The notion, heard almost universally in integrally informed communities, that human development is captured by a “transcend and include” dynamic hides an important aspect of development. I will argue that all development necessarily occludes (or excludes) as much as it includes, which establishes a more robust ground for understanding human shadow and the need for the recovery and integration of lost aspects of human potential. A clearer differentiation of this “descending” arc of human psycho-spiritual development from the “ascending” movements of increased complexity illuminates several conundrums in our developmental models. It gives a deeper critique of the pitfalls of goals for ascending a vertical development “ladder,” and questions whether processes involved in spiritual development should be located at the “top” or “bottom” of the cognitive developmental “stack.”