Predictive History - The Story of "Civilization", "Secret History", "Game Theory" and more - Dante #12 (Final): Purgatory Cantos 26-33

Episode Date: August 22, 2026

Watch on YouTube: https://link-to-youtube.s.gy/dante12

Good morning. Welcome back. This is it. This is the grand finale. The final day. So thanks so much for everyone who've made it this far. It's been a very long, arduous journey, but hopefully it was also enlightening and inspiring. Just to let you know, we'll probably run over today. We'll probably finish at 4. o'clock today so if some of you need to run before then it's fine okay but but i want to give us time to full explore the vine comedy um and engage in a process of reflection um so uh we'll probably run a bit we'll probably run over okay so uh before i begin any questions from yesterday or or comments or ideas or any dreams you might have had yesterday.

Yes? I'm like yesterday we talked about like you said, you said nature doesn't equals to God, right? I'm still a little bit confused about what it actually means. Okay, so nature in Dante's understanding, it is just natural laws, which includes physics, right? So law of gravity. And these natural laws,

create the world that we live in today and what these natural laws are just what the law the laws of chemistry biology physics but that's not what god is okay god is the entirety of the cosmos so even though um we think that the natural laws are the end on be-all they're not because there's spiritual planes okay uh there's a soul and that's governed by divine laws. Okay, so you need to be able to differentiate between natural laws and spiritual laws. And so maybe in natural law, the earth circles the sun, but in spiritual law, the sun circles the earth. Okay, and in natural law, maybe God is nowhere, but in spiritual law, God is everywhere.

Okay, so there's a major dichotomy between these two. Okay? Any more questions? Yes. This is not from yesterday, but I'm wondering, what is Lucifer doing in the last layer of how, if he just stay stale? What's the purpose of he being there? He's there to cry. He's there to feel eternal regret and remorse for betraying God.

So we had a discussion of the angels, and there were a lot of things I got wrong, and I did more research. And there was a very interesting comment on YouTube that I found very helpful. But the idea is this, God creates both angels and humans with free will. The difference, though, is that angels are perfect from the beginning. So they know, so they are beyond time and space. They know the past, the present, and the future. And with their free will, they're able to make the perfect choice. And once they make the, but it's only a one-time choice, okay?

And the choice is, do you want to be loyal to God or do you want to disobey God? Is humility more important than you or is pride more important to you? Okay. God will give you that choice. And Lucifer and some of the angels made the choice, I rather be independent. I rather be proud. And so God permitted them this choice. He permitted them to rebel and let's create the war in heaven.

They lost and they were cast down to hell. And once there, they could only feel eternal regret for what they've done. And their regret consumed them so much, okay? humans are different humans don't have perfection so humans are permitted to make mistake at mistake because humans don't know better okay so that's a difference between humans and angels okay okay all right any more questions uh yes andy we discussed a little bit about divine inspiration and the poet kind of channeling the divine. The divine being, I don't want to say this. So prior to the Christian poets, then we're dealing with muses. Do you believe that the pagan poets are viewing the muses incorrectly

and they're divine or the muses are divine or they just mislabeled? Is there no problem there or is there an evolution? Right. So if you look all the great epic poems that we have, whether it's Homer or Virgil or Milton, Dante, they all believe, every one of them believe they're channeling the divine. Okay, it's not, they're not engaged in the act of creation. They are engaging in the act of revelation, right? The act of creation is, you know, you just take something and you just build it, okay? But the act of revelation, it's like, imagine a big boulder. And you already know inside it is this beautiful angel, right? So the act of revolution is all you're doing is you're basically just breaking down the border

so that it reveals itself to the world. Okay, so all other great poets believe this. And there's no differentiation between them. Okay. All right. Any more questions? I asked Julian. Well, I had a dream that I could talk about.

Yeah, great. We love dreams here. Yes. It's great that you guys are dreaming more. Yes. Yeah, so I have to say it was a really confusing dream for me. And I don't know how I can really connect it to Dante, but so I think it started with me wanting to have dinner with my father and my best friend. And we wanted to set up dinner. And then there was like an electric, cable missing for the grill or something so i went and tried to find it and then after a while i

ended up in a forest and um i had a rope in my hand and it kind of it got stuck in a tree or something and i wanted to get the rope and so i got back to the house and try to get a ladder to get to the to the rope and then some some guy from i think a tv series he kind of distracted me and talked to me and um said hey i have a bigger letter come with me and then i think that's where it kind of ended so it was a lot about um i think just being distracted from the actual end goal by things but i was the one would let myself get distracted. But I don't know how, yeah, divine it could be. Okay.

All right. So with dreams, we shouldn't put too much emphasis on the vision. Okay. What's really important about the dream is the emotion you felt during the dream. This is how really for Donny, the cosmos interacts with us through our emotions. Okay. it channels an emotion into us and our soul feels it or so reflects it and then our soul tries to interpret it with time and space

and that's why we have these visions. What's really important is the emotion that you felt in this dream. Do you remember the emotion? Yeah, I would say anxious probably the most. Like I was really anxious that I would get lost, that I wouldn't be able to get the letter or get the rope from the tree. So I would say probably anxiety was kind of the most. Okay.

And that's probably the emotion that is most raw in you right now. And once you have this emotion, then you have to continue to reflect on why you have this emotion and where this emotion might take you. Did you want to say something? Yeah. I want to ask, do you remember? which TV character? I think it's the I think his name is Phil from

modern family or something. Phil from modern family what does he signify to you? I don't know I only see him on when I watch YouTube shorts. I actually think the ladder and the rope seem very symbolic to me because what you said reminded me of Jacob's Ladder story and Mark Chagall actually has a painting, very beautiful, colorful painting of that. Maybe seeing that painting may relieve what anxiety you have. I'm just going a step further, but I actually think I find the latter to be very positive because it's as if you're at the beginning of purgatory.

you're embarking on your journey. I mean, it's normal to be anxious. No, I actually think it's healthy to be anxious at your age. I mean, it's just your age, right? It's like, you know, you're beginning to leave your family and embarking your own independent journey. So you're anxious, and it's just normal and healthy to be anxious at your age.

Okay, any more questions or thoughts or dreams before we begin? Yes? Fred? Just one quick question. I was reading some translation notes in a version of the Comedia last night. And they were talking about how Dante kind of moves away from Plato's tripartite soul and takes more of the Aristotelian soul where it's one soul with three natures inside. And I just wondered if you could explain a little bit more about it because I didn't really,

I couldn't grasp how, obviously he doesn't talk about three souls in this one, but I didn't, I don't really understand how to interpret that. Okay, so what you read is a very popular scholarship consensus on Dante, which is he's heavily influenced by Aristotle, especially Aristotle's ideal of the mean, where the ideal path is the path that balance. is two extremes. It's something that Andy talked about previously. So, Aristotle has a huge influence on Dante. And Aristotle actually is really influential at this point in history, because Thomas Aquinas is a heavy Aristotle. He's a heavy promoter of the ideals of Aristotle. I don't know if people how well people knew plato at this time in history um and um what dante alludes to a lot in vying comedy is plato's theory that the soul is uh in immortal um and as to how the soul is divided up um i don't think it's really clear in the vying comedy um

I think it's maybe scholars trying to basically impose a debate that for Dante didn't really exist in his mind. And so a point that I will make that's very important is that we just assume that Dante read a lot and then he synthesize a lot of this information to come over his own understanding, which then becomes visualized and non-comity. That's how we think the creative process works. But what we discussed yesterday is like, that's not, that's actually true. It's entirely possible that he never read Aristotle, he never read Plato, but he was channeling them and their ideas. He had access to the cosmos. Okay. Doesn't make sense.

And that's a mistake that a lot of scholars make. Actually, all scholars make this mistake where they see an idea and like, oh, it must be because he read Plato. or it must be because he read Aristotle. And it could not be, and maybe or maybe not, okay? I mean, it's entirely possible that he is just channeling the cosmos, channeled the vine, and the ideas already embedded in them. And, and I mean, like, because if you actually read the divine comedy, there's no way anyone has a time to read everything that Donne refers to, okay?

His knowledge is like an infinite cosmos. And you're like, okay, did he really read an infinite cosmos or was he able to access an infinite cosmos? And I would think the latter makes more logical sense. It may not make like scholarly sense, but I think it makes much more intuitive sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm finished, I'm finished, yeah.

Which I would love to hear from you on our last day. at some point, kind of how you think Dante has influenced and ushered in the Renaissance, because, you know, if, by the way, I'm very touched by you sharing your creative process and also what you think would be the creative process for Dante. And so how has this influenced the Renaissance if it's not a synthesis of the past? So I'd be very curious of that. I also want to just mention a few mea culpas. One is I if if any homosexuals or overweight people or people who are part of the history of slavery feel uncomfortable, we are kind of solely couching this in a certain place and time and it's within Dante's world.

Yes. So I want to mention. that also the last supper painting I may not have seen I may have seen it as a copy in the Vatican and it's actually in Milan yes not Florence but I want to mention that because I think part of what Dante has inspired all of us or inspired me at least is that we're not that different we're not that different and what has really captured me are the concept of free will and the democratic principle that everyone, no matter what, and at any point in time, you have access to the divine.

Right. Well, that's the answer. Access to the vine, okay? So there are about a million ways in which Dante influenced the Renaissance or create the Renaissance, okay? But I'll just point out the major ones, okay? First of all, he taught us to stop looking downwards and start looking upwards, right? That's especially relevant in our age when AI is so dominant.

When we've been taught that AI is going to liberate us from work, when AI will be the panacea for all society's ill. AI is going to solve cancer. AI is going to solve climate change. AI is going to solve poverty. So just focus on AI and will be saved. Okay? And Dante will be horrified, disgusted by this idea because he's telling us that what matters,

what makes us human is our access to the device. Okay, AI can never replace us. I can enslave us, right? But I can never liberate us. AI can never replace us. And so if we start, if we stop just focusing on the here and now and start thinking about the divine, lift our head upwards to the heavens, then this is a path forward.

Yes, Julian? Did you want to do you have a point? So we live more in an Aristotelian, Aristotelian world? than a platonic world because, you know, from the famous painting, Aristotle points downwards and Plato points upwards. You're completely right, exactly, right? So Aristotle told us what matters is causing a fat, what matters is what happens here. Don't worry about what happens there. Plato is the opposite, right? So, yeah, so right now we live in very much an Aristotelian framework,

and we need to return to much more platonic framework, okay? I mean, it is just horrible how today we're like, go to college and study computer programming. That's the future. Ignore liberal arts. Ignore philosophy. Ignore art history. Ignore the great books. That's the past.

And like if you are truly enlightened, okay, I'm telling you right now, if you're going to university, ignore that stuff, ignore computer program, ignore STEM, just read the great books, read philosophy. That is the future. The future will be determined not by those who can computer program, but by those who can read and think for themselves, okay? This has always been true. Did you?

I want to add that I have been completely horrified by certain universities canceling. For example, art history survey course because it overly focuses on, for example, Western civilization. But I think the solution is really to add to it, you know, works and access to the divine from other cultures rather than completely canceling it. Right. And I would also also add that you should teach what you know

best, right? Because you have responsibility to give students the best education. So you know Western civilization really well, then teach it. And the idea and what Donna would say is, Once the spark of learning is embedded in a student, the student is naturally going to go overseas and want to learn more, right? And this is going to expand the imagination of the cosmos. So, yeah, I mean, we can go on for like hours about universities, okay? But there's the first one, okay? Like Dante taught people to look upwards and like just, that's point one. Point two is, Dante was first and foremost, a Democrat, as you said, which is, and this is really key.

And this is why I don't like the meritocracy. I'm very thankful for Yale, for the education that we got, but I think everyone should have access to this education. Because we don't know who can have the next great idea, right? Look at the Renaissance. It was very democratic. Before, it was only the extremely wealthy who could write poetry. But during the Renaissance, look at people like Leonardo da Vinci. He gave him nothing, right? The guy was just a commoner.

And all the great artists of the Renaissance were just commoners. And so it's really about access. It's really about democracy, right? And I think this is why I'm so thankful for Carol for giving us this platform, because if we really want to save the world, if we don't have impact, we want to make, we want to make sure that anyone, everyone can have access to a great education. That's really one of the major goals of being here today to make sure that as many people as possible have access to great education and stop the idea of only the select, only the left can access a good education.

Okay. Dimman, did you have a question or? Won't AI give more people access to information and education? Not if they're only jobs, right? Not if they're unemployed. Not, I mean, I mean, you ask yourself, what is AI doing? Is AI really liberalizing education or is it censoring knowledge? Okay, so, so, so you're right in that, you know, that's a propaganda. Yes, AI will liberate knowledge and give it to everyone.

But what I'm seeing is that AI is heavily censoring knowledge and access. And it is trying to basically reduce humans into human slaves. We have this gig economy where more more more more people are now working as delivery workers. If you're working as a delivery worker, do you have time to go get an education? Okay, so that's point two. Dante made elite education accessible to everyone, right? Because remember, he wrote this in Tuscan, not Latin. Latin, you need a first specialized education.

Tuscan is just what you speak every day. So how they were learning the Vicarony is just reading groups, right? Someone would just read the Vincominy and everyone would just hear it. And then people would just memorize it. So that's the key. If we really want to save the world, promote new ideas, we need to make sure everyone can participate in the process. The more, the merrier.

Okay? And the diversity of this group shows how powerful the economy because you all come from different age groups, different cultures, and different ethnicities. But the line community is universal, okay? The second point. The third point is what I did with the vign comity is expand the boundaries of the cosmos, right?

He shows you what hell looks like. He shows what purgatory looks like. He shows you what heaven looks like. And before, this is all considered sacred spaces you cannot access. And once you enter these spaces, then your imagination is allowed to just roam. Look, just Google the amount of paintings

that were inspired by that mind comedy. It's infinite, okay? Just one line, and you can have to just one line, you could have like dozens of paintings. And so that's really the power of divine comedy, how it is a cosmos onto itself and expands the cosmos that we live in, and ignites the imagination. So I could go on and on, okay?

But I'd say those are three major things. Okay, Andy? What would you say to detractors who might say, Einstein had to face the Nazis, Dante writes his Paradisio while he's exiled? What would you say to people who are like, gig economy and a late-state capitalism is just our form of suffering right now for us to get forged in the fires and rise above i would completely agree i i'm not pessimistic about our world even though never before in human history has to ruin so much human suffering right the

level of corruption the level of inequality um the level of materialism this is unprecedented in human history but as you point out all the great art all the great ideas came through the forge of pain and suffering and tragedy and that's why I'm so hopeful I mean being with you these past two weeks has made me extremely hopeful about the future because I see the spark in you and I see that once given the right opportunity once given the right education the spark will just glow and glow and it will illuminate all humanity so so so that's why I think for the next 50 years okay It's going to be like pretty bad for humanity. It's going to be war. It's going to be revolution. It'll be complete chaos. But this also gives an opportunity for each and one of you

to make a difference in the world that you couldn't, like maybe 40, 50 years ago when times were a lot more hopeful. So again, what I would say is that the hope is not what's given to you. Hope is what you create yourself. Okay, so thanks for that. Any more comments? Anna? I have two points as an educator to make about this eliticism or elitism.

I think it's at the end, it's about the distribution of resources, which is limited, like educational resources, like going to Yale or Ivy League, it's very limited resources to understand it on the general public, like Nirovaldo da Vinci, who can be a genius, which is 1% out of all the common people back in society, or would you want to focus it on the people who have, you know, one more elite, I guess. So I think about this, educational equality to all the time

being one of the teachers at one of the best international departments in Beijing. So, yeah, I'm not sure about, you know, I think AI and online broadcasting have brought Yale to everyone, but it's Yale essentially for everyone and should be only for everyone I have a doubt in that because it's a use of limited educational resources so there will always definitely be a conflict I love your question and I would say with the Yale hat and prior to these live streamings we've had open Yale courses and also

right now Yale College education is entirely free for anyone whose family's income is under 200,000 US dollars and so there is that democratic principle but of course we're constrained by physical space and so that's why we go virtual. Right, right. So I would also say is that education is not about degrees and credentials. It shouldn't matter if you're a young graduate or not. I'm like look, Professor David Bromwich was here on Thursday and he was extremely impressed by everyone. You guys aren't at Yale, right? So it's so a great

education. It's not about if you're at Yale or Harvard. It's about how much you want to learn. And I would also say that okay maybe a Yale education is limited, but Dante is not limited to you. Look, look at this website that we have. It's all free and the resources there are incredible, right? So with the age of the internet, you can read Homer, Virgo, Plato, Donday for free. And it's just a question of will and desire. And I see my mission, and I think Yale's mission, is to encourage you, inspire you, and give you the resources to participate in the great books yourself. Okay? So I think that what's really important is we get out the mentality that only if you go to Yale are you educated. I would say that only if you ask questions, only are you willing to make you wrong.

Only if you're willing to push past your comfort zone are you educated. That's what I think an educated person is. And I'll be honest for you, you know, we're both at Yale. And there were lots of people there who were not that educated, okay? Sorry, I mean, like, I don't work for you. I don't, you know, but, but yeah, I mean, like, so it's just because you go to Yale, it does not mean you're educated. It's one of attitude, yes.

Okay. All right. Any more? Bruce? Okay. So, yeah, I think my question is just is that, uh, our future because as we run out of AI technology right now, it's being, you know, it's about everywhere. So people just worry about it.

themselves at the present, but what about the future? Do you think that the future people really can go to Mars and go to some other space so that they don't need any kind of dentings or classical or original idea, but instead, they want to create a new culture without what we can kind of novelty? Or do you think this such novelty is really applied by the law of dentings? It means that there's a way, there's a way. So yeah, this is my confusion and is my question. Look, my attitude about technology, it's really, really clear.

and it's been consistent for the past few years. I think people like Ellen Musk, San Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Steve Jobs, they're all hustlers. They're all scam artists. The idea of us going to Mars, it's impossible. We will never get there, okay? There's no evidence that we have the technology

to get to the moon, all right? I mean, like, like you actually do your research. The evidence, yes, Anna? Imagination, if he, Elon Musk has an imagination that we will one day live because if we read the space odyssey and all kinds of science fiction about the martian chronicle by ray bradbury like it's all about imagining you know the impossible i guess sorry to sound likey right i think i would argue that thought that um

lmuss his his real desire is not to get to mars his real desire is to make it a $2nd right there's a difference right i mean if he were really committed to like let's get a mars that'd be one thing but like is he really committed to going to Mars or is he really committed to like like making 10 to 1 dollars for himself and all this action suggests that money is actually more more important to to him so um i i am very skeptical about these people like when i read dante i see genius when i hear elemast talk i think he's a moron okay i i i do and sent outman i think he's just a complete hustler if you just do any research on these people um They are first and foremost concern about making as much money as possible for themselves.

The technology comes later. One thing that they are really serious about is immortality. They want to live as long as possible. So I would say that these people, the idea of going to Mars, the idea of creating AI, I don't think they're that serious about it. But there are certain things that are serious about, which is one, make as much money as possible. two, living forever. Three, creating an AI

civilian state. Creating control grid where all humanity is controlled and they are like Plato's philosopher kings, right? Where they can dictate everything and we just do what they say because that's what's best for us

because they know better than we are because they are elite and we are just sheep. Okay? So that's what I see. And I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But I'm not convinced

they know what they're doing all right any more comments or questions uh oh yeah yeah i want to add a comment so um they're saying that uh for for a billionaire to went to heaven is uh is harder for it's even harder um how to say it's harder than a camel to win through the needle i think that's why they are so afraid to death so they want to live forever yeah i think so right it's like i'm not afraid to die because well i don't have anything to fear but if you're a billionaire you know and you're hard what what you've done to get that that billion dollars right and you're afraid of god's judgment yeah they're very very passionate about living forever okay they put a lot of money into living forever. That's where I think all the research, all the money is really going. Longevity.

Okay. Any more? Okay. Let's let's let's let's so today we finish the Vyncomy, okay? And to set it up, I want us again to do a thought experiment, which is say we're running divine comedy and we're running now the end of proletory. And as we said, Dante is on a journey, a pilgrimage through in progatory from one of sin to one of virtue, from Virgil to Beatrice. And obviously, at the end of Progatory, Dante will meet Beatrice. We also know that in real life, Dante never really knew Beatrice that well. Beatrice died in childbirth when she was 24. They met a couple of times when they're young.

So they never really knew each other in real life. And we also know that when this journey starts, Dante is not really thinking about Beatrice. He's concerned about his own fame, right? His shadow literally. He loves his own shadow. And over time, he learns to appreciate his love for Beatrice more. He rekindles his love for Beatrice. So now, okay, we are finally.

Dante is now finally with Beatrice. And this is a top of purgatory and they go to heaven. So they can be together for all returning. Okay. So Donny has really fulfilled, achieved his greatest hope, which is to be with Beatrice. So if you were the ones writing this ending, okay, how would you do it? Let's, let's, again, we did this with Inferno and we discussed what would happen at the Inferno. And of course, we're completely wrong, okay?

But it helped us better understand why Donnie did what he did. So whatever we do is going to be completely wrong. Just let you know, okay? You might have read the end of purgatory. Also, the end of the end of the progatory, like the last three cantos, it has confused scholars for like forever, okay? You read the commentary on the last three cantos about where Dante meets Beatrice. No one knows what's going on.

It's confusing because it's not. It doesn't fit into any tradition and very confused by it. So what I want to do first is discuss or basically brain storm on how we think it should end, and we'll read it and figure out why the ending is the way it is, okay? Just as what we did with Infernal. So let's start. How do you, how would we structure the ending of Per-Toi where, yes, Francois? I think Virgil will start like acting super weird because like he's close to heaven and he's he knows he's not supposed to be here or something.

