Category: Review

July 12, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto XIX – XX

July 12, 2024 /

On this level of Paradise, we are on Jupiter. This is the level of the ‘Blessed Rulers’. Those would be the infamous David of biblical fame but also Constantine and Phillip to name a few of the most famous. Most of the interactions in this level are with a lighted eagle figure caused by the dancing of the figures radiating light around Dante.

Since this was a pretty short and easier read than previous weeks, I breezed through this. I don’t have to much to say other than one subject. I am going to get to that in a minute. Sometimes it is hard to separate what I wanted and what is with this book. I wanted this to be a deep philosophical and theological experience. What I got was a work of fiction. I need to be OK with that.

Now, I am getting to the point. Amongst the Blessed Rulers were two that did not belong. That would be the Roman Emperor Trajan and also someone called Ripheus. These two supposedly predate Christianity and therefore we should expect that they would be in Level one of Hell, like Virgil.

As the story goes in the book, Trajan realizes the error in his ways after he dies and so God sends him back to earth for a couple of days in order to proclaim himself a Christian. Mind you, this was all done in the BC time period. So he was a Christian before it even existed in order to land in Jupiter. Ripheus was saved by Trajan and so there are two pagans that somehow made it to Heaven.

As I have stated before, I don’t necessarily believe that there is one true way to Heaven. Clearly Jews have made it and there was definitely a pre-Christian path. But, to have two pagans? That is just too much. It is one thing to be consistent with theology and belief but completely another to just add random characters.

Supposedly, this is to illustrate that God is the ultimate decision maker in all situations. Of course I believe that. But then it calls into question one of the ultimate tenants of Christianity. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). Both cannot be true and coexist with proper doctrine.

So, I rationalize this as fiction and a comedy. Like so much of the story, this is Dante’s take on the story with his personal vendettas and beliefs stirring the pot. With that, I go back to my opening, not quite what I was hoping for. In best form, this work could possibly stimulate those deeper discussions if you had a good command on such things. This is not a textbook.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week we will be on Saturn. That is Cantos XXI – XXII with another short week. As you can imagine, I am having a hard time drawing any meaningful conclusions with something as clearly skewed as this story. I don’t think perverted is an appropriate word here, but I think you get what I am saying. So, we will just keep moving forward to hopefully get to the end as soon as I can.

July 5, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto XIV – XVIII

July 5, 2024 /

Mars is now the fifth level of paradise. Dante takes the path of the Roman world and Mars is home to the warriors of god. There is some talk about the knights or fighters of the Crusade era but most of the conversation is with one particular spirit named Cacciaguida.

As luck would have it, Cacciaguida is the great, great grandfather of Dante. It is pretty fortunate that Dante has become a special interest of God but even more so that his distant relative is one of the saviors of Florence and very pious. My research has not been able to substantiate this claim. But the truth is I didn’t look very hard either.

Since Dante serendipitously has this encounter, he gets a lesson in his family tree. Another advantage of heaven is being able to see the future. After Dane’s history lesson, he is informed about the fact that he is going to be exiled from Florence. This of course is very concerning and takes a couple of Canto’s for him to get over the news.

The ironic (or obvious) thing is that his exile has already occurred. So, this is a story that is written in the future about events that have already occurred in the current time. I don’t know that all that really mattered and surely most of the people reading or watching this would not have all of that knowledge. No suspended belief is really necessary from that standpoint.

Things have kind of run their course for me. I am ready to move on with this story and book. The story is so heavy and obscure that I am having a hard time keeping my interest. I find that when I start reading that my eyes become pretty heavy. I have to fight with all I have not to fall asleep. Each Canto is becoming a slog.

You all remember that this epic began in January. I am going to save my final analysis for a few weeks from now. But, I cant help to lay out where I am now. I would say that eight plus months is just too long to do something like this. I have already purchased three or four books in the meantime that I am looking forward to getting to. But, I have to put this one to bed.

From Dante’s perspective, I can see why the likes of Charlemagne or Roland is a hero. I have a lot more difficulty buying into that. History is history but it reminds me of the saying “the ends don’t justify the means”. The reality is, the acts of the Crusade is not that much different than teaching the Taliban a lesson. My own empire is just as complicit as the Holy Roman empire in the imperialism.

There is an argument to be made that true believers must put their money where their mouth is. Hence, for a Catholic king, there is only one true religion and all others are sinners or at least heretics to said religion. I don’t believe that. All monotheistic religions follow a similar core set of beliefs. I have a hard time believing that a good and righteous God would only favor western Europeans in the one true light. And so salvation depends on your birthright.

