up anyone who sits in it, so you can bridge the gap.

Where does your ascension spiral begin?

Are you aware – as all of you are aware, I am sure – that scientists have for decades been searching for the missing link between ape and man in the evolutionary chain? Well, I can tell you that there are many, many students of occult wisdom, so to speak, who have been searching for lifetimes for the missing link between their current state of consciousness and whatever advanced stage of consciousness they see as their goal. Why is it that people cannot find that missing link, cannot bridge the gap? Because they are not willing to look at their present stage of consciousness, their present life circumstances, and realize that right here – right where I am right now – this is the only place that my personal ascension spiral can begin.

And when does your personal ascension spiral begin? It begins when you consciously decide, that you will approach everything you encounter in your daily life as an opportunity to rise one step higher towards your ascension. Do you see the essential shift in consciousness that I am asking for? You cannot simply be a member of an outer organization, or perform outer rituals of any kind, and expect that this will automatically take you into the ascension spiral. You must follow the eternal, universal call of Christ, to look first at the beam in your own eye. This is the absolute requirement. For think about it logically. The ascension process is a process whereby you – as an individual lifestream – accelerate your being, your aura, your consciousness, your mind – whatever you want to call it – but that which makes up your individual lifestream has to be accelerated beyond the vibrations of earth.

The ascension is not a group effort. Although, certainly, one can say that groups of lifestreams, even humanity as a whole, can be engaged in an ascending spiral. Nevertheless, you do not walk through the pearly gates to the ascended state as a group, where someone of lesser attainment can somehow slump along with the rest of the group, for they make up what is lacking in a particular individual. The ascension process is an entirely individual process. It is also a process where you cannot hide behind anything—and you cannot hide anything. And therefore, when you look at this logically, you will see, that before you can truly enter the ascension spiral, you must overcome one of the primary illusions and desires of the human ego, namely that what you can hide from other people can also be hidden from God and the ascended masters.

I AM Serapis Bey. I AM an ascended Being. I AM the chohan of the Fourth Ray of Purity. Do you think, that you can hide any form of impurity from me? Do you think you can sneak into my temple at Luxor, the Ascension Temple itself, while hiding some aspect of human momentum, some aspect of the duality consciousness, some epic or personal drama? Do you think I will not see this, when you apply to enter? For if you do, I can assure you, that you will never close the gap between your daily life and the ascension spiral.

This is an excerpt from a longer teaching. You can read the full dictation HERE.