Based on the provided source, this paradox is directly addressed through the understanding that you are "All-That-Is" across every single level (from the individual personality to the higher mind, soul, oversoul, and beyond). When the consciousness-advanced states and less-advanced states of the same being exist simultaneously alongside one another, the nature of who is "ascending" and why is explained through the following principles: - The Paradox of Self-Perspective: According to the source, you are an eternal, indestructible part of "All-That-Is" that has taken a deliberate decision to "forget who you are in order to rediscover who you are from a new perspective". You are not evolving into a new entity, but rather changing your perspective of where you are within the entirety of what you already are. - Who is Ascending? The process of pursuit and growth is not about a separate, lesser self attempting to reach a distant higher self. Rather, it is "consciousness fulfilling itself by knowing itself". As consciousness knows itself through individual experience, that knowledge changes it into a greater gestalt (a larger organized structure of awareness), which then continues to fulfill and know itself further. - The Purpose of the Pursuit: The source emphasizes that the journey of growth and the immersion in a physical 3D "reality generating process" exists to contribute a unique series of individual experiences that "All-That-Is" would not otherwise have had. By making the pursuit, the individual aspect enriches and augments creation, expanding the total self. - Realization of "I Am-ness": The movement through different states allows consciousness to become explicitly aware of itself as an independent, creator consciousness within the whole—experiencing itself as an active creator rather than a static existence. In essence, no external or separate entity is ascending. Instead, it is All-That-Is experiencing itself from a specific, localized focal point, continuously shifting its perspective to explore, know, and expand its own nature.