A few weeks ago, a colleague posted the above picture on Facebook. It generated a thoughtful and insightful discussion of ladders. We talked about how the ladder is not just a place on which we ascend, but also a place on which sometimes we must descend. We each climb our spiritual ladder at our own pace. Rabbi Elimelech, a Hasidic mystic, taught that if a person wishes to rise higher in their spiritual journey, they must have mastered the character traits of their lower level. He taught that a wise person would first test the safety of the rungs of the ladder to ensure they are whole and intact, so that you could return to them at any point if need be. All too often, we focus on the ascension as positive and think of descending as negative. However, there are some very healthy reasons for returning to a lower rung on the ladder. For example, sometimes we just were not ready for the next rung. Sometimes we have something we need to let go of before we can move forward.