The Mystical Ascent


As with the Divine Universes, we can speak of subplanes or levels here.  Their traversing constitutes the higher mystical and visionary ascent, quite different from the psychic-astral ascent.  It is concerning this mystical ascent that the Sufis are referring to when they meditate on the ascent of the Prophet Mohammed to Heaven, called the Mi`raj.  The Apostle Paul also refers to being "caught up to the Third Heaven".  Esoteric Judaic Kabbalah incorporates the earlier concept of Hekhalth or  Merkavah ("chariot") mysticism, which is here used to refer to the ascent of the Kabbalsist to teh Throne of God.  This is identified with the "archangelic" world of Beriah.

A more recent and quite detailed perspective occurs in the spiritual psychology of Sri Aurobindo.  In his book The Life Divine and elsewhere, Sri Aurobindo refers to psycho-spiritual stages of ascent beyond even the ordinary Enlightened or Liberated Mind, and transitional between ordinary (dualistic) mentality and the infinite Truth-Consciousness of the Manifest Absolute (what he calls the "Supermind").  These transitional stages are termed by him Higher Mind, the Illumined Mind, the Intuitive Mind, and the Overmind.  The latter is equivalent to what I have termed the Divine Ontocosm, whereas the Higher Mind would seem to pertain to the Lower part of the Noeric ontocosm.