And so Dan Till will just lose the trust that builds through Inferno. And then he's like seeking someone else and then like Beatrice comes in and he just transfers his trust from Virgil to Beatrice. Right. Okay. So this is what I call an epiphanie, right? where in the ending, you want to put the knee a realization that, oh, wow, Virgil was wrong for me. The right person is Beatrice, okay? And then Virgil becomes a central character because Dante needs to make a choice between Virgil and Beatrice, and ultimately he decides to be a trick. Yeah, that's a great plotline, yes.

Anyone else? Andy? So I'm thinking, like, learning doesn't have an endpoint. virtue doesn't have an endpoint. And so it's not like, it's not like we go through purgatory and then we know everything. And we're perfect. That's God. So I feel like, imagine I won the Olympics, then I've got to essentially do it again,

but I do it from maybe a place of glory or something like that. So I would see heaven at, like the top of purgatory and get into heaven is just more just from a place of enlightenment. Right. But how's starting feeling at this point? What? How is my what? How is Dante feeling at this point?

I mean, you're feeling accomplished, but you're feeling like you've got another mountain to climb. Right. Dante is, feels, well, he's pretty ecstatic because he's seeing pictures again, but he's also like a very, feels very accomplished, right? He's stunned impossible. Right. He's climbed Mount Purgatory as a human. You don't, you don't love your wife the most on your wedding day and then you're like, I did it all. Yeah, yeah. Right. But, but, but you would say to be a wedding, would there be a wedding between, Dante and Beatrice. Maybe an allegorical wedding. Okay, yeah, a wedding, right? Exactly, right? So you would expect a wedding of some sort between Dante and Beatrice. Sure.

Great. Anyone else? Let's expand. Yeah, Carol? Just like Stassius, when he was ready for heaven, the earth shook and everything. Yes. So, you know, just something that's like, you know, joyful. It may not be an earthquake, but, you know, something that's equivalent. Yeah, exactly. That's beautiful. Exactly. Cosmos celebrating of some sort, right? A cosmic cosmos, cosmic celebration. And it could be the heavens open up and there's pure light.

It could be another earthquake, right? It could be raining or something, okay? But like the heavens are celebrating that the two are together, just as, you know, at the end, towards the end of paradise, that heavens are having sex as the two are together, okay? Fred? I'm not sure how I would predict the ending because Dante isn't dead, so is he going to enter heaven forever, or is it going to wake up like it was all a dream,

and then his life has changed until he dies? Right, no. We're talking to the end of purgatory, and so we know heaven's coming, but because Beatrice will take Dante to heaven. I'm saying like how do you how do you transition this how do you end purgatory yeah well I I guess just thinking as a counterpoint to him making a choice between Virgil and and Bert Triccio like there'll be I suppose there'll be a clever way in which he doesn't really

have to make a choice the the leap of faith just happens and that he's so changed that it just seems a bit confusing that he would get to a crossroads and then have to make a choice. I think he would like flow into be a place. So maybe just an embrace, right? Dante sees Beatrice and they hug each other, right? It's a hug, it's an embrace, okay? Yeah, sure. O-Yang?

I think just like Infernal, maybe Dante will be out of conscious again and be born again. Okay, maybe he'll just faint, right? Maybe he'll just faint. Um, okay. And this will signify a rebirth. Yeah. Sure. Okay.

Um, uh, Edward? Could there be a final big conflict with Virgil? And Virgil really reveals his, his true colors. Okay, yeah. Maybe a fight, right? A conflict, right? Where Virgil turns into Lucifer or something. Yeah, okay. Possibly.

Okay, we're just using our imagination. Do? Maybe Dante will feel a bit ashamed because during this journey, he's been kind of like passive, passive, like traveler through burglary and hell and workgrouping his guide. And during this journey, Dante himself being, has been, like, he has lost his face in Beatrice and lost his direction like multiple times, right? I'll say if I'm Dante, I'll feel like a little bit ashamed to Beatrice. Okay, maybe he's anxious, okay?

Maybe he's anxious, maybe he's afraid. Okay, possibly, sure. Right. Uh, Crystal? Yeah, so I was wondering, I think maybe Virgil will try to create conflict between Dante and Beatrice because as you mentioned, originally maybe because Beatrice is pretty pretty and then like Virgil's like, sure, fine. be his guide and then now like Dante's ascending to heaven and then maybe he's kind of like jealous

and whatever and also I feel like because like in inferno we were assuming if it were a Hollywood movie I'm thinking if we're doing a Hollywood movie right now there might be a slow-mo that is kind of like the creation of Adam where like Beatrice has her hand and like this and then like Dante is kind of like a speed to have it in a slow. That's beautiful. Yeah, like a slow motion embrace, right? And they're not really embracing, but they're just touching each other a bit.

Yes. Okay, great. So first of all, Virgil refused to let go of Dante, right? Because Virgil's like, I spent all this time investing in you, right? Building you up, giving you birth, you're still mine.

So it's very hard for Virgil let go. Also, the, I would say cinematic embrace between between Beatrice and Donnie right this is the moment we've been waiting for right

the final consummation between Beatrice and Dante Anna I feel like he's going to be maybe lighter like he came out of the hell being dusty and dirty then maybe he will come translucent or like glowing or whatever

like a pearl like bubble you know so something light so maybe a transformation right yeah of some sort where as you say he was once a beggar and now he's a prince yeah but i also think that this has happened before where we guess all this cinematic Hollywood version but it didn't happen yeah so i was wrong okay yeah that's right okay it's impossible it's impossible to predict what's actually going to happen but i think the idea of a metamorphosis for dante's very important right we've become a butterfly, right? We're expecting a metamorphosis because he's been through the seven terrorists and now he is cocoon and he's about to fly, right? So we should expect him to come

a butterfly. Yes, Julian? I feel like he would distract himself one last time because, you know, throughout purgatory, he always, you know, got distracted a little bit, especially in the first circle. from his fame so i feel like there would be some something that would distract himself from yeah entering heaven right okay yeah so maybe one final doubt right want something something to actually keep him back so maybe you know if we're actually writing the hollywood movie and we're actually filming it then you know beatrice comes from the heavens like an angel okay she just descends from the heavens and the heavens open up it's pure bliss pure light the sun is singing, there's a rainbow, okay, birds are flying, okay?

It's just pure bliss and Dante wants to go to Beatrice, but for any reason, he turns away, okay? Yeah, sure. Fred? Do you think that if it was a Hollywood movie, there would be like, once Dante and Beatrice are reunited, like Virgil does a fourth wall break and like winks to the audience or something like raises his eyebrow to the audience okay maybe he's the last one left with the reader even a movie we would expect a transformation for virgil as well right okay so not just donnie but also virtual because honestly regardless of how we feel about virgil he has come across as heroic in the divine comedy right he has taken donnie fu hell and burglary

He took Dante on his back and climbed up Lucifer. So he is an extremely courageous heroic individual. Yeah, Anna? I think Virgil will become the ultimate, in the Greek sense, the tragic hero, the great person with that dramatic flaw that's going to cause. So then we're supposed to sympathize with him or feel bad for him. That he either do the seduption of the emperor, making him, you know, writing poetry for empire. or it's also his conscious choice, but you know, there's this sense of inescapable fate for him that he is ought to be the tool for the empire and it's beyond, you know.

So yeah, so it's possible he's either or, okay, he either rises or he falls, okay? Yeah, okay. Crystal, did you have a? I was saying maybe like there will be a scene where God is asking Virgil, are you sure you want to return to hell? and then he is like, yeah, and then he walks away. Yeah, okay, great, okay, yeah. So we need, we need a resolution, okay, for the virtual storyline, right? The resolution is Beatrice says,

Virgil, I want to thank you so much for doing this. You've accomplished your mission, and we would like to give you entryway to heaven as a reward. And Virgil's like, no, no, thank you. He walks away, okay? And this would really reveal the true character of Virgil, right? Yes. Um, Ivy. Okay. Maybe another dream, exactly, right?

Okay. Um, maybe another dream to, um, yes, okay. To, to leave more ambiguity, more possibility for the reader. Okay. Any other, any other, uh, yeah, David? I think the Hollywood would be a result of Dante's creative presence. So if I look from the Hollywood point of view, it would be like reverse engineering to find the roots of the Hollywood paradigms. So I think if it's the original scheme which Dante created should be much, implicit and much grander scheme. So I would also look for elements in the Greek drama tradition. So there should be some kind of really element, some kind of microscopic

superhouse play in every small part of dentists, you know, act. So I expect some small drama there, but I don't know how it goes. Okay, right. So we're expecting We would expect one final climax, right? They have climax. Right? And the climax could be, you know, Virgil and Beatrice fighting over Dante. It could be Dante turning away from Beatrice.

Yeah, but there'd be a climax to this, right? Okay, anyone else? Yes, thank you. Oh, so what was your name? Solomon, okay, yes. Like Dante to utter words of like poetry, like poetry within poetry or words of praise towards God or Beatrice.

Yeah, exactly. Thank you so much. That's a great, yes, okay? So this is the climatic poetry, okay? So we're going to expect Dante because he cleansed himself of his sins. He is now at the height of his poetic powers. And now he is going to just create this beautiful poetry praising Beatrice, right, as a consummation of their love.

Yeah, that's a great suggestion. And yes, in the Hollywood movie, they would definitely do that, right? Where Dante is now transformed, he's now a prince, he's not a butterfly, and now he is at his poetic genius, at his poetic height, because he's climbed so far. Yeah, Bruce? Yeah, maybe like Gatsby, because, you know, when Gatsby just faced to death, he's not just only about to think about his thing,

but he just think about his lover. So maybe Danting is just like Gatsby, you know, just you can see the green light. And we just call him to go to the heaven. So, yeah, maybe that is for sure. Yeah. So, yeah. So exactly. Okay.

Anyone else? Okay. So that's great. Okay. This is fantastic. And this would be a fantastic ending to purgatory. And spoiler alert. We're completely wrong.

Okay. None of this happens. None of this happens. Okay. Not one of these things happens. And this is what confuses scholars. And quite honestly, when I read the end of the purgatory, I had no idea what's going on.

It's just completely confusing. And so in the final class, what we're going to do is, as a group, we're going to co-create. We are going to really try to appreciate why Dante is doing what he's doing. And you can't say, oh, he's just, because he's just tired, you know, he's, he's written like, you know, like 60 cantos or 70 canals. He's just exhausted. And he's like, I really need to get to have it. Okay.

So he's just being, he's just being lazy. That's not the answer, okay? All right. So let's start off with canto 26 of procuratory. All right. While we moved at the edge, one first one after, and I could often hear my gentle master saying, take care and do not waste my warning. The sun, it's ray, ray, right? altering the coloring of all the west from azure to white was striking me on my right shoulder and where my shadow fell it made the flame seem more inflamed and I saw many shades walking intent upon a sight so strange this was the reason that first prompted them to speak to me among themselves they said he does not seem to have a fictive body the uncertain of them came as close to me as they were able to while cautiously they never left the boundaries of their burning oh you who moved behind the

others not because of sloth but reverence perhaps give me who burn and thirst and fire your answer i'm not alone in needing your response for all these shades thirst so forth more than an indian or ethiopian thirst for cool water tell us how you can as if you're not yet caught within death's net make of yourself a wall against the sun thus one of them had spoken to me i should now have answered clearly had i not been fixed on something strangely evident for in the middle of the burning path came people moving moving opposite to these. And I, since they moved left, stared in suspense. There on all sides, I can see every shade move quickly to embrace another shade, content they did not pause with their brief greeting. Okay, stop. Okay, all right.

So in writing, we're very concerned about character arc, right? We want to show how Donny has changed as a person. So explain me how this scene shows that Donner has changed as a person. So what's happening is like they are now in a terrace of lust, the very last terrace. And Donnie is walking and these shades who are about to enter the terrace of lust, they see him and they know he is a, he is not dead. He's not a shade. So they're like, wait a minute, how did you get here?

Before what would Donnie do? When he was in any purgatory, what would he do? Yes? He stops and enjoys their praise. Exactly, right? He stops, he talks with them because it's like a fan asking for autograph. What does he do here? What does he do here?

Yeah, Fred? He's looking at how they're like hugging each other quickly and then, although they're both burning, he just is really amazed that they're just quickly hugging and then moving, quickly hugging and then moving. And so why is he doing that? Because one, I maybe doesn't understand how shades can touch each other. or interact in that way. He's never really seen it before

other than with the blind people who have to rely on each other. And he's probably thinking if this is the circle of lost, what is it really mean for their punishment? And also, why are they happy and sort of friendly with one another? Right. He's trying to figure out what's going on, right?

And how's that different from before? Yeah? He was more just amazed and was just like thinking about himself and looking at their punishment, but I guess it seemed quite apparent to him what was going on before. Like the punishments were more clearly linked to... No, no, no, I'm saying anti-propotory, right? So the difference is before Donah was focused on his shadow, right?

Now he's focus on knowledge. And this goes back to Plato's Avenue to the cave, right? Where you're trapped in the cave because you focus on the shadows. If you want to go into light, you have to focus on knowledge. It doesn't make sense, okay? So this is a... This shows us the character arc, how Donda is now changing as a person. He's much more focused on his mission.

He's much more focused on the light, on gaining knowledge. Okay. And so in his mind, he keeps on observing, asking questions, and debating with himself. Okay? Keep on going. Line 34, as ants in their dark company will touch their muscles each to each, perhaps to seek news of their fortunes and their journeyings. No sooner is their friendly greeting done than each. side tries to outcry all the rest even before he starts to move ahead. The new group shouting,

Sodom and Gomorrah, the other, that the bull may hurry toward her lust, Possefay hides in the cow. Then, just like cranes of whom apart to flee the sun fly north to Riffian Mountains, while the rest to flee the frost fly toward the sands, one group moves with the other opposite us, and they return with tears to their first chance and to the shout appropriate to each. and those who had entreated me came close again in the same way they'd done before, their faces showed how keen they were to listen. I, seeing their desire once again, began. O souls, who can be sure of gaining the state of peace?

Whenever that may be, my limbs mature or green have not been left within the world beyond. They're here with me together with their blood and with their bones. That I be blind no longer through this place I pass, above a lady has gained grace for me, Therefore, I bear my mortal body across your world. So may your deepest longing soon be appeased, and you be lost within heaven that most of full of love, most spacious. Please tell me so that I may yet transcribe it upon my pages, who you are, and what crowd moves in the direction opposite.

Each shade displayed no less astonishment or less confusion than a mountaineer, who even as he stares about, fall silent when rough and rustic he comes to the city. But when they set aside astonishment that soon subdued and noble hearts, He who had questioned me before began again. Blessed are we who would, in order to die better, store experience of our lands, the people moving opposite us shared the sin for which ones, while in triumph, Caesar heard Queen called out against him. That is why.

And as they move off from us, they cry out Sodom, reproaching their own selves, as you have heard, and through their shame abet the fire's work. Okay, sorry. So this is not open interpretation. Clearly, these people are homosexuals, okay? And they have the tone for the sin of lust, okay? And there's two pieces of evidence. First of all, when Caesar is in his triumph, people shout at him,

Queen, okay? That's clearly a reference to homosexuality saying that Caesar is gay. He's had sex with a lot of men. Also, when they are moving towards, the fire they call Saddam, okay? Which gives us the word Saddami, which means homosexual, okay? So, I

know there are a lot of scholars' concern is Dante anti-homosexual. I don't think he's any homosexual, but clearly this is a reference to homosexuals. Okay? All right. And why would Dante be concerned about homosexuality?

I don't think he's anti-homosexual, but he's concerned about homosexuality. Why? What is his main concern? Oya? Maybe, I think he thinks that homosexuality as a sign of complacent. A sign of what? Complacent. Okay, we are in the terrace of lust, guys, lust.

Right? Yes, Fred? Well, a kind of simple interpretation is that it's pure lust and pure admiration and want to possess beauty because you're not in love with somebody for a procreative purpose and in a way it allows you to be in love with yourself okay uh crystal um i'm not trying to express my own view but just recalling to what we mentioned before like homosexuals tend to um seek for those sort of intimate intimate relationship more than heterosexual so maybe that is why he is concerned just like what we disliked

in the previous seminar. Right, but it's not intimacy, right? Anna? I think homosexuality ultimately represents this elitism or narcissistic or, you know, exclusiveness. Like, we only want to hang out with our own kind, and he thinks that that is an issue other than procreation, obviously. Yeah, the key is procreation, right? Because when you are into a relationship with a woman, you're going to have a baby, okay?

And that is, you're kind of, like, forced to devote yourself to the family. Whereas homosexuals, well, you can just go from relationship to relationship to relationship. Doesn't really matter, okay? So, so that's, that's, uh, Donnie's concern. All right. Uh, Andy? So I've been, I've been actually researching this since we were in Inferno. And an important thing to, to know is that the sodomites in Inferno are in the realm of violence.

That's right. In the realm of lust. And there's this, actually there's this quote in, uh, in, uh, in, you know, Inferno 16, 106 to 108. In brief, I know that my company has clerics and men's of letter and fame, and they were standing by the same set. And what I've come to read, and this is one interpretation, it's not the way to look at it only, is that these are, in academia in the religious sex and stuff like this, there's

going to be only men there at this time. You don't have women in there. And so you have male teachers and priests who are. are taking advantage of the youthful and missionary young men. And so it's sodomy because there's no young women there. We're not talking about lesbians at all because there's no, and he doesn't bring it up. We don't have, oh, these women behind closed doors are doing these other things. And so there's, we're often told it's, it's, oh, it's violence against nature.

But in, in hell, it seems to be you're taking away either duties like academia for Aristotle or Plato or duties of Christ in the church and you're and you're doing that or you could be doing rape, which would be violence there. And here, I think it's really progressive, a life, realm changing that he's got, you can be a gay person and still get to heaven because these are consensual adults. It's just you cannot rape people and you cannot take advantage of your position of power on a young boy. Yeah, that's, thank you so much, Andy.

Thank you so much. Yes, exactly, okay? So I would also add that at this time in history, people want the inquisition to happen, okay? There's public support for the acquisition. Today we learned the inquisition. It's about stepping out heresy. The major complaint that people were filing into the acquisition was exactly this.

Like my young boy, who I trusted to the priest, is getting really. is, you know, right? So there's a huge issue at this time in history. Okay, and that's why the Inquisition was actually pretty popular among the common people, because it's the only way to redress this issue that was pretty common back then. So thanks, Andy. That's great. Okay, let's continue, please.

Line 82. Our sin was with the other sex, but since we did not keep the bounds of human law, but served our appetites like beasts when we part from the other ranks, We then repeat to our disgrace, the name of one who in the bestial planks became herself a beast. You now know why we act so, and you know what our sins were. If you would know our names, time is too short, and I don't know them all. But with regard to me, I'll satisfy your wish to know. I'm Guido Guinezelli.

Perched here because I grieved before my end. Okay, so Guido Guinezili and Dinah are very good friends. In fact, Guido, Guzzaninini is probably the most famous Florentine poet at this time in history. And this is someone that Dante really admires. So a lot of this journey, right, through purgatory, it's really to find his poetic voice to sort of stand out from the crowd. And that's why it's so popular by poets, right? Remember how in anti-Purter, we met Sordello, and then we met Statius. and now we're meeting

Grosunzelli and Virgil is Donnie's guide So You know something that Donnie's really concerned about Is how do I set up from this crowd, right? How do I have my own Create my own unique poetic voice And it's something that

Haunts Dante Okay, keep on going Line 94 As after the sad raging of Lecurgas Two sons finding their mother had embraced her So I desired to do But dare not to When I heard him declare his name

The father of me and of the others, those my betters, whoever used sweet, gracious rhymes of love. And without hearing speaking pensive, I walked on, still gazing at him a long time, prevented by the fire from drawing closer. When I had fed my sight on him, I offered myself with such a pledge that others must believe completely ready for his service. And he to me, because of what I hear, you leave a trace within me, one so clear, belief itself can't blur or cancel it. But if your words have now sworn truthfully, do tell me why it is that you have shown. shown in speech and gaze that I am dear to you. And I to him, it's your sweet lines that for as long as modern usage lasts,

will still make dear their very angst. Brother, he said, he there, whom I point out to you, he showed as one who walked ahead. He was a better artisan of the mother tongue, surpassing all those who wrote their poems of love or prose romances. Let the stupid ones contend who think that from the moche there came the best. They credit rumor rather than the truth, allowing their opinion to be set before they hear what art or reasons

says. So many of our fathers once persisted, voice after voice, in giving to Guantanet the prize, but then with most the truth prevailed. Now, if you're so amply privileged that you'll be admitted to the cloister where Christ is abbot of the college, then pray say for me to him, a pastor Noster, that is, as much of it as those in this place need, since we have lost the power to sin. Then to make place, perhaps, for those behind him, he disappeared into the fire just as a fish through water plunges toward the bottom, saying that my desire was making ready a place, welcome for his name. I moved ahead a little toward the one who had been pointed out to me, and he spoke freely. So does your courteous request please me. I neither could nor would

conceal myself from you. I'm Arnault. We've been saying with brief, I see my former folly with joy. I see the hope for day drawn near. Now by the power then conducts you to the summit of the stairway. I pray you, remember at time opportune my pain. Then in the fire that refines, he hid. Wait, so sorry, I made a mistake. Actually, Donny did not know Guido, but he's obviously a huge fan of Guido. Okay. And so Donna here meets two really famous poets, and Donna is humble by the fact that, you know,

Donny's trying to pay homage to them, and they don't care because all they're concerned about is redemption. Like, like, I don't care about my form of fame. I'm just focused on my own personal salvation and redemption. All right, let's go on. canto twenty seven just as there were met its maker shed his blood the sun shed its first race and ebro lay beneath high Libra and the ninth hour's rays were scorching gangesus waves so here the sun stood at the point of day's departure when god's angel happy showed himself to us he stood along the edge beyond the flame singing

beati mundo corday and a voice that had more live than ours can claim then holy souls you You cannot move ahead unless the fire has stung you first. Enter the flames and don't be deaf to song you'll hear beyond. He said when we were close to him. And when I heard him say this, I became like the one who has been laid within the grave. I joined my hands and stretched them out to fend the flames. Watching the fire, imagining clearly the human bodies I'd once seen burning. My gentle escorts turned to me and Virgil said,

My son, though there may be suffering there, there's no death, remember? Remember, if I guided you to safety, even beyond the, the back of Gurion, then now closer to God, what shall I do? Be sure, although you were to spend a full 1,000 years within this fire center, your head would not be baldered by one hair. And if you think I am deceiving you, draw closer to the flames, let your hands try out within the fire, your clothing's hem, put down, by now put down your every fear, turn toward the fire, and enter confident. But I was stubborn, said against my conscience, when he saw me still halting obstinate, he said somewhat perplexed.

