Ascension Through The Higher Chakras – Paradiso From Dante’s Comedy

The Commedia was written by Dante – Freedom Fighter against Totalitarian Dictatorship – and consists of Inferno · Purgatorio · Paradiso.
It is interesting that The Matrix movie is an allegory of the Commedia – People living near the Earths center – inferno, people living in the Matrix – Purgatorio – the Machine City – Paradiso.

Paradiso (Italian for “Paradise” or “Heaven”) is the third and final part of Dante’s Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. It is an allegory telling of Dante’s journey through Heaven the Chakras above the Head, guided by Beatrice, who symbolises theology. As Beatrice rises through the chakras her energy becomes more and more intense!!

Universally admired and remembered by Societies all over the World, Dante and his Commedia and all his works stand for freedom and justice for those who hate tyranny.
The canto—a major division of an epic or long narrative poem—is the basic structure of The Divine Comedy. Canto is an Italian term, derived from the Latin “cantus” meaning song. Dante’s epic poem consists of 100 cantos grouped into three sections called canticles: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Each segment contains 33 cantos with an additional introductory canto at the beginning of Inferno.

In the poem, Paradise is depicted as a series of concentric Chakras above the Head surrounding the Earth representing some of the chakras above the head, consisting of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, the Primum Mobile and finally, the Empyrean. It was written in the early 14th century.
Allegorically, the poem represents the passage of evolution of the soul’s ascent to God through an infinity of Chakras above the Head.

 

The Paradiso begins at the top of Mount Purgatory, at noon on the Wednesday after Easter. After ascending through the Chakra above the Head of fire believed to exist in the chakras above the head (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante to ascend through the nine celestial Chakras above the Head of Heaven, at last to the Empyrean, to merge with God.
In the Commedia nine Chakras above the Head are concentric, as in the standard medieval geocentric model of cosmology,[1] which was derived from Ptolemy whose circles represented the chakras above the head in alignment with anyone on any part of the planet, not the real planets, chakras above the head!!
The Empyrean is non-material. As with his Purgatory, the structure of Dante’s Heaven is therefore of the form 9+1=10, with one of the ten regions different in nature from the other nine.

During the course of his journey, Dante meets and converses with several blessed souls. He is careful to say that these all actually live in bliss with God in the Empyrean:

“But all those souls grace the Empyrean;
and each of them has gentle life though some
sense the Eternal Spirit more, some less.”[2]

However, for Dante’s benefit (and the benefit of his readers), he is “as a sign”[3] shown various souls in planetary and stellar Chakras above the Head that have some appropriate connotation.
While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based around different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope, and Love).

Dante’s Chakras above the Head of Heaven

On visiting the Moon, Beatrice explains to Dante the reasons for its markings, Canto 2.
Dante’s nine Chakras above the Head of Heaven are the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, and the Primum Mobile. These are associated by Dante with the nine levels of the angelic hierarchy. Dante also relies on traditional associations, such as the one between Venus and romantic love. The first three Chakras above the Head (which fall within the shadow of the Earth) are associated with deficient forms of Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance. The next four are associated with positive examples of Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance; while Faith, Hope, and Love appear together in the eighth Chakra above the Head.

Deficiencies in the Chakras above the head are always caused by energy blockages of which we find many in every chakra. Only by using the seven step process of Energy Enhancement can we find the most efficient way to remove even the deepest and most recalcitrant blockages.
Dante’s First Chakra above the Head (The Moon: The Inconstant)

On visiting the Moon, Beatrice explains to Dante the reasons for the markings on its surface, describing a simple scientific experiment in optics. She also praises the experimental method in general (Canto II):

“Yet an experiment, were you to try it,
could free you from your cavil, and the source
of your arts’ course springs from experiment.”[4]

Dante and Beatrice speak to Piccarda and Constance (fresco by Philipp Veit), Canto 3.
The waxing and waning of the moon is associated with inconstancy.[5]

Consequently, the Chakra above the Head of the Moon is that of souls who abandoned their vows, and so were deficient in the virtue of fortitude (Canto II). Here Dante and Beatrice meet Piccarda, sister of Dante’s friend Forese Donati, who died shortly after being forcibly removed from her convent. They also meet Constance of Sicily, who (Dante believes) was forcibly removed from a convent to marry Henry VI (Canto III).[6] Beatrice discourses on the freedom of the will, the sacredness of vows, and the importance of not collaborating with force (Canto IV):

