Ascension

"When the mind is enlightened, the spirit is freed, and the body matters not."

- Oma Desala

Ascension is a process that allows beings to be able to separate from their physical bodies and to live eternally as pure energy in a superior plane with total knowledge and power. It can be a mental, spiritual or evolutionary process—a direct result of obtaining a certain level of wisdom and knowledge as a civilization.

The concept was first introduced in the episode "Maternal Instinct" in the third season of Stargate SG-1, but later became one of the central subjects of the series, particularly Stargate Atlantis. It is the center of the explorations of both series in a spiritual–moral duality, being a quite unique philosophical subject by comparison to science fiction.

One of the main things which Stargate tries to explain are real world phenomena and religions. In the past, the foreign race known as the "Alterans" were first in discovering and studying Ascension, and as a consequence ascended thousands of years ago.

Methods of Ascension
According to research by Doctor Rodney McKay, once the brain achieves 90% synaptic activity, they must achieve an EEG of 0.1 to 0.9 hertz, during which they will learn how to convert their body into energy. If they do not achieve ascension before 96% synaptic activity is achieved, the lower functions of the brain will shut down. Ascension can happen in two ways: spiritually or evolutionarily. Both cases, the physical body of a mortal being will become energy (leaving a heap of empty clothes), and a glowing light being will raise up through the ceiling. From then on the ascended being tends to take the form of the glowing light being.

Spiritual Ascension
A being previously or currently Ascended can help a mortal Ascend. The Ancient Oma Desala, found in Earth myths of Mother Nature, helped to Ascend many beings of this form, most significantly Daniel Jackson. In this case, a being does not need to be morally good in the first place, although most Ascended beings would never promote a morally bad person. This happened to Anubis when Oma Ascended him and later realized what a horrible mistake it was.

Evolutionary Ascension
Ascension can also be a physical process, because, essentially, Ascended beings are still "strictly physical". A human who has the ability to use approximately 90% of his cerebral capacity can learn to Ascend without much problem, gaining more and more power as a mortal (including telekenisis) until he reaches this point. This related to the myth of which the people only use 10% of their brains, but some have explained that only 10% of the neurons are used at any one time (on an average day we use 95% of our brains—just not at the same time). Again, this form of Ascension does not require the being to be good of heart.

Some of the Ancients that Ascended naturally reached this point without the aid of technology; nevertheless, they also developed the DNA resequencer, a device able to make humans so advanced that they could obtain abilities like telekinesis, telepathy, treatment, and more (See above), and another device to ascend people within a matter of days.

Planes of Existence
According to what Daniel was told by Anubis/Jim, "There are many planes of existence between human existence and ascension." When one exists in any of these planes beyond the corporeal, he is referred to as an Ascended Being because he has "ascended" to a higher plane as a form of intelligent energy.

It appears that the various planes of existence not only dictate the powers an Ascended Being has, but also his level of understanding the universe, or his degree of "enlightenment". The higher level of ascension at which a being exists, the more power, knowledge, and understanding of the universe he possesses. When Daniel Jackson was helped to ascend by Oma Desala, he was only exposed to certain knowledge and understanding that Oma gave him. He told Jack that all he knew was what Oma told him. She educated him at the "beginning of the journey" until he had managed to acquire all of the knowledge and power that an Ascended Being at Oma's level could have. Oma had the power to take that knowledge away, but chose instead to bury it along with his memories into his subconscious mind upon returning him to human form. Daniel, during the early days of his ascension, told Jack, "I see things, I understand things, in a way I never could have before." Near the end of Daniel's year of ascension, he still did not know everything because he constantly insisted, "All I know is what Oma has taught me. Ascension doesn't make you all knowing or all powerful. It is just the beginning of the journey." This journey was Daniel's Path to Enlightenment, the one on the road to the Great Path, which is most likely the ultimate level of ascension a being can reach. This ultimate level, however, Daniel has implied can never get a being to the level of being omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, but is something that Ascended Beings still endeavor to achieve. Col. Mitchell stated it this way, "Look, just because we know there is some beings on a higher plane of existence than ourselves does not mean there's not an order of being higher than them."

