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Buddhism has always been a empirical and almost scientific religion to me, hence I was always fascinated by the elaborated cosmology, especially the 31 states which usually exist in more mythological religions, until I read the life of the Buddha (Harvey, 2013).

In the story, the Buddha, before he was enlightened, learned yoga concentration from Āl.āra Kālāma and reached the "sphere of "nothingness" (p. 18). Later on, he learned from Uddaka Rāmaputta and reached "sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception" (p. 19). It then dawned on me that all these "heavens" are psychological states. I have also understood that with yoga or meditation, one may be able to reach the highest state, but is still trapped in samsara, because you cannot stay in that state forever, which is obvious during yoga practices.

In that case, the fine-material sphere should be phenomena (light, serenity, etc.) perceived during meditation, except the paṭhamajjhānabhūmi and below, which seems to stem from Brahminic or Vedic cosmology. The rest of the apāya-bhūmi may have originated with a soteriological purpose.

Nevertheless, we are formed with five aggregates, and apart from the first aggregate, the rest are all in our mind, hence most of the 31 states may have been psychological: when lust arises, we are in hell; when we meditate, we are in heaven... and we can travel to any place within a ksaṇa.

Best Regards,
Paul Sin

Reference:
Harvey, Peter. (2013). Introduction to Buddhism (2nd Ed.). Cambridge University Press.