Distorted perception of Reality

After the vision of the Eagle tearing into the Tree (relationship) and Carro (perception), Beatrice continues her lesson to the Pilgrim about the perils and consequences of losing aligned perception of fuller Reality.

In short, after the Eagle (partly seen as the Divine as Arbitrary Power rather than Relationship and Love) there appears a Fox from the side – likely representing false doctrines and teachings, and then, a Dragon emerges from underneath with a poisonous sting, most likely the injection of evil into the foundations of one’s perception.

After these three threats and potential damages to one’s capacity to perceive reality clearly – the transformations start. The carro changes into a monster, and then a harlot appears on top of it, as a perverted form of your soul – once these distorting and damaging elements have infected your apprehension.

In addition there suddenly appears a Giant, likely the representation of overall systems of authority that will perpetuate these distorting influences as poison to a clear view of reality. The harlot and the Giant occasionally “kiss each other”, which could point to how a perverted soul is both used by these overall structures, but is also necessary for these structures to survive over time. The distorted harlot does flicker her eyes around at times, and when briefly looking at the Pilgrim, which could here be a more virtuous and truthful source, the Giant instantly whips her from “head to toe”, seeking instant control and punishment.

The final scene is the Giant disconnecting the now monstrous carro with the harlot on top, away from the Tree – and carrying them both far away, into the forest (la selva).

And then the whole passage ends, perhaps both as a warning of threats to an existing relationship to the Heavens, and as a circling back to the opening scene of the whole Comedy, when the pilgrim was lost in a “dark forest”. Eden is about the relationship to God, and we have just seen various forces that destroy this bond and bring you back into this forest. Perhaps this is even answering parts of why the Pilgrim had found himself in such a place in the opening scene in the first place, being separated from the heavens, and spiritually dead.

So through restoring the soul and the relationship in Eden, Dante also gains a new capacity to see what went wrong when he himself got lost, in an earlier period of his life, and in the lives of so many, and also for humanity in a bigger sense.

We have already learned how to repair this damage through the climb of Purgatorio, and now perhaps also learned how to prevent it from happening again, in the future.

And with that the vision is over, and the focus goes back to Beatrice, the radiantly glowing soul at the foot of the blossoming tree, and with the virtues with lights singing a celestial song. They are now mourning how a soul might fall away from the relationship and into a dark forest, and Beatrice is similar to Mary in front of the passion. But this too is soon transformed into further growth and strengthening of the soul, and how even the forest can be redeemed when re-finding the path and spiritual life. Thus it soon becomes  another deep gift in the last steps before the final journey, up into Heaven.