How far up the planes of existence Daniel reached during his first ascension remains unanswered, but he demonstrated limited capabilities and knowledge during that period. The true extent of his powers were never revealed due to interference from the Others. During his second ascension, however, he was brought into one of the lowest planes of existence where he was self-aware, but did not possess any extraordinary powers or become any further enlightened. Oma described this low level as a "stop along the way" to ascension where Daniel could make the choice as to whether or not he'd like to give ascension another chance but be forbidden from interacting in the corporeal plane or end his life because his body was already dead. Daniel rephrased this choice as to "contemplate my own enlightenment."

Anubis reached a high plane of existence when he tricked Oma into helping him to ascend. Although Anubis held a high degree of enlightenment as to what ascension was, his soul was not pure. The fact that Oma could be deceived proves that ascension doesn't make one all-knowing, just as Daniel said. The Others sent Anubis down a few planes of existence, what Daniel described as "stuck somewhere between human existence and ascension." Anubis was still left as a being of energy, but his powers were limited. The Others instructed him that he could only use the knowledge and power he would normally gain as a regular Goa'uld, and Anubis amazingly followed that rule without waver. He gained eternal life through ascension, but now this eternal life is being spent in a never-ending fight with Oma. Oma engaged him in this fight in order to prevent him from destroying all life in the Milky Way Galaxy and to take responsibility for breaking the rule, "No lone ascended being shall help a lower ascend."

When the original Ancients, the Altera, were forced to flee their home galaxy for fear of their lives because of philosophical differences between them and the others of their society known as the Ori, they were on the evolutionary path toward ascension. The Ori, like the Altera, eventually ascended after this separation. The Ori's galaxy is home to a second evolution of humanity, just as the Milky Way Galaxy is. When Daniel met the Ori through a psychic link with one of these humans, he found out that the Ori claimed that they were humanity's creators. It is possible that the Ori did in fact create humanity in their home galaxy through the use of technology similar to what the Ancients used in the Milky Way Galaxy after life was nearly wiped out by the plague that occurred five to ten million years ago. Anubis/Jim told Daniel that the Ancients used the advanced device on the planet Dakara to reseed life in the galaxy after the plague "some million odd years" ago. The circumstances of the Ori's re-creation of humanity in their home galaxy is not known, but Daniel assumed that this occurred after all of the Ori had ascended. The Ori manifest themselves in a wall of fire near the temple in the City of the Gods on the Plains of Celestis.

The Ori created a religion with which to interact and manipulate the second evolution of man in their home galaxy. This religion, called Origin, forced a human to relinquish his free will to the Ori with the promise of ascension. The Ori were manipulating humanity because they actually gained power through man's worship, but were not intending to share that power with their worshippers, so the promise of ascension was a lie. It is hardly a simple thing, but the interrelationships of all living things in the universe is illustrated in this dependence amongst the planes of existence. The Ascended Altera kept the existence of humanity in the Milky Way Galaxy a secret from the Ori because they feared that the Ori would become too powerful and disturb the balance in their planes of existence. Additionally, they feared that they themselves could become corrupted by the temptation of this power in order to achieve higher levels of enlightenment. Because of this fear, the Ascended Altera established their non-interference policy. They were not certain what the outcome would be if they were to directly confront the Ori, so they decided that the best way to achieve the balance was through the actions of those opposing the Ori in the lowest plane of existence, the corporeal plane. For their part, this work included permitting one of their own to sacrifice his ascension and the chance at further enlightenment to retake human form to help humanity any way he could. Daniel had decided this was the course of action he was willing to take by retaking human form from both his times as an Ascended Being, but his advanced knowledge was not accessible to him. Orlin was given the opportunity to keep some of his advanced knowledge as a human, but that knowledge was not permanent and was life-threatening because the human brain is not physically designed to harbor or use such knowledge. Any of the Ascended Beings who have selected to return to human form are aware that their trip is most likely one-way and that they will not be able to ascend again.

