 I learned that there is
science as well classical myths in Dante’s
Inferno. For example Virgil a character in
The Divine Comedy is a classical mythology
hero and he is asked to guide the Pilgrim
who is really the Author of Dante’s
Inferno, Dante Alighieri. The author has
you visualize the cohesiveness of gravity,
the expansiveness of celestiality and that
which lies between ( geography), ie lands, and
bodies of water he has knowledge of. The
author draws a picture with words of the
architecture of castles, geology,
etc..
Dante’s Inferno provides practical
advice to overcome cowardice. We see that
Virgil needs encouragement to guide the pilgrim.
The author has Beatrice, another guide
for the Pilgrim in addition to Virgil, say: “ A
man must stand in fear of just those
things that truly have the power to do us
harm.” Pg 1470 lines 87-89. Perhaps this
was the inspiration for FDR in the
1930’s to say ”The only
thing we have to fear is fear itself.” There
is even a kind of self help section
where the author says “Dominate
this weariness of yours with the strength
of soul that wins in every battle, if it
does not sink beneath the bodies weight”. Pg
1540 Lines 52-54 This may mean
anything can be conquered by focusing on
strength of soul, freedoms essence, flow
etc., an early example of using positive
affirmations. The author says “A
fit request is answered best in silence and
in deed.” Pg 1540 lines 76-78. We respond
with speech to a “fit” request
when instead of speechifying and deciding energy
can be used in the doing of the request.
Perhaps this author provided inspiration
for all kinds of later fables like Alice
in Wonderland because regarding his word
paintings of stump-like trees and plants
he warns “…see with your own
eyes what I will not describe for if I did
you would not believe my words. Pg. 1503
lines19-21. ”If you break off a branch… the
trunk cried ”’why are you tearing
me’”? Pg 1504 lines 28-33.
Dante wrote regarding external,
extrinsic honors. He said these provoke envy
among others: “… my happy honors
turned to sad laments”. Pg 1505, line
68.” In the world … ( he mentions
a Florentine aquaintance) was filled with
arrogance and nothing good about him
decks his memory for this his shade(ie his
ghost/soul in hell) is filled with fury here… Many
in life esteem themselves great men who will
then wallow here like pigs in mud leaving
behind their repulsive fame” Pg
1488 lines 46-52. He writes about taking
the scorn they hear about themselves to
heart and considering suicide to “punish” others
(ie the drama of “I will show them” etc).Writing
in a kind of genre that is science
fiction-like, the writer predicts
virtual and vicarious life: “These
wretches, had never truly lived” Pg
.1473 lines 64-65. “My mind,
moved by scornful satisfaction, believing
death would free me from all scorn made ME
unjust to ME…”Page 1505 lines
70-72. Dante calls even angels
repulsive when they are cowards who are passively “balanced” on
the so called “fence” of neutrality
, they are nowhere.(they “follow” a
banner of constructs, beliefs, traditions,
history, family, etc that equals paralysis
because…” (they) lost the good
of intellect…” Pg. 1472 line18)
Of those who symbolize extreme pride
Dante Alighieri says: “What I once
was alive…”(namely perhaps due
to pride he believed he was alive while all
the time his “life” was a living
death)”… I still am, dead” Pg
1508 line 31 Note 3 In hell the
proud “…deck their chests with
ornaments of lavish words that prick.” Page
1508 lines 71-72.
Usurers were symbolically dressed
with a Scorpions stinger (The author may
be implying how the usurer causes pain, he
is seen in hell with a kind top appearance
but with the stinger on the bottom Page 1516
lines 10-12 In other words on the suface
those who make loans appear to help others
but they produce nothing and make money doing
nothing. Pg 1499 lines 94-111. Even in Hell
the userers love money. Page 1517 lines 54-57. “All
malice has injustice as its end…achieved
by violence or fraud”. Pg. 1497, lines
22-27. “Fraud that gnaws… can
be used on one who puts his trust in you…(this)
fraud both disregards the love (that)
nature enjoys and that extra bond between
men which creates a special trust” Page
1498 lines 52-62 “This
latter sort seems only to destroy the bond
of love that nature gives to man …(namely)
Hypocrites, dabblers in sorcery, falsifiers,
thieves and simonists, panderers, seducers,
grafters and like filth”. Pg.
1499 lines 55-60
Flatterers are to the writer like “yes “ people.
Seducers are deceivers and the original
deception involved in a seduction results
in exponential further deceptions Pg 1522
line 125-126 Whether it is the “family” of
the church or a family related by blood,
the author implies that unfair advantage, by
bribing (simony) or greed(patrimony) will
be punished. Page 1524 lines 71-72 and
page 1525 lines 104-112 Dante says
regarding tradition and custom
that the family: royalty etc HAS them “(such)…have
rock and mountain in their blood” Pg
15 11 line 63 ; He says “they
have always had the fame of being blind…envious
proud, avaricious. You must not let their
ways contaminate you” page 1511” lines
63-69.
I learned that old traditions like processions
were training for believing that mystifications
were reality: I was a “flower
girl” as a young schoolgirl whose duty
it was to kiss a petal and let
it fallas if from above. I had to make sure
that if I ran out of petals I would
make believe, and “kiss” the
invisible petal and march/walk at a
litany-type pace.
Pg 1526 lines 6-9. For those who “Tried
to bend divine will to their own” Pg
1526 lines 28- 30 the fortune tellers,
magicians, forecasters were all turned around
backwards in hell for having had looked
forward. Pg 1526 lines 10-15; lines 37-39.
I learned that false humility can be the
drama of sacrificing instead of being sublte. According
to the author, in hell the false monastics “All
were wearing cloaks…, dazzling, gilded
cloaks outside, but inside they were lined
with lead .”Page 1537 line 61-65 They
wore their weariness as a (dramatic?) badge,
now that badge, made heavier than all the
dramatic tragedies that can be imagined, ”wore” them.
Perhaps their tragedy is that they
ignored others real survival problems: ”All
were wearing cloaks with hoods pulled
low covering their eyes.” May refer
to the common practice of monastics in the
autors time voluntarily removing themselves
by being cloistered.
Sowers of scandal Pg. 1555 line 102 and
sowers of the “seeds ” of schism(
ie divisions like the Shia and Suni, Catholics
and Protestants, today) had their tongues
or arms cut off in hell (pg 1555 line101
)
I better understand myth now through the
authors “placement” of the titans “in” hell
due to their influence over the masses through
myth, and that the titan myth
might be originally borrowed from the myth
of Babel ie how myths get re interpreted.
The titans, I see, must take symbolical responsibility
for their existence in promoting myth. Treason
is treated by the author by a punishment
of having to be expertly “loyal”.
This is visualized by the author as
being made stationary, paralyzed, unmoving in
frozen ice. In the authors hell the killing
of a family member leaves the body without
a soul to redeem, zombie-like. The absence
of gratitude for the slightest or most subtle
benefit was considered almost THE worst sin.
The absolute worst sin of all
for the writer was the betrayal of
benfactors. These damned souls had to spend
eternity reflected backwards as well as forwards
in time.
PARADISIO
Whether we call it the glory of god, spirituality,
love, or freedom, Dante Alighieri says there
are obstacles to seeing (ie awareness) the
it-ness, or the essence of these (There
are, in other words, habitual distractions,
ie the clinging to the known, the stubborn
holding onto the status quo. I am reminded
that Barak Obama said gun owners, etc hold
onto their bitterness. resentments, constructs
that result in traditions, customs, that
generate unwritten, reinforcement of rules
through organizations that accent the absence
of freedom like the NRA, etc.
instead of new memories, new hopefulness,
even new amendments being risked.
PURGATORIO
From Dantes Purgatorio I learned that
earthly conceptions of God, love, spirituality,
freedom etc. might be constructs ,ie
limited communications or communications
of images. When the author has
Virgil leave the Pilgrim, Virgil tells the
Pilgrim “… he is …authentically
free”: …lord of himself “ Pg
1592 lines139-142. Balance and
tolerance and sins with their counterparts
ie greed and prodigality, hoarding,
wasting, have a double nature so we need
almost super human virtue to achieve heaven
or authentic spirituality, flow, freedom,
etc. Otherwise we are in a kind of intellectual
paralysis, an inertia that only appears to
be activity but is just a social “whirl.”
The author allows and even encourages
his readers to get out of what he writes
their unique ownership of meaning.
This may have been an inspiration for
existentialist Soren Kiekegaard.
For instance the author has Virgil
say: ”There is a Veil that covers
my strange verse Pg 1492, lines 62-63. Perhaps what
the author means is that you must “read” yourself!
Only authentic insight that that takes the risk
to allow ambiguity protects against
appearances. Perhaps the author
used his writing to “ look” at
his reflection in hell and “read himself.”
There are some practical lessons about writing
and an author’s fame to be learned
from Dante’s Inferno. Of a famous
poet the author lets it be said that ”they
judge by reputation, not by truth.” Pg
1592 line 121. When some people get
a head start at a reputation, is there opportunity to
be judged truthfully?. Who does the judging
today anyway? And who is judged when even
so called amateurs are recruited, groomed
and vetted.? I wonder if there is a
level playing field on say American Idol?
Is there a level playing field in entertainment,
in politics, in hell, purgatory or
even in heaven? |
