The Valley of Humiliation does not appear to be a real place. It is a mental condition, as well as a heart and soul trait. What one brings to it is reflected in it. In the Valley of Humiliation, Bunyan expresses it thus way in a song by a shepherd boy: "He who is down needs dread not to fall." This valley is one that every human being must travel through if they wish to reach spiritual maturity. It is a painful journey because we all possess sin nature which wants to cause us harm (physically and spiritually). The more we try to avoid this pain by staying on the safe path but still struggling with sin nature, the more we will suffer. Only when we realize that we need help from outside ourselves can we hope to overcome our sins and reach salvation. People are either born into the Valley of Humiliation or they enter it by their own choice. Those who are born into it seem to have no control over their actions; they are powerless to stop themselves from harming others and themselves. Those who enter the Valley of Humiliation do so because they want to escape from it. They realize that they need help from outside themselves to overcome their sins. Sometimes people enter prison with no chance of ever leaving. But even though they cannot leave the valley behind them, they can start working on changing their destiny by following God's call in their lives.