The Higher Planes
The superior plane of existence in which the Ascended reside is inhabited by several different Ascended races, but mostly just the Ancients and the Ori. These two foreign races are in fact of the same species, that is to say, "the first evolution" of humans (Alterans), but they differ due to their opposite beliefs and method of Ascension.

The ascended plane of existence seems to have several "levels" and "ranks", evident because some Ascended beings must have more abilities than others. Those that have been Ascended for a long time, or who Ascended of their own wisdom, obtain a "higher Ascension"; Daniel Jackson, who is Ascended by Oma Desala, is never able to do much.

The Atlantis expedition stumbled upon a being that was being studied by the ancients for the purpose of learning how to ascend. This creature seemed to be on a level of existence close to that of Anubis because it's physical form was that of a large, nebulous black cloud. This creature is the only evidence that beings on a higher plane of existence does not necessitate greater intelligence since this creature seemed only capable of the most basic reasoning.

Rules
The rules of the Ascended are that one cannot interfere in the mortal affairs, a rule that is sometimes broken, causing the one who broke the rule to be De-Ascended (sometimes called Descension) (and normally returned his material form—albeit, naked) by a superior being or to receive some other form of punishment by the other Ascended beings ("The Others"); often, this punishment hurts the mortal world instead of the responsible being, so as to show the transgressor the effects of his actions.

Abilities
Infinite Understanding: Ascension is described as having "all the knowledge and power of the universe", which is essentially an infinite knowledge (and, possibly, power). However, while ascended, Daniel Jackson stated that Ascension "doesn't make one all-knowing" rather the individual's ability to learn is infinitely increased. This can be done because there are no neurons required to store memory for ascended beings. RepliCarter tried to download the Ascended knowledge from Daniel Jackson's subconscious mind, but found that there wasn't enough memory in the entire Replicator army to hold it. RepliCarter claimed that she and her brethren just needed time to process the information, but Daniel argued that the knowledge was more than information, being also understanding on a level that she could never reach due to her machine status.

Powers
The Ascended plane offers many powers to its inhabitants. Ascended beings have been seen to be capable of miraculous things. Some of these powers include but aren't limited to:

Spectral Form: The ability to shape their form to appear human and communicate in that manner, but their manifestation remains intangible. Because of this, they can pass through solid objects and solid objects can pass through them. Energy weapon blasts also pass through them when they are in this state.

Tangible Form: The ability to take solid form and return to Spectral form at any time.

Unseen Presence: The ability to remain invisible and influence thoughts of those in the corporeal plane.

Ascension/Deacension: The ability retake human form and then ascend again at will. It is not necessary for the body to die to ascend.

Deacension (w/ Knowledge retention): The ability to retake human form with some of the knowledge and power of an ascended being. However, the human mind was not meant to contain the amount of information an ascended being possesses, which would damage and mentally degrade the mind after a short period of time if too much was retained, allthough a small amount will cause no harm. The mind of a child can easily contain ascended knowledge for far longer then an adult. Some ancients like Merlin limited the knowledge when they deascended to just what they needed so as to not damage them in any way. Ascended beings can also place themselves in a state directly underneath ascension during their deascension to gain powers such as telekenisis and healing.

Nature Control: Ascended beings can control nature, such as lighting fires, levitate objects, make the wind blow, toss lightning, control electrical devices, and harness devastating energy.

Space Flight: The ability to travel through space without the use of a Stargate.

Share Essence: Ascended beings can share their essence with humans, which is physically pleasant to the human.

Evolve: Ascended beings can advance humans and Jaffa (who were originally human) in their evolution and give them some of the powers of the ascended, or ascend them.

Energy Form: Ascended beings can manifest themselves in a bright, shape-changing, form of energy.

Destructive Energy Form: The ability to shape their form into destructive beams of energy that destroy anything that comes into contact with them, including space ships, regardless of their shields or strength.

Matter Materialization: They can appear solid and create solid objects, such as balls, tents, a temple, a pyramid, and a Stargate, with all of them fully working.