Now, see, son, this wall stands between you and your beatrice. As at the name of this bee promised about to die, opened his eye and saw her when then the mulberry became blood-red. So when my stubbornness had softened, I, hearing the name that's always flowering within my mind, turned to my knowing guide, at which he shook his head and said, then would you have us stay along this side, then smiled as one smiles at a child's fruit has beguiled. Then he ahead of me entered the fire

And he asked Dacius Who had walked between us before dividing us to go behind No sooner was I in that fire Then I'd thrown myself in molten glass To find coolness Because those flames were so intense My gentle father who would comfort me kept talking as we walked of Beatrice saying

I seem to see her eyes already Okay, okay again again the idea of a character arc Right How Donnie is changing as a person And So there's a wall fire And Dante is scared Right

Because it's a mental leap You know like I'm going to walk into fire And like I'm a body I'm going to burn to death And Virgil is like No, it's nothing Trust me Right

And how does Donnie respond? He doubts He doubts Okay, I do understand And this is really the first time That Dante doubts Virgil, right? Before, Donny put his complete faith in Virgil.

And they were all doing sorts of really crazy things, like climb up Lucifer. Like, Donner's like, wait a minute here, he's Lucifer. Isn't he going to kill us? And he's like, and Virgil like, no, just trust me. And like, literally, Donnie would put himself on Virgil's back and put his complete faith in Virgil, right? But for the first time, at this critical,

junction when the only setting between him and the end is a is a wall of flame don't it doubts Virgil okay and again this shows you the character arc right the change in Dante the epithony the realization in Dante like Virgil can't really be trusted and so how does Virgil get Dante to to cross that wall of fire how how does he get Julian yeah um he reminds him of beatrice on the other side of this yes okay virgil uh reminds dante our real goal is beatrice and then this reassures dante and allows dana to cross now okay you do you see how this is a journey right from virgil to beatrice okay and we yes i i can't get my head around

how Virgil is so confident and even though he's from hell how does he like know or how can be so confident in like trying to convince Dante if he himself wouldn't be

able to do this if he himself is from hell from the depths of hell right and this is something we've discussed before right? How does Virgil know all this how does he know that this wall fire is actually innocuous, it's harmless.

And he has complete faith that if I just walk into it, I'll be fine. And he himself is from limbo, and so he's not worthy enough to be in this wall fire. How would he know this stuff? Yes, yes, Warren? I think it, alongside the divine fire and the idea of he's been given the whole truth,

as a wonderful poet. He knows that the fire is about revealing truth and lust is probably one of the most hard things to let go of because you think I'm reducing the extent of my love. I have such great love to let go of lust. I'm not sure how much love will be left, but Virgil knows that Dante only has one P left and that it's really the right thing for him to do.

So in this case, even though he's dangling the eyes of Beatrice before Dante, I think he's being the most honest about just relax. This is the right thing to do. Yeah. Because he knows that fire reveals truth and fires. So Julian, yes? So, but is Virgil is also going through his fire, right?

So is he himself cleansing of his sins? So this is something that you need to appreciate. At any time, Virgil can go to heaven. You understand this? At any time, there's nothing stopping him. from going to heaven. Nothing. Do you understand? He has all the knowledge. He has all the ability.

What he lacks is the will. Do you understand? Okay. This is what's telling us. He knows how to do this. Okay? He knows how to get to the Garden of Eden. He knows how to climb to the Mount Procatory. At any time, heaven is open to him.

He just chooses not to do it. Okay? And you have to ask yourself, why does he not go to heaven? And the answer, yes? But he still goes through the fire with Dante, right? Right, because he knows how to do it. He's doing it, but without the faith, but he's still doing it.

Okay. So this is hard to appreciate it, okay? But everything in Donny's cosmos is choice. It's all about free will, you understand. Okay? So even if you have the capacity to go to heaven, okay, even if the door is open to you, you still have to choose where not to walk into the door. It's an allegory of the education and elitism that we talked about earlier. Yes.

It's all there for you. Yeah, exactly. These are all low and hang fruits. Yes. It's more whether you limit yourself. Uh, Oya? Oh, yeah. I have a question.

So I'm wondering what's your take on Dante's attitude towards Virgil when he first met Virgil and to this point, is he viewing Virgil as a tutor or a competitor or... Look, look, look, it's entirely one of love. You understand? Nothing else. Just pure love for Virgil. It's like you love your father. do you understand it's that nothing else there are some other things in place but at the heart okay darnda just loves Virgil completely all right all right let's let's let's let's let's continue line 55 a voice that sang beyond us was our guide and we attentive to that voice emerged just at the point where it began to find venite benedicti potris may it sang within a light that overcame me i could not look at such intensity the sunday departs it added, evening comes, don't stay your steps, but hurry on before the west grows dark.

The path we took climbed straight within the rock and its direction was such that in front of me, my body blocked the rays of sun already low behind us. And we had only tried a few steps when I and my sages sense the sun had set because the shadow I had cast was spent. The four one color comes to occupy that sky and all of its immensity and night was free to summon all its darkness. Each of us made one of those stairs his bed. The next were the power and desire to climb ahead, like goats that when they graced were swift and tameless along the mountain peaks, but now are sated and rest and ruminate while the sun blazes, untroubled in the shadows silently, wash over by the herdsman as he leans upon his staff and oversees

their peace, or like the herdsman in the open field, spending the night beside his quiet flock, watching to see that no beast drives them off. Such were all three of us at that point. They were like the herdsmen I was like a goat upon each side of us high rock walls rose from there one saw but little of the sky but in that little I could see the stars brighter and larger than they usually are but while I washed the stars and reverie sleep overcame me steep sleep which often sees before it happens what is yet to be it was the hour I think when Cypria who always seems aflame with fires of love first shines upon the mountain from the east that in my my dream, I seem to see a woman, both young and fair. Along a plane, she gathered flowers, and even as she sang, she said,

whoever asks my name know that I'm Leah, and I apply my lovely hands to fashion a garland of the flowers I've gathered. To find delight within this mirror, I adore myself. Whereas my sister Rachel never deserts her mirror, there she sits all day. She longs to see her fair eyes gazing as I, to see my hands adorning, long, She's content with seeing I with labor And now Okay, okay, so this is the third and final dream That Donna has In The Divine Comedy

And the dream is this There's Leah and Rachel Do you guys know the story of Leah and Rachel? Uh Okay It's the older sister that Jacob didn't want to marry But he married her After the wedding now is all too bad

it's a wrong girl and he worked another seven years for Rachel who's way more beautiful and waited for him also faithfully and yeah okay all right so the story it's really important for you guys to appreciate the story okay otherwise it's impossible to interpret the dream but uh jacob who is um the founder of israel okay the patriarch of israel he gets in a fight with his brother esu and Jacob is forced to run away and he goes to far away and he meets a relative of his name Laban. Laban says you're a relative and I want you to stay and work for me and I'll give you shelter. And Laban sees that Jacob has already fallen in love with Rachel. And then Jacob says, I will work for you, but I would like your daughter, Rachel, for. marriage and LeBine's well you're a relative it's better for me to give her to you

than a stranger but you have to work for me for seven years and then I will give Rachel to you and that's the agreement and for the seven years what's happening is that Jacob is working really hard and Rachel is looking at him from afar with longing eyes okay that's what it literally says in the Bible with longing eyes so she is just waiting and waiting for the day to end for the seven years to end so that she could consummate their love together and Jacob is just busy working and working really hard to prove he's worthy of Rachel okay the wedding night comes and there's a huge celebration um Jacob is drunk he goes into the tent and he has sex

he wakes up and it's not Rachel it is Leah who is the older sister and again you have to read the Bible to appreciate the beauty of the story okay it's written magnificently it's pure poetry and then Jacobs just really angry and says Laban you cheated me and then Laban says it is not the custom of our land

to marry the younger sister before the older sister. So I will make you a deal. I will give you Rachel as well, but you have to work for me for another seven years. And then Jacob's like, I'll do it. Okay? At this point, Rachel has a choice, right?

She can say, she can say, I've been cheated as well and just run away, but instead she chooses to marry Jacob and the three of those. are stuck together okay and obviously Leah and Rachel hate each other right I doesn't sit in the Bible but if you actually read the story Leah and Rachel hate each other Leah hates the fact that Rachel is gonna marry before she does and so Leah plots with her father to screw Jacob and Rachel over okay so knowing the story

of Jacob Leah and Rachel tell me what the stream is about rage it's it's a it's a dream where Donnie meets Leah and Leah is crafting a garden of flowers and Rachel is just looking at her mirror and she's she's looking at there all day long what's the dream about she could content with seeing I ate with labor what's this dream about I think Leah doesn't think she's as pretty as Rachel so she thinks she needs a garland while Rachel is confident with God's creation of her and is able to... Why would Donna care about Leah and Rachel? Rachel is in one of the highest places.

He doesn't know that yet. Oh yeah. Yeah. So Leah, since she didn't get her husband's love, she tried to give birth to as many sons as possible. And that's what made Rachel really mad. It's like, wow, God you side with them to and give them so many sons. And so Leah obviously is kind of...

obviously is kind of elevated in that patriarchical society. But so I think maybe the garland or the flower has to do with planting seats and having, I don't know. And then Rachel is like, oh, I'm just beautiful. I look at myself, you know, because I'm pretty, so my husband's gonna love me anyways. But she was upset until she has Benjamin, but yeah. Okay, anyone else?

Damien? Maybe it's like revenge because Jacob had to work in the fields. Now Leia has to pick up fowers and racial just Okay, we have to connect this with the reality Duny is living in, okay? Remember how there are three dreams. The first dream is of the eagle carrying him, snatching him.

The second dream is the siren, right? And then Virgil comes in and rips off her clothes. The third dream, the last dream, the most important dream is Leah and Rachel together. Why would darling have these dreams? Okay, we have to remember. We don't, we can't take these dreams as independent visions. They're not independent visions. They are manifestations of his desires, right? There are manifestations of his emotions. So what is his emotion and what and why he's starting having this dream? Yeah. I think he's stealing himself for the final push to get to Beatrice, where the labour of getting through purgatory is like the labour that would earn him Leah,

but he has to do a double layer in order to reach Beatrice, who's more like Rachel in this case, where she's like, because Beatrice is the ultimate goal, it's almost like the monad reflecting itself, and to get to that final centre, you need to do the work, get tricked, and then just do it all again, just. for the love okay but let's go into dynasty of mine okay he's been for hell he's been for poor Tori what's he thinking now i mean he doesn't say it he doesn't think it but he feels it what what's he thinking what's he feeling now will he be tricked again or um i'm sure it's worth it but i maybe have a millisecond of doubt sometimes i think he's really excited right right He's been through hell, he's been for purgatory.

He's done everything that is required of him. And what is next for him? Beatrice, right? Beatrice is waiting for him. So what's he expecting? To see Beatrice. But what's expecting when he sees Beatrice? Wedding with Beatrice.

He's expecting a wedding, right? That's why Leah and Rachel are here. Because Leah and Rachel married Jacob. And he sees himself as a new Jacob. It's like, okay, you know, I'm going to get married now. Okay? Do you understand? Okay?

So it's not really about the vision that matters. It's about the emotion in the, within the vision. So this is one of longing, right? Would you say Leah could be Virgil? I think that's it. No, I don't think Virgil is here. I think, you know, the focus on Rachel, right? Rachel never deserts her mirror.

There she sits all day. She longs to see her fair eyes gazing. Just my hands adorning long. She is content of seeing eye with labor, okay? So it seems Rachel is in the process of waiting to be with Jacob. Okay. All right. Great.

Does that make sense? Okay. But why is Rachel long? looking in the mirror. And she never deserts her mirror. Yeah. I mean like, okay, all this makes sense. Right?

Dante, yes? I think it's this contrast, kind of like Mary and Madeline, so like Rachel is content with seeing eye with labor. It's almost like, Rachel's natural beauty and Leah is like plastic surgery. she's laboring like she's putting flowers all over itself to make her worthy of the wedding to plot the wedding while Rachel is just like i am okay all right so um something for us to appreciate is

um what dreams are what visions are is that you take a particular story that is common okay that is commonly accepted and you change in a way because you're in bed your emotions into it. Yes, okay? So never in the Bible that says that Rachel looks in the mirror, okay? Never does it say that. It's narcissistic, do you understand? Okay?

So there's a conflict, there's a paradox here in that Dante wants to be with Beatrice. He's like, this is going to be a wedding, right? And but that's why he dreams Rachel. dreams Rachel and Leah but there's this narcissism that is embedded in the story right where Rachel his true love is looking at herself okay so what was this narcissism doing in this dream okay and um I'm married so I'll tell you the answer okay I know what the answer is what what when when Dante meets Beatrice what is he expecting bitches to do.

And he's like, she will definitely do this because we're gonna marry, yes? Positive and negative appraisal. She's like, oh my God, you're so handsome, I can't believe you're here, I love you so much, and then like, look him up and down. You know? No, I know, I, like, no, I'm married, okay?

So I'll tell exactly what I'm expected. I'm excited to my wife to praise me every single day, okay? I don't care, okay? Like, like, that's what I'm getting married, because my wife faces me every single day. Do you understand? Okay? And that's the beauty and the paradox of the Vine Comedy

where Donnie's telling you, I'm expecting me to meet Beatrice, but I mean like, yeah, but what I really want is for her to say, Dante, you work so hard to get here, okay? She, it's narcissistic. So it's not too love, do you understand? That's a paradox here,

where Donnie thinks that, oh, I'm going to meet Beatrice, and it shows my true love to Beatrice. But this dream reveals to us that, no, there's a hidden agenda. There's a hidden emotion, which is narcissism, right? What he really wants is Beatrice to praise him to the sky. And this is something that we discuss, right?

We think that what the ending is, is where Beatrice praises him and they touch each other, they embrace. Okay? Okay. Yes? Sick. It's extremely realistic. Like on the wedding then, my husband got mad,

me for not attending to him even a little bit. Yes. And I was like, man, I'm a bride. Nobody looks at the groom. Okay? You wear something. Nobody cares what you wear. And he's like, oh, my God,

you're the wedding day. You don't care about me? And you know, but it's very human nature, I guess, even on the wedding day, right? Like, yeah. And look, I've been married for 10 years. And every time my wife says something nice about another guy, I get really upset, okay?

It's really strange because, look, I mean, I mean, she's like, you know, Jack Ma's a really smart guy. I'm like, who the hell is Jack Ma? You know, like, I get really upset. Like, I'm better than Jack Ma. Right. So, so this is such, this is so beautiful depiction of human, of true human nature.

Okay, I get very upset when my wife praises another man, even though, like, you know, it makes no sense. Okay. All right. Let's keep on going on going. Line 109. and now with the reflected lights that glow before the dawn and rising are most welcome to pilgrims as returning their near home the shadows flood upon all sides my sleep fled with them and at this i woke and saw that the great teachers had already risen today your hungrings will find their peace through that sweet fruit the care of mortal seeks among so many branches this the speech the psalm worth that virgil spoke to me and there were never tidings to compare and offering delight to me with ease my will on will to climb above was such that at each step I took I felt the force within my wings was growing for the flight when all the staircase laid beneath us and we'd reach the highest step then Virgil set his eyes insistently on me and said my son you've seen the temporary fire and the eternal fire you have reached the place past which my powers cannot see I brought you here through intellect and art from now on let your pleasure be your guide your past the steep and past narrow past look at the sun that you're

shines upon your brow look at the grasses flowers and the shrubs born here spontaneously of the earth among them you can rest or walk until the coming of the glad and lovely eyes those eyes that we've being sent me to your side await no further word or sign for me your will is free erect and whole to act against that will would be to earth therefore i crown and mighter you over yourself okay all right So this is the very last, these are the very last words that Virgil will speak to Dante. Okay. What Virgil says to Dante is, I've brought you here, but now you are, you are now on your own. You are now completely in control of yourself. You don't need me anymore. So what is Virgil saying to Dante here? what is this?

What's what's what's what's Virgil really saying to Dante? It's goodbye. Okay. This is it. Right? Does not, Doddy know this? Does not know it know it's goodbye?

No. Why not? He doesn't know it's goodbye. He doesn't think it's goodbye. Why not? Well, I remember in Paradis, so doesn't he miss, he misses Virgil?

No, but I'm saying like, like, what does, what does Donnie hears this and what does Donnie think? What doesn't Donnie know this is good? This is clearly goodbye to us, right? But it's not to Donta, yes? Because it's hard for him to perceive that the mentor, the prophet, the father, you know, the all-knowing guide, now is going to leave him because it's unacceptable. It's like, you know all the truth.

More than me, what can I do? What is Dothan expecting? What is starting expecting? Let's go together. Andy? Yeah, this is the moment that the student becomes the master, right? So he doesn't realize that Virgil doesn't have the will to get into heaven. into heaven he assumes the best and there's some reality here so so but what's starting expecting to happen

them to go together they're going to heaven together you understand right status is going to heaven i'm going to heaven first i should go to heaven too right in his mind he's made he's already seen all this he's seen a wedding with beatrice where beatrice praises into the sky and says like well you did it dante you're my hero okay you're the greatest in the world and he's expecting virgil to be um to give to preside over this marriage and then they're all going to heaven together and live happily ever after as a family that's like literally what what he's expecting and what he's decided will happen okay doesn't make sense all right let's let's continue to countle 28 Council 28. Now keen to search within, to search around that forest, dense, a life of

grave, divine which trempereth a new day before my eyes, without delay, I left behind the rise, and took the plain, advancing slowly, slowly across the ground where every part was fragrant. A gentle breeze which did not seem to vary within itself was striking at my brow, but with no greater force than a kindness. A wind that made the trembling boughs, they all bent eagerly, blind in the direction of boarding shadows of hope. But they were not deflected with such force as to disturb the little birds upon the branches in the practice of their arts, for to the leaves with song birds welcomed those first hours of the morning joyously, and leaves applied the burden to their eyes, just like the wind that sounds with branch to prange along the shore of Plaza, through the pines when aeolus has sent the roca loose.

Now, though my steps were slow, I'd gone so far to the ancient forest that I could no longer see where I had made my entry, And there I came upon a stream that blocks the path of my advance, its little waves bent to the left, the grass along its banks. All of the purest waters here on earth when latched against that stream would seem to be touched by impurity. It hides no thing, that stream, although it moves dark, dark beneath, with never-ending shadows, which allow no ray of sun or moon to reach those waters. I halted, and I set my eyes upon the farther bank to look at the abundant variety of newly flowered boughs, And there, just like a thing that in appearing most suddenly, repels all other thoughts, so great as the astonishment, it brings, I saw a solitary woman moving, singing and gathering

up flower and flower, the flowers that colored all of her pathway. I pray you lovely lady, you who wore yourself, grace of love, if I may trust your looks, which often evidenced the heart, may it please you, I asked her to move ahead and closer to this river, so that I may understand what she are singing. You have reminded me of where and what, just when her mother was deprived of her, and she deprived of spring. Her serpina was,

as, when she turns, a woman dancing keeps her souls close to the ground and to each other and scarcely lends one foot proceed the other. So did she turn upon the little red and yellow flowers to me, know her friend Beth, with a virgin lowering chased eyes. I have besieged, and I was satisfying, for she approached so close that the sweet,

that reached me, then became intelligible. No sooner had she reached the point where that fair river's wags would barely bathe the grass, then she gave me the skip, looked in her eyes. I do not think a light so far I had shown beneath the lids of Venus when her son pierced her in extraordinary fashion. Erect, along the farther bank, she smiled, her hands adwined and very-colored flowers,

which at highland needing no seed and genders. The river kept us just three steps apart, but even Hell's bond where Circe's cross, a case that still curbs all men's arrogance, did not provoke more hatred in Leander when rough seas ran from abodeauce to Cestos than hatred I bestowed upon that river when it refused to open. She began, You're new here and may because I smile at this place chosen to be mankind's nest. wonder, perplexed, unable to detect the cause, but like to clear your intellect is in the song beginning, that it's tossed me. And you who have stepped forward, who'd besieged me, tell me if you'd hear more, I've come ready for all your questions till you're satisfied.

I said, the water in the murmuring forest content in me against the recent credence I gave towards the knowing of existence. At this, she said, I'll tell you how the source of your amazement has its special cause. I'll clear the cloud that's left you so distraught. The highest good whose sole joy is himself, made man to be and to enact good, he gave man displaced as a pledge of endless peace. Man's fault may grieve his day here, and man's fault may him exchange frank laughter and sweet sport for lamentation and for anxiousness. Below this mountain, land and water vapor, which follow heat as far as they are able, produce their purifications. To prevent them from molesting their place here, this mountain grows up this close to happen from the point where its gate walks.

It's free of such disturbance. Now, since all of the atmosphere revolves within a circle moved by the first circling unless its ground is broken at some point, against this height which stands completely free within the living air that motion strikes, and since these woods are dense, they ephanate. And when a plant is struck, its power is such that it impregnates air with seating force, the air revolving passes the sea abroad. The other hemisphere, depending on nature of its land and sky, conceives and bears from diverse powers, diverse trees.

If what I've said were known, you would not need to. be amazed on earth when growing things take root but have no seed that can be seen. And you must know the holy plain on which you find yourself is full of every seed and it has fruit that there cannot be gathered. The water that you see does not spring from a vein that vapor cold, condensed, restores. Like rivers that acquire or lose their force, it issues from a pure and changed spout of which by the will of God gains as much as on two sides. It pours and it divides. On this side, it descends power to end one's memory of sin.

