Tag: Dante Alighieri

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 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.

May 10, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Canto XXII – XXIV

May 10, 2024 /

We are on cornice six in Purgatory. That is one cornice or ledge or terrace from being truly in Heaven proper. The is the stop for gluttony. Of course the punishment for gluttony is starvation. Every other sin has the opposite action, why not this one?

I have often wondered about the deal with Gluttony. I mean, it is kind of grotesque when people cannot control themselves and wreck their bodies. But, I have often wondered there has to be something more. The more that I wondered, it finally came to me what the significance is.

Gluttony is about self control. Yes, there is a lot about moderation in many different contexts it in the Bible. But, here we need to go all the way back to Genesis and the origin story. After God created the world, he created Adam. Because Adam was lonely, he created Eve. For some reason, even the biblically created humans were still tempted and ate the forbidden fruit.

Moderation and self control is the antithesis of the original sin. It would seem that gluttony is the representation of that. Now, at least I get why it is an issue. I am not sure that I totally agree about the severity but I suppose this is why we are almost at the end of purgatory.

I didn’t totally map all of this out but from my recollection that the sins of hell seem to mirror Purgatory. That is to say that the first levels of Hell are actually the last levels of Purgatory. So, at least that makes sense from a logical and organizational standpoint.

I guess the other significant thing that I disagree with was Dante’s interaction with the character Forese Donati. His claim was that as soon as he died, his wife prayed so hard that he ended up at the sixth level of purgatory. That really violates the integrity of Christianity. We are responsible for our salvation, not anyone else.

Next week will be the last cornice of purgatory. That doesn’t finish the section but that is Cantos XXV – XXVII. The final study we will do is something about ‘Earthly Paradise’. I guess we will see all about that when we get there.

End Your Programming Routine: I know that I only touched on moderation and it can be a tricky subject because it is subjective. It’s OK to drink some but not too much and not too often. It is OK to eat cake but not too much and not too often. Who says when is too much, I don’t know. Maybe you know it when you see it?

May 3, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Canto XX – XXI

May 3, 2024 /

In all of my years of reading, I have never seen this word before. The word is avarice. Apparently, it first appeared in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. I guess I missed that in high school because I had to look up the definition. According to Webster’s in the intense desire for wealth. If you are not used to reading the word like I am, I will call it greed from this point forward.

Another quasi difference I see with my version of the book is that it calls these levels of Purgatory as Cornices where everywhere else I read them as Terraces. Along with the names and mythology, this book has some of the most challenging vocabulary in any book I have ever read. It is modern English, but it is very highbrow. There are a lot of esoteric words that I have to look up if it is not noted in the footnotes. I don’t know if that is because this is a poem and the word is used for meter or not. I don’t recognize it as such, but the formatting is certainly grouped as poetry.

The big todo in these two Cantos is the earthquake that happens in Canto XX. It is not totally clear what the significance really means but it seems like the consensus is more along the lines of a soul leaving purgatory and heading into heaven proper. Another interesting debate in my noted section of the book was that when souls leave this Cornice, they start to gain some freedom.

This freedom means that the purification process is succeeding. Thus, souls are allowed some more self governance when it comes to sentence and repentance in Purgatory suggesting that they can ascend at their own rate. This all goes back to what I was saying about how sin is organized last week. The next three levels (including this one) belong to loving too much.

We cannot get by without discussing the sin and the atonement of greed. On this level, it was jam packed with souls. So much so that there was really no room to maneuver. I am speculating that this represents greed where the only thing left in their heart was the pursuit of wealth. I haven’t really seen it discussed anywhere but that seems intuitive to me.

There is supposedly one significant interaction here to. They meet someone called Statius. Apparently, he will be with Dante and Virgil until Dante moves to Heaven. Statius is a Roman Poet who wrote several classics which makes him a minor celebrity. As the legend goes, Statius is a converted Christian and represents redemption. So now we have Virgil as logic (and free will) Dante as humanity and Statius as redemption.

End Your Programming Routine: We are getting very close to closing out Purgatory. There are two levels left, gluttony and lust. Next week will be covering Cantos XX – XXIV. Just as promised, things have lightened up quite a bit since the beginning. This is good because I don’t want to read and write a downer for a whole year. I think that I am also expanding my vocabulary too.

April 26, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Canto XVII – XIX

April 26, 2024 /

I failed to realize it last week but we are a little over halfway through the book in terms of Cantos and pages now. It is hard to break things up correctly without reading and knowing the story. Canto XIX in my book says both the fourth cornice and the ascension to the fifth. In hindsight, Canto XIX probably belongs more to the fifth than the fourth. Oh well, I am not going to talk about it much anyway.

This cornice is about a misunderstood sin, the sloth. When I was reading about this in hell, I dismissed the sloth as lazy. When we use the word today we often mean slow, lazy and often dirty or unkempt. That is probably not actually fair to the animal, it is probably more appropriate to say deliberate. But, this is not actually what Dante meant by the term.

Believe it or not, the sloth really means to see an opportunity to do good but not to act on it. So, the modern day equivalent makes me think of the John Quinones show What Would You Do? I know that this is a bit of a tough area for me. I very much tend toward the live and let live philosophy. Aside from that, I am not sure I know enough details to get involved without a direct ask. It turns out that this is defined as a sin.

Very little is actually described about cornice four. There are really no meaningful interactions. The souls here are constantly running. That is running toward those that need help. Not only are they anti-sloth by running but also atoning for their sin.

