The Inner Ascent

Throughout history and in many cultures, humans have looked to the Divine.

Just as the Pharoahs of ancient Egypt visualised themselves ascending the steps of the pyramids, so later civilisations imagined the use of stairways, ladders, gates, rooms and other representations of an ascent to the Divine.

This book examines these ascents in the ancient world, in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions, in Renaissance and early modern Europe, and in the yogic traditions of India.

 The book contains many illustrations from manuscripts and books.


Available in paperback

Isaac the Syrian

Isaac the Syrian (also known as Isaac of Ninevah) lived in the 7th century CE as a Christian ascetic and monk, of the Assyrian Church of the East, and is regarded as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Born in what is now Qatar on the western shore of the Persian Gulf, Isaac became a monk, before briefly serving as the bishop of Ninevah, in Assyria. He then departed south for ascetic life, living for many years as an anchorite on Mount Matout.

He ended his days as a monk in the monastery of Rabban Shabur, where his reflections on inner spirituality were written down by his fellow monks.

Be at peace with your own soul
then heaven and earth will be at peace with you.

Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you,
and you will see the things that are in heaven,
for there is but one single entry to them both.

The ladder that leads to the Kingdom
is hidden within your soul...

Dive into yourself and in your soul you will discover the stairs by which to ascend.


Bibliography
The Ascetical Homilies of St Isaac the Syrian, translated by D.Miller (Boston, Mass, 1984; rev. ed., 2011)
Mystic treatises by Isaac of Nineveh, translated by A.J.Wensinck (Amsterdam: Koninklijke akademie van wetenschappen, 1923; reprinted 1969)
Hilarion Alfeyev, The spiritual world of Isaac the Syrian (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000)
Sebastian P. Brock, St.Isaac of Nineveh [2012]
Sebastian P.Brock, The wisdom of St.Isaac of Nineveh (Kottayam, 1995; Oxford: Fairacres Publications, 1997; Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2006)
Patrik Hagman, The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010)

from Saints, Sufis and Yogis, 3rd ed, v2

Chandogya Upanishad

This text is one of the older, ‘primary’ upanishads, and includes an early expression of the subtle system in the yogi:

As a very long highway goes to two places, to one at the beginning, and to another at the end, so do the rays of the sun go to both words, to this one and to the other. They start from the sun, and enter into these arteries; they start from those arteries, and enter into the sun.

And when a man is asleep, reposing, and at perfect rest, so that he sees no dream, then he has entered into those arteries. Then no evil touches him, for he has obtained the light.

When he departs from this body, then he departs upwards by those very rays; or he goes out while meditating on Om. And while his mind is failing, he is going to the sun. For the sun is the door of the world [of Brahman]. Those who know, walk in: those who do not know, are shut out. There is this verse: ‘There are a hundred and one arteries of the heart; one of them penetrates the crown of the head; moving upwards by it a man reaches the immortal; the others serve for departing in different directions.’

A poem

I looked up at the morning sky,
As a dream passed me by.
Everything was blurred
and I was brought into a light
Up came this lady, she said
please don’t get a fright
Only with this tiny swirl,
Your kundalini will start to twirl;
Let it reach up high,
Higher than the sky.
Today is a new beginning
Let your heart be right
And let your path be bright
Don’t let anything bring you down,
And you have to be cleared
if you want to hear my sound.
Now stroll along the path to heavens,
Take the first step and try to reach
the seventh
Feel the Everflowing Ocean of bliss,
And try your best to create peace.
That is all you have to do,
Let Shri Ganesha guide you through.
Please light up the lamp of others,
And spread this wonderful joy of Mother’s
Fulfil Her dream, Her goal and Her desire,
and let Her love spread as fast as fire.
The lady and the dream
started to fade away,
And there was only one thing in my mind,
To make this world
go towards the right way,
And spread to everyone,
Mother’s Joy and peace divine.

Lim Shan Shan (International Sahaja School, Dharamshala, year IX)

Stairway to Heaven

Be at peace with your own soul
then heaven & earth will be at peace with you.

Enter eagerly into the treasure house
that is within you,

And you will see the things that are in heaven,
for there is but one single entry to them both.

The ladder that leads to the Kingdom
is hidden within your soul...

Dive into yourself and in your soul
and you will discover the stairs by which to ascend.

Isaac the Syrian

Christian monk from Beth Abhe on the western shore of the Persian Gulf. A renowned teacher who briefly became Bishop of Nineveh, abdicated and then lived for many years as a desert ascetic. Seventh century CE.

St Isaac the Syrian, a theologian of love and mercy

Isaac of Syria (OrthodoxWiki)

Stairway to Heaven

[Jacob] dreamt that he saw a ladder,
which rested on the ground with its top reaching to heaven,
and angels of God were going up and down it.
(Genesis 28:12)


"… can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind"
(Robert Plant, Stairway to Heaven, 1971)

see also Tools for the Journey