Tag: Dante Alighieri

January 26, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto V

January 26, 2024 /

The second circle of hell. We have made it past the pagans and into the real torture, I guess. According to the summary that I read, the second circle is the result of carnal sin. Since carnal sin is love, albeit misguided it barely qualifies the worst of things a person could do according to Dante.

I suppose the thing that I don’t totally understand is what exactly is ‘carnal sin’. Before I went looking for a definition, I would understand it to be wanton infidelity. Or, I could have speculated that it was a premarital or an extramarital sexual relationship. All I could really find was the definition of carnal being passion, of the body and that kind of stuff. What I am saying is that I really don’t understand what you have to do to get to the second level of hell.

Interestingly enough there were a few recognizable names here. The first and biggest was Cleopatra. As far as I have heard, she was a was a woman of ‘passion’. That being said, I didn’t know her to be a woman of ill repute. One of the other people that was there was a person named Dido. She was apparently married but fell in love with someone else. She killed herself when he was sentenced to death (actually suicide is a much more severe sin, not sure why she got level 2).

Even if it is simply lust as on another analysis I read, it is not our place question. Do you remember “Thou shalt not covet another man’s wife”? In the most basest of interpretations, coveting another’s wife is a synonym for lusting after another person in the sexual sense, wife or not. But then again, there are lots of things that we consider crimes based on morality. For instance, drugs. However, taking/using drugs had no consideration from Moses in the Ten Commandments.

What I am getting at is that I get it at face value. Carnal sin is worthy of damnation by our morality standards. By the same token, Carnal sin is very subjectively and ambiguously defined. For that reason, I think we should obey the commandments but we should also follow our heart. After all, I don’t believe that God wants us to be miserable. We just have to do it the right way.

I was imagining in this series that I would take a level of hell and relate it to a current event and persons in the public eye. We all know people that fit the definition and maybe we will see them in level 2 of the hell. Bill Clinton comes to mind but probably not Jeffrey Epstein here, maybe Ghislaine Maxwell? I have been doing some thinking though. If a relationship was consenting, is this really a sin? After all there were plenty of polygamist in the Old Testament. I did some quick research on the subject and you find the usual subjects.

The puritanical approach says that polygamy was a means to an end. It was accepted until the new covenant (the coming of Jesus). Just like at the other ritualistic trappings of Judaism, the veil and sacrifice and such, none of that means anything at this point according to Christianity. Arguments are made that the transition from many to one in Judaism is now one on one in Christianity. Therefore the other related bible versus two becoming one or Adam and Eve for instance are pointing to the justification that only one committed relationship is the way to go.

The more that I study psychology and human behavior, I side with the data that supports that the richest, healthiest and most rewarding relationships are one on one. This also conforms with my moral beliefs. However, I cannot succinctly say that what I (and Dante) believe are actually defined as sin. This of course excludes non-consenting adultery as mentioned in the Ten Commandments.

End Your Programming Routine: Truthfully, I didn’t think that I would end up here before I started writing this. I suppose that this puts me more on a philosophical plane rather than a Christian one. If an action hurts another, it is probably worthy of evaluation. But, these are complicated matters that are hard to solve in a single page. Was it consenting and now it is not? What if your heart changes, should two people be bound to a reciprocal, loveless marriage? I am pretty sure that this level is not for the deviant crowd but the consenting one. I am not sure I can get behind that.

January 19, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto III – IV

January 19, 2024 /

Had I known what I was doing, I would included Canto III last week. It is not considered a level but the crossing into the afterworld. I would call that introductory information but I was relying on another reference to help me get started. Oh well, We get the vestibule or entrance, the crossing and the first level of hell this week.

The vestibule is an interesting concept. According to Dante is is filled with fallen angels that the translator calls Opportunists. These are entities that didn’t pick a side (that is God or the Devil) and therefore were into the game for themselves. Consequently, they are denied entry into the afterworld neither heaven nor hell. They are chased endlessly by bugs as the spirits wish for a place to go.

Level one is also interesting. Last week I mistakenly said Virgil did not have a place. Actually, he is in the first level because He lived before Christ. All pagans are in this level because they were not blessed to have the opportunity to be Christian. It seems like this level isn’t too bad relatively speaking. It is the moaning of restlessness. Apparently there is nothing to do and the realization that this is the best it will ever get.

It is not completely apparent to me, but the translator indicates that this work is not just religious work but also a social and political commentary. Some of the notes related to the verse indicate contemporary figures in hell as well. There is reference to Boniface VII who became pope by manipulation. I would have never understood that without the note from the translator.

This week I am going to talk specifically about the pagans as they are described. Within the text is says that when Christ was crucified most of the previous population was in level one. That being said certain people were removed from hell and went with Christ. These would be people like Moses, Noah, Daniel, etc, the heroes of the old testament.

When I was really young, I was told that animals would never go to Heaven because they didn’t have a soul. Later, I decided that that was not possible because I didn’t want it to be true I really loved my dog, how could I be denied my dog in heaven? Since then, I have come to modify that belief a little. I am not sure if we will see our pets in the afterworld for our sake. But, they really have no free will so how could they possibly have an afterlife? Maybe reincarnation is a better explanation of animals?