And on the other, it can restore recall of each good deed. To one side it is leaf. On the other, you know it, neither stream is efficacious, unless the other's waters have been tasted. Their savor is above all other's weakness, although your thirst might well be satisfied, even if I revealed no more to you, I give you freely to a corollary,

nor do I think my words will be less welcome to you if they extend beyond my promise. Those ancients who in poetry presented the golden age, who sang its happy state perhaps in their parniscence, dreamt this place. Here mankind's root was innocent, and here were every fruit and never-ending spring these streams the nectar of which poets sang,

Then I turned around completely and I faced my poets. I could see that they had heard the smiles, the spinal corollary spoken. That done, my eyes returned to that paragraph. Okay, so here he's met Matilda, who is the guardian of the Garden of Eden, okay? This is the Garden of Eden. And it's an inversion, right? Where in the Bible, the Garden of Eden is where we were banished in paradise. And here, the Garden of Eden is where we will enter paradise.

This is where Beatrice will descend from heaven and pick Garnet up to bring him to heaven. And within the Garden of Eden, there are two rivers. This goes against the biblical tradition. What two rivers of the Garden of Eden in the Bible? The Tigers in Euphrates, right? Here it's the leaf and the you know. The you know is from Greek tradition, the river where you forget everything. You drink from it, you forget everything.

But in Darnie's conception, it's a place where you forget sin. The you know is something that, Darnie, it's a word that he makes up, okay? Donnie like Shakespeare does this a lot. They just make up new words. You know is Greek. This means good. This means mine. Okay?

So, the leaf makes you forget sin, and then what the unit does is make you remember your goodness, okay? So the idea is that after you drink from these two rivers, and you must drink from both rivers in order to access heaven, you'll forget all the bad things you've done, but you will remember all the good things you've done. Why would things be considered in this way, right? to enter heaven you must forget all the evil you've done and remember only the good you've done why would that why would that be the case uh yes francois um i think it's a way to protect heaven from evil because like even if you think of evil because our souls reflects what are we are thinking and our actions then just the thought of it or like some micro action that's negative would impact heaven and create a dissonance or like chaos in heaven so you really

need to take that off and then just like remember greatness it's in the same way you reflect what you've done well and then the more people reflect positive then it just grows inside yeah that's good exactly right yes okay so yeah so um think of pollution right you can't go in being with with any remember of your sin because you might pollute everyone else okay yes that's a great idea anyone else uh yes so what was your name skyler okay but i think it's quite important for you to remember your sins or like remember your mistakes and remember your moral missteps because that way it teaches you what is wrong and how that hurt other people so you remember not to do that the future if you forget all of your sins won't you like maybe accidentally do them again

okay so so so okay um um Anna I want to respond to Scarlett sure that um because you have already done that you have already repented on your sins for a million years in progatory you know it's enough is enough you know what I mean but if you keep repenting then you feel like you're unworthy of heaven and then you are stuck at the lowest level in heaven again and then you loses the whole point of going to heaven. Okay, yes. Fred? I think I really like the two rivers because I think that Dante is preempting the phrase Etin Arcadia ego, where it's like was a common thing in romanticism where the poets would complain that even when they were in paradise,

their ego would still be there and that would still be the source of problems. So in this case, the forgetting river is super crucial because it's the only way to cleanse the ego. So, and also that it's important, and we've just seen that they've been through purgatory, but I don't think you could commit more sins in heaven. So it's not that important to remember. You know, like there's not even a possibility that you could redo them. Yes. Okay, and about the river, I thought it's very interesting in all cultures, in Chinese culture,

when you reincarnate, you go to the hell and dream Meng Pu a town. which is a portion that makes you forget everything in your past life so that you are ready for rebirth. And so I think it's a similar, you know, universal idea that you need to forget. Yes, exactly. David? I think this is a very, you know, insightful, you know, paragraph into China, you know, into character. Because, you know, it also mentioned, you know you have to remember what you what do you did right because that will give you a structure of how to behave so this is a very well-balanced uh you know structure where you have to both uh oh you have to yeah and you have to both forget but also have to remember yeah there's like positive

psychology right like be positive that that's what they want in heaven uh do do you want to say something to say what anna said you have to like forget i think like forgetting your sin uh symbolizes that you have now, you have now like reborn yourself, then you're ready for heaven, and you're ready to drop out to drop out the past behind and totally forgive yourself. Yes, exactly. Right. Okay. Yeah. And I would also point out it's free will, right? Where everything is governed by free will, you choose to be in proletary, you choose to do penance, but you cannot actually choose to forget things. And so this is, oh, yes, Edward?

Is it also a blessing to the soul as well, because through some lens, doing these sins is like a trauma to yourself. Yes. So it finally allows the soul to be free. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, Andy? I wonder if memory is a process of time,

and you're going to a place outside of time. Yes. paradise yes exactly um yeah your memories aren't really relevant in in paradise yes uh francois there's a physical aspect where if you forget your sin then you're super light and you can physically reach heaven whereas like the little amount of sin would just create heaviness inside you exactly you're right yes so the sin the member of the sin is the last vestiges of your physical body right and they are they are corrupting your soul or they are taining your soul okay yeah Yes. Anyone else? Skylar?

I just wanted to ask a question. So if forgetting your sin is a mix you lighter and I guess better, would it be a good idea to forget your sins on earth? Like if we're on earth and then if we forget all of our sins, would that make us better? Okay. Does anyone want to respond to this? Bruce? Yeah.

Actually, I always think like you said, because when we're young, I can do anything I want. I don't care about what a thing or what a kind of God or what is. I'm me, I'm just myself, or I can do whatever I want. But after, you know, for a while, especially when you just experienced so lot of things, and you can see that the greedy, the sexual desire, the torture you in the night, you can not have a friend's sleep. And you can just have date with many more boyfriends or girlfriend, even have sex with them,

all of them, but for what? You just try to have such kind of desire. You want to be better than other. You're saying you can be more competitive than others, but actually is not. You still have to go back to the heaven, to go to the God. The God is still there. I just keep watching you all the time, and you have to face the truth, to face the thing. This cannot be escaped from it.

You want to be yourself, but actually you're not. Okay. Thank you. Damien? I don't think you should forget your sin on earth or there would be no reflection. Okay, so David? You know, in real world, unlike in the dentist, you know, literary world, I don't think there is any water you can drink just to cleanse yourself of the memory of things.

You really have to do a lot of good deeds and to replenish yourself of good memories in order to flush out the few things you have done. Okay. Okay, so yesterday we discussed the idea of the soul, right? And how we said that what the soul is, is you have a physical body, and the soul is really something that exists in the spiritual realm, okay? So it is like energy fields or whatever, okay? So that's why, and that's how memory works, because when you do something, it may not change your physical body,

but it does change your spiritual body, your soul. Okay? So, and, you know, Francois, I used to word trauma. That's what sin literally is. It's trauma. It's traumatizing your soul. Okay. So, when you get hit, you might bleed, and not hurt your physical body,

but when you do evil, when you commit sin, you are traumatizing your own soul, okay? And your soul becomes distorted. it. So another saying this is like you remember everything that you do. You may not be conscious of it, but you'll remember it at some level. And this is going to change the nature of your soul. And this is going to change how you relate to yourself and relate to others as well. And the more traumatized you are, the more the more your soul looks downward. And the more good you do, the more virtue do the more the more you are to look upwards okay so what is the saying is what the rivers are

doing is they recognize that uh these sins they are physical in some way right and that's why you actually need to watch yourself because they are stiff stain your soul and it's like you just can't like oh imagine them disappearing you can't you can't forget them there's a wash them away right you take a shower before you uh you attain to heaven it doesn't make sense Okay? All right. Great. Any more questions? Anna? Like baptism too, right? You have to go into the river and baptize yourself to wash away your sins. This is literally baptism, okay? So Matilda is the Garne of Eden and what she's going to do is she's going to baptize all the souls in these two rivers before they can actually ascend to heaven, okay?

So this is the process. Any more questions or comments? All right, guys. Let's continue to Cantor 29. And I want to apologize that. My mic wasn't on for three minutes. So, anyway, we're in Canto 29. Her words were done, but without interruption, she sang. Like an enamored woman, thus, Beatty Corum, Tecta, Sukkata. And just as NIMS who used to walk alone among the woodland shadows, some desiring to see and some to flee the sun.

so she moved countercurrent as she walked along the riverbank and following her short foot steps with my own steps, I matched her pace. Her steps and mine together did not sum one hundred, when the bank still parallel, so curved about that I was facing east. Nor had we gone much farther on the path, and when she turned fully around toward me and said,

my brother, look and listen. And I saw a sudden radiance that swept across the mighty forest on all sides, and I was wondering if lightning had not struck. But since, when lightning strikes, it stopped at once, while that light lingering increased its force, within my mind I asked, what thing is this? And through the incandescent air there ran sweet melody at which just indignation made me rebuke the arrogance of Eve.

Because where earth and heaven were obedient, a solitary woman just created, found any veil at all beyond a number. If she had been devout beneath her veil, I should have savored those ineffable delights before, and for a longer time. While I moved on, completely wrapped among so many first-fruits of eternal pleasure and longing for still greater joys, the air before us altered underneath the green branches, becoming like an ardent fire.

And now the sweet sound was distinctly sung. O virgin sacrosan, if I have ever for your sake suffered vigil, cold and hunger, great need makes me entreat my recompense now helicon must pour its fountains for me urania must help me with her choir to put in verses things hard to conceive not far beyond we made out seven trees of gold though long stretch of air between those trees and us had falsified their semblance but when i'd drawn so close that things perceived through mingled senses which delude did not now they were nearer lose their real features the power that offers reason matter judge those trees to be, what they were, candelabra, and what those voices sang to be Hosanna. The upper part of those fair candles flamed more radiantly than the mid-month moon shines at whit midnight in an untroubled sky, full of astonishment, I turned to my good Virgil, but he only answered me with eyes that were no less amade than mine.

Then I looked at the extraordinary things that were moving toward us, but so slowly that even brides just went would move more quickly. The woman chided me. Why are you only so eager to behold the living lights and not in seeing what comes after them? Then I saw people following those candles as it behind their guides and they wore white, whiteness that in this world has never been. The water to my left reflected flames and it reflected to my left-hand side by gaze into it as in a mirror. When I was at a point along my shore where all that sundered me from them was water,

I stayed my steps in order to see better, and I could see the candle flames move forward, leaving the air behind them colored like the strokes a painter's brush might have described, so that the air above that rednew was streaked with seven bands in every hue of which the rainbows made and Delius girdled. These pennants stretched far back beyond my vision.

As for the width they fill, I judged the distance between the other ones to be ten paces. Beneath the handsome sky have described 24 elders moved on, two by two, and they had wreaths of lilies on their heads, and all were singing. You among the daughters of Adam Benedicta are, and may your beauties blessed be eternally. After the flowers and the other fresh plants facing me along the farther shore had seen those chosen people disappear, then as in heaven star will follow star the elder scone more animals came on and each of them had green leaves as his crown each had six wings as plumage and those plumes were full of eyes they would be very like the eyes of argus where his eyes alive reader i'm not squandering more rhymes in order to describe their forms since i must spend elsewhere but i can't be lavish here but read ezekiel for he has drawn those animals approaching from the north with wings and cloud and fire he painted them

and just as you will find them in his pages such were they were except that john's with me as to their wings with him john disagrees the space between the four of them contained a chariot triumphant and two wheels tied to Griffin's neck and drawn by his wings stretched upward frame the middle band with three bands on each outer side so that though he cleaved air he left the band intact his wings so high that they were lost to sight his limbs were gold as far as he was birded the rest of him was white mixed with blood red not only did no chariot so handsome gladden roams africanus or augustus himself even the son's own cannot match it the suns which gone astray was burned to cinders because earth offered up for pious prayers when jove in ways not known to us was just three circling women then advancing danced at the right wheel the first of them so red that even in flame she'd not be noted the second seemed as if her flesh and bone were fashioned out of emeralds the third seemed to be nearly fallen snow and now the white ones seemed to lead them now the red and from the red and from the red and from the red and from the way in which the leader chanted, the others took their pace, now slow, now rapid. Upon the left, four other women, dressed in crimson, danced, depending on the cadence of one of them with three eyes in her head. Behind all the group I have described, I saw two elders, different in their dress but like in manner, grape and decorous. The first seemed to be one

of the disciples of great Hippocrates, whom nature made for those who are her dearest living beings. The other showed an opposite concern. His sword was bright and sharp, and even on this near side of the river I felt fear. Then I saw four of humble aspect, and when all the rest had passed a lone old man, his features keen advanced, as if in sleep. The close these seven war were like the elders in the first file, except that these had no garlands of lilies round their brows. Instead, roses and other red flowers wreathed their heads. One seeing them less closely would have sworn that all of them had flames above their eyebrows. And when the chariot stood facing me, I heard a bolt of thunder, and it seemed to block the path of that good company,

which halted there its emblems into the lead. Okay, so now Beatrice has arrived, and with her rival, there is a parade, okay? What we call a triumph, okay, model of Rome, the Roman triumph and so Beatrice is coming and we'll come back from the break we will we'll see if these predictions are correct and spoiler none of the correct okay all right so so we'll take a break and come back okay okay good afternoon so we have a special guest and Carol will introduce him so I'm delighted to have Renee Newman from Yenching Academy here with us today I've never met him, but he has so kindly agreed to come here to read the Italian part of Dante to us as a friend of Melania, who is my second son Damien's Latin teacher.

And so thank you to Melania as well, who is on a flight right now. Renee is on full scholarship to do Yanching Academy and is a graduate of King's College in London. in international affairs. He's also president for European Guanxi, which is a youth think tank on EU Chinese issues, which he's passionate about. And I know he also speaks multiple languages is from multiple parts of the world.

I'm very much a reflection of our class here. I'm just so curious to hear how Italians, and you're Tuscan. How do Tuscan? an Italian study Dante. Just tell us a little bit about it, and later we'll have you read some passages so that we can get into the zone

with an Italian reading, Dante. Thank you. Thank you so much, Carol. So yeah, I mean, Dante is maybe the highlight of our syllabus of the Italian literature, and we start studying it when we're very young, so starting from like when we're 9 or 10, and it really makes it really makes

makes a, well, makes up a huge part of the syllabus until we're like, until we graduate actually in high school. So for almost 10 years, we studied for almost 10 years, and we go through all of it multiple times. And, yeah, and especially in Tuscan, I think we also attribute even more importance to it than in other regions. Of course. Because we feel even closer to it.

And, yeah, it's always a pleasure to read it. So thank you so much for being better. How's the language? of Dante, similar or different, to how Tuscan speak today? So it is interesting because it's definitely not the language that we speak today. It's a bit different. There's some words that we wouldn't use today. We can understand them.

And maybe some old people might use words that are a bit more similar to sometimes a bit more. What were you considered formal? But they're actually, you know, in some way more similar to, to the language that Dante uses. But at the same time, you know, there's also many words that we need to look up sometimes because they're really different from the Italian that we speak today. But at the same time, it's also very important to remember that the Italian that we speak today in Italy, so Italian really is a construct.

It's not really a language that always existed, right? So it's the Italian that we know today is only that like an extension. of the Tuscan dialect that was imposed onto all the other regions because Italy was divided until very late in history compared to other European countries until 1861. So it was then that because of unification, they had to choose one dialect to kind of dominate over all the other. So it's like Poutonhua in... It's like Poutonhua, basically. It's pretty much like Poutonua.

And they chose the language of Dante, actually. Like Dante was the reason, like the fact that Dante had written in that language in Tuscan was the reason that and it also actually because there's different types of Tuscan. So it was actually the type that Dante brought in. Wow. That they picked as the reason why they picked our dialect as the like as Italian pretty much. It would be the language of the country. Amazing. Yeah.

And so. And definitely there are some words that I think we as Tuskans understand are like more. it's easy for us to understand than other regions for sure because there are some words and even are more than there's some still regional words that we only in Tuscany we use and that Dante also uses that in other regions maybe they're a bit less common

yeah wonderful yeah I have a lot of questions Renee but my first question is how do you feel about Dante do you like the divine comedy oh I love it I love it yeah why well because it is regardless of once religious because of course we know it's a very religious text, but regardless of one religion, it has so much historical significance.

And it encapsulates so many important episodes of Italian history, but also European history. And I believe really it is, it should be taken for much, much beyond, you know, it's just a religious significance, like also historical, but also it's, I think it's, you know, I think it transcends so many appeals and disciplines, I think, and it's so important. So when you say religious significance,

do you mean that this is primarily a Christian text? Is that what you mean? Well, I mean, I think the vision of, you know, hell, purgatory, and heaven is definitely, I think, it can be more associated more with Christianity than maybe other religions like Buddhism. We're like, we can also, of course, draw some comparisons with other religions.

But the way certain environments in the afterlife are described so accurately in the Divine Comedy, I think, like, they do feature a lot of, you know, characteristics of Christianity, definitely. So in school, how is Divine Comedy taught? So you do 10 years of it, and then is there a fundamental examination where you're tested on certain aspects of Divine Comedy? or so it sometimes is in the final exam so every every year the Ministry of Education chooses certain topics for the final examination and sometimes they do choose to feature some parts of course not all of it because you know how long it is but they do choose to feature them and and you know have some parts where they test students about their knowledge of it but not always not always but we do have like oral examination written examination throughout the year about that not

necessarily the final one um do you read the entire poem or just aspects of it we read the entire poem at least that's what the syllabus what wants us to do but then well sometimes the the syllable is also very long in Italian literature and but yes we we read at least like 70 or 80% of it if if it's for an operatory and In Perlach, you all read. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. We do read all of it, yeah.

And are you asked to memorize the poem, or do you just read it? We're sometimes, really the thing is like even this, and also relating to your previous question, it depends sometimes on the teacher's own method. So there is some parts of the syllabus that is like compulsory for the whole country. But at the same time, for example, this kind of whether we have to learn it by heart or not depends on each teacher's method. In my case, our teachers wanted us to read, to memorize the most important parts. So like at the beginning, you know, like the start, like the starting the ending and then some of what we consider to be like some of the most important passages.

And yeah, but now I wouldn't be able to, it's been a long time, I wouldn't be able to. And what is your third part of the Divine Comedy? Do you have a exception you particularly enjoy? Well, is it too like cliche to say that like heaven perfectly or like actually, I think even like the hell also has like a lot of parts that I really enjoyed. That's a good question. I'm not I'm not sure. I think there's this, there's many parts that I really, really enjoyed. But also it's been a while now.

So like it's been many years since. Okay. This is a very hard question, but I'm really curious. Are there any outstanding question? or controversies that have plagued educators about the divine comedy. Are there any like outstanding theological or literary questions?

And Italian just argue about this all the time. Well, I believe, I mean, some people think that like that were always struck since it was composed by how specific it is on certain very, very tiny details that, you know, usually there's like all types of theories on how he meant like Dante managed to come up with like like even like you know such specific you know like nitty gritty like details and and some people think that it was a dream so that and the

dream that he like remembers very vividly when he wakes up so to such an extent that he can actually describe so you know so so so well other people I mean thing that he actually did this journey. He actually went. He actually went there. And other people, of course, they say, of course, it's all an invention. But I think there is a consensus that it is incredible how specific it is sometimes. And how, you know, and it's really hard because sometimes you're like, you know, when you have to make up a story, you know, it's like, oh, it's like, I mean, it's so easy to just.

like to make up anything right but it's not when it comes to details right actually to make up a story with so many details is not an easy feat yeah and he managed to do yeah so so i'll tell you this where uh for most of my life i'm 50 for i think like for 45 years of my life 46 i was a very ardent atheist i refused to believe in god an explanation for everything and i read divine comedy i'm like god exists because well God, there's just no way he could have ridden this. So divine comedy brought me to God. Because again, I can't explain what's going on

about the idea of God. So that's one controversy. Like how did he create this? And something that we struggle also in this class. What was some other controversies or questions? Well, I believe that one aspect that is also very important and failed to mention earlier was, is the psychological aspect as well.

Because this is not just significant for, in terms of history and in terms of events, because we have other sources for that. We have historical sources that are even more reliable sometimes than something that many people believe to be a completely made up story. But what is striking and what is, you know, like inequivocably like a super-reliable source?

in the sense is that the Venn comedy shows what the mentality of that you know that age was and and also between all these like factions you know the Guelphi the Ghibolini and the hate of like and also set the values really because the fact that I mean of course these are Dante's values but they do serve as an embodiment of think of like like the the the the what later we would be called the side guys, right? Like that time and like the, you know, that, that embodiment of the values of that, of that moment in history and with all of the different factions and, and, and the fact that it's ranked in such a specific way, right, like the, who goes into like which circle

of hell. Yeah. And it's, it's really like a ranking of like what's the least worst thing. like the worst thing and then and then and then and then in heaven it's like the from like the they're all saints of course and they're all but but then you know there's also a ranking very specific ranking we have so many drawings as well with the layers and everything right um what do you think is the main message of the vine comedy well um the main the message might sound i think well it's about judgment everything like right it's like right it's like I think judgment is such an important part of it, because it's not a type of judgment that is temporary

like in maybe Buddhism. It is a judgment that is permanent, or except in the case of forgatory, I guess, because the one that we've read today, that's the only non-permanent one. But in hell and in heaven, the souls are going to be there forever for eternity. So it is striking and it is a strong message.

At the same time though, if we think about, well, it is definitely about, and many historians also agree on this, a way of certainly, or at least at that time, to persuade people to behave better. Because it would, and besides like really I think and it definitely transcends just the Christian beliefs you know it's like it contains many Christian beliefs but it is so you know all encapsulating that it is it definitely just sense this so today we're we're gonna read cantos 30 31 32 33 33 of progatory these are the last four cantos of progatory how familiar are you with these four cantos I studied them but like a lot a long ago

So I'll try my best to read them as best I think. Okay. And I mean, I don't want to be presumptuous, but these four counts are pretty confusing, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like, they are, like, really troubling, confusing. It doesn't really fit into the larger framework of divine comedy. Is that fair to say?

