Patrick Cooper offers a sustained reflection on the Augustinian adage ab exterioribus ad interiora, ab inferioribus ad superiora. Desmond had signaled early on that this is a central metaphor for his metaxology, and Cooper traces its importance in navigating the relationship between metaphysics and mysticism, as well as its variation in thinkers such as Pierre Scheuer, Joseph Maréchal and Jan van Ruusbroec.