As a Christian my entire life, I do subscribe to the tenants of the religion. But, they are pretty bad when it comes to the edges of theology. As an example, when does turn the other cheek turn into abuse? Surely Jesus doesn’t mean love your neighbor as you are getting raped. Even the act of accepting we are sinners while we keep on sinning is a real dichotomy. I have found very little comfort when it comes to the transition points of the religion.

Canto XVIII is more on Jupiter than on Mars. I made a decision to cover the entire level even if it bled into the next. That means that next week is Canto XIX and XX. This will be the level of righteous rulers like David (of Goliath).

End Your Programming Routine: My end you programming recommendation is get out of your head. Just because we believe that we are anointed by God doesn’t mean that we are. We are fond of saying love the soldier, hate the war but we are turning a blind eye to our politicians. Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Iran are not worth fucking around to find out. We didn’t learn a thing in Afghanistan.

June 28, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto X – XIII

June 28, 2024 /

I think that we can all imagine stepping onto the moon. Possibly we could imagine going to Venus or Mars, but the sun? That is where we landed today on the fourth layer of Dante’s paradise.

I haven’t done the research but I find it interesting that when Dante went to the moon, he goes to great lengths to describe the ‘glassy’ surface. The topography of planet played heavily into the how the characters interreacted with Dante. As we go farther along in the journey, the more abstract the surroundings become.

There is barely a mention of being on the sun in four Cantos. When it is, it really is not clear where the characters really are. It is just the brilliance of the souls as a inference to the sun. In fact, the surface and interaction on each planet are more closely related to the Roman mythology than the are to the actual astronomy.

I know that this is written before the great scientific discoveries of the Renaissance. Dante’s theory about the planets and the sun rotating around the earth proves that they didn’t have all the data. It certainly predates anything but rudimentary optics. I suppose that it is fair to say that they just didn’t know much about the planets.

Not being Catholic, I am not well versed in many of the important figures. I have heard of some of the monastic orders, not well enough to name them all, let alone what the primary focus is about. Once again, this section is heavily influenced by the figures of Dante’s Catholic world.

The basic premise of this layer is Dante is met by one group. After they have made fun of one order, that order shows up to make fun of the former. I think this is part of the ‘divine comedy’ aspect of the work. I really didn’t get the jokes. Unlike a lot of this study, I at least recognized the overt attempt at comedy. For a lot of it, I suspect that you had to be there.

The first circle was led by Thomas Aquinas. There is a name that I have heard before. In fact, I have written a little bit in this series referencing him. Aquinas was a member of the Dominican order. Looking up their mission, they are focused on preaching, specifically against heresy. They use their spotlight to make fun of the Franciscan order.

Francis of Assisi was the founder of the Franciscan order. There focus was on a nomadic, evangelical mission. He and his group make fun of the Dominican order. Then, they get together an sing Dante and Beatrice off to Mars. If you are interested in Catholic politics, then this may be the level of Paradise for you.

I think what strikes me as a protestant is the cult of personality. I have no idea whether these people were creepers who happened to do something good or not. In fact, while I heavily disagree with the theology of the Catholic church, I won’t deny that the appearance of piety has my respect. I think that with all things a degree of critical thinking is necessary for goodness.

What I mean is that I am positive these orders have done many good things for the world. That being said, I highly suspect that they have been involved in some pretty bad things too. If we accept the fact that all men sin, that means even founders and followers do as well. Preaching, educating, helping the poor, trying to live like Jesus are all noble goals. I don’t foresee saking one approach over another is necessarily the end all be all.

That is not to say that I don’t respect the decision to join an order, all I said above applies. I just cannot concretely agree that one is better or worse than the other. We as believers need to be careful that we are not sucked into human hierarchy of better/worse and one right way.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week is one of the longer remaining sections. That would be Canto XIV – XVIII. Every since we have have been in Paradise, I just see technicolor weirdness. I guess my vision of eternity was always light, bright and serene. This seems manic and all over the place. It sure beats the alternative I guess but seems a little too surreal for me.

June 21, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto VIII – IX

June 21, 2024 /

Today, we are on Venus. In Roman mythology Venus is the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, victory and generally all those good things. So what are we going to hear about? Why all of those spirits that have love for the lord of course.

A funny story I guess. But these various characters that Dante meets have taken their turns with sin, as all men have. What I found extremely interesting is that punishment seems to be unevenly handed out. These characters admit to their sins which they attribute to making their exuberance for the lord that much stronger. This is like saying that ‘I am just a passionate person. Of course I murdered that person when I got angry. I just couldn’t help it, it is my being’. And by the same token, there is no real penalty as a result.