Much of the the first two Cantos discuss love, free will and sin between Dante and Virgil. This follows exactly the structure and grouping of hell. Just as a recap of what was said. Here is the following types of love. First there is natural and un-natural love. Natural is what you would think. Unnatural love has three categories within it. There is love of an object, then there is loving too little or loving too much.

The first three levels pride, envy and anger represent the first three levels as well as unnatural love of objects. Loving to little is the sloth (level 4). Loving too much is defined as greed, gluttony and lust. And there we have the definition of the layers of hell. and purgatory. Although they don’t seem to be in the same order between the two. Maybe that will reveal itself in the future.

End Your Programming Routine: Very educational. I have been ignorant to the sin of the sloth every since high school when I first read the Inferno. I am curious to how it is exactly judged because it leaves me wondering if there are some kind of test just like What Would You Do?. But then again, one of Jesus’s main messages was charity. Failing to do so might land you on Cornice four.

April 19, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Canto XVI

April 19, 2024 /

This week we are at Cornice three, the wrathful. On one hand, only having one Canto to read is nice and easy. On the other hand, it is difficult because there is not that much to talk about. That is definitely the case here. There is a little description of the environment and one interaction with a basically unknown character so that is it.

Cornice three is filled with smoke. Apparently, the symbolism relates to wrath in that when a person is in rage, their judgement is clouded with the true ability to see the situation clearly. I wonder if this is the level that Dante is headed for. Clearly, he is impacted by the fear of being there or falling off of the edge.

That is is about all I have to say about it. I was looking up the definition of wrath to see if I could infer more this week than is really written. Wrathful is literally defined as full of wrath. And wrath is defined as vengeful anger or rage. Then I stumbled across something a little more interesting.

Wrath is defined as one of the seven deadly sins. Let us see if you recognize these? The remaining six are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, and slothfulness. These were first defined by Pope Gregory I in the 6th century. This seems a lot like the circles of hell and purgatory. But what is even more interesting is that they were picked up again by St. Thomas Aquinas in the mid 13th century.

While not likely a contemporary of Dante’s (late 1200s) surely being Italian and Dante being exposed to priesthood, he was surely influenced by this work. Reading the Encyclopedia Britannica article, it mentions that the seven deadly sins are not specifically named in the bible, which I would agree. Despite not being codified, it is also true that many situations are specifically mentioned in the bible.

Pope Gregory I is credited with organizing the church into it’s medieval form. He consolidated both secular and religious power into one institution. I think that he left an indelible mark on Dante given that he will have more roles and interactions in the future. Not only has Dante bought the concept, but he also thinks pretty highly of him as well.

The same also goes with St. Thomas. Again looking around, there are books comparing and crediting the two. The one remarkable argument in this chapter is the case for free will. Without it, why would there be any need for purgatory. And if we are all predestined to our position and results in life, what would be the point of the afterworld in general?

I guess I fall somewhere in the middle. I do believe that God has a hand in our fate, but I also believe that our free will influences that. So for instance, take a fatal illness. I am not convinced that this is punishment, but I do believe that there is something to be learned or taught from it. It is the actions that people take during that time that helps push God’s will. It is up to the individual to do with that what they can. Salvation is always an waiting regardless of fate.

End Your Programming Routine: While one chapter is a quick read, it wasn’t insignificant. I stumbled upon the origin story of the structure of the Divine Comedy. If I wouldn’t have been looking for more about wrath, I don’t know if I ever would have made the connection to the church history largely because I am not Catholic. Next week it is Cantos XVII – XIX if you are following along.

April 12, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Purgatory, Canto XIII – XV

April 12, 2024 /

This week is the second cornice or the level of Envy. Once again, the punishment is relevant to the crime. It goes from dress to behavior to attitude. When in this level, souls are wearing brownish, grayish cloaks that blend into the surroundings. The point of that is that it is opposite of envy. While something catches your eye that you want, in this case the souls cannot be seen.

Once they cannot be seen, then they cannot see. The souls eyes are sewn shut so that they are not able to look, the nature or conduit of their sin. There isn’t a lot to do there except pray and sing. A lot of the vitriol that proceeded the previous stops were absent here.

I have been thinking about this for several weeks now. There have been very few mentions of women to date. We of course have the pursuit to Beatrice and there have been a few spirits or furies, but no real characters. It makes me wonder exactly what the colloquial feeling on women and the afterworld was at the time.

For sure, this was a patriarchy but does that mean that women were considered sinless? I highly doubt that but they probably didn’t have the same opportunity to commit all the politically motivated sins. It is also likely that because this piece is making fun of all of Dante’s enemies, he may not have had quarrel with women. I will be curious to see if the proportion of women pick-up through the remainder of the book.

This is another week that had a long diatribe of people and events, specifically Canto XIV. I happened to by trying to read in the hospital. It was really difficult flipping back and forth between the footnotes and text as well as paying half attention to what I was doing.

I suppose that I should be grateful that there is more notes than actual text. Without them, I would be lost in the mythology references. And, I could probably ignore them and just read the text straight through. But, it is really hard to maintain continuity of the story flipping back and forth every couple of minutes. In general, an average Canto takes me about thirty minutes to read.

End Your Programming Routine: This is going to be a short one. Next week, Cornice 3 is going to be Canto XVI only. Truth be told, the farther I go along, the more confused I am between the separation of Hell and Purgatory. Notes give me a small backstory with each interaction but there are still characters that were murdered, committed suicide and killed others. Maybe it was a matter of asking forgiveness? Otherwise, I just don’t know.