Prof. Giglio in Napoli

Here’s an excerpt from the correspondence with Professore Raffaele Giglio at the Department of Italian Literature, the University of Napoli Federico II last week, regarding the interpretation of the dream in Canto 9 in Purgatory (our translation):

The presence of the β€œFire” and the motif of the kidnapping, even though in the dream, makes us able to anticipate that which was the aspiration of Dante; to reach the Divine, which in the Biblical Stories was represented in general as the burning bush, as vivid and living Fire.

Dante in his proceedings has had to confront and surpass many barriers of fire to continue his journey. The fire, in my interpretation, symbolizes the burning desire of the pilgrim towards that biblical image of the Divine. The fire is an expression of strong desire; and in the dream Dante has brought to completion that which burns inside of him: unifying himself with the Divine Fire. The image is symbolic, and could signify the aspiration towards this Fire-Divinity, which now in a dream seems to him to have happened.

Prof. Giglio’s course on Dante and Science is excellent, here:
Professor Raffaele Giglio, Dante Course

Posted in Purgatory | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Sixth Terrace

We’re now already up at the sixth Terrace on the Mount, and things go very fast after the Dream the second night. The dream where a monster transforms into a Siren, as a framing of the last three terraces after Sloth.

And just like the Pilgrim whose thirst increases with the learning as we ascend, so goes the reading speed itself many times. It’s almost hard to stop.

So now there’s only the seventh Terrace of Lust left, and then the last six chapters of the Heavenly Forest, The Garden of Eden. And we’ve had some major new discoveries about the role of the First Dream – to transcend many things and enter a more deeply spiritual sense of the Purgatory, described by Statius indirectly through the explanation of how there are no weather systems or earthquakes possible after the Gate. It is not an Earthly world in many ways.

The spiritual Ascent to the Empyrean begins in some forms already at the Gate of Purgatory, initiated by the Dream of the Eagle. And then it gradually becomes a deeper and wider spiritual experience, to read as well.

And through this the whole second book could be seen as one continuous transition from the Earthly shores, to the beginning of the Transcendent Divine.

Posted in Purgatory | Leave a comment

New Essays!

We wrote two essays on the new website yesterday, one about the symbolism of the Eagle in Chapter 9, https://dantescomedy.com/thefirstdream, and one about the nature of Free Will – https://dantescomedy.com/thefreewill.

The third Terrace is full of deep philosophy and theology, and also some more political thoughts about Dante’s contemporary times and the corruption of the Church of Rome.

Which will be, a topic for a new essay today! 😊

Overall thoughts of the Third Terrace is that it’s a more contained unit with a simpler theme of Wrath compared to those of Pride and Envy. But the thoughts and new learning about one’s freedom to choose and the consequences thereof, as one of the overall themes of the whole Comedy, are profound.

Posted in Misc | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Third Terrace of Purgatory

We’ve just moved up to the third Terrace of Wrath and its balancing virtue, Gentleness!

And again it’s fascinating how much has been put behind us as readers – once the Beach, landscape, climbing in Ante-Purgatory, and the first two Terraces of Pride and Envy are conquered. We can almost feel the increased lightness to the climb, and the higher altitude sense of understanding and knowledge.

On this ledge the Pilgrim receives three examples of Gentleness trough an “ecstatic trance”, before returning to himself again. His mind is wandering from the reality of the senses, and into strong visual scenes from Greek Mythology and the Biblical Stories.

First Martyr St. Stephen is Stoned.

While his reason, Virgil, is observing the thoughts!

Posted in Misc | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy Sunday!

New day, and we just finished the weekly Sunday Show for all our supporters on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/sunday-show-new-45750591

We’re also updating our new Dante website, at dantescomedy.com. The aim is to have it both as an introduction to people fully new to the Comedy, and then 2-3 essays pr. month about specific topics from the books, small scenes as portals to big worlds, or the overall structure and embedded knowledge and wisdom in Dante’s Poetry.

Have a great Sunday! 😊

Posted in Misc | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

New Dante Website!

Today we started a new project with a Dante website, as an introduction for people with little or no knowledge of the Divine Comedy, and with essays about different themes from the books.

Visit here! https://dantescomedy.com

😊

Posted in Misc | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Increased insight, increased capacity of Light.

A theme introduced already in chapter 15 of the Purgatory is how the capacity for more intuitive and transcendent knowledge increases rapidly with learning, once the process has started. The Pilgrim is almost blinded by the light of an Angel in Terrace Two, but Virgil reassures him:

Not long from now, a sight like this will prove to be no burden, but a joy great
as Nature has prepared your soul to feel.

This in some ways also resembles the experience of reading the Comedy itself, the insights can be shattering at first, but gradually they become more and more joyful, natural and inspiring to keep learning.

Posted in Dante | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Being Strong, Confident, and having Humility.

Reading through Purgatory again very slowly, it’s interesting to see how one of the key claims of the whole book, and especially in the first Terrace – is that acknowledging and accepting the limitations of our intellect and reason is fundamental to spiritual, and real, growth.

Once we can balance what we know and understand, with an appreciation of the mystery and the beyond – the soul and also intellectual being is amplified manyfold in their combined experience. In many ways – this lies at the very heart of the Renaissance. Arts & Sciences unified, Human Experience and the Transcendent Mysteries and Inspiration consciously combined and present at the same time.

Posted in Renaissance | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Happy New Year!

First post of 2021! Hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas – we’ve updated the website and going for a bit more blog style again! 😊

Best wishes for a wonderful 2021!!

πŸ˜Šβ˜€οΈπŸŽ‰

Posted in Misc | Tagged | Leave a comment

New Series on Greek Mythology!

Great news! We’ve now started a new series on Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the big world of the Greek Mythology. A little introduction from the public podcast is here!

Enjoy! πŸ™‚

Posted in Greek Myth | Leave a comment