![]() ![]() The will, abused and misused by the sinner, and purged by the penitent, is returned to God, the prime mover and source of love, by the free spirit.įaith and Belief in revealed Truth is the structure that underpins the journey from a spiritual viewpoint, while it is the light of Justice and Order that is turned on the political and religious domains of Empire and Church, and the light of Love that illuminates the personal. And Paradise is a virtual space and moment where the will, imprisoned by the Inferno, freed in the Purgatorio, is now paradoxically to be relinquished in the Paradiso. It is intellectual light filled with love: it is love of virtue filled with joy. Knowledge increases as Dante ascends, until he is fit to receive the final understanding of Religious Glory, of Universal Love, and the outer (and innermost) heavens.Īs Light and Love cascade down through the Universal hierarchy, Dante and Beatrice are conversely drawn upwards by their spiritual desire, towards the greater brightness, joy, and Love. It is a continuing ethical journey, an exploration of the perfections and imperfections of life according to the seven virtues, theological and cardinal, aligned to the seven ‘planets’, the theological virtues being considered again in the Stellar Heaven where Dante’s understanding is ‘tested’, and it encloses within its intellectual sweep Empire and Church, the active and contemplative life, Love and Justice, and above all Faith. The seven Virtues who accompany Dante, Beatrice, Statius and Matilda at the end of the Purgatorio are the initial key to Paradiso. The student questions, is questioned, learns and understands. He looks back at the littleness of Earth. The view from here is wide and all embracing. As Dante ascends with Beatrice through the levels, he acquires knowledge that extends and expands the Vision. Here a Neo-platonic vision of universal order unfolds, a hierarchy that leads from the planetary spheres through the heavens to the Empyrean, that still centre and paradoxically that circumference of the universe, from which the Divine Light and Love flows. Inferno leaves lasting images of the hellish city: Purgatorio of Dantes’ own purgation and his meeting again with Beatrice: Paradiso brings sweetness, and the glory of intellectual Light. The emphasis in Inferno was on the political life, and in Purgatorio on the personal life: Paradiso emphasises the spiritual life, though all three Cantiche vitally interweave the three threads. From eternal recurrence to the eternal Moment. From clouded sight to burgeoning knowledge. From the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, and beyond. ![]() ![]() The journey of Purgatorio took Dante from the loss of spiritual life in Inferno and has brought him to the rebirth of spiritual life and of the world that the ancient myth signifies. Calliope who sang the myth of Persephone was invoked in Canto I of Purgatorio: Matilda reminded Dante of Persephone gathering flowers near its end. The Inferno invokes pity in Dante: Purgatory brings him both the hope and the reality, in his confession to Beatrice, of forgiveness: the Paradiso demands, and explores, his faith. ![]() This work may be freely reproduced, stored and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose. Kline © Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved. Meditations on the Divine Comedy of Dante AlighieriĪ. ![]()
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