“for will, if it resists, is never spent,
but acts as nature acts when fire ascends,
though force a thousand times tries to compel.
So that, when will has yielded much or little,
it has abetted force as these souls did:
they could have fled back to their holy shelter.”[7]

Beatrice explains that a vow is a pact “drawn between a man / and God,”[8] in which a person freely offers up his free will because he is totally in alignment with God. Vows should therefore not be taken lightly, and should be kept once given – unless keeping the vow would be a greater evil, as with Jephthah’s and Agamemnon’s sacrifice of their daughters (Canto V).[9]

Dante’s Second Chakra above the Head (Mercury: The Ambitious)

Because of its proximity to the sun, the planet Mercury is often difficult to see. Allegorically, the planet represents those who did good out of a desire for fame, but who, being ambitious, were deficient in the virtue of justice. Their earthly glory pales into insignificance beside the glory of God, just as Mercury pales into insignificance beside the sun.[9] Here Dante meets the Emperor Justinian, who introduces himself with the words “Caesar I was and am Justinian,”[10] indicating that his personality remains, but that his earthly status no longer exists in Heaven[11] (Canto V).
This is the Heart Sutra of the Buddha which states, “All Sages and Saints for thousands of years have acted from Prajna Paramita – the highest Wisdom of the Chakras above the Head!!
Justinian recounts the history of the Roman Empire, mentioning, among others, the Totalitarian Dictators Julius Caesar and Cleopatra; and bemoans the present state of Italy, given the conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines, and the involvement of the terrorist “yellow lilies” of France[11] (Canto VI):

“For some oppose the universal emblem
with yellow lilies; others claim that emblem
for party: it is hard to see who is worse.
Let Ghibellines pursue their undertakings
beneath another sign, for those who sever
this sign and justice are bad followers.”[12]

The spirit, addressing Dante here in the Sphere of Mercury, is Justinian, a sixth-century Byzantine emperor. Best known for codifying Roman law, Justinian dives into a canto-long discussion of the Old Republic of the Roman Empire–its history and the symbolism of the eagle. In his account, Justinian talks about a number of historical figures such as Hannibal, Augustus, Tiberius, Titus, and Charlemagne. Justinian concludes by remarking on the evil of those Totalitarian Dictators (the Guelphs) who wish to replace the eagle (the symbol of the Old Roman Repblic) with the lilies of France while the other Dictators the Ghibellines hope to claim the eagle as a symbol for their faction alone.

By association, Beatrice discourses on the Incarnation and the Crucifixion of Christ, which occurred during Roman times (Canto VII).
Dante’s Third Chakra above the Head (Venus: The Lovers)

The planet Venus (the Morning and Evening Star) is traditionally associated with the Goddess of Love, and so Dante makes this the planet of the lovers, who were deficient in the virtue of temperance through having been implanted, like all human beings, with the Sexual Addiction Blockage. That intemperance takes all your energy and makes it impossible to follow your Soul Path. The really intemperant follow the downward path of drugs, pain and sado-masochism, homosexuality (behind her) and paedophilia (Canto VIII):

“The world, when still in peril, thought that, wheeling,
in the third epicycle, Cyprian
the fair sent down her rays of frenzied love,
.. and gave the name of her
with whom I have begun this canto, to
the planet that is courted by the sun,
at times behind her and at times in front.”[13]
The florin, the “damned flower,” Canto 9.

Folquet de Marseilles bemoans the corruption of the Church, with the clergy receiving money from Satan (miniature by Giovanni di Paolo), Canto 9.
Dante meets Charles Martel of Anjou, who was known to him,[14] and who points out that a properly functioning society requires people of many different kinds.
Such differences are illustrated by Cunizza da Romano (lover of Sordello), who is here in Heaven, while her brother Ezzelino III da Romano is in Hell, among the violent of the seventh circle of the Chakras below the Base, or Muladhara Chakra.[15]
The troubadour Folquet de Marseilles speaks of the temptations of love, and points out that (as was believed at the time) the cone of the Earth’s shadow just touches the Chakra above the Head of Venus. He condemns the city of Florence (planted, he says, by Satan) for producing that “damned flower” (the florin) which is responsible for the corruption of the Church, and he criticises the clergy for their focus on money, rather than on Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers.