Now that is settled, we as Christians have to look at the Bible in its entirety. Supposedly, Christ is the new covenant of our relationship with God. He has been described as a vengeful god in the Old Testament. That is why he drowned the world in Noah’s time. Aside from particular instances, surely not every single individual besides those mentioned in the old testament lacked the complete requirements for heaven. How is it possible that Moses was in hell until Christ arrived?

I am going to try and not hold that against Dante because I just cannot believe that and be consistent with my beliefs. Supposing that I am somewhat right, there has to be a plan for the people that existed before Christ or out of the earshot of Judaism. What about Asia or the American Natives? Surely we are all God’s people? I can’t believe that they would be condemned to hell by their existence being away from the proximity of the middle east and the ability to communicate across vast distances.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week is Canto V, the second level of hell described as carnal. According to Dante, I suppose it is fortunate that I am a Christian. Otherwise, I would have no chance at heaven. I am not here to take down Dante per se but to analyze and provide commentary on The Divine Comedy. I am sure that we are going to not just be entertained, but also learn something useful for our eventual eternity. I am more than sure we are going to find lots of behaviors to agree on before we are done.

January 12, 2024 – The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto I-II

January 12, 2024 /

Now I have gone a done it. I picked something so ambitious that I don’t know where to start. In case you are not familiar, The Devine Comedy was written in the late 1200s, set in 1300. Of course, it was written in Italian which means it was translated into English for me. Because of it’s age, it has been looked at over and over again and so there is lots of opinions about what it says and what it means.

I have read part 1 (The Inferno) before. All three of these are poems which contain much symbology making it not only abstract but also highly subjective to the translators vision. I find myself reading and re-reading because I don’t know what is exactly happening. My version is huge, it seems like half of it are notes as to what this or that is referring to or why they chose this translation versus others.

My purpose for picking this book was to spend more time talking about eternity and Devine topics more critically. For instance, I don’t particularly believe Purgatory, it will be interesting to see what Dante has to say about it. So far, I can already tell that it is helpful to have a good command of Roman history, mythology and Christianity because there is a lot here that I am referring to the notes to keep up.

This book is going to take a while. I plan on breaking it up into one topic at a time. Canto I and II are considered introductions to the levels of hell. So, when I get to the first level, that will be a week unto its own. I don’t know the book well enough to say what each week will be yet, but maybe I can do it as I go along. That being said, feel free to read ahead.

Because things are so cryptic, I am going to look at other sources while we go along. Normally, I don’t like doing that because I feel that it influences my opinion. But, in this case, it is necessary otherwise I won’t get anything out of this. If I don’t get anything, it will be pretty difficult to give anything worthwhile.

With that, Canto I and II are considered the introduction to the Inferno. Canto I has Dante entering the afterlife met by Virgil, the Roman poet. It has been speculated that Virgil is at the beginning of the journey because he lived pre-Christ. Therefore in the Catholic belief, he could not attain pure heaven nor hell. Virgil will be guiding Dante through Hell and some of Purgatory.

Canto II, Virgil explains that he was instructed by Beatrice to deliver three prayers to Dante because of concern for his love life. In case you don’t know who Beatrice is, she is the love of Dante’s life but married to another so he can’t have her. I had to look her up too, confused yet? Because of Dante, she was a semi-famous subject for nineteenth century art, but more of an inspiration to the story.

Virgil sort of lays out the land of how things are going to go including getting past the leopard of malice and fraud, the lion of violence and ambition and the she-wolf of incontinence. Now we have some foreshadowing for the hierarchical levels of hell too. If you thought like I did, hmm the worst sin is to poop all over the place. I had to think about that wording a little stronger. Actually the first definition in Webster is a the state of being incontinent. And the definition of incontinent contains 1) lacking self-restraint 2) not being under control.

We might imagine all types of sin that fall into that category. In broad strokes or my interpretation is non-violent crime, followed by violent crime and then sadistic, evil acts. All that is of course subject to the lens of the period. We will wait and see what this actually translates to in the book.

My book offers a summary before each Canto. In the summary, it claims that Dante and Virgil are symbols for human reason while Beatrice is the representing Devine love. It also talks about the levels being recognition of sin for hell, the reunification of sin for purgatory and then finally heaven. Even though I don’t hold those Catholic beliefs, I can sort of see the value of clearing them out of your existence before heaven. It is like the twelve step program, you have to attempt to make amends before you can be free yourself.

Let me cut to the chase here. If we believe everything about the symbols, then this is God telling Dante to figure it out. Use your human brain to understand eternity and I will use the most attractive bait I can find to persuade you. And so, we begin The Devine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

End Your Programming Routine: This was and will be hard. With the advent of modified beliefs and 750 years, we will see if we can learn the same lessons that Dante did. I do not believe that humanity or behavior has changed significantly since that time but our interpretation or judgement may have. Next week will be Canto III and IV,