Well, the porgatory is, we actually know this in, you know, we stay in high school and when we study it, that it is, the pogratory is actually the trickiest one that is it's it's trickier than both hell and yeah um because of all its nuances and and um and definitely yeah the the hardest one to understand and the hardest one to read as well in terms of language that he uses okay so um this is one of one of four hardest cantos of divine comedy is that fair to say well yeah for sure okay well then that well we'll do it guys okay This afternoon, collectively, we're going to figure out what these four cantos are saying. Okay.

All right. So, and you can tell us if we're just crazy or not. But we're going to do it, okay? Have faith, guys. We're going to try it. We're going to try to figure out what these four cantos are doing. All right. So, let's start.

Okay, so to start, I want to explain what's going on. So remember that Dundi has climbed up the Mount Proetory. He has not... And the guard in Eden, Beatrice is coming. And Beatrice comes with a parade, right? This is something called the church triumphant. Church triumphant. And this is opposed to the church militant.

Okay? So the church triumphant is heaven. Okay. The victory of the church to come. The church militant is the church on earth. the victory that must be fought, okay? The victory that must be achieved in order to achieve heaven. And the basic structure for the triumph, sorry,

the parade, is something called the Roman triumph, okay? The Roman triumph is, what happens is like a great concord, like Julius Caesar or Scipio or Pompeii. They go overseas and they conquer a great deal of territory. And to celebrate, they come to the streets of Rome. And this is the biggest thing in Rome, okay? This is bigger than a Super Bowl in America. It's bigger than the World Cup.

And so the idea is through the streets of Rome, they're going to parade all the way to the Temple of Jupiter. And the point of the triumph is to show the greatness of the victory. So, and they also provide some history as to the place, what the people are like. So it's a celebration of the victory.

And that's exactly what's happening here when Beatrice comes. She's coming with the church triumphant. It's a huge parade. And it's to highlight the glory of Christianity. So Beatrice comes in a chariot, a two-wheel chariot. Okay? That's Beatrice. And this is, so at the end of the very end of this procession of the triumph,

the Great Conqueror, the general, is on a chariot being polled. And the griffin, the griffin is what pulls Beatrice. The griffin, as you know, it is basically a lion and an eagle join together. Okay? Basically, the head is an eagle, the body is a lion. And a lot of scholars, because what we'll be reading is something that's very categorical, right? A lot of scholars believe that the griffin represents Jesus.

Because Jesus is considered to be both lion and eagle. And the charred is meant to represent the church. Okay? And I don't know better, so I will assume they're correct. So keep this in mind, the gravenine is supposed to represent the Jesus, the church, is supposed to represent the church. And these four cantos are extremely troubling, and I have to do some research before teaching this. And one really important, one really good source for Dante, his name is Robert Hollander. I'm sure there are better sources than Italian.

I don't speak Italian, so I don't, I'm not able to understand what they're saying. Robert Hollander used to be at Princeton. He's probably America's most famous Dante scholar, but he was at Princeton, and then he started this website called Dante Lab at DarkMitt, the Dark Miff Dante project that gives you insight into all the scholarship of Dante. And we're gonna read a couple of actually footnotes

from Robert Hollander, okay? Okay, so let's read a couple of footnotes. Okay, sorry about that. No worries. Okay. All right. This one or the other one first? Yeah. So let's read this first, okay? Okay. And it shows you the death of scholarship as well as the intricacy of Donna's craftsmanship, okay?

So. Beatrice died in June of 1290. It is now either the end of March or early April of 1300, and thus about two months fewer than 10 years since she died. So this is scholars talking about the day that Donda climbs up Mount Progatory and meets Beatrice. Okay, at what day does this happen? Keep on going. If the action of the poem indeed did begin in Dante's mind on Friday, 25th of March, 1,300, this day is Wednesday, 30th of March, 1300, literally a perfect day, a 10 composed of 3-3s. For a recent study of the numerological aspects of Beatrice, Carlo Vecci,

Carlo Vecci, do you see how perfectly this is constructed, okay? Dante is conscious of numbers. He thinks that numbers are divine in nature. Three is, as we know, a particularly divine number, there are 33 cantos in these three different sections, and he uses tersets, right? So three is particularly divine number, and you can can see that the meeting with Beatrice is a divine day. Okay. And just I guess this is

Beatrice's number in Vita Nuova, Dante's other poem, and her number is nine or three squared. That's right. That's right. So Donne is very mathematically, he's very conscious of numerology, okay? Let's go to the next note, okay? So this is a procession of the church triumphant, and it's structured in a certain way. Can you just read it? Sure. The first, 24 books of the Old Testament. The second, the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The third, one Griffin. The fourth, three theological virtues, faith, hope, and love. Fifth, four cardinal virtues, prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. The sixth, two authors of Book of Acts and Major Epistles, Luke and Paul. 7th, four authors of lesser epistles, Peter James John Jude, the 8th, one apocalypse, John, a total of 43. Okay, so it's 43, but remember there's Beatrice, right? So that's one, that's 44, and then overhead over them are 100 angels.

So you have 144. Does anyone know why 144 is a very special number in Christianity? Tribes in Israel? Yes. right 12 times 12 yes what else I forgot yes but that's that's exactly correct okay okay so um they say at the end of days 144,000 will ascend to heaven okay these these are 12 tribes of Israel all right so again you see how meticulous and precise Dante is with numbers this is not accidental by the way okay you can't possibly just you know make this up and then oops it aligns no

He is intentional about this. And there are these numbers scattered throughout the divine comedy. So you can literally just spend your entire life just analyzing the numerology of the Vian comedy. We're not going to do that because this is an angel class and we're much more concerned about the themes. Yes, Edward? It's just a very small comment, but also the four plus three is seven.

And seven in numerology is a very like a spiritual completion number. Yeah, exactly. I mean like, you can. can make entire diagrams on this, okay? And so there are these literary paradoxes in the divine comedy, but there are also all these mathematical puzzles in the vine comedy. If you just assemble them together, it reveals a greater truth. Again, we're not going to do that because it's quite exhausting, but it just shows you the death of the level construction in the divine comedy. And again, this class, it's meant to speak the

beginning of a long journey and hope that in the future you guys will refer to scholars like Robert Hollander in your journey okay so I'm providing you one textual reading but others will provide you with others and it's up to you to come up your own appreciation so let's go back to canto 29 okay and I want to go go look at the lines 22 to 30 okay so um um um Carol could you read uh 22 to 30 Okay. And through the incandescent air, there ran sweet melody, at which just indignation made me rebuke the arrogance of Eve, because where earth and heaven were obedient, a solitary woman just created, found any veil at all beyond endurance. If she had been devout beneath her veil, I should have savored those ineffable delights before, and for a longer time. Okay, what is paradoxical about these lines? Why am I singling this section out?

What's the paradox here? Where are they? They're in the Garden of Eden. They're in the Garden of Eden, yes. Damien? Eve was banished from the Garden of Eden, so why is she here? She's not here. Yeah.

But what's Donnie doing right now? Imagining her, imagining a woman that is there. What is this emotional state? Super excited and happy to see, about to see Bertrice about... What's the word in here that tells us how he feels? I should have savored? Or like... No, the emotion. Yeah, just indignation, okay?

Indignation. He's angry. Why is this a paradox? Indignation. Yeah, why are you angry, right? You should be happy. You should just focus on the here. now you just focus on enjoying yourself why are you complaining about what eve did i mean isn't all forgiven right this is a paradox here why should he not be angry uh anna it's angry maybe he finally

went to the garden we eat eden to see how beautiful it is and to be mad at eve like why would you forsaken all this that's why he has the just indianation that's what he says but i'm trying to figure out why he's shouldn't well he shouldn't be angry because he's just been fruit the terrorists, right? He's been for the terrorists of wrath. His anger should be perched from him. But he goes to the Garden of Eden and he's looking around and says, he's just angry at what we've lost. He's rebuking arrogance with just hope and free will in a way. Or, I don't know. There's a paradox here. Yeah. There's lots of paradoxes here, right? Does that make sense? Okay. And so, what What I will argue is to unpack this paradox,

you need to figure out what these four canals are. So remember this paradox. It makes absolutely no sense that he's been in the Garden of Eden, he's about to meet Beatrice, and now he's pissed off about Eve, eating the fruit, which caused him to be banished from the Garden of Eden. Why is it, like, at your happiest time, you're still angry, right?

I mean, it's a point of being happy to let go of your anger and just embrace your joy? Okay, all right. Oh, I don't know if I'm skipping ahead, but there's this concept of Felix Cooper, which is, it is essential for this fall to happen, for us to get to Jesus. Right, but if that other case,

he shouldn't be anger at all, right? He just thinks, well, you know, we were redeemed at the end, We're in the garden of Eden now. Anyone can come. So, I was forgiven. So why is he angry? Right? It's all part of the divine plan.

Eve had to eat that food. Jesus could come so that we could all be redeemed. And now all has happened. So instead of being angry at Eve, why don't you celebrate Eve, right? And just like forgive Eve. Instead, he is angry. But not only that, but what is his indignation? What type is it?

What type is it? What's the word he uses to describe his anger? Just. It's just, okay? It's righteous a donation. It is justice. I should be angry. I am right to be angry at Eve. This is a paradox for us, yes?

I think it's also that if Beatrice had died in childbirth, it was Eve's punishment, is that all women should feel pain during childbirth, and it's especially that that made her die. I think he's angry as well because she found any veil beyond in due. veil beyond endurance and life is one of the veil. Yeah. So it's that he's almost angry that Beatrice is dead. Even though I'm meeting her now, it's such a pain that it's not in the real world.

Yeah, that's great point. Yeah, I completely forgot that. But Beatrice did die and childbirth. And Eve was punished by God, and the punishment was to have painful childbirth, right? And it is, you know, the greatest pain in the world, okay? It is hell on her. So, but, Randy, I want to ask you, I want to ask you that the translation just in the nation, is this a correct translation?

I am, yeah, I was actually surprised that they translated one because just is would be more like justo or used to back then I guess it could also be said. But one is like, it's like a good. It's more like a good type of indignation. Right. Zeno, for example, is also like, I mean, I think back then definitely it meant indignation. Now it has a bit of a different meaning. It's less negative than indignation. Is it zeal?

It's more like, yeah. That's actually what it is. Okay. But back then, of course, certain words that we could still use now had a different meaning, of course. Okay. So I want to confirm, okay? Menombalm, Alan Menombalm, and he just wanted like a dozen, of like Dante, okay?

But what he's saying is that Dante thinks that it is just for him to think that Eve was arrogant and to rebuke her arrogance. Is this a correct translation? I would say so. Like, on the like on the atrogan which one zero one it's just as we said indignation zelo me phaed in the end of the yeah made me rebuke yeah um i i ad diemento is also an interesting like what for us to hear in

italian ad dimento is like when when someone is well al dito now has also different meaning but al dimento um definitely sounds like i mean back then it would be more closer to arrogance for Sure. And so the tone in a language, it conveys anger as an emotion. Is that correct? Yes. It's some kind of, I think, maybe passionate anger. Like as in a dimento, it's, it has the same ardent. It has the same as fire, but it. So it is, it is definitely conveys passion. It conveys a strong feeling. Like a, you know, fiery. All right. Okay. So, so, so again, And like so the there's the paradox there, okay? Like, why are you so angry? Now you're in the God of Eden, okay?

Isn't this all part of the vine plant, right? Shouldn't you be thankful for, for even? And plus, you're not a woman, right? You're a guy. So what are you complaining about? I mean, like, so, so there's lots of paradoxes here. All right, let's go to a count of 30, okay? And again, these next four contos are just really troubling for scholars.

as well students of Dante. I'll do 12 maybe, and then you'll do 12. Okay. When the first heaven seven stars had halted those stars that never rise or set that are not veiled except when sin be clouds are vision. Those stars that there made everyone aware of what his duty was,

just as the bear below brings helmsman home to harbor. Then the truthful band that had come first between the Griffin and the seven stars turned toward that chariot as toward their peace, and one of them, as if sent down from heaven, hymned aloud, Veni, Sponsa, Delibano, three times, and all the others echoed him.

Turned you? Yes. When the Settentreone of the Pemois, nor case never sepene or not overta, nor other nebbya, that of corpola velo, and that he faciever, with the most basso facie,

that timon erged to be in porto. Firmus Hafisse, the genit verace, venuta preima, Al caro volsese, se come of her pace, and one of the little, wasi da celsius, the Libano, can't, read her three

times, and all the other appr said, Just as the Blessed, at the final summons will rise up ready each out of his grave, singing with new quothed voices, Alleluia,

so from the godly chariot eternal life's messengers and ministers of rose, one hundred stood, at voceum, at vogueum tantis senes. All of them cried, benedictus qui venis, and scattering flowers upward and around, manibus, oh, date lilia, plenis. Quali beati at novissimobando

surgeran presci of his cavern. The revestita voice alleliolian, withal in sulla divina basterna, silever cento, advocement tantisenis, ministers, ministers of messager of the vita eternal. All said, Benedictus And fiocittance And fiocittance and is over

Gently Manibus O, Date Lillia Plenis I have at time seen All the eastern sky Becoming Rose as day began And seen, adorned in lovely blue The rest of heaven And seen the sun's face rise so veiled

That it was tempered by the mist And could permit the eye To look at length upon it So within a cloud of flowers That were cast by the ingestion hands and then rose up and then fell back, outside and in the chariot, a woman showed herself to me. Above a white whale, she was crowned with olive boughs, her cape was green, her dress beneath flame red. I sawed in the comingchard of the journal, the part oriental, all rosata, and the other cell of

serenicenna, aton. And the face of the sun, nasher and ombrata, so that, per temperance of the vapoury, the eye was sustained a long, fiata. So, in a nubola of the Fiori, that had the mani angelica and saliva and recadev into the foyer, Sovracandio vail sheinteduliva, Donna mapparve,

Soto Verde Manto, vestida of color of Fiamma Viva. Within her presence, I had once been used to feeling, trembling, wonder, disillusion, but that was long ago. Still, though my soul now she was veiled, could not see her directly,

by way of hidden force that she could move, I felt the mighty power of old love. As soon as that deep, had struck my vision, the power that when I had not yet left my boyhood had already transfixed me, I turned around and to my left just as a little child, afraid or in distress, will hurry to his mother anxiously to say to Virgil, I am left with less than one drop of my blood that does not tremble, I recognize the signs of the old flame. And the spirit my, that, I've got a time,

has been sato that the presence, not of stupor, tremando, affranto. Sansa dely Ocky,

have more conoscen, perculta virtue that she'd the great potency. Tosto that in the life

me percose, the altra that I'm afterfitt, before I had I f'or to perisia was,

forse me to the wrist with which the fantolin the man, when he has afflito.

Per Dishire to Virgilio, Men, what drama of of the same me remas that's the same of the antica fiamma.

Okay, stop. Okay. So, um, Beatrice is revealing herself. She's still veiled, but she is now in the presence of Dante.

And it's been many years since Dante last saw Beatrice, uh, 20 years maybe. And, but his soul still shakes, okay? He's not shaking, but his soul is still shaking.

Rene, let me ask you, while you're reading this, okay? And the climax, of course, is like when Dante sees Beatrice again for the first time. And this is the moment we've been waiting for the entire time, okay? We've been for hell, we've been for proprietary, and this is the moment that Dante's been waiting for, we've all been winning for. How do you feel while you're reading this? What emotions were you in you when you were reading this? Well, I think, oh, sorry, yeah. I think, well, he spends, you know, like, so many lines talking about just that, like, the emotion of when, when he sees her. And it is, I think there would be no other way of making it convey such a strong feeling that is not just, you know, sheer, it's more than just sheer joy or sheer, you know, surprise.

prize or I think there is no single or like not even just a set of short set of words to convey it and that's why so many lines I spent on it and even like some you know like analogies you know when like when like he compares it with like boyhood for example and and and like that the two that I've had a fit to be a fit to make you for the police and then he says also talks about the little like just as a little child afraid or in distress right for quite the fantolinko of the mama when the power when he's fit it's it's so strong and it's yeah okay so this is really when all emotions converge together right his greatest

fear his greatest excitement his greatest happiness his greatest sadness they all converge together and it is such an overwhelming emotion he's never felt like this before his entire soul It's vibrating, it's shaking to its core. And what's the first thing he wants to do? Turn to Virgil. He wants to turn to Virgil. Do you understand?

That's how much he loves Virgil. Okay, he loves Virgil. I know I've been talking to trash about Virgil this entire time, but he still, Dante, still loves Virgil as a father. Okay? So he wants to turn to Virgil and what should Virgil do in response? comfort him. Right.

Hug him and says, Dante, I'm with you. Go ahead. We came all the way here, right? Through health, for proletary. And now I want to be with you in your moment of your greatest triumph. And I will be with you. Okay. So maybe we won't translate until certain sections.

All right. Okay. Okay. Sounds good. Line 49, but Virgil had deprived us of himself, Virgil, the gentlest father, Virgil, he to whom I gave myself for my salvation, and even all our ancient mother lost was not enough to keep my cheeks, though washed with dew, from darkening again with tears. Okay, so stop, okay. So, Reni, could you translate for us these next six lines and tell us,

when you speak it, what emotions do you feel? But Virgilio Naveh last the shemmy to see Virgilio Dolcissim Padre

Virgil to my to my salute Nekuntunque per deo Antique Maitte

and the guance nete de Ruzada that Lagrimando not Rueh Nater

It's like as if he was like it's more than like praising him It's more It's like

as if he was talking about like yeah the person he loves the most actually it's almost as if he was talking to him as if he was beatrice yeah no i mean yeah that's exactly

it i i think the words the emotions is dante loves virgil okay there's actually no doubt about it where is virgil where is he uh fred i was just doing a sign for like self-integration where dante he's left uh uh virgil has left dante completely and Dante has integrated him as completely as he can. But I mean, like, I mean, we were expecting some sort of resolution, right? Some sort of confrontation between Virgil and Beatrice, some sort of conflict where Donny has to choose between Virgil and Beatrice, or even maybe a happy ending where Beatrice welcomes Virgil to the heavens and Virgil is giving a choice.

But he's just completely disappeared. He's went away. That's got a bad writing, right? What's going on here? Who's talking there? Donda is talking. Yes. Right?

Dante felt Virgil beside him, so he turns to Virgil to say, I've never been so nervous in my life, Virgil, and then Virgil's gone. He just disappeared. Well, first of all, why is Virgil gone? Yes? Accomplished his mission to bring Dante to Beatrice so now he has like no purpose to be here Yeah but if you accomplish your your mission what's the least thing you would expect He wants someone to thank him yeah thank you Virgil for taking Donik through heaven and hell

Yes um so previously we were hypothesizing that he might be a little bit jealous I feel like some of the times if you're jealous you don't actually want to be in a scene and then you're just choose to leave it behind and then just not see the scene. Dante loves Virgil. Does Virgil love Dante? I think he loves Dante. I think he does. Okay. They climbed on Satan. Yeah, they've been through a lot, man. They climb on Satan, they've been for progatory. It's been a lot. What's that happens to you?

Two people love each other, yes? I think of like the wedding scenario where the father, brings the bride to the groom and then he has to go he's a hand you over and you know so i feel that maybe it's that kind of scene to where he kind of give birth to dante and then now he's no handover though oh okay he just disappears he just runs away yes yeah maybe because uh you know as a man they don't want to say goodbye maybe they would love to give you a hug but extra virtue i think he on the way i want to give it a hug maybe but let's let's do the kind of factual okay Let's just say Virgil stays.

What would happen next? What happened next? Yes, Anna? A confrontation with, do you want to come to heaven? No. Oh, awkward. So then he just avoids that conversation and goes away. Yeah, I think what happened is that Beatrice would say to Virgil.

Virgil, I want to thank you so much for this. I came down to Limbo and I asked you for a favor. And you so generously and so selflessly got it Dante football. hell and proletory and I can't take you enough and Virgil's like hmm right you kind of stuck right right because now what Beatrice is going to say come of us to heaven and we're just like so he's made a conscious decision I don't want to go anywhere near heaven right yeah yes I this reminds me actually of a of a of a Greek myth of Othewi Dijer or Phaeus and this or yes or yes you know when when like he's uh not supposed to turn and like when there's

actually no like it is kind of a uh there's no well in in the in the in the myth of course he turns and he sees and and and she disappears because that that's what you turn back the pact was that for him not too like you know the deal was for him not to turn uh and they would live uh you know happily together after and and uh but but then he turns he doesn't resist and he's like oh just about to get out of the cave. But here, actually, it is as if, I don't know, I kind of see

a bit of this, of this, like, kind of leaving him without, like, disappearing with no goodbye or no, like, and that he's not even supposed to say, to, to turn back to him and to turn behind. Once you're in, well, you know,

you're, like, ascending to heaven, you're not supposed to go back And heaven is so pure that you're not supposed to do, right? Okay, I understand. I understand. You're saying that Donnie shouldn't have turned his head back and talk to Virgil. But I'm still trying to figure out what.

He shouldn't have. I think it was supposed to be like this. Right. I'm trying to figure out why Virgil's disappeared. Yes? I think it's a reflection of dentists' acknowledgement that Virgil is indeed a very sourly, manly, fatherly figure because a real father, effective father, eventually has to make a very, very clean cut in the father-son relationship in order to send

the son to some greatness. And I think even Dante's own father, who kind of disappeared from Dante's life also relatively early in Dante life, I think also gave Dante a kind of paradigm that his mentor would send him onto his journey but you know won't accompany him all the way down this is like your father not show up at your college graduation okay you guys from Yale it's the biggest thing you've ever accomplished and your father's like I don't want to go because like I don't want to burden you with uh I don't want to make you more dependent on me no no he no virgins just run away yes well I mean my dream is like a little bit similar with him because I believe maybe Virgil will make Dante feel hesitant.

Okay, guys, stop this, okay? This is the wrong direction, okay? Edward? It's almost that this moment is so divine and so beautiful that Virgil's soul is still too dark to be able to be included in this moment. Yes, okay, so it's almost like Virgil's afraid of the encounter between Dante and Beatrice, right?

Because remember, how he feels about love is, It's one of control, one of possession. Right? He doesn't actually believe in true love. He only believes in control. So he doesn't want to see Beatrice and Donnie together. Because then he recognizes that true love exists and it's divine. Anna?

Either one who hates love in a way, like, so it would be awkward for him to stand here. Yeah, he wrote Ineat in order to disparage love, right? You say that love is a disease. Love can only lead you to hell. Yeah. And now he's in hell, but Donnie's going to heaven. Love is leading Don to heaven, right? So this is contradicting.

So rather than phase, the fact that he could be wrong, he's like, screw this, I'm gonna run away, okay? All right. What else? So that's one theory, yes. How about the, you know, saying Beatrice stands for love? So I think Virgil stands for reason. Maybe Virgil just so fierce.

They are just being so scared by being controlled by love. So that's really, so maybe as you point out, Virgil and Beatrice just like, like it's like magnets, right? Like polarities, right? They just repel each other, okay? But at the same time, Virgil did help Beatriz out, right? So I think one possible explanation is like Virgil does not want to see true love. because it just negates his entire worldview, okay?

That I think is a very, I think that that's the best explanation. Does Virgil want to go to heaven? We know he doesn't want to go because he could go at any time, and now Beatrice is here, and Beatrice owes you a favor, right? So now's the best opportunity in your life to go to heaven. He's like, screw this, I'm going to go home. I'm going to go to hell. Why would he do that?

What would anyone do that? Yes, Stephen? Because heavens were true love is, and Virgil doesn't want them. doesn't want to see that. Who is Virgil most afraid of? He's afraid of God, right? Why? He wrote the Inniad. Okay. So think of this, okay?

God gave the gift of poetry to Inniad. God chose you, Virgil, no one else, chose you. And then Virgil's like, I'm going to go make a billion dollars doing this. Okay. So the last person he wants to see right now is God. Yes? I want to say, I think that the explanation that we study is, in Italy.

Or at least, I mean, maybe it depends also on the teacher sometimes. The interpretations can also vary. But I think it's complementary to what we've just said. Virgil cannot, at least we learn that Virgil cannot enter heaven because heaven is only for the pure. And Virgil because, I mean, as we said, I mean, he's not, not extent, like people

from the outside, who had already, however, already, how do you say? being judged, cannot access it. That's what, that's at least the way we learned. Yeah, yeah, it's wrong then, okay? I'm not telling you, but what you learn, what you learn is wrong. Because what we learn in this class is there's a man named Rufius, right? Rufius.

He's in heaven, not only is in heaven, but he's one of the great of heavens, okay? He's up there with David and all the great leaders of human history. He was born, he was a warrior of the Trojan Empire. Right? He was there during the Trojan War. Therefore, he could have possibly been a Christian, right? He was not baptized. He was born about a thousand years before Jesus.

So how did he get to heaven? That's an interesting point. I also might omit or like not like fail to remember some some other parts that are teaching but I guess he also had his own brawl in in heaven or like there might be some reason why he is allowed and other people but usually or at least for the teachers is that yeah because Virgil had no reason to be in heaven when when there was already someone company because I can claim and he was not even supposed to be in purgatory but then he Right okay all right so yeah so

What what we learned in this class is that Don is very clear about this What takes you to heaven is that your belief is your actions okay and it's your actions that Reveal your belief right because you live a life of hope love and faith then that's Christian it doesn't matter if you were born before Jesus and And because you live this life, it means you have faith in Jesus. Then that faith, that pathizes you automatically. Yes, Edward and Fred. Could it also be like the ultimate feeling of jealousy for Virgil?

Because I don't know, but I don't think in his life he had a Beatrice. Did he have a true love in his life? If he wrote the Indian, obviously not. Yes. Fred? I think another thing that is blocking him from heaven or blocking him from being at this ceremony was that for Virgil, like the extremes of good and evil, the extreme of good is about following the destiny set out by the gods and piety. And I think for him there's no piety in heaven because the story's over.

The game is over. The race is run. So for him, it's impossible for him to conceive of goodness that can never be not good. because his whole thing with the Aeneid is fluctuating between following your destiny and being lazy and following your destiny and being lazy. Yes, exactly. So that's a great point. Yes. So Virgil can't even conceive of the idea of heaven. If he conceives it as heaven, he can basically invert it, right? For him, heaven would be hell.

So he's like, why do I want to go to hell? I'm probably happy in limbo. That's my heaven because I'm master of hell, right? Okay, so there are many reasons. But this is, again, a very important paradox for us. Why does Virgil run away? And obviously, there are many different interpretations. Okay, let's continue.

Okay, line 55, Dante, though Virgil's leaving you, do not yet weep. Do not weep yet. You need your tears for what another sword must yet inflict. Just like an admiral who goes to stern and proud to see the officers who guide the other ships, encouraging their tasks. So on the left side of the chariot, I turned around when I had heard my name, which of necessity, I transcribe here. I saw the lady who had first appeared to me beneath the veils of the angelic flowers look at me across the stream. We're going to stop. Okay. All right.

So Dante is obviously heartbroken that his father has run away at the moment. of his greatest happiness. Okay? And now Beatrice has come and she's basically like forget him. He's not important. You will

need everything for the next challenge. Okay. How does Dante feel about Beatrice right now? Yes? He might think Beatrice is very mean. I think so. That's exactly how it feels. Why? What

What metaphor tells us that Donnie just think that Beatrice is just being too stern or too mean? Just like an admiral who goes to stern and... Exactly, right? Right? That's a simile, right? She's just being a boss, right?

She's just being imperious. She's just ordering me about, okay? That's how much he loves Virgil. Do you understand this idea? He loves Virgil so much that the moment that anyone says anything bad about Virgil, he gets really angry. Even if it's coming from the love of his life, Beatrice. Okay? So again, this is meant to be a tragic moment for Dante.

What Don't want more than anything else is to ascend to heaven with Virgil. And now Virgil has made his decision to leave him. him okay and so I don't speculate too much but just think of like what Donnie's trying to do right he's trying to create a new paradigm for for the world he's trying to create a new poem for the world and to do that he must displace Virgil but that makes sense because at this time in history everyone's memorizing the Indian ad as today like everyone in Italy studying the in comedy, right? But for him to do that, he must show you what the problem is with the

Indianiad. But he can't convince you because it's like the Indian ad is like your mother, your father, okay? And so he has to construct this elaborate journey and this elaborate relationship with Virgil in order to show you that at some point Virgil must leave you if you are to ascend to heaven. It doesn't make sense, guys? All right, let's keep on reading. Line 67, although the veil she wore down from her head, which was encircled by Minervous Leaves,

did not allow her to be seen distinctly. Her stance, still regal and disdainful. She continued, just as one who speaks but keeps until the end the fiercest parts of speech. Look here, for I am Beatrice. I am. How are you able to ascend the mountain?

Did you not know that man is happy here? My lowered eyes caught sight of the clear stream, but when I saw myself reflected there, such shame weighed on my brow. My eyes drew back and toward the grass, just as a mother seems harsh to her child. So did she seem to me, how bitter is the savor of stern pity. Her words were done. The angel suddenly sang, Inte, Dominé, Spiravi, but their singing did not go past Pesmeos. Okay, so how it started feeling at this moment? Shame.

Shame, right? Regret. All he cares about is the fact that he's lost Virgil. Even Peter's saying, like, focus on me, Dante, he still can't look at her, okay? He is just so sad that his friend Virgil has abandoned him. Okay, keep on going. Even line 85, even as snow among the sap-filled trees along the spine of Italy will freeze when gripped by gusts of the gusts of the the Slavonian winds, then as it melts, will trickle through itself, that is, if winds breathe north from shadeless lands, just as beneath the flame the candle melts. So I, before I'd heard the song of those whose notes always accompany the notes of eternal spheres was without tears and sighs, but when I heard the sympathy for me within their gentle harmonies as if they'd said,

Lady, why shame him so? Then did the eyes that had restrained my heart become water and breath, from my breast and through my lips and eyes they issued, anguished. Still standing motionless upon the left side of the chariot, she then addressed the angels who had been compassionate. You're awake and never-ending day, and neither night nor sleep can steal from you one step the world would take along its way. Therefore, I'm more concerned that my reply be understood by him who weeps beyond so that his sorrows measure match his sin.

Not only through the work of the great spheres which guide each seed to a determined and, depending on what stars are its companions, but through the bounty of the godly graces which showered down from clouds so high that we cannot approach them with our vision. He, when young, was such potentially that any propensity innate in him would have prodigiously succeeded had he acted. But where the soil has finer vigor there precisely, when untilled or badly seated, will that terrain grow wilder and more noxious. My countenance sustained him for a while, showing my youthful eyes to him, I led him with me toward the way of righteousness. As soon as I upon the threshold of my second age had changed my life,

he took himself away from me and followed after another. When from flesh to spirit I had risen, and my goodness and my beauty had grown, I was less dear to him, less welcome. He turned his footsteps toward an untrue path. He followed counterfeits of goodness, which will never pay in full what they have promised, nor did the inspirations I received with which in dream and otherwise I called him back, help me. He paid so little heed. He fell so far there were no other means to lead him to salvation except this, to let him see the people who were lost. For this, I visited the gateway of the dead to him who guided him above my prayers were offered even as I wept. The deep design of God would have been broken if leaf had been crossed, and he had drunk such waters but had

had not discharged the death of penitence that's paid when tears are shed. Okay, so imagine Dante's emotional state, okay? He's been thinking that this is a great wedding feast between him and Beatrice, right? He had to work so hard to get through infernal and for procuratory. And now he thinks that Beatrice will shower praise on him, right? He's like, wow, you got an A plus on your test. Great job, man. What is Beatrice doing instead?

Yes, Damien? scolding him. Why? Because after Beatrice died, Dante married another woman. Um, well, I mean, true. But would Beatrice be angry about that? What's he angry about? He's just upset that Dante, that Virgil left.

He's crying and like... Sure, sure. Dante is upset that Virgil has left. And then Beatrice is saying, hey, let's get going, man. And then Dante is kind of shocked because he's expecting this praise, this love, this adulation from Beatrice. And instead, and so he falls, he's confused, he's in shame. And the angels fly to Beatrice and says, relax, Beatrice, okay? Dan's been for hell, literally been for hell.

Like, let's give him a break. And Beatrice is like, you guys shut up too. Like, why is she pissed? Like, she's pissed. Why is she pissed? Because it was her love that caused all of this that brought him here, that got Virgil in the first place in vogue with Dante. That's not what she's saying, though.

That's not what she's saying. What's she's saying? She's saying that when we knew each other, your love for me stared you in the right path. But then after I died, you went on the wrong path. And that forced me to come to all the way down to hell, to seek Virgil to set you on the right path. Okay? And I had to make you go through hell to see the consequences of your sins. Right?

So what did Don't I do wrong? Yes, Julian? I guess trust Virgil that much? I mean, in this speech, she is talking about Virgil, right? No, no. Okay, what she said in the speech is this, right? Okay, when we knew each other, you loved me so much, and I put you on the right path, and I died.

And then you went on the wrong path. You went on the path so wrongly that they come down and ask Virgil to help you put to set you on the right path, and you have to go through hell to see the consequences of what it means you go on the wrong path. What did you do wrong? And meshed and the Guelphs and Givolines and all the politics and all of that?

Yeah, so that's one possibility, right? So there are different possibilities he married, but that makes Beatrice seem really petty, right? Because Beatrice married someone else. So what's Donnie going to do? Just, like, be chased all his life? Right? So I think he's angry about that. It's possible, okay, Donnie participated in internal politics, but that's just the times, okay? Yeah, Fred? So I guess she's complaining about the double standard that he seems to have set with his love for her, that it was her goodness and beauty while she was alive that gave him a good spark.

Yes. And she's saying, well, I died, and if Dante knew I'd gone to heaven, how come I'm not even an even bigger inspiration than before? Like she's saying my goodness and beauty had grown and yet I was less dear to him. Yes. Like I should have been an even stronger star now that I died. But it seemed that he needed his hero to do it instead. Okay. So let's continue this, okay?

This is correct. Okay. But I want to elaborate on this. So when Bejers were alive, what did Tony write poetry? Why? To seduce her or prove his artistic merit? This is the quality love tradition, right? So he's trying to express his love, forever love, to Beatrice.

After she died, why did he write poetry? To save himself. To save himself? How? By channeling all of the spirits of his hero and his love in order to instruct the rest of the world. Right, in which case, he wouldn't have to go to hell. In which case, Beatrice wouldn't have to come down to hell and get a version to help him, right? Problem solved.

So obviously he did something wrong, right? So when Beatrice was alive, he wrote poetry to express his love for Beatrice. After she died, why did he write poetry? Yes? Probably for fame and power. Exactly. Okay? That's where he went wrong.

He forgot what the point of poetry was. It's not for fame and power. Because if you did that, who would you end up being? Virgil. Virgil. Okay. Does that make sense, guys? Okay.

And we know because in the beginning of purgatory, Dante fell in love with his own shadow, right? And he fell in love with his shadow so much that whenever he saw his shadow, he was really happy, and he walked really slowly so that the other shades could see his shadow. Do you understand this idea? This is where Dondey went wrong. When she was alive, he could focus all his attention on her, and that's what made his poetry divine.

She died, then all he fought about was competing against his fellow poets and proving that he was the best, right? And so he started to write poetry in order to prove he's superior to everyone else. And that's when he went wrong. And that's why PHS had come, get Virgil

to lead him through hell. Yes? No, no, I'm finished, yeah. I was going to say that I think it was very struck by the fact that he retakes this analogy of like the mom and the child. Yes. And I think this analogy

precisely I think corroborates your point that of this transition from like when when Beatrice was still alive they were kind of equal right I think they were still both human beings alive now like Beatrice is kind of in a different sphere and it's as if she was his mom and you know and in the first part when he's sad about Virgil disappearing he's like oh like going to like as if go as a child going to his mom like crying because he's afraid but actually his mom and so in that first analogy his mom is actually Virgil but then but then in the second like when he retakes the analogy it's it's Beatrice that hit his mom and so he's like I am you know like I'm like your muse and and and and

you lost me when I died but I'm you know the fact that I died and you know and your faith shouldn't prevent you from using me, having me as a muse even after my death, right? Right. So he lost his faith in some way. That's right, exactly. Yes, okay. So now let me ask you this question. Why is she doing this?

Right? I mean, wouldn't a better strategy be like to first praise him, right? And then point out that, oh, you couldn't move in this way, right? That's how we're taught to criticize you. Don't do it directly. Don't scold people. Don't be angry at that person. First, criticize this person and then maybe towards the end,

you're like, oh, but there's just one little thing, right? Why is she just pissed? It's like, yes? Yes, Bruce? Yeah, maybe because if people die and they have been prayed by the family, so it's saying that Dante just cannot cannot like you know you can call it uh i think dante just try to drag drag her legs do not let her to go to the heaven because uh yeah because i have to pick up dante right she has to

why is she pissed at dante what was she doing this yes to link to free will where there's too often he could like break him and so he would just take another path or then by his love for beatrice he would listen to her and try to improve on himself. Whereas if she would come and just, like, loving him, there wouldn't be no choice. He would just, like, love her back. Whereas he's conflicted. I agree with that.

But I'm just saying, like, he's been through infernal and he's from procuratory already, man. Why does he need to improve himself? How else can he improve himself? What does he need to improve himself? Also, like, before he was seeking a fake image of Beatrice. So now he's here. He needs a choice again, whereas I'm Beatrice now.

Do you want to go with me or do you want to just like because I'm not the Beatrice you thought I was? Just go away. Yes. Okay. Exactly. Yes, Andy? Could it be because he's maybe treating the peak of purgatory like the finish line when the finish line is God. Yes.

That's like what Beatrice is saying to Dante is like this is the beginning, man. The real challenge is up there. So get your head in the right order. Okay. If you're still stuck on fame, you're not going to be able to do it. anything in heaven. Okay. Remember what matters. What brought you here is your love for me. So focus on that, Dante. Doesn't make sense. But like, again, it's one of tactics, right? Like, you would, I mean, like, why, why take this tone, why take this approach? I mean,

you could have chosen a much more gentle, diplomatic, softer approach, right? Why choose this scolding approach like this anger approach right yes Brett maybe two suggestions maybe one to test him and that this is he's still not completely out of purgatory so he's actually still in the circle of lust and so he needs to still feel the heat and so if she gave him's balm from this heat already before he had entered the gates of heaven she'd be ruining purgatory for him in this So she can't let up even a tiny bit. And also, I'm, my mind's not working fast enough,

but I'm thinking there has to be something of the Rachel and Leah dream in this interaction where she's saying, look, don't get your, like, don't get your knickers in a twist now that you've had sex with Leah, you know, there's still seven more years or... Yeah, okay. Anyone else? Yeah, Bruce? Yeah, maybe just like. asking a friend out a girlfriend out and if we get a date and the girl just always

complain you why you just don't pick up me earlier and why you always you know maybe just to show up okay so so let's see about this okay so beatrice scouting Dante and the angels around her saying like Beatrice beatrice calm down and be just like shut man why should she do that she's mad she's mad yeah and knowing that but like what but why she mad she's mad and it's like i'm right to be mad you understand just in the nation right just in a nation okay yes i could be off face here i wonder um a poet has a muse and they poor they spend years and years don't they spent so many years writing uh his love to beatrice

beatrice in real life this moment is their third time of ever meeting that basically yeah and so does a muse i understand she's in heaven god is love she loves him but does a muse often love their poets back or are they just objects of love and so is it possible that he's coming up and he's like oh i love you and she's like third time we went man like got a long way to go till there's love um i i think uh there are multiple factors at work here but I think Beatrice thinks she deserves Dante's love. Because if you're the muse, right, you're the one who gave Dante this poetry in the first place.

Okay? All right. Yes, Anna? I wonder if a few reasons. Like, first of all, like Dante couldn't let go of the fact that Virgil has left is one thing. So, like, basically, if I'm the wife and my husband is mourning over his best pal guy, bro, you know, homie, who kind of took over like the joy of our wedding, then I'll be pretty pissed because then I'll be like, well, I'm the bride and why is Virgil, the homie, the center of my

husband's, you know, hard. And then the other one about like going, God is the ultimate one, but he's, like, the wedding day seems to be hit for him the end of the thing that will piss me off too. But oh, that's it, like the wedding day is going to be the best day of my life and now from now, you're going to go downhill instead of up like you know then I'll be pretty okay so the fact that Beatrice is angry at Dante suggests what about Beatrice how does Beatrice feel about Dante all that she cares in a way she loves him yeah dearly and he is not uh yeah returning that same amount of love so so so I know this is hard

first appreciate okay what Donnie is saying here is that just in the nation from a place of love. You understand? This is really important, guys. You understand these next four contours. You need to understand this idea. Righteous in the nation comes from a place of love. Only it's because you have love that you get angry, right? If you're Beatriz, you're like, I don't really care about this guy, right? You're just doing your job. Why are you angry now? When you should hear this. Yeah, I feel like... If I'm angry at you, that's because I love you. Exactly. I think coming from mom and teachers, you are like, you have such expectation for your students and when they are bright and then they make stupid mistakes you get more mad than ever

because you have so much expectation yeah if i don't care about you like just go to community college you know you're harsh with us yeah like i get angry a lot right because like i'm expecting you guys to perform and to learn yes bruce because i've heard there's some girl student that if you want to test the boy love you or not it just piss piss him out let him get it anger and try to find out if he can comfort it back or he just like to give you the reason and tell you some reason stuff then get rid of him He's not the person who's in love with you but she just comfort you like I'm sorry. It's my fault. It's my my fault. Forgive me that I think she cares about you so maybe that is girl we're trying to test the people by if you're loving him or her Okay. All right. So let's let's let's continue. Okay Conto 31.

Oh, you, upon the holy streams far shore. So she turning her speeches point against me, even its edge had seemed too sharp began, again without allowing interruption. How? Sorry. So did we finish the last kind of? What line were we at? Sorry. Oh, really?

Sorry. Okay. All right. Sorry. Sorry. So sorry about it. Okay. Okay.

No, no, we did. Okay, all right, yeah, okay. All right. Okay, no worries, man. Let's go and go away. Yeah. Okay. Count to 31.

Wait, 31, okay. Oh, you, upon the holy streams far shore, so she turning her speeches point against me, even its edge had seemed too sharp, began again without allowing interruption. Tell, tell if this is true, for your confession must be entwined with such self-accusation. My power of speech was so confounded that my voice would move and yet was spent before its organs had released it. She forebore a moment. Then she said,

What are you thinking? Reply to me. The water has not yet obliterated your sad memories. Confusion mixed with fear compelled a yes out of my mouth and yet that yes was such, one needed eyes to make out what it was. Just as a crossbow that is drawn to taut, snaps both its cord and bow when it is shot and arrow meets its mark with feeble force so caught beneath that heavy weight i burst and i let tears and sighs pour forth my voice had lost its life along its passage out at this she said in the desire for me that was directing you to love the good beyond which there's no thing to draw our longing what chains were strung what ditches dug across your path that once you'd come upon them cost your loss of any hope of moving

moving forward. What benefits and what allurements were so evident upon the brow of others that you had need to promenade before them. After I had withheld a bitter sigh, I scarcely had the voice for my reply, but laboring my lips gave my words form. Weeping, I answered. Mere appearances turned me aside with their false loveliness, and soon as I had lost your countenance. Okay, so, Donnie, so pictures saying to Dante, before you love me, this love led you to the goodness to God right and then I after I left with you betrayed me and start to love other things and then and then Donnie says yes I was fooled by shadows I was fooled by the loveliness of shadows okay and you can interpret

this many ways you it could include different women but you but I think the best way to interpret is this fame okay because that's that's really that's only real obsession fame okay keep on going line 37 and she had you been silent or denied would you confess your guilt would not be less in evidence it's known by such a judge but when the charge of sinfulness has burst from one's own cheek then in our court the wet stone turns and blunts our blades on cutting edge nevertheless that you may feel more shame for your mistake and that in time to come hearing the sirens you may be more strong have done with all the tears you sowed and listen so shall you hear how und two other ends my buried flesh should have directed you. Nature or art had never showed you any beauty that matched the lovely limbs in which I was enclosed. Limbs scattered now in dust, and if the highest beauty failed you through my death, what mortal thing could then induce you to desire it?

For when the first arrow of things deceptive struck you, then you surely should have lifted up your wings to follow me. No longer such a thing. No green young girl or other novelty such brief delight should have weighed down your wings, Awaiting further shafts, the fledgling bird must meet two or three blows before he learns. But any full-fleshed bird is proof against the net that has been spread or arrow aimed. So what's she saying here? She's saying that, yes, she died, but then what should have Donnie done? She dies and what should Donny do now?

Yeah, why? Like, Romeo and Juliet. That's true love, she's saying. So is she saying Donnie should have killed himself? He should have probably gone to a monastery. Something like that, yeah. Right. But why? Because he knew he would probably get distracted. And if he really loved her, he would try and set himself up that he would never lose that. So she's been very explicit here, okay?

After I died, you should have kept on loving me. Why? Yes? To pray for her? Well, I mean, you could still do that if you're married to someone else. Or if you are writing poetry. I mean, it's hard to pray for women if you're married to someone else. I guess it's like to link it to purgatory where the more you think about someone, the faster is the way for, and I think he didn't enough think of Beatrice after her death. Okay. No, no, she's being very explicit here.

You should have kept on loving me because... To stay focused on your mission? No. You should... Okay, what she says explicitly, okay, we're not at have time, but like, she's explicit about this. She's like, you should have kept on loving me because I am the most beautiful thing in the whole whole. universe Dante you haven't joking but she actually literally says this okay nature art had never showed you any beauty that matched yeah she's like little about this like

yeah i and no school thing in the universe Dante what are you doing man have you no taste okay so again this is shocking because like this is not we're expecting right all right um yeah keep keep on going line 64 As children, when ashamed, will stand their eyes upon the ground, they listen silently, acknowledging their fault repentantly. So did I stand, and she enjoined me. Since hearing alone makes you grief, so lift up your beard, and sight will bring your greater tears. There's less resistance in the sturdy oak to its uprooting by a wind from lands of ours or lands of I E. Arbus, then I showed, in lifting up my chin at her command. I knew quite well. When she said

beard, but meant my face, the poison in her argument. When I had raised my face upright, my eyes were able to perceive that the first creatures had paused and were no longer scattering flowers. And still uncertain of itself, my vision saw Beatrice turn toward the animal that is, with its two natures but one person. Okay, so this is a griff of, right? Two natures, one person, that's Jesus. So that's why people think the Griffith is Jesus. Beneath her veil, beyond the stream, she seemed so to surpass her former self and beauty, as here on earth she had surpassed all others.

The nettle of remorse so stung me than that those among all others, things that once most lured my love became most hateful to me. Such self-indictments seized my heart that I collapsed. My senses lack what I became is known to her who was the cause of it. Then when my heart restored, my outer sense, I saw the woman whom I'd found alone standing above me saying, Hold, hold me. Okay, so Beatrice scolds him, right?

And basically says, I know what's been a thing in the world, Dante. And what happens with Dante? How does it start to feel about this? What's his response? Yes? I guess he's probably, he feels like immediately pretty bad, ashamed, and repentant. But I guess he's kind of getting the hint of happiness because he realizes if she's so mad at me, it's okay.

She's embracing me but slowly She's like rebuking me In preparation for an embrace How does he feel about her saying I am the most beautiful thing in the world? Yes So he looked around and said Oh wait, she's right

She's right She's so beautiful That everything that I held there to It's like dirt to me It's like Yeah What's hate to me She's right, okay

And this shows that What really matters Okay Who he is is his love for Beatrice Okay And this is where he's purged now This is a completion of purgatory. He has now completely purge of all sin.

And what has purged of him all sin? His love for Beatrice. Okay? And remember how in paradise it's his love for Beatrice that's going to carry him all the way to God. Did you want to comment? No. I mean, no, I was something earlier I want to say as well.

I forgot my point. Maybe I can add it. Also, the comment about how mad she is about stuff makes me think about Shakira, that she got so mad that her husband cheated on her with a very ugly woman. She wrote a song that you trade Rolex for Cassio. Yeah. So I think it's kind of the same indignation that Beatrice is showing. Yeah, and like, so like what Don is saying, and it's really interesting,

is that true love leaves to just in the nation, but just initiation needs to also creativity. right it leads to poetry and creativity okay right and that's a Shakira example she's angry because like she actually does love her husband and and this just in the nation leads her to create a beautiful art of a beautiful song okay yes yeah remember my point I was going to say that um it's especially striking to compare what Beatrice is feeling now to what her usual status in in in in in heaven is, which is, I mean, she's in the, I don't know the English word, but those are the red rose. Yeah, the red rose. Yeah, exactly. And there, I mean, people are described to be like so, in such a high sphere of, of heaven that they don't even, should, should even experience this kind

of emotion. That's right. That's right. And because they're so overwhelmed with, uh, in a, in a good way, of course, with, like, God's light. That they are kind of in a, in a different dimension, let's say of being of of emotions and of of feeling and now she's kind of she's kind of she i think she's being stained not in necessarily a negative way by more like uh human uh emotions again when the moment that she you know sees dante and and as you we said um this feeling the only shows that actually she does like this this feeling of anger shows that she actually feels love for dante because otherwise she would feel indifference that's right Okay, so this is really interesting, okay?

So we are in purgatory and her first speech is one of anger. Do you remember in Paradise, her last speech? Do you remember her last speech in Paradise? What emotion was that speech? Do you guys remember? Anger, okay? Remember how in her last speech, she's like, you Italians are hopeless.

You Italians, we send you Henry the 7th to redeem you, and you guys turn away from him, and you guys are hopeless. Well, I'm gonna tell you right now, divine judgment is coming, okay? So it's one of anger, okay? So this inverse understanding of heaven, right? Because we think of heaven as, as Renee says,

one of bliss, one of happiness. But there's a lot of angry people in heaven, okay? Right? Peter's anger of the Catholic Church, and Beatrice is angry about the Italians, okay? So it's the idea of just in the nation. Right? It goes against our traditional understanding of Christianity

where you're supposed to love and forgive and be merciful. And nope, if you're angry, you should be angry. Okay. All right. Let's keep on going. Line 91. Then when my heart restored my outer sense, I saw the woman whom I found alone standing above me saying,

hold, hold me. She plunged me up to my throat in the river and draw me, drawing me behind. her she now crossed light as a gondola along the surface when I was near at the blessed shore I heard asparagus may so sweetly sung that I cannot remember or much less to transcribe it the lovely woman opened wide her arms she clasped my head and then she thrust me under to that point where I had to swallow water that done she drew me out and let me bathe into the dance of the four lovely

women and each one placed her arm above my head here we're nymphs in heaven stars before she had descended to the world, we were assigned as her handmaids to Beatrice. We'll be your guides unto her eyes, but it will be the three beyond who see me deeply, who will help you penetrate her joyous light. So singing they began, then leading me together with them to the griffin's breast, where Beatrice turned toward us stood, they said, so that you're not sparing of your gaze before you, we have set those emeralds from which love once had aimed his shafts at you. A thousand longings burnings, more than flames compelled my eyes to wash the radiant eyes that motionless were still fixed

on the griffin just like the sun within a mirror so the double natured creature gleamed within now showing me and now the other guys consider reader if i did not wonder when i saw something that displayed no movement though its reflected image kept on changing and while full of astonishment and gladness my soul tastes at that food which even as it quenches hunger spurs the epitite the other three whose dance showed me to be the members of a higher troop advanced, and to their chant they danced angelically. Turn, Beatrice, O turn your holy eyes upon your faithful one, their song besieged. Who, that he might see you, has come so far. Out of your grace, do us this grace, unveil your lips to him so that he may discern the second beauty you have kept concealed.

A splendor of eternal living light, who's ever grown so pale beneath Pernarsus's shade, and has shrunk so deeply from its fountain that he'd not seem to have his mind confounded, trying to render you as you appeared where heaven's harmony was your pale likeness. Your face seen through the air unveiled completely. Okay, so remember, the idea here is that what redeems Dante, at the end of the day,

it's not going through inferno and purgatory. It's part of the process. It's not going through those seven terraces of progatory. What redeems him is remembering his complete and other love for Beatrice. It's love that redeems him. Okay, this is really important. But you have to go through this process in order for Beatrice to awaken this love in him. Okay, so now we go to Cantor 32. And here, I want Carol to read all of it, and then Renee will translate for us, okay? And this is very important, Cantor, because this is a rewriting of the book

of Revelation. Okay? This is the rewriting of the book of Revelation by Dante. All right. And so this is the apocalypse. My eyes were so insistent, so intent on finding satisfaction for their 10-year thirst that every other sense was spent. And to each side, my eyes were walled in by indifference to all else with its old net. The holy smile so drew them to itself. When I was forced to turn my eyes leftward by those three goddesses because I heard them warning me, you stare too fixedly, and the condition that afflicts the sight when eyes have just been struck by the sun's force left me without my vision for a time. But when my sight became accustomed to lesser sensations, that is lesser than the mighty force that made my eyes retreat,

I saw the glorious army, it had wheeled around and to the right, it had turned east, it faced the seven flames and faced the sun. Just as protected by its shields, a squadron will wheel to save itself around its standard until all of its men have changed direction. So here all troops of the celestial kingdom within the vanguard passed in front of us before the chariot swung around the pole shaft. Back to the wheels, the ladies then returned, and though the griffin moved the blessed burden, when he did that, none of his feathers stirred.

The lovely lady who'd helped me fordly, and I and Stacey is following the wheel that turned right round the inner smaller arc, were slowly passing through the tall woods, empty because one who had believed the serpent, our pace was measured by angelic song. The space we covered could be matched perhaps by three flights of an unleashed arrow shafts when Beatrice descended from the chariot. Adam, I heard all of them murmuring and then they drew around a tree whose every branch had been stripped of flowers and of leaves.

As it grows higher, so its branches spread wider, it reached a height that even in their forest would amaze the Indians. blessed are you whose beak does not oh griffin pluck the sweet tasting fruit that is forbidden and then afflicts the belly that has eaten so round the robus tree the others shouted and the two-natured animal thus is the seed of every righteous man preserved and turning to the pole shaft he had pulled he drew it to the foot of the stripped tree and with a branch of that tree tied the two just like our plants that when the great light falls on earth mixed with the tree mixed with the tree the light that shines behind the stars of the celestial fishes, swell with blood buds, each plant renews its coloring before the sun has yoked its steeds beneath another consolation. So the tree whose bows before had been so solitary was now renewed, showing a tint that was less than a rose more than the violet. I do not understand the hymn that they then sang. It is not sung here on this earth, nor drowsy, did I listen to the end. Could I describe just how

the ruthless eyes, eyes whose long wakefulness caused them so dear, hearing the tale of syrinx fell asleep. Then like a painter painting from a model, I draw the way in which I fell asleep, but I refrain. Let one more skillful paint. I move therefore straight to my waking time. I say that radiance rent the veil of sleep and so as did a voice, rise up, what are you doing? even as Peter, John, and James when brought to see the blossoms of the apple tree whose fruit abets the angels hungering. Providing endless wedding feast in heaven

were overwhelmed by what they saw, but then hearing the word that shattered deeper sleep, arose and saw their fellowship was smaller, since Moses and Elijah now had left and saw a difference in their teacher's dress. And I woke and saw, standing above me, she who before,

compassionate, had to be able to be able, had guided my steps along the riverbank. Completely bewildered, I asked, Where is Beatrice? And she, beneath the boughs that were renewed, she seated on the root of that tree. See the company surrounding her. The rest have left behind the griffin they have climbed on high with song that is more sweet, more deep.

I do not know if she said more than that, because by now I had in sight one who excluded all things other from my view. She sat alone upon simple ground left there, as guardian of the chariot, I'd seen the two-form animal tie fast. The seven nymphs encircled her as garland, and in their hands they held the lambs that cannot be extinguished by the north or south winds. Here you shall be a while, a visitor, but you shall be with me and without end. Rome citizen, the Rome in which Christ is Roman, and thus to profit that world which lives badly, watch the chariot stepfastly, and when you have returned beyond,

transcribe what you have seen. Thus Beatrice and I, devoutly at the feet of her commandments, set mind and eyes where she had wished me to. Okay, stop. Okay, so this is now the book of Revelation, okay? Donnie's be writing the book of a revolution, the Revelation starting at lines 109. Okay.

Okay. Never has lightning falling with, never has lightning fallen with such swift motion from a thick cloud when it descends from the most distant limit in the heavens. As is the bird of Job that I saw swoop, that I saw swooped down through the tree, tearing the bark as well as the new leaves and the new flowering. It struck the chariot with all its force. The chariot twisted like a ship that's crossed by seas that now stormed starboard and now port.

I then saw as it leapt into the body of that triumphal chariot, a fox that seemed to lack all honest nourishment. But as she railed against its squalid sins, my lady forced the fox to flight, as quick as stripped of flesh, its bones permitted it. Then I could see the eagle plunge again down through the tree into the chariot and leave it feathered with its plumage. And just like a voice from an embittered heart, a voice issued from heaven saying this, Oh, my small bark, your freight is wickedness.

Then did the ground between the two wheels seem to me to open from the earth? A dragon emerged. It drove its tail up through the chariot, and like a wasp, when it retracts its sting, drawing its venom tail back to itself, it dragged part of the bottom off and went its way undulating. And what was left was covered with the eagle's plumes, perhaps offered with sound and kind intent, much as grass covers fertile ground, and the pole shaft and both wheels were recovered in less time than mouth must be kept open when one size. transfigured so the saintly instrument grew heads which sprouted from its parts three grew upon the pole shaft and one at each corner the three were horned like oxen but the four had just a single horn upon their foreheads such monsters never have been seen before just like a fortress set on a steep slope securely seated there and girt a whore whose eyes were quick to rove appeared to me and i saw her at her i saw at her side erect a giant who seemed to serve as her custodian and they again again embraced each other but when she turned her wandering wanton eyes to me then that ferocious amador beat her from head to foot then swollen with suspicion fierce with anger he untied the chariot made monster dragging it into the woods so that i could not see either the whore or the strange chariot beast. Okay so could you start from line 109

Renee? Okay so this is the book of revelation okay. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. When it pegoed by the confine that, that's phew that that's over the river down, rompending of the scourza, notch of the fioli and of the fogne and for his power of her force.

Ondel pego, like nav in fortune, vinta, or by pogo or by Poshavid, vintarsely, to venters in the cunfar the vehicle, a volpe, that did every pasto'un, pare a diogena, but, reprending her, di Lide, colpe, the d'O'n my, lavole's in t'n't futa, when soffers'd l'-o'-pose, l'er, and'ra prea venuta, the gullia viz shendr'd be to sender to'n'er'se'n't, and la'a dee'nuta,

and what esch of the core that isa in marca, T'all, said, O'navisle my, comalce and carca, Then parve to me that the terra's apris'n't tramsed the rooet and v'n't a drago, lo caro on the coda fiss and aspah that retragge the aga ase trailinged the coda malignia trasse del

the fond and gistens vaguago vago. What that remained, like da grameenia vivaceteer, the puma offered force with intention san and benignia, she recopers and was a recoperted and one and the other rota and the temo, intant that more he had a spire of a bock-aperted. Transformed so, the dificio santo mese forthed for the part of his. Three over at the memo and one in

chastcuncant. The prime were uncnute like bue, but the four a sole corna were in per front. Simile monster seen a corna, un foe.

Sikura, in alto-monte, seder so-vers a suvers a puttana sholta, but parve with the chiglias

intone-prone and why he was't tol'n, vidi di Costa to her and right a-dryto-gant,

and bachzz ince some once. But because the look cupido, cupid and vagante, to me revolts, that ferocious drud, la flagelloselot, the capo in fined the plant.

Then, of a suspect, piety, dear a crud, discholse the monster, and trussed the sea, and she fecese the scudo, to the ptana and a nova vel. Okay, so, René, have you guys studied this,

the section? What is this section saying? Oh, it's, uh, I don't remember, I don't remember, I don't remember, I did not. it, yeah. Okay, so this is the book of revelation, okay? And so Beatrice is telling Dante, observe what's happening because this is your, this is the past, the present and the future.

And so if we believe that the griffin is Jesus, the griffam is what takes the chariot to earth, okay? The chariot is now the church, right? The beginnings of the Catholic Church. And all these imagery, it's showing us the history of the Catholic Church. So starting in line 109, sorry, 112, the bird of Jove sweeps in and attacks the charred, okay? So this is the Christian church, early church under Roman persecution. Then what happens is that there is a fox that, and the fox represents early Christian heresy, okay? Then you have the eagle plunge into the chariot. It become part of the chariot, and that, of course, represents a Roman emploid.

as Carcetine's donation to the Catholic Church. So now empire and church are one and the same, and that distorts the character of the church. Then you have a dragon emerge. What is the dragon in the book of Revelation? Do you guys know? Satan. The Antichrist.

The dragon is the Antichrist. The dragon is the Antichrist. It's Satan, basically. But it's a pope that pretends to fight for the church, but which corrupts the church, okay? So now the church is being corrupted from within. And the history keeps ongoing, and it shows the kind of corruption of the church. And then towards the end, we have a whore emerged.

This is of course a whore of Babylon. And emerging with the whore is a giant that ultimately beats her up, beats her up. Okay? And what scholars agree on is this whore represents Florence, the state of Florence, which exiled Dante. The giant represents the Holy Roman Empire. So in the beginning, it seems that the Holy Roman Empire. Roman Empire has allied with Florence against the Pope and this of course are the Ghibulines, but then later on the Holy Roman Empire will betray and destroy Florence.

Okay, so this is the vision. And it is one, again, of just anger, fear, and hatred. And this is not what we're expecting. We're expecting like a happy wedding. Okay? This is not at all what we expected. What's going on here? Why do it?

Why do it the book of Revelation? in the divine comedy. And this is like right before they go to heaven, guys. What's going on here? Because revelation essentially is about prophecy of the future before the second coming of Christ, sort of.

And so it's like before heaven on earth or before we go to heaven, it's revelations. It's all these war and fights and battles and all these purging and cleansing and claiming of authorities between the Antichrist and Christ. But what is anger doing a place of love? Do you understand?

It totally makes sense because Jesus got really angry all the time in the Bible. But most of the time was because he went into the temple with the Jewish people that he's yelling at them. Because he said, you have turned my temple into a place of a market. So he goes into a rampage and throws stuff. So it's kind of like what's retribution to the church is what Jesus is doing to. Okay, okay, let's imagine. Let's do a thought experiment. Let's imagine Dante writes this, and a Buddhist monk, a Buddhist monk reads this,

and it's disturbed by the anger in this divine comedy. And so they have tea together, and the Buddhist monk says, why can't you show compassion to the people on this planet? These kings, these queens, ultimately it's for naught. It doesn't really matter, right? because all this is an illusion. So show sympathy, show compassion to these people. And it is your mercy, your forgiveness, your love that is divine.

Right? Is that what Buddhists say? I'm not a Buddhist, I don't know. That's what I think they say. Yes, everything is an illusion. But then you have to go to the consequence of it. If there's no just indignation or retribution, then people will keep acting. that way.

Anna? God is ultimately compassion and love, but yet God is mad all the time in Old Testament. So like anger, wrath, retribution does not

conflict with love because it is exactly like a father punishing or discipline his kid. It's out of love. Okay, but then the Buddhist monk is like wrath, anger

is poison, right? The more angered raffed you have, the more poison you become so what good can come from your anger and your wrath yes it's cleansing again because there's wrath in hell obviously as we know right and the way to not engage with rap is walk around it otherwise you add to it but it almost seems to be an exception when it comes to god himself that's having wrath all the time right so what then the question paradox is why is god mad right no

but but but then the point is don't be mad god would be mad like god handle it, right? So just cleanse yourself of your anger. Don't get angry, focus on compassion. Yes? Because Dante essentially in exile is he's mad at Florentine and all the church is doing. And he probably heard this from a lot of people, but leave God like retribution to God and he will be through the justice. But like we discussed before, he's so mad at people who are so heavenly bound that they are not awfully good. So then like he's mad that no consequence is coming to the Catholic Church at this point. And so he wants it to, you know, do something about the present world. Okay, we're about to show Donnet as a very petty person then, right? It's like he wants vengeance.

Yeah, Carol? If there's no just indignation, then Dante wouldn't have written the divine concept. Exactly. Okay. Exactly. It is just a denizen that propelled his creativity. It's what led him to write the divine comedy. Remember, love leads to just in the nation. His love for Florence leads to his anger that he was exiled by Florence. And now he's like, I want God to punish the Florentines. And this anger is what leads him to write the divine comedy. But then we have a paradox, which is like, okay, but then why is there wrath in hell and why is there wrath in progatory? Clearly it's a sin, right? That's confusing, though. Raff leads to you. you to creativity it's coming from place of love but at the same time you're being

punished for it uh julian then edward then fred i feel like anger would just be an expression of yourself but it wouldn't really lead to change of other people just to change for yourself because jesus anger for example for the jewish people didn't really change the jewish people right it just only expressed his anger for the for the people but and maybe um um like made the his disciples maybe more belief in him but it didn't change anything for the people he was angry about so i feel like anger wouldn't really be the solution okay yeah yeah okay so you're agreeing with the buddhist monk anger's not the solution yes uh edward is that wrath is wrong but wrath can't

be justified if it's divinely aligned. Okay, what do you mean by that? Like in regular ordinary life, wrath for, I'm annoyed and frustrated about something, this is a problem of me projecting someone else, but if it is truly, and I suppose only God can judge this, if it is truly from a place of pure love and therefore divinely aligned, then wrath, wrath in this context can be justified. Okay, all right, sure. Fred? I have to say that I don't think there's any wrath in paradise.

Like, I think to human minds, divine justice, and the action of the just, to human mind, seems like anger. And probably, if you were God and really powerful, you'd think, how should I come across such that my message has an effect? But I really don't think God or, in fact, Bertrudec is like that angry. They just are trying to take the path of greatest efficacy. So like, there's wrath in purgatory, wrath in hell, but the wrath in heaven is just what Dante perceives as anger. Like, this all seems like violent to Dante, but it's really just metaphorical violence. Okay. So, again, the thing about divine comedy, that's very important for us to remember is that we have the intuition to understand everything, okay?

So we're not able to express ourselves clearly. If it's not Occam's razor, elegant, then we're not approaching the truth enough, okay? So I understand, yes, maybe when I, we're not interpreting it properly, but no, I think there's something else going on. Damian? The anger in heaven might have come from a place of love, but the wrath and like hell and purgatory might be coming from like your temper. Andy? I've been wrestling about this idea of like, if the world around us is poor, it has, is unjust. a lot of Dante's individuality would be like,

just be aligned with God and stuff like that, but Dante's wrath seems to be in this same scenario of like the Catholic Church is led by the Antichrist and that's an unjust situation on earth. And where we're like, hey, I don't like this president or there's this bad social situation going on, Dante's taking that for the most ultimate cause, which is the Antichrist is leading the flock astray.

And so I need to not just get myself aligned with Christ, but I need, or with God, but I need to fix this social situation as well. Yes, exactly, okay? That's exactly right. Did you want to add something? Yeah, I was just going to say that at least the way we're taught, it's in part, or at least in heaven, paradise, there is no anger. Then of course, like souls are able to feel anger like Beatrice, for example. But there is no need for anger in paradise. And like, and paradise is kind of the destination, the ultimate destination of what all everyone should aspire to. And my understanding of this is that anger is only good insofar it is a means

to set people on the right path towards a destination of no anger. So like this like anger is only good insofar as it is a means to the place with no anger. Okay. So again, there's a lot of anger in paradise, okay? So I want to elaborate on any's point because I think I can really right. Compare and contrast, okay? Back in Donnie's time, the corruption in the church, we're like, the anti-Christ, let's go and do something about it, right? Today, look at the world around us, right? Blatting corruption, blatant inequality. Donald Trump is present for God's sake. And we're like, let's go watch Point, guys. Yeah, let's go watch Point. Oh, let's play video games. Let's, you know, like, that's literally what we're doing. Okay. So the issue is that anger, the issue

is how we choose to channel anger. Okay? Yeah, what do you mean? I would just like to ask, who was the Antichrist at that time? The Pope. Donified, the Antichrist was the Pope. Pope Boniface, okay? Look, yeah, David?

I think by Putin, the church militant behind church triumphant and putting in, you know, the conflict that anger, and chaos right at the end of progatory reveals Dante's you know eventual pessimistic nature you know attitude toward human society although he believed in in the harmonious development eventually salvation of individual maybe he has still a quite a you know and calling his work comedian he still think that human society is not able to save himself.

Okay, all right. Okay, so let's talk about Ralph, okay? This is really important for us to understand. So, wrath is punished in hell, right? Anger is punished in hell by what? By boiling, right? So you are being boiled in a lake. Now, there are two types of angry people. There are people who are just angry, but there are people who

hide their anger or they suppress their anger. And the worst are those who suppress anger because they are drowning, just suffocating inside this lake that's boiling, okay? Okay, that's hell. Then you have purgatory and it's black smoke which blinds you, right? Okay?

So that's what Donnie is saying here. Anger is not channel correctly. If it's not directed towards justice, it blinds you. It festers and it corrupts you and you suffocate under it. But if anger is directed towards justice, towards, as Edward says, towards the divine alignment towards love, then that's a good thing, you understand? There's been wrong with anger. It's how anger is used, how anger is channeled, right?

Dante is angry at the church. Donnie is angry at Florence, so Donny is angry at his enemies, and that's what leads him to the divine comedy, right? Because where do his enemies go? They go in hell. Where do his friends go? They go in purgatory.

What does he do to the Catholic Church? He basically condemns them to a prophecy, and then Florence will be a whore that will be destroyed by the giant, okay? That's how you should use your anger. Don't watch porn, guys. Go write poetry! Is that a revelation? Are you...

Okay? Right? Yes, Fred? I'm just thinking about the future. Anger is super useful, but I find that because young people today are getting more and more sensitive, anger makes them disassociate. So I'm thinking that in my mission for the future, I probably want to try and siopps people into being better

and not be angry at them. You're taking action. That's right. That's what we should all be doing, okay? Don't be like, there's what I can do about it, and I don't be angry because angry makes me look bad, and people say, oh, don't be angry, you know, go see a therapist, right? Like, oh, are you angry?

You should be on value. Oh, are you angry? Oh, yeah? I'm more asking, how would you advise people in my generation to present their anger? Because I feel like being angry now drives people away even more. So I'm thinking that even if I'm angry inside, I don't want to hide my anger, but like I have to be so seductive to people to change them now. Because any condemnation immediately shuts people off.

Sure. Okay. Yeah, continuing off his question is what I hear a lot is the how dare you, ma'am. Like, is how people now show anger. And I think that's not the right way to channel. So it's follow up to his question. Look, clearly I'm an angry young man, okay? I'm not young anymore, but I'm clearly an angry person.

And I'm angry because I have three kids who are growing up in this screwed up world, right? We're led by idiots. There's so much corruption, inequality in this world. and all they're doing is screwing things up even more, right? And so I'm angry and I have three young kids, and I'm like, you know, I need to channel this anger in creating a better world for my three young kids. And the only thing I can do is teach, right?

I need to take action. I can't be at home making YouTube videos all day and complaining about it, right? I could make a lot of money doing this, guys, okay? Seriously, I could be doing jupical analysis and pitching about the world, and I would have a huge audience. But I'm like, no, I did take action.

So rather than go bitch about it, let me do something about it and teach Dante to the world so that you could be inspired to take action yourself, to expand your imagination, to learn the power of love, to show compassion and empathy to others, and take action for yourself. And that's why I tell you,

what I want from you in this class is to lead this class and teach you to someone else, right? It could be, you can become a teacher, which would be great. But you can also just, you know, like Carol, teach it to Damien, right? Or Damien could teach it to, you know, your brother, right? And you just do it this way over time, the world is going to change for the batter. And I always see it because I see all the changes in you guys. Okay?

Did you want to? I know, I know, I know, I know. We'll finish up for, okay. Okay. But that's what Donnie is saying here. be angry anger comes from a place of love but channel your anger into action that benefits humanity okay and that's why he wrote the divine comedy yeah yeah i i think something that we need to be particularly aware about especially today for youth is that there is a tendency at least in my opinion

as far as i've noticed there is a tendency that is becoming more and more widespread to make it make extremes look good or like to think that it's fine and okay and and even wise and reasonable to pursue extremes. Or that it's a cool thing. And I think we should, if there's something that we should at least try to go back to, is to appreciate new ones always. And I don't know, personally, a lot of the anger I see in youth today, because, like, as we said, like, the world is so screwed up, right?

And there's, there are so many problems. arguably more than in the past few decades we need to like resist the temptation to you know just just because we are so angry to to just be radical you know if we should resist that temptation and and stay in new ones and in you know always seeing both sides and and there's still ways of channeling that anger without always shouting because like I feel like there is like, it's such a fashion now to like shout, to, to shout in a metaphorical way, of course. Okay, all right. Thank you for that.

Okay. So this is the last kind of guys, okay? We've come to it. We've come to the very last canto. We've done it. We've read the entire divine comedy, all right? But here we go, the very last cantoe of purgatory. Weeping, the women then began now three, now four, alternately to psalm gently.

Deus venerun gentis. and at this sighing and full of pity, Beatrice was changed. She listened, breathing little less than Mary when beneath the cross, she wept. But when the seven virgins had completed their psalm, and she was free to speak erect, her coloring like ardent fire, she answered, modicum et, et eteum sisters delightful to me, morticum et vos vedabetes me. Then she set all the seven nymphs in front of her and signaled me,

the lady and the sage who had remained to move behind her. So she advanced, and I do not believe that she had taken her 10th step upon the ground before her eyes had struck my eyes, and gazing tranquilly, pray, come more quickly, she said to me, so that you're more ready to listen to me should I speak to you. As soon as I, responding to my duty, had joined her, she said, brother why not try since now you're at my side to query me like those who speaking to superiors too reverently do not speak distinctly not drawing their clear voice up to their teeth so did i speak with sound too incomplete when i began lady you know my need to know and know how it can be appeased and she to me i'd have you disentangle yourself from this point on from fear and shame that you no longer speak like one who dreams.

Note that the vessel which the serpent broke was and is not, but he whose fault it is may rest assured. God's vengeance fears no hindrance. The eagle that had left its plumes within the chariot, which then became a monster and then a prey, will not forever be without an air, for I can plainly see and thus I tell it, stars already close at hand, which can't be blocked or checked,

will bring a time in which dispatched by God, a five hundred and ten and five will slay the whore together with that giant whose sins with her and what i tell as dark as fings and themis may leave you less convinced because like these it tires the intellect with quandaries but soon events themselves will be the naiads that clarifies its obstinate enigma but without injury to grain or herds take note and even as i speak these words do not transmit them in your turn to those who live the life that is a race to do death. And when you write them, keep in mind that you must not conceal what you've seen of the tree that now has been despoiled twice over here. Whoever robs or wrens, that tree offends with his blaspheming action, God, for he created it for his soul use wholly. For tasting of that tree, the first soul waited five thousand years and more in grief and longing for him, who on himself avenged that taste. Your intellects asleep if it can't see how singular is the cause that

makes that tree so tall and makes it grow inadvertently. And if, like waters of the Elsa, your vain thoughts did not encrust your mind, if your delight in them were not like parama staining the mulberry, you'd recognize in that tree's form and height the moral sense God's justice had when he forbade trespass. But since I see your intellect is made of stone and petrified, grown so opaque, the light of what I say has left you dazed. I'd also have you bearer. my words within you, if not inscribed, at least outlined, just as the pilgrim staff is brought back wreathed with palm. And I, even as waxed the seals and pressed, where there's no alteration in the form, so does my brain now bear what you have stamped. But why does your desired

word ascend so high above my understanding that the more I try, the more am I denied? That you may recognize, she said, the school that you have followed and may see if what it taught can comprehend what I have said, and see that, as the earth is distant from the highest and the swiftest of the heavens, so distant is your way from the divine. And I replied to her, I don't remember making myself a stranger to you, nor does conscience gnaw at me because of that. And if you can't remember that, she answered, smiling, then call to mind how you today have drunk of leaf. And if smoke is proof of fire, then it is clear we can conclude from this forgetfulness that in your will there was a fault. Your will had turned elsewhere. But from now on,

the words I speak will be naked. That is appropriate if they would lay bare before your still crude sight. More incandescent now, with slower steps, the sun was pacing the meridian, which alters with the place from which it's seen. One just as one who serves as escort for a group will halt if he has come upon things strange or even traces of strangeness. The seven ladies halted at the edge of a dense shadow such as mountains cast, beneath green leaves and black boughs on cold banks. In front of them, I seem to see Euphrates and tigers issuing from one same spring and then as friends do separating slowly. O light, oh glory of the human race, what water is this, flowing from one source and then becoming

distant from itself. Her answer to what I had asked was, asked Matilda to explain this. And the lovely lady, as one who frees herself from blame, replied, he's heard of this and other matters from me, and I'm sure that Leith's waters have not obscured his memory of this. And Beatrice, perhaps some greater care which often weakens memory has made his mind in things regarding sight grow dark. But see, you know, as it flows from there, lead him to to it and as you're used to doing, revive the power that is faint in him. As with the noble soul, which offers no excuse, but makes another's will its own, as soon as signs reveal that will, just so when she had taken me, the lovely lady moves forward.

And she said, with womanly courtesy Sustaceus, come with him. If reader, I had ample space in which to write, I'd sing, though incompletely, that sweet draught from which my thirst was limitous. But since all of the pages predisposed for this, the second canical are full. The curb of art will not let me continue. From that most holy wave I now return to Beatrice remade as new trees are renewed when they bring forth new boughs. I was pure and prepared to climb unto the stars. Okay, so now Dante has been completely purified and purge of all sin, of all doubt. He is fully committed to his love for Beatrice,

and now they will climb to the stars. They talk about the tree of knowledge. Why did God let us eat the fruit from the tree? Yes? Because the gift was free will to Adam and Eve And I think that there's only one real choice You can make in life freely And that's whether you want to know

Whether things are good or bad or not Otherwise you're just like a monkey or a cattle or whatever That's right Yeah, thank you Okay All right So that is it guys We have done the complete divine comedy

Any questions about today Are we clear about what Donnie's message is? I know this is not you're taught in school, but, you know, we do things differently here. Any questions or thoughts? Do you have any questions? Because it's a completely counter to what you learned in school, right? Maybe if you could reiterate explaining what is the... sense of like because first you read heaven first or hell we read paradise

paradise then then inferno and then purgatory yes so uh maybe i was just if you could like explain uh briefly yeah so for us what's really important is first and appreciate um the cosmology of dante and to do that you have to go actually we go to paradise first because then he tells you everything about how he believes the cosmos works right you sort of off in hell you're confused because you think the teacher is Virgil and a lot of things that Virgil says are actually not true if you end up in Paradise first then then you can see that Virgil is not a reliable guide okay and then yeah Bruce yeah because as you know in this chapter we can know from this chapter about Revelation but the

The revelation actually is also kind of prediction. It's kind of a predict to a human being. So I think maybe it's your time for you try to predict the future according to this chapter. Okay. Just like Revelation. That's yeah. Right.

Okay. So I want to finish with one final remark. And that is how Donnie designs the Vincomedy. So we've been to Poker Toy. Now, I hope by yourself, you go to heaven, okay? At the end of heaven, where do you go after heaven? You go to hell? Okay.

Yes? And you become very close to God? And that's it, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's what most people are taught. But again, Dante is revolutionary because he doesn't believe that.

Okay? So let's look at the last two words of purgatory. What are the last two words? The stars, right? Right? And the Italian is the same, right? As also the infantal, yeah. Okay, so here in Purgatory, it's a star, right?

And in Inferno, what's the last two words? The stars, right? In Paradise, what's the last two words? Why would it be like that? Yes, Damien? Because there are a lot of stars? Yeah, there's infinite, right? The journey never ends.

One destination, or one destination, leads to another journey then when you finish that journey then a new journey starts okay so another reason why i want to do paradise first is to show you this journey will never end okay hopefully you go home go back and read paradise again uh and then you'll see you'll see when you read paradise again you'll see it completely differently okay so it's meant to be a loop it's meant to be eternity but it's also meant to be infinity okay yes damien i just like to what did the Pope do to make Dante hate him so much? So at this time in history, the Catholic Church is divided into many different factions,

and they're fighting over who should be the legitimate Pope. And right now there are two major centers of Catholic power. There's one in Rome, of course, where the Catholic Church is based, but there's also one based in Avanon, which is sponsored by the Holy Roman Emperor, okay? And this is leading to wars throughout the entire of Italy. And so Donnie is concerned about the factional struggles with the Catholic Church, but also at this point in history, the Catholic Church is extremely corrupt. You can buy indulgences, and this will get you access to progatory, even though you can be the worst person in the world.

If you just have enough money, you can always buy away into heaven, and Donnie just finds this appalling. And then there's like a million things that Donnie is pissed about. Yes. Fred? So I'm drawn to action definitely by the study and reading of this, of the Divine Comedy. My action is basically directed towards increasing the free will of everybody in the world, trying to fight against wrong ideas, biases that are forcefully spread on people and that they pick up. What would your tips and short advice be to me and other people who are trying to act towards this end? So if I want to increase the free will of other people, there's teaching, which you do amazingly, but I don't know if I'm a teacher.

But if I'm trying to invent something or create something, what principle should I keep in mind? Okay, so this is a great segue to our next section, okay, the final section, which is self-reflection. And so maybe, yeah, we can engage in a process of self-reflection. And if you need to run or something, okay, all right, okay. All right, so we are finished divine comedy. And I just want to hear how you think you've changed or felt these past two weeks, okay? So that's what would anyone like to start. And I'll answer your question eventually, Fred.

Okay, but first I want to go through this. Reflection in a circle. And then we'll discuss what's next. Okay. Who are they to start? Yes? Say, well, how learning is too big. So I had to say that before I attend this program,

I really like regard those like literary works right and long times ago. It's like a miracle that quite distant for me. And after joining this program, I think, I know the reason why those works are masterpiece and can be really famous and well spread to the world because I quite understand about their wisdom. It's like for example, I know some kind of motivation that truly come from my heart

that can lead me to do something in the world rather than like being manipulated by some like other social factors. And also for me for I mean this pro program for me like in the future it's also kind of important because honestly speaking, my intended major is probably artificial intelligence and some data science majors. So yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a dead end. What?

It's a dead end. Like, like, I'm telling you right now, it's a dead end. Oh, really? Let's say, let's say. And like, I know that like maybe like a few days ago we had talk about that AI might be alchemy. And I will try my best to do not let this come true in the future. Like that. Okay, all right, thank you. Who's next? Who would like to...

If you don't speak, I'm just gonna call on you, okay? Let's start with Francois. This course I did lost the sense of time. It went super fast and I Our attention was really focused into knowledge, self-improvement. So like we didn't think about like, oh, I'm on vacation or I have other things to do. I do feel a bit lighter. But a thing about me in this book, I feel like I didn't start from zero. There are still some topics I understood before starting reading this book, especially about love, I feel like.

And so even though I'm new to the whole spirituality, especially the Christian aspect of this book, it didn't transform me that much. But it is also a nice sensation of hope. just to see this class come together, people from different ages, different cultures, to see that everyone shows up every day and try to participate and make this class better is really rewarding and like this not only about the book, also the class just was very interesting. Also about dreaming, I wasn't the only guy that dreamt a lot, especially the last few days, which surprised me.

whether I had a dream yesterday and I don't know if we have time to share it but um go ahead share it um I found it quite interesting and it is uh at first I thought was quite limited but uh it is interesting so uh it started from me meeting a very good friend of mine in primary school so it's been like almost seven or eight years I didn't see him and it was a good friend so positive uh energy and also uh nostalgic So I go to his house and we start talking just like, yeah, like catching the time. And he started talking about his girlfriend he had and he got a bit emotional. And yeah, it didn't quite end well for him.

So I was a bit here for him. And then we went on a walk outside in the neighborhood close to my house. And I really recognized this, like the spot, even though it changed a lot. and I don't know why I started smoking a joint so this is a bit the aspect I thought wasn't useful so I started smoking and then we walk a bit we go to a park and in the entry of the park there is like three spots it's a bit chaotic and there's a spot with like water fountains a bit like a farm so pretty beautiful and then other spot like just like five meters away of stuff burning so like some trash

burning so I could see this bit as inferno would be like chaotic and then in front of me a big pile of dirt and so we first go together on this big pile of dirt and I started like just looking around in the park there was like family people playing around so like it doesn't seem like anything was going on there's just like this water stuff this fire stuff and this pile of dirt but everyone just like like walking around playing and and then my joint like didn't there wasn't like lit anymore and so I thought okay maybe I should go into the fire to lit it and it was like this big fire of like five meters and it's like okay maybe not a good idea you know like I don't care and then my friend tells me yeah no look it's actually lit so I start smoking again and then I look at my hands and there's actually

two joints now and I told him yeah like is it yours or like do you want to smoke and he tells me I don't smoke I'm like okay right I got like two joints now it's not that bad and so we continue walking in the park and it really gets like bigger so the entry was quite small with like this like water fire and dirt figure and then now the park is like just bigger we walk around continue talking and at the end we need to go back home and my thought was like, okay, now I need to go back home. I'm quite high. Should I be worried about seeing my parents? And I thought like, actually, I don't care. I had this very nice moment with my friend. So, like, who cares if I'm just like, hi in my home? And then we say goodbye. Okay. Right. Okay.

Thank you. It's very interesting. Okay. Yeah, it is true. Okay. All right. Anyone, who's next, Skyler? Yes? Yeah. So, so before my, understanding of divine comedy and Dante is, you know, it's something that you have to learn in history class. It's very important. That's all I knew about it. But after reading it, I think I have four main takeaways. First of all is that, you know, love is the answer to all. And if you let like love guide your actions, it's kind of like your intuition, where that way it's always going to leave you in a path that your heart desires. So, for example, when we're reading divine comedy and some things you don't understand, you think of it from the perspective of

you know, your mother or your wife or your children. So now when I'm reading a book that I don't understand, I know that the tool is to try to use love to understand it. That's my first takeaway. My second takeaway is I really think that reading Dante, because it's so foundational in Western thinking, especially after the Renaissance, it's helped me as a Chinese person gain more thorough understanding of Western culture.

It's kind of like if you are a Westerner and you read Lung Yu, you know, that way you understand. and Chinese culture more and the things that it values. For example, the emphasis on free will and really using your free will. You know, in Divine Comedy, if you don't use your free will, you are literally going to hell.

So, you know, this idea of it being democratic, being accessible, of love thy neighbor. And so a lot of those values, they're really, really deep in Western culture and how it manifests in the real world and how it manifests and how I interact with Westerners. I've gained a more thorough understanding. through reading this. My third takeaway is, like, we are lost because of fear. That's something that you

said that really, like, stuck with me, you know? Um, Dante, like, the reason why this book