We’ve now started a new reading of Paradiso in Italian, and we are building on the foundations from a new understanding of Eden. How we interpret the scenes, and what emerges out of the passages, will largely rely on an inner development of the capacity of the Chariot, the Tree of Relationship, and Beatrice as one’s inner spiritual life. Without these basic elements – much of our posts in the coming year or two, will likely not give a fuller resonance internally.
And the wealth that comes out of the poetry with these keys are very different from earlier readings. Rather then evocative, celestial poetry, it touches on far deeper spiritual depths in the soul.
An example is this (Par.i.58-60):
Io nol soffersi molto, né sì poco,
ch’io nol vedessi sfavillar dintorno,
com’ferro che bogliente esce del foco;
This is when Dante suddenly emulates Beatrice and stares at the Sun in Canto I. He says: “I did not endure it much, nor yes so little, that I did not see glowing sparks all around it, like boiling iron that emerges out of the furnace“.
And then it is like a new day is added to the day, and his perception is bright like “another sun” is illuminating his perception and experience.
And a key here is this: with a basis in the Relationship to God that was established in the Garden of Eden, this almost becomes more of a form “charging” of the relationship with intense energy, that does not strike “directly” at oneself and blinds or overwhelms. It becomes a charging mechanism into the relationship, that further enhances the Pilgrim’s spiritual and fuller perception of Reality. The “Tree” becomes a form of vessel that can be loaded and charged again and again, which then grows the soul, as we will see in how Beatrice grows more and more beautiful and radiant for every new sphere in Paradiso.
So in short;
we’re now starting a new journey into Paradiso with a whole new approach, and a much deeper anagogical layer. More internally expanding, vs. an external flight out into the Universe. The Kingdom of God is within you, and can flood your perception right here and now, once the dynamics of Eden have come to fruition. Into the Heavens is also an infusion, right here into the Earthly too.
I’m excited to see what comes of this!
The image of iron leaving the furnace is a great one to start Paradiso; it is transformed just as the Pilgrim (and the relationship) are transformed in Eden. The furnace strengthens and shapes the iron, so perhaps the ever-increasing brightness of light through Paradiso will show an ever-increasing strengthening and shaping of the Pilgrim and/or relationship.
Yes, that is exactly right I think! After Purgatory/Eden, Dante has built the capacity in the Pilgrim (and the participatory Reader), to use the “Sun” more directly to strengthen and shape the relationship. Once this is in place, a different dynamic can start – which it does on the first two pages of Paradiso!