Whereas in the same book, certain figures could progress no further in heaven because they married against wishes when they were serving in the clergy. So approved sin is not penalized while unapproved sin has eternal consequences.

A lot of the commentary talks about the erotic love of god. I find this to be a little unholy personally. That being said, I heard a fascinating discussion a few months ago about the feminization of Christianity. This is playing a role in the ultimate decline of the church. While other major religions are focused on key tenants, Christianity has emphasized the concept of worship. Worship by it’s nature has a feminine appeal. Hence, men are turned off each generation and dwindling in participation.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is true. What I knew to be Agape or sort of spiritual love has become more of an perverted lust or love affair for some. That unhappy marriage has a new partner. Something new to worship and love and never lets you down. I think that this is much more typical in evangelical protestant denominations.

Relationship with god is a tricky thing. It requires something called faith. I have to believe that I am having one without becoming delusional about it. It is serious without being fanatical. I wouldn’t go as far as saying subdued though. We cannot deny or discount faith but rather be quietly confident and upfront about it. We have to trust the process without getting lost in it.

I actually didn’t realize that there were so many video analyses of the Devine Comedy. There are multiple series of the work in 100 days (Because there are 100 cantos). It seems like they were all published during the pandemic. This probably came out of the online only school movement. If I would have realized this, I probably would have linked to each canto every week.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week is the Sun. This is Cantos X – XIII. From what I have learned, we are about to go into some kind of new dimensional shift. I guess we will have to see when we get there. For now, we will just keep ticking boxes and collecting information. You probably get the sense of what I think about Venus.

June 14, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto V – VII

June 14, 2024 /

From the reviews I read, Mercury is considered the first level of Heaven. I am not sure what that actually means for the moon. It is on this level that we start to hear about all of the good stuff (I guess).

I am going to keep it fairly light today because I already think that I am going to have a problem in Paradise. Canto V starts off with a bang. This is the transition from the moon to Mercury. All of the souls are excited to greet the new arrivals. The primary protagonist is the former emperor Justinian.

There are a couple of notables this week. Canto VI is said to be the only chapter written in the voice of a single character. It is also stated that each of the three books in Canto VI are about politics. The symbolisms is that the three add up to 666. Said another way, politics are the Devil. I can get behind that.

We get to hear about how great the Roman Empire is and how the eagle represents God and all things are ordained with that line of thinking. The Roman Empire is the extension of Christianity etc. There is another debate or schooling of free will and the consequences thereof.

I guess that I have to say that I have never had this line of thought. That would be that there are levels to heaven just as there are levels to hell and purgatory. While the souls that are here have been deemed worthy to be at this level of heaven, it was their earthly deeds that limited how far they could go. So, while Justinian was a ‘good guy’ he did so for selfish reasons.

It also makes me wonder what the point of Purgatory really is. If you spend all this time atoning for sins only to come to a glass floor, there is a shadow of a doubt as to the validity of Purgatory further still to me. The next level is Venus which will be Cantos VIII and XIX next week.

End Your Programming Routine: Having never read this, I should have expected as much. Maybe heaven was going to be divided by interest or culture or something besides how good you are on earth. This kind of flies in the face of my theological beliefs. I always thought that salvation was a gift with no strings attached. We will have to see what the next steps look like.

June 7, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Canto I – IV

June 7, 2024 /

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.

May 31, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Conclusion

May 31, 2024 /

Purgatory. We made it through.

I came into this saying to myself that I don’t believe in Purgatory and I don’t know anything about it. I even looked up biblical justification for purgatory. A lot came up about a little. There is one sentence in 2 Maccabees that says (loosely) ‘it is encouraged to pray for the souls of the dead’. There are several references in the New Testament about judgment and atonement for sin is required to enter Heaven ( 1 Peter 1:6-7 and 1 Corinthians 3:13-15) . Based on the fact that this is codified in the catechisms, I say hardly a smoking gun.

Don’t get me wrong, I highly respect the Catholic church. But I am already skeptical of the process of the assembly of the bible, a perfect translation and a couple of sentences as a full doctrine of the afterlife. I say that we are going to have to agree to disagree on this.

I guess you could say that I was prepared to not like Purgatory. The truth is, I actually liked it better than Hell. I understood the purpose was for souls to atone for earthly sin before proceeding. I have often wondered why exactly a murderer would get the same treatment as a person of lifelong faith. As crazy as it sounds, Purgatory made more sense to me than hell did.