Sensory Manipulation: Ascended beings can select who hears and sees them in their manifestations.

Group Manifestation: Most ascended beings manifest themselves in a group. The Others typically do this as a storm cloud, while the Ori do this as a wall of fire. Possession: The Ascended can take a human as a host with or without that human's awareness.

Telepathy: The Ascended can read the minds of humans.

Resurrection/Smite: An ascended being can resurrect or kill a human.

Advanced Conception: Ascended beings have the ability to impregnate a human woman with a genetically-altered, and therefore advanced, human offspring who inherits some of the powers and knowledge of the Ascended. While the knowledge this offspring possesses is no doubt vast, it is somewhat limited due to their half-human physiology.

They also have power over other beings like themselves:
 * The Others placed Anubis in a lower plane of existence after Oma ascended him.
 * Anubis clearly believed that Daniel could destroy him as Daniel was about to use his energy powers against him.
 * Oma pulled Daniel out of his confrontation with Anubis before The Others got a hold of him and did something more drastic to him.
 * The Others stipulated that Daniel's memories be erased when he decided to return to human form. Oma, however, buried his memories instead and sent him to Vis Uban where he was discovered by his friends, taken home, and regained his memories. Oma buried the infinite knowledge of the Ancients in his subconscious mind instead of erasing that as well. This knowledge was discovered by Replicator Carter and Daniel used it in his fight against her and her brethren.
 * Oma has engaged Anubis in an eternal struggle to prevent him from taking further action against the corporeal plane.
 * The Others hid the existence of humanity in the Milky Way Galaxy from the Ori.
 * The Others pulled Morgan Le Fay out of a conversation she was having with Daniel while he was conducting research in Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy.

With all of these great powers, Ascended Beings might appear to be invincible. Ascended beings have been known to destroy each other. As mentioned above, when Daniel Jackson was an Ascended Being, he gathered powerful energy orbs to direct at Anubis (Destructive energy form,) and Anubis clearly believed that Daniel was about to destroy him. Replicator Carter was under the impression that Daniel was about to destroy Anubis when she unburied his memories of the encounter. After Replicator Carter killed Daniel, Oma saved him to offer him another chance at ascension, and Daniel was given the chance to ask why Oma had kept him from killing Anubis (he used the words, "Can you tell me why you stopped me from killing Anubis the last time I was ascended?"). Oma's answer left the impression that Daniel would have succeeded in destroying Anubis if she had not stopped him, as Daniel was fully ascended and Anubis was on a lower plane and only had the power of possession.

The possibility of overpowering an Ascended Being led SG-1 to search for a weapon developed by Merlin, a former Ascended Being who feared the Ori and knew that The Others wouldn't directly confront them in their plane of existence. The Others claimed that they don't know what the true outcome would have been if they were to have confronted the Ori directly, but concluded that it could have been very detrimental to all planes of existence. Based on Merlin's notes, the weapon, called the Sangreal, didn't actually destroy Ascended Beings, but channeled energy from subspace to interfere with the energy form of the Ascended in their dimension (plane of existence). Daniel stated, "Well, technically, Merlin's research didn't refer to killing. A better translation would be 'neutralizing' or 'canceling out'." In later conversations concerning the operation of Merlin's weapon, however, the effect of the device was equated with killing the Ascended Beings in the scope of the galaxy wherein the Sangreal was detonated. SG-1 found Merlin, built another weapon, and sent that weapon through the Ori's Supergate to their home galaxy onboard one of their warships. The actual success of this attack was not immediately known, however it was later found to have worked.

It should be noted that one can only construct the device with knowledge of the Ascended either because they were once ascended themselves and retained the specifics of building the device or because they were given the knowledge by someone who was. No amount of pure reasearch can create the device.

Limitations of the Ascended
In the episode "Arthur's Mantle", Daniel Jackson deciphered the writings left by the Ancient Myrrdin that correspond to the Arthurian legend of Merlin. He was an Ascended Ancient who was investigating how to defeat the Ori, but the Others wanted him to stop. In order to continue without their knowledge, he de-ascended himself again to be human, and continued his investigation in an alternate dimension where Ascended beings could not see (showing again that they are limited and physical beings).