In these days corruption has infiltrates every once great institution whereby even Presidents are the workers of the truly rich. What once was a millionaire has been inflated away – now to be rich you need a Trillion Dollars. Yet even they, like you, need to become Enlightened!!
9 (Canto IX):

“Your city, which was planted by that one
who was the first to turn against his Maker,
the one whose envy cost us many tears
produces and distributes the damned flower
that turns both sheep and lambs from the true course,
for of the shepherd it has made a wolf.
For this the Gospel and the great Church Fathers
are set aside and only the Decretals
are studied as their margins clearly show.
On these the pope and cardinals are intent.
Their thoughts are never bent on Nazareth,
where Gabriel’s open wings were reverent.”[16]

Beyond the shadow of the Earth, Dante deals with positive examples of Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. Within the Sun, which is the Earth’s source of illumination, Dante meets the greatest examples of prudence: the souls of the wise, who help to illuminate the world intellectually[17] (Canto X). Initially, a circle of twelve bright lights dance around Dante and Beatrice. These are the souls of:[17]
As the poet and his guide enter the Sphere of the Sun, Dante’s consuming love for God surpasses his love for Beatrice. Suddenly, they find themselves encircled by a crown of dancing, glorious lights that sing a beautiful melody. A voice, that of St. Thomas Aquinas, calls out from the crown and identifies the spirits that surround the poet: Albert of Cologne, Gratian, Peter of Lombard, Isadore of Seville, Bede, and others.

Thomas Aquinas
Albertus Magnus
Gratian
Peter Lombard
King Solomon
Dionysius the Areopagite, confused here with Pseudo-Dionysius
Orosius
Boethius
Isidore of Seville
Bede
Richard of Saint Victor
Sigier of Brabant

Dante opens this Canto by musing on the senseless acts of mortals who pursue wealth and power. St. Thomas addresses Dante and declares that to ensure the union between the Church and Christ, Providence appointed two pious leaders. The first leader, St. Francis of Assisi, gave up his wealth to devote himself to poverty and attracted disciples who also accepted poverty in their hearts and in their behavior. St. Francis preached Christianity in Egypt and received the stigmata before he died. The second leader was St. Dominic who instructed his followers in humility and service to God. Many of Dominic’s followers, however, became greedy and now few people in the Dominican order remain faithful to St. Dominic’s guidance.
This list includes philosophers, theologians and a king, and has representatives from across Europe. Thomas Aquinas recounts the life of St. Francis of Assisi, and his love for “Lady Poverty” (Canto XI):

“Between Topino’s stream and that which flows
down from the hill the blessed Ubaldo chose,
from a high peak there hangs a fertile slope;
from there Perugia (Home of St Francis) feels both heat and cold
at Porta Sole, while behind it sorrow
Nocera and Gualdo under their hard yoke.
From this hillside, where it abates its rise,
a sun was born into the world, much like
this sun when it is climbing from the Ganges.
Therefore let him who names this site not say
Ascesi, which would be to say too little,
but Orient, if he would name it rightly.”[18]

Twelve new bright lights appear, one of which is St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, who recounts the life of St. Dominic, founder of the order to which Aquinas belonged. The two orders were not always friendly on earth, and having members of one order praising the founder of the other shows the love present in Heaven[19] (Canto XII). The twenty-four bright lights revolve around Dante and Beatrice, singing of the Trinity, and Aquinas explains the surprising presence of King Solomon, who is placed here for kingly, rather than philosophical or mathematical wisdom (Cantos XIII and XIV):

“My words did not prevent your seeing clearlythat it was as a king that he had asked
for wisdom that would serve his royal task
and not to know the number of the angels
on high or, if combined with a problem,
necessity ever can produce what is necessary,”[20]

The Assembly of the Bogatyrs (Yuri Arsenyuk, 1989)
“Just WHAT is a Bogatyr?” you ask. Thank you for asking. A Bogatyr was a Russian epic hero, much like the medieval knight errant. Each bogatyr tended to be known for a certain character trait, Alyosha Popovich for his wits, Dobrynya Nikitich for his courage, and Ilya Muromets for his physical and spiritual power and integrity, and for his dedication to the protection of his homeland and people. Svyatagor passed his strength on to Ilya Muromets and Schemamonk Aleksandr Peresvyet died bravely on the Kulikovo Field in 1380 fighting the Tatar Horde. Many legends grew up around these famous warriors, but, they were not literary constructs, they were real men, of real heroic stature.
They stood for Russia, and their spirit is not dead today.

