Finishing the Paradiso

..and it left a feeling of only wanting more..

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Canto XXXIII

Reading the last canto in Paradiso for the 4th time, it felt bigger than ever. The last Canto of the whole Comedy is likely the biggest masterpiece and genius of them all. But it takes years and years to get there.

Every time something new stands out.. this time it was the power of Mary’s fixed gaze on St. Bernard during the prayer, and then her turning her eyes, up to the Eternal Light.

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Good morning!

And great coffee! πŸ˜ŠπŸŒ‡β˜•οΈ

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Saturday

Good morning, and good coffee! β˜€οΈβ˜•οΈπŸ˜Š

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The Angels

We’ve just published a new podcast episode about the Creation of the Angels here: https://dantescomedy.com/podcast, and reposted the Empyrean post here: https://dantescomedy.com/before-the-empyrean-the-10th-heaven

Enjoy! 😊

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Ending at the Deep of Philosophy and Theology

One more thought on the Paradiso – in some ways sphere 9 and 10 are repeating the overall idea of Dante of how both philosophy and theology are paths to deep truths, but theology embeds it all.

Sphere 9Β  is in many ways as deep as you can go with Aristotle, with the First Mover and the origin of Motion, which starts existence itself.

Sphere 10 goes to the bottom of Theology, and ends on the last page with the mystery of the connection and relationship between the Human and the Divine, as a glowing mystery in the deep of our souls.

So the Paradiso ends with a double layer of the highest endeavors of grasping and contemplating Life and Existence – with Aristotle, and then with the Biblical Stories.

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Before the 10th Heaven

We’ve just finished the Primo Mobile and the 9th Sphere, and we’re trying to digest what is really happening there; in a sense how the first two books, which are all on Earth, and then eight more spheres in the third book, are all wrapped together in the Primo Mobile as just consequences of motion itself, which spreads out from the calm center of the nature of the Universe, and also creates Time.

It’s a bit like 94 cantos are all wrapped together into a point or idea or concept of Motion, before we reach that which embeds this point, and thus also embedding the totality of the creation and cosmos as well. And in Dante’s cosmology this is the pure Light and Love, and the Mind of God, as outside the boundary of time and space, and embedding it.

There is also some very interesting psychology in how this works whilst reading the books. It is somewhat like moving away from a construct of the whole story in your mind so far, into solely pondering movement and change, creating a whole different way of looking at Being. Especially the timelessness of eternity, and the still center from which motion and time emanates. This way of using writing to describe the transition is nothing but breath-taking in its beauty and simplicity. And the temporal element of language guides this mysterious inversion as preparation for the final experience, into the highest of the Heavens.

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Morning!

Friday – last day of the heatwave! β˜€οΈπŸŒŠ And great coffee! β˜•οΈβ˜€οΈπŸŒ‡

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Sunny and Coffee

We’ve just cross-posted the latest post to the Dante website!
https://dantescomedy.com/the-creation-of-the-angels

😊

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The Creation of the Angels

In Canto 29, Dante describes the origins of the Angelic Beings, as Beatrice can see in the Eternal Mind that the Pilgrim has some questions.

Firstly, the argument is that the Angels were created in order to reflect and “resplendor” the Divine Glory throughout all of Being and Existence (“Subsisto”), in their different natures. Therefore “new loves blossomed from the Eternal Love”.

Secondly, as for the “when”, Beatrice explains that the Angels, the Heavens and the Earthly were all created at the same time, like “three arrows from a three-stringed bow.” This threefold creation was “rayed into existence all at once, without beginning, with no interval.” And there was no “before” this, as time is not a part of Eternity.

Thirdly, the Angelic Beings/Forces were created in the EmpyreanΒ  – and Dante describes how there are more of them than the doubling of the chessboard, meaning more than 18 billion billion.

A very interesting idea is how the angels are practicing their art “with such delight they take no time to pause, but whirl forever.” So even if there is no time or change, there is still movement and activity in the Empyrean. One way to ponder this is the billions of manifestations of love or knowledge every day in the Earthly Life, as actualizations of the Angelic Forces that are still timeless and unchangeable, but active and “whirling”.

So with this, Beatrice as theology has explained the “where and when and how” of the Angelic Beings, and the Canto ends with some incredible poetry about how the angelic nature is going “so far beyond the scale of mortal numbers, that there is no word or concept that can reach that far. [..]The primal Light shines down through all of them and penetrates them in as many ways as there are splendors with which It may mate.”

The final verses reflect the opening tercet in Paradiso once again – as the Pilgrim now can see “the breadth of Eternal Goodness that divides Itself into these countless mirrors that reflect Itself, remaining One, as It was always”. The Glory is penetrating and reflected in the whole of the Universe, in some parts less, and in some parts more.

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Good morning!

Heat wave is heating up.. peak tomorrow or Friday! β˜€οΈβ˜€οΈπŸ˜…πŸ˜…

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Evening Tea

We’ve just finished the Primo Mobile, next stretch is the last four chapters with the Empyrean – and then, we can look back at two years with reading, researching and podcasting from the Comedy! Nine full readings of individual books in total. And we’re still discovering many new things on every page. At the same time, the books are expanding in the mind, and into history and current times as well. They way of apprehending the world, and the spirit underlying Dante’s work and poetry. The seeds of rebirth, and the cycles of time and nature.

One of the strongest moments of research this year is still seeing into the deep of the last page, and the glowing mystery at the bottom of our capacity for contemplation. Maybe it will be easier to see it coming this time!

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Morning!

Great coffe, and great summer sunshine :)) πŸ˜ŠπŸžβ˜€οΈβ˜•οΈ

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The Rings of Angelic Beings

Here’s the moment when the Pilgrim looks at the source of the Divine in the Deep of Motion, and sees the nine rings of Angelic Beings:

there came
showers of light from all the fiery rings,
like molten iron in fire spurting sparks,
and each spark kept to its own ring of fire

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Good morning!

New week – and a great cup of coffee! β˜€οΈπŸ˜Šβ˜•οΈ

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