In this second installment of our examination of the Descent, I help define this reality by examining its opposite: the Ascent. This is not about picking one or the other since both are vital to life. However, we are taught from a young age that ascending is the path to a better life; work harder, more output, more effort, more knowledge, more stuff, and so it goes. After years of ascending, modern people are asking if there is anything more. They wonder where to find something meaningful, lasting and beautiful. This realization is our first entrance into the counterintuitive downward path.