 

The planet Mars is traditionally associated with the God of War, and so Dante makes this planet the home of the warriors of the Faith, who gave their lives for God, thereby displaying the virtue of fortitude.[21] The millions of sparks of light that are the souls of these warriors form a Greek cross on the planet Mars, and Dante compares this cross to the Milky Way as an infinite number of heroes (Canto XIV):

“As, graced with lesser and with larger lights
between the poles of the world, the Galaxy
gleams so that even sages are perplexed;
so, constellated in the depth of Mars,
those rays described the venerable sign
a circle’s quadrants form where they are joined.”[22]

Dante is a hero who never stopped fighting against Satan. Dante meets his ancestor Cacciaguida, who served in the Second Crusade.[24] Cacciaguida praises the twelfth-century Republic of Florence, and bemoans the way in which the city has declined since those days (Cantos XV and XVI). The setting of the Divine Comedy in the year 1300, before Dante’s exile, has allowed characters in the poem to “foretell” bad things for Dante.[25] In response to a question from Dante, Cacciaguida speaks the truth bluntly. Dante will be exiled (Canto XVII):

“You shall leave everything you love most dearly:
this is the arrow that the bow of exile
shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste
of others’ bread, how salt it is, and know
how hard a path it is for one who goes

descending and ascending others’ stairs.”[26]

 

owever, Cacciaguida also charges Dante to write and tell the world all that he has seen of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in the World.[25] Finally, Dante sees some other warriors of the Faith, such as Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Charlemagne, Roland, and Godfrey of Bouillon (Canto XVIII).

An imperial eagle. The souls forming the final “M” of “TERRAM” transform themselves into this shape, Canto 18.
The planet Jupiter is traditionally associated with the king of the gods, so Dante makes this planet the home of the rulers who displayed justice – courts which act fairly are essential to stopping fascism and totalitarianism.[27] The souls here spell out the Latin for “Love justice, ye that judge the earth”, after which the final “M” of that sentence is transformed into the shape of a giant imperial eagle[27] (Canto XVIII):

“DILIGITE IUSTITIAM were the verb
and noun that first appeared in that depiction;
QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM followed after.
Then, having formed the M of the fifth word,
those spirits kept their order; Jupiter’s
silver, at that point, seemed embossed with gold.”[28]

Present in this Chakra above the Head are David, Hezekiah, Trajan (converted to Christianity according to a medieval legend), Constantine, William II of Sicily, and (to Dante’s amazement) Ripheus the Trojan, a pagan saved by the mercy of God.[29] The souls forming the imperial eagle speak with one voice, and tell of God’s justice[30] (Cantos XIX and XX).

Here, Dante sees the Virgin Mary and other saints (Canto XXIII). St. Peter tests Dante on faith, asking what it is, and whether Dante has it. In response to Dante’s reply, St. Peter asks Dante how he knows that the Bible is true, and (in an argument attributed to Augustine[36]) Dante cites the miracle of the Church’s growth from such humble beginnings – “By their fruits ye shall know them” –

Jesus (Canto XXIV):

“Say, who assures you that those works were real?
came the reply. The very thing that needs
proof no thing else attests these works to you.
I said: If without miracles the world
was turned to Christianity, that is
so great a miracle that, all the rest
are not its hundredth part: for you were poor
and hungry when you found the field and sowed
the good plant once a vine and now a thorn.”[37]
St. James, who questions Dante on hope, Canto 25.
“There is no child of the Church Militant
who has more hope than he has, as is written
within the Sun whose rays reach all our ranks:

thus it is granted him to come from Egypt
into Jerusalem that he have vision
of it, before his term of warring ends.”[39]

