The Initiatory Ecstasy. From Giordano Bruno to Arturo Reghini

What exactly is ecstasy (from the Greek ἔκστασις, literally "being outside"), that psychic state of suspension and mystical elevation of the mind, which is perceived by those who experience it intensely as "estranged" from the body? What are its links with Philosophy (to be understood as Sacred Knowledge or as love for Divine Wisdom) and above all with mystical death and the initiatory experience of the ancient Mysteries? What is thought and how to control it to rise to higher levels of consciousness?
All the great initiatory schools of the past taught that one must die and be reborn in order to then ascend. But can this ascension be comparable to Philosophical Ecstasy?
Great philosophers of antiquity, from Plotinus to Porphyry, spoke to us about the experience of Philosophical Ecstasy as a reunion with the Absolute, with the Supreme End. And what if it also and above all involved a full connection with the Anima Mundi or with the Akashic Records? From Giordano Bruno to Tommaso Campanella, up to Arturo Reghini and Amedeo Rocco Armentano, some authentic Initiates have attempted to answer these questions.