Merlin created a weapon that could 'neutralize' an Ascended being. This weapon in itself turns out to correspond to the myths of the Sangraal (Holy Grail). This has opened many more possibilities to defeat to the Ori, and also it suggests much on the nature of an Ascended being—Ascension does not make you a god; it merely enhances your ability. Until this episode, nevertheless, all ascended beings thought that they were immortal and invincible. Allthouh as mentioned the device can only be created by a former ascended being who retains the specific knowledge needed to build it.

Reasons to Ascend
The Ancients in the Milky Way and the Pegasus Galaxy had different reasons to Ascend. In the Milky Way, the Ancients were knocked down by a plague that they, with all their technological advances, could not cure; the only way they could avoid death was to Ascend. In the Pegasus Galaxy, they were at war with the Wraith. Once they began to lose the war, many were forced to Ascend to prevent capture. Those that did not Ascend died or escaped through the Stargate to the Milky Way.

In general, Ascension can be used as large-scale ways of escape. In the episode "Abyss", Jack O'Neill is captured by Ba'al, and Daniel Jackson tried to persuade him to Ascend, as it was his only form of escape (at the time).

Cosmically, Ascension seems to be the final goal of all life; at least, this one is the idea that is beginning to be considered in the Milky Way. The Free Jaffa Nation attemped to unite with the Ori in its search for Ascension.

Introduction of Ascension
The first appearance of what would later be known as Ascension was in "Maternal Instinct" in which SG-1 arrives at Kheb, a legendary planet where they find the Harcesis. There, where they first find a Buddhist monk in the temple not responding to interrogation, and ignoring its speech by quoting Zen, Daniel Jackson, the linguist, theologian, and archaeologist of the team, decides to sit with the monk and to learn about Oma Desala, a.k.a. Mother Nature. He learns how the monk can stoke a fire with his mind, and Daniel imitates this effect.

When the Goa'uld find the temple they kill the monk, who disappears (he Ascends). In the sky a storm develops and Daniel, understanding what is, says to SG-1 that they lower their weapons. When they do it, a ray strikes the weapons of the Jaffa. The storm disappears, and a shining being takes them to the Harcesis and leaves through the Stargate.

In another episode Samantha Carter meets Orlin, an Ascended being who fell in love with her. Orlin was punished for making a weapon for a foreign race that was under attack. They defeated the enemy, and then turned on each other. It serves like an example that even the Ascended can commit errors. Another transgressor is Athar, an Ancient in the Pegasus Galaxy. She used his powers to defend Proculus in the Pegasus Galaxy. She was punished in a similar way, protecting Proculus forever without being able to offer aid to anybody else.

Daniel Jackson, after ascending, becomes mortal again after failing to fulfill the non-interference rule by trying to destroy Anubis. Anubis is "half-ascended", more mortal but less powerful than a totally Ascended being. Anubis was in this state to punish Oma Desala for helping him to Ascend.

Orlin de-ascended himself so he could be with Samantha Carter, but retained a great knowledge of technology (the knowledge of Ancients). The opportunity opened to him to re-ascend at some point in time, because he de-ascends again to use the knowledge of the Ancients to help Sam to cure an Ori plague on Earth.

Known Ascended

 * Adria (Presumed destroyed)
 * Anubis (Partially-Ascended, engaged in eternal battle with Oma Desala)
 * Chaya Sar
 * Daniel Jackson (De-Ascended)
 * Ganos Lal/Morgan le Fay (Presumed being punished for destroying Adria)
 * Moros/Merlin/Myrddin (De-Ascended)
 * Oma Desala (Engaged in eternal battle with Anubis)
 * Ori (Destroyed by the Sangraal)
 * Orlin (De-Ascended)
 * The Others
 * The Residents of Abydos
 * Kasuf
 * Skaara
 * Shifu