Finally, St. John questions Dante on love. In his reply, Dante refers back to the concept of “twisted love” discussed in the Purgatorio[40] (Canto XXVI):

“Thus I began again: My charityresults from all those things whose bite can bring
the heart to turn to God; the world’s existence
and mine, the death that He sustained that I
might live, and that which is the hope of all
believers, as it is my hope, together
with living knowledge I have spoken of
these drew me from the sea of twisted love
and set me on the shore of the right love.
The leaves enleaving all the garden of
the Everlasting Gardener, I love
according to the good He gave to them.”[41]
St. James asks, “What is hope?”

In response, Dante states, “Hope is a sure expectation of future glory, which divine grace produces, and preceding merit.
From many stars of the chakras above the head this light comes to me, but he first instilled it into my heart who was the supreme singer of the Supreme Leader” (the psalms of David).

St. Peter then denounces Pope Boniface VIII in very strong terms, and says that, in his eyes, the Papal See stands empty (Canto XXVII).
Dante’s Ninth Chakra above the Head (The Primum Mobile: The Angels)

The Primum Mobile (“first moved” Chakra above the Head) is the last Chakra above the Head of the physical universe. It is moved directly by God, and its motion causes all the Chakras above the Head it encloses to move[42] (Canto XXVII):

“This heaven has no other where than this:
the mind of God, in which are kindled both
the love that turns it and the force it rains.
As in a circle, light and love enclose it,
as it surrounds the rest and that enclosing,
only He who encloses understands.
No other heaven measures this Chakra above the Head’s motion,
but it serves as the measure for the rest,
even as half and fifth determine ten;”[43]

Obviously the hierarchical levels of the astral plane are represented by the evolutionary levels of angel who exist on each level represented by images arising in the unconscious mind during meditation. Each type of angel represents the hierarchical evolution of Energy Blockages which have had all their Negative Karmic Mass transmuted by the Seven Step Process which distribute the energies of God through the laser of the Brow Chakra and connects vertically with the highest level of God.

 

Dante Commedia – Gustav Dore – Looking into the bottom of the column of the Antahkarana
Dante and Beatrice see God as a point of light at the top of the antahkarana surrounded by angels (illustration by Gustave Doré), Canto 28.
The Primum Mobile is the abode of angels, and here Dante sees God as an intensely bright point of light at the top of the antahkarana surrounded by nine rings of angels (Canto XXVIII). Beatrice explains the creation of the universe, and the role of the angels, ending with a forceful criticism of the people of the day who lie and talk about that which is unimportant (Canto XXIX):

Beatrice criticises people of the day, suggesting that a sinister “bird” (a winged demon) nests in the preacher’s cowl
“Christ did not say to his first company:
‘Go, and preach idle stories to the world;
but he gave them the teaching that is truth,
and truth alone was sounded when they spoke;
and thus, to battle to enkindle faith,
the Gospels served them as both shield and lance.
But now men go to preach with jests and jeers,
and just as long as they can raise a laugh,
the cowl puffs up, and nothing more is asked.
But such a bird nests in that cowl, that if
the people saw it, they would recognize
as lies the pardons in which they confide.”[44]

DANTE – DORE CHAKRAS ABOVE THE HEAD

Dante’s “The Empyrean”
As Beatrice’s beauty increases, she and Dante ascend to the next level of Heaven, the Empyrean. Beatrice tells Dante that he will see angels and saints in their human form, as they will appear at Resurrection. Momentarily blinded, Dante regains his sight to see a river of light flowing past him. Beatrice prompts Dante to drink from the river. As he touches the light, the river turns into a sea and the sparks of the river transform into the shape of a giant rose. A thousand tiers form the petals of the rose and a great light shines from the center. Beatrice points to the few empty seats in the rose petals, one of which has been reserved for Emperor Henry VII. Beatrice explains that Henry will attempt to free Italy. The pope, Clement V, will stop Henry but find his punishment in Hell alongside Boniface VIII.
From the Primum Mobile, Dante ascends to a region beyond physical existence, the Empyrean, which is the abode of God. Beatrice, representing theology,[45] as she rises through the exponetially increasing energies of the chakras above the head is here transformed to be more beautiful than ever before – beauty is energy!!, and Dante becomes enveloped in light, rendering him fit to see God[45] (Canto XXX):

