Commentary Par XXXII 8

Jacob's first and second wives, Leah and Rachel, as we saw in [Purg XXVII 100-108], represent (as they were traditionally understood as doing) the active and the contemplative life, respectively.  Aversano (Aver.2000.2), p. 166, points out that, according to Richard of St. Victor, in his Benjamin major (PL CXCVI.62), Rachel, as the first stage of contemplation, dilatatio (expansion), an identity she shares with Beatrice, yields to the second stage, represented by the son she died giving birth to, Benjamin, or sublevatio (i.e., being raised up), who has a counterpart in the poem, of course, in Bernard, Dante's Benjamin.  That state in turn yields to alienatio (ecstasy), the passing beyond human limits to experience things as they are in themselves, absolute reality.  Aversano also cites PL CXCVI.52 and CXCVI.170.