We’ve just finished the last part of the Purgatory, with the deeply allegorical entrance into the Garden of Eden for the Pilgrim, Virgil and Statius. The Pilgrim finally meets Beatrice and allegorically the Biblical Scriptures, and crosses over the two rivers of Lethe and Eunoë. The first one is to wash away any remembrance and memory of sins, the second one to restore and strengthen all his memories of the Good in his Life. And after the crossing of the second river the Pilgrim is finally fully purified and reborn, both intellectually and spiritually. Like a tree renewed, “..eager to rise, now ready for the stars”.
Virgil has suddenly disappeared right after the appearance of Beatrice – as symbolically the Pilgrim now has a different leading Guide for his Journey. While Statius joins him into the second river and is headed for his own ascent into Paradise.
And with that.. the second deep journey through Purgatory has finished. The crowning moments with the Dream of Leah and Farewell Speech of Virgil are still standing out as the major achievement and “graduation moment” in the second book of the Divine Comedy. The Garden of Eden is the reward after going through all the hardships and learning of the Inferno and Purgatory, even though the Garden its a little tough on the Pilgrim and his self-professed failings in life. His straying away from the spiritual in the mid-part of his life (c. 25-35 yrs old) is being judged very harshly by Beatrice, as the symbol of Divine Judgement in many ways.
But facing the judgement also has the function of a necessary ritual with full confession and tears, before being able to proceed into the two “baptisms” of Lethe and Eunoë. In some ways, the last purgation is a deeply emotional and psychological one, to show the full grief over one’s mistakes. There might even be a point in this threshold about embracing the Free Will, and thus having to acknowledge one’s own wrong-doings – to be able to heal and change at the deepest level. And then, the Pilgrim is Free.