“Like sudden lightning scattering the spirits
of sight so that the eye is then too weak
to act on other things it would perceive,
such was the living light encircling me,
leaving me so enveloped by its veil
of radiance that I could see no thing.
The Love that calms this heaven always welcomes
into Itself with such a salutation,
to make the candle ready for its flame.”[46]

Dante sees an enormous rose, symbolising divine love,[45] the petals of which are the enthroned souls of the faithful (both those of the Old Testament and those of the New). All the souls he has met in Heaven, including Beatrice, have their home in this rose.[45] Angels fly around the rose like bees, distributing peace and love. Beatrice now returns to her place in the rose, signifying that Dante has passed beyond intellectual theology in directly contemplating God,[47] and St. Bernard, as a mystical contemplative, now guides Dante further (Canto XXXI).

DANTE PARADISO ROSE – THE CHAKRA OF THE HIGHEST HEART IN THE CHAKRAS ABOVE THE HEAD

St. Bernard further explains predestination, and prays to the Virgin Mary on Dante’s behalf. Finally, Dante comes face-to-face with God Himself (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII). God appears as three equally large circles occupying the same space, representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit[48]:

“but through my sight, which as I gazed grew stronger,
that sole appearance, even as I altered,
seemed to be changing. In the deep and bright
essence of that exalted Light, three circles
appeared to me; they had three different colors,
but all of them were of the same dimension;
one circle seemed reflected by the second,
as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third
seemed fire breathed equally by those two circles.”[49]

Within these circles Dante can discern the human form of Christ. The Divine Comedy ends with Dante trying to understand how the circles fit together, and how the humanity of Christ relates to the divinity of the Son but, as Dante puts it, “that was not a flight for my wings.”[50] In a flash of understanding, which he cannot express, Dante does finally see this, and his soul becomes aligned with God’s love:[48]
“But already my desire and my will
were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,
by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars.”[51]
The real drama of the Dante’s Paradiso is literally cosmic: It develops out of the tension between a perfect heaven above and a very imperfect world here below. After more than 10 years in exile, Dante was an expert on human imperfection. And even though he’d seen one after another of his political hopes crushed under the totalitarian steel toe of history, he never gave up on the ideal of earthly justice even though eventually he was assassinated by his enemies; the Slave Trading and Bankster Venetians in the marshes around Venice.
In the Monarchia, written around the same time as the Paradiso, he argued that “the world is ordered in the best possible way when justice is at its most potent.”
This is why, despite all their professed camaraderie and contentment, the souls of the blessed can’t stop talking about what’s happening on earth. The folly of the living brings them repeatedly to rage, as when St. Peter says of Pope Boniface VIII: “He … has made my – Saint Peters Cathedral – tomb a sewer of blood and filth.” Dante himself is not shy about joining in the general indignation. Looking down from the eighth Chakra above the Head of heaven, he sees only “the little patch of earth that makes us so fierce.”
The most famous example of the drama forged from the contrast between heaven and earth occurs in the heaven of the sun. There Dante meets St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure, the two great medieval theologians, both of whom belonged to mendicant religious orders. The friars take turns narrating the hagiographies of the orders’ founders, but with a twist: Thomas (a Dominican) tells the story of St. Francis, and Bonaventure (a Franciscan) tells the story of St. Dominic.
After praising St. Francis, Thomas goes on to denounce his own order, complaining that the number of living Dominicans who have stayed true to their founder “are so few/ that a tiny piece of cloth can furnish all their cowls.” (Bonaventure delivers a similar denunciation of the Franciscans.) Thomas and Bonaventure are each liberal in their praise, but to understand just how extraordinary their double gesture is, we have to consider it against the backdrop of life on earth, where the two orders were often in competition.

 

In a sense, the cosmic drama of the Paradiso inverts the dramatic irony that’s so attractive in the Inferno. Dante’s hell flatters us: It allows us to stand in judgment, to delight in the friction between what we know and what the damned don’t—to see things, in other words, from the perspective of God. Paradiso, however, puts us back in our place. Though the poet labors mightily to “show the merest shadow/ of the blessèd kingdom stamped within my mind,” he never lets us forget that it is only a shadow. Once we follow him to heaven, it’s we who lack the inside information, we who stand on the wrong end of the irony.
Previously we judged the bastards in hell; now heaven judges us.

