my eyes alit upon a feast to be again devoured as i wandered through the large bookstore yesterday…
a beautiful edition, illustrated, of dante alighieri's inferno, purgatory and paradise - complete with illustrations!
inferno, purgatory and paradise - all in one glorious volume at a price that my budget could not pass by - $14.98.
as much as i curse the large box stores that have driven my local small book-keepers from the neighborhood, this one, barnes and noble, came to make amends by offering this amazing descent into the abyss and emerging into hope and then into understanding.
i have read the journey of dante alighieri many times since dr. hadley first introduced our young minds to this description of "hell" and showed us how each circle represented not some future torment but that of the torment that exists in the now for each of these "sins".
from the tragedy of francesca da rimini, always to be buffeted by the winds for an illicit love to the constant rending of self for the sowers of discord, dante gives a better understanding of the psychological torment brought about by our own actions than any modern day therapist.
traveling the nine circles of hades, dante (accompanied by the poet virgil who guides his way), he "sees" the consequences of the actions of human frailty and deceit. but dante doesn't leave us with a bleak and unforgiving future. dante travels through purgatory, equally nine circles but these are the paths to atonement, to releasing the anger, hurt, pain caused by one's actions. finally, dante ascends into paradise to find that there are even levels that exist in this enlightened state.
but, tonite, i want to join hands with virgil and dante and take a walk through some of those circles and look at how they apply in our modern world of politics and society.
won't you join me as we climb down lucifer's squiggly legs and drop into the inferno to observe?