The seventh heaven

You have often heard, or perhaps even said yourself:

Today I am in seventh heaven!

But have you ever wondered what it means?
In an ancient religious interpretation, it is the celestial vault, the seat of the divinity, consisted of nine concentric material spheres, with the Earth at their center. The first seven took their name from the planets then known (the Moon, considered a planet, was the First sky) and were those that could be reached by humans who wished to contemplate God. The eighth and ninth, on the other hand, were considered to be an unattainable stage for humans.

Therefore, the expression “Being in seventh heaven” has always taken on the meaning of a maximum state of joy, of attainable bliss, the maximum of happiness in all senses.
In some spiritual readings, what the ancient astronomers interpreted as celestial spheres are instead different stages of the perception of reality and the shift from one sky to another represents our evolutionary passage, that is, the growth of our perception in every age.

The spiritual skies

In these interpretations, the First Heaven is reached when the human being perceives himself as an individual. It represents the moment in which we say and think “I am, I want, I know, I say, etc.”. The “I” in this case is a self-affirmation, not an act of selfishness, and also indicates assumption of responsibility.
The Second Heaven is what we see when we feel part of a group of people, and we think and perceive what these people think and perceive (a people, a religion, a community of any kind …). At this stage, the “we” is the most important thing of all.
The Third Heaven is what a person sees when he begins to realize that there is something bigger inside him and that all his potential is not yet known.
The Fourth Heaven is when what a person does not know about himself joins what another does not know about himself. This happens in great loves, in great passions and when people share the same ideal.
The Fifth Heaven is that of our clearest inner dimension. It is when we feel that inside and outside of us there is a mysterious world, bigger not only of our “I” but of everything we know, which manifests itself independently of our understanding and almost satisfies our expectations.
The Sixth Heaven is when you meet someone else who has begun to make this same discovery and you can exchange your experience with them, which allows you to achieve even greater happiness.

The even/odd game

In odd skies, according to this reading, we have the opportunity to discover our subtle essence and in even skies, we can learn to use our language better to understand that we are a part of something greater, together with others. According to this interpretation, it is necessary to cross all the heavens, understanding its messages and overcoming them.
In fact, the seventh heaven is the goal: we reach it when we learn to consider the previous six all together, as if they were six roads that all cross at the same point.
In Damanhur we speak of spiritual quests as steps of the spiritual journey of everyone. The quests indicated by Falco Tarassaco are eight, and the last one indicates to review all the previous seven steps, with a new spirit deriving from having finished the route for the first time. The analogies with the Seven heavens are evident. As we often say, spirituality is an experience that winds through different traditions.

Returning to the Seven heavens: And you? In which of them do you currently recognize yourself?