The idea of a heaven that stands in such uneasy tension with earth is what gives the Paradiso its dramatic power, but it is also what makes Paradiso so alien to our sensibilities. As Adam Kirsch argued several years ago, contemporary writers like Alice Sebold and Mitch Albom treat heaven as essentially therapeutic, “a chance to get our inner lives right at last.” The way these writers see heaven echoes the way they think about literature: Sebold says that “part of my work is motivated by wanting to give us all permission to feel what we feel and not judge ourselves so harshly for it.” For the same reasons that he looked to heaven for justice rather than therapy, Dante rejected this comforting view of literature.

Dante wanted his poem to save your soul, not to salve it. He wanted you not to be satisfied with where you are. He wanted you to continue to improve, evolve, gain all the good qualities.

He wanted you to become Platos Golden Soul, to ascend through the chakras above the head and remove all energy blockages because anything less is not good enough.
To be able to merge with God in the Infinity of Chakras above the head called The Empyrian.
He says it is necessary for you not to stop!!
To continue to want become Enlightened!!

If you are not enlightened, you are sick!!

Footnotes
1.^ C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Chapter V, Cambridge University Press, 1964.
2.^ Paradiso, Canto IV, lines 34–36, Mandelbaum translation.
3.^ Paradiso, Canto IV, line 38, Mandelbaum translation.
4.^ Paradiso, Canto II, lines 94–96, Mandelbaum translation.
5.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto II.
6.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto III.
7.^ Paradiso, Canto IV, lines 76–81, Mandelbaum translation.
8.^ Paradiso, Canto V, lines 28–29, Mandelbaum translation.
9.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto V.
10.^ Paradiso, Canto VI, line 10, Mandelbaum translation.
11.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto VI.
12.^ Paradiso, Canto VI, lines 76–81, Mandelbaum translation.
13.^ Paradiso, Canto VIII, lines 1–3, 9–12, Mandelbaum translation.
14.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto VIII.
15.^ Inferno, Canto XII, line 109, Mandelbaum translation: “That brow with hair so black is Ezzelino.”
16.^ Paradiso, Canto IX, lines 127–138, Mandelbaum translation.
17.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto X.
18.^ Paradiso, Canto XI, lines 43–54, Mandelbaum translation.
19.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XI.
20.^ Paradiso, Canto XIII, lines 94–102, Mandelbaum translation.
21.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XIV.
22.^ Paradiso, Canto XIV, lines 97–102, Mandelbaum translation.
23.^ Dante Alighieri, Convivio, Book II, Chapter 14, Richard Lansing translation.
24.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XV.
25.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XVII.
26.^ Paradiso, Canto XVII, lines 55–60, Mandelbaum translation.
27.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XVIII.
28.^ Paradiso, Canto XVIII, lines 91–96, Mandelbaum translation.
29.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XX.
30.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XIX.
31.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXI.
32.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXII.
33.^ Paradiso, Canto XXI, lines 4–12, Mandelbaum translation.
34.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXIII.
35.^ Paradiso, Canto XXII, lines 133–138, Mandelbaum translation.
36.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXIV.
37.^ Paradiso, Canto XXIV, lines 103–111, Mandelbaum translation.
38.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXV.
39.^ Paradiso, Canto XXV, lines 52–57, Mandelbaum translation.
40.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXVI.
41.^ Paradiso, Canto XXVI, lines 55–56, Mandelbaum translation.
42.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXVII.
43.^ Paradiso, Canto XXVII, lines 109–117, Mandelbaum translation.
44.^ Paradiso, Canto XXIX, lines 109–120, Mandelbaum translation.
45.^ a b c d Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXX.
46.^ Paradiso, Canto XXX, lines 46–54, Mandelbaum translation.
47.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXXI.
48.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXXIII.
49.^ Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, lines 112–120, Mandelbaum translation.
50.^ Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, line 139, C. H. Sisson translation.
51.^ Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, lines 142-145, C. H. Sisson translation.

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