Starting off into Paradise seems like it is finally going to be the work that I was hoping from Dante. The final level of Heaven is called Empyrean which only God is permitted. The rest of the levels are the different planets, including the moon (being the first). Dante and Beatrice go on a wild ride into the solar system.

One thing that makes this book different than the other two is that this is the first time the physical environment is known. What I mean by that is that we only have bible stories and conjecture about what hell or purgatory actually looks like. In this case, every human with sight can see the moon. He uses the common lore to color the story here as in the surface of the moon is slick and reflective like glass.

The farther away the story gets from the earth and the sun, the higher in heaven we advance. Remember, at this time it was theorized that the Earth was the center of the solar system. Hence, we will start with the moon then to Mercury, Venus, Mars, etc. not in the order that we would put things today.

You have to hand it to Dante, he comes up with a Star Trek like travel protocol. One minute they are in Earthly Paradise and the next they are on the moon. I am not exactly sure what happened to Statius but I guess that he didn’t make it across the the river. Maybe he has his own tour guide?

I think it is both ironic and pertinent that in both Hell and Purgatory Dante pretty much mostly meets his enemies. Now when we get into Heaven, we are meeting his friends or people that he thinks highly about. Of course I really don’t subscribe to this categorization. I guess that is why it is called a Comedy.

I really do not think that I have laughed once while reading. That is because I don’t get the inside joke(s). You might say that this is the middle age’s version of Saturday Night Live. A lot of those jokes aren’t funny either, but I can recognize them as comedy because I understand the contemporary context.

I suppose that I find it inevitable that I am going to take issue with the structure of heaven. In Canto IV, there are two presented theories. One I clearly don’t believe belongs to Plato. Souls originated from planets so that when they die, they return to those planets. The other theory offered by Beatrice is that God places souls according to favor. Therefore the lowest in Heaven are on the Moon.

Given a choice, souls such as Piccarda did nothing wrong by being forced to leave the nun’s order but could have done better by running away rather than accepting fate. I just do not accept that as eternal doctrine. This is vindication for the crime but still being punished as a result. Next week it will be off to Mercury in Cantos V – VII.

End Your Programming Routine: Already Paradise has a different feel than the previous two books. I am going to try and keep an open mind about this work of fiction. With that, I can’t help but see religious doctrine playing a role in how this is all explained. Dante did spend time in the priesthood after all. This no doubt had a major influence in the story.