I felt like what was going on in this book was more in line with biblical theology and less about Dante’s personal vendetta in the Inferno. There was significantly less obscure name dropping as we are so far removed so as not to understand the context and much more focus on the issues at hand. Outside of the weird parade at the end, I think that Purgatory is a stronger work than the Inferno.

I have already read the introduction to Paradise. I think it is about to get weirder. Next week read Cantos I – IV to stay on the magic bus.

End Your Programming Routine: It is nice to be surprised. It is also nice to know that I wasn’t on something when I read the Inferno the first time. Without the footnotes to the book and the internet, I would be right back at 1992 wondering why this is considered a great work of literature. I actually appreciate it a lot more being able to follow along with what is written.

May 29, 2024 – Rambo… Was It That Bad?

May 29, 2024 /

The year was 1985. We didn’t even have a VCR yet. We were still renting a suitcase to be hooked up to the TV on the couple times a year occasion that we would get to rent a movie. I was in the fourth grade so we certainly weren’t watching rated R movies. It was more like Herbie the Love Bug or at best Empire Strikes Back.

By the fifth grade, Rambo was all the rage and so was the survival knife. It was typically a chintzy, fixed blade knife that had some crappy survival gear in the handle and a compass on the butt end of the hilt. If you had one, then you were definitely a bad ass, like Rambo. I can’t say that I was the only one of my peers that hadn’t seen it, but I was amongst a small group.

I missed the Rambo craze. The first one was inaccessible, not old enough for the second one and ambivalent by the third (and fourth). With Pluto TV, I occasionally scroll through ‘Only This Month’ and the ‘Last Chance’ categories. I happened to see that Rambo I – III was available and so I thought that I would finally fill the gap and see what I was missing all those years ago.

What I expected was cheesy 80’s action with an A-Team plot. I have to say that it didn’t disappoint. The truth is, First Blood (the first one) was not half bad. If you haven’t seen it then let me quickly summarize. A Vietnam vet (Stallone) was looking to reunite with a former service brother. Walking into town as a loner or drifter draws the ire of local law enforcement who wrongly portray him as a bum. This ignites a war for Rambo to avoid being captured.

Being filmed in 1981, it was just six years from the evacuation of Saigon and twelve years from the Tet offensive and the escalation of conflict. There were plenty veterans that were under the age of 30 and permanently broken that felt like John Rambo. That would be lost, misunderstood and looking for normalcy in some way. It struck me as connecting to a generation in a much softer way than I expected.

Once the action started, the poignant part of the plot was mostly finished. It wasn’t terrible though. The action was overstated for sure but eventually his magazine was empty in the M16. Rambo II wasn’t nearly quite as good but it did start out with promise. Going after prisoners of war in a clandestine action is admirable and maybe almost believable. Exploding arrowheads and a grenade blowing up a waterfall is less so. The helicopter that blew-up from the two rockets shot from a Soviet gun ship was safe in the river.

Truthfully, I found the third one better than the second. The action was akin to something like John Wick or anything modern. The funny thing was that the movie was dedicated to the good people of Afghanistan. This was ostensibly a middle finger to the Soviet Union in 1988. Kind of ironic watching it in 2024. That being said, it wasn’t what I expected. Better in many ways.

I fell asleep in Rambo 4 when it was on Pluto a few months ago. This is what ignited this idea of watching the series. Unfortunately, it is no longer playing and I am too cheap to rent it. From the thirty minutes I saw, it is in line with contemporary action movies. I am looking forward to catching it when it is on again.

End Your Programming Routine: It is kind of fun going back and reliving movies that I never saw. Like all things, I probably would have been much more complimentary if I ‘remembered’ it to be better than it was. There have been many movies that I watched again later in life and wasn’t as fond of with perspective. Sometimes it is best to leave them where they were. But, it doesn’t hurt to see what all the commotion was way back when…

May 24, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Canto XXVIII – XXXIII

May 24, 2024 /

Now that Dante has moved through the seven levels of purgatory, he has emerged in what has been called ‘Earthly Paradise’. This appears to be the entry into heaven. Dante and Statius must cross over the river Lethe to enter. This is the river that they have been following throughout the entire journey in various forms. It seems apparently like a symbolic baptism in the final crossing over.

I am not a fan of ‘mind f–k’ books or movies but that is what the section seems like seems like. These would be works like Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Rocky Horror Picture Show. I am not immune to the wonder of divine acts but I really like things that make sense. At least I can sort of put my mind into the tortures and creatures of hell. The ‘procession’ that appears as they enter is almost too much.

Apparently, as new souls come into Earthly Paradise this procession comes out to meet them. It starts with a Gryphon pulling a cart. That Gryphon is supposed to represent Christ. There is also a singing candelabra followed by 24 elders, 17 from the old testament and seven from the new testament. There are also animals, young women dancing and old men.

Even that I can sort of buy into, but then it get’s weirder. An eagle attacks spraying feathers all over followed by a dragon coming out of the ground destroying the wagon. The parts turn into a giant being ridden by a whore. She gets whipped every time she looks at Dante by the giant. What?! It is here that Dante finally sees Beatrice for the first time in ten years. We are going to have to keep reading because as fast as she appears, she also disappears.

Some analysts say that this is beyond comprehension because humanity can not fully grasp God. But, I say this is all fiction and it was written by a man. Much has been foreshadowed as Virgil is no longer present. At least this logic makes sense. Virgil’s soul is not permitted in heaven but since his character is human reason, it is absent.

Before all of that chaos happened, the Gryphon tied the cart to a dead tree. The tree supposedly is from the original tree of Adam and Eve fame. This tree all of the sudden came to life and both flowered and fruited. This is what leads to the the analogy between the Gryphon and Christ. It also doesn’t hurt that he is half lion and half eagle. That is neither of either but some of both, as is Christ. I feel like Dante is about to inherit the chocolate factory if he minds his P’s and Q’s.

I don’t blame Date for passing out before crossing the river. This really blew my mind too but imagine this in a world before internet and a worldly knowledge? Literally insane. We are at the point of what being pious gets to. Let’s check it out in Dante’s Paradiso.

End Your Programming Routine: You get a week off from reading next week as I will do a wrap up of Purgatory. I don’t honestly know how to reconcile all of this. Dante is supposed to note what is happening and take it back when he returns to the real world. I can only speculate for Dante to become the next profit. I am not sure I totally buy that he is the anointed one but I guess it could happen to anybody. At the very least, Dante is sparking theological and philosophical introspection.

May 17, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Canto XXV – XXVII

May 17, 2024 /

We are now at the last level of Purgatory and about to see some major changes. Really, Canto XXV is about the ascension to level seven but it really could fall between either review. This worked a little better for me to lump 25 with 26 and 27. The seventh level of Purgatory is a penance for lust.

Due to positioning, it would seem as though lust is the least offensive sin in the afterworld. The next step will be exit from Purgatory into paradise. Since I haven’t read it yet, I am not sure how things will be structured. It is described as a place where there is no sin. I guess we will have to see what happens as we go along.

One thing that I find interesting is the farther the group progresses, the less and less interactions they seem to have at each level. My speculation is that Dante has already cast all of his rage in all of the previous Cantos. It is easy to imagine people could be sinners but we don’t know about it. Therefore, souls are at these levels but we just don’t know who they are. Alternatively these are the people just like Dante and not the ‘evil villains’ in his life.

Without the interactions, it more limits what I might say about this level. There was an interesting soliloquy by Statius on the origin of life and the soul. He states that there is blood that involved in reproduction. That is the genesis of the soul. When a person dies, that magical blood has a state that reflects life. This is what causes the gluttons to appear starving.

As things wrap up, after the group has stepped through the fire, “Remember, Remember” is stated as Virgil’s last words. He now follows in deference rather than leading the way. It is stated that Purgatory is the limit of human reason. Thinking about it, I am not sure I totally understand. But maybe it is that reason does not have the ability to imagine life without sin.

If that is true, I find this line of thinking a little strange. I don’t think that humans spend a lot of time dwelling on sin. In fact, I would actually find it easier to believe that humans don’t believe in sin. It takes a pretty self-aware person to recognize they are doing wrong and to stop doing it. Many people know they are doing wrong but don’t stop even if there are eternal consequences.

Clearly I am not talking about things such as violence against other humans but the so called victimless crimes. Things like prostitution would fall into this category. It would seem to violate God’s law but not really human nature. The fundamental question about this whole subject is reason divine or innate? Further, if it is born into us, wouldn’t that potentially be divine as well? And yet I would argue prostitution has no quarrel with human nature.

End Your Programming Routine: We are about to go to our rewards with Dante. Fueled by his desire to reunite with Beatrice, it is driving him to get through all of that mess including walking through fire. This is almost one of those moments of faith like Moses parting the Red Sea. The next week will be the remainder of the Inferno Canto XXVII – XXIII.