Paradiso 16

This year, 2021, marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante, author of the great Divine Comedy. I invite you to experience the odyssey, by accompanying me as I discuss each canto.

(My book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide For The Spiritual Journey, is published by Angelico Press for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death on 13th September 2021.

Dante begins his journey by waking up in a dark wood. The air tastes bitter. He becomes fearful. Truth is out of reach. But his crisis is a turning point.

Many today, too, are waking up to something that's gone wrong. The air tastes bitter, people are fearful, truth is out of reach. We’re in a spiritual crisis. We must see the world afresh and understand. I believe Dante can help us discover how.

Canto 16 features Cacciaguida, Dante’s great great grandfather, rehearsing a litany of the families who have brought Florence so low. And yet, here in the heaven of Mars, this history of terrible tragedy is somehow a blessing. Dante is learning the way in which the experience of everything on earth coming to naught, how all that humans build is cut away by time’s scissors, can be embraced fully.

With that struggle comes the capacity to let go and discover the eternal life that is the source of human life, along with the capacity to align with it.

There is an MP3 version of the talk, a sign up to the podcast version and receive notifications, and more at www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy.

If you wanted to discuss the Comedy with others, a Discord-based gathering is currently running here - https://discord.gg/nuzPzn5.

I recommend the translation by Mark Musa in the Penguin Classics edition, both for its accessibility and notes.

The images that accompany my discussion are by Gustav Doré (in black and white), William Blake (in colour), Sandro Botticelli (the drawings), Giovanni de Paolo (illustrations) and assorted manuscripts.

Видео Paradiso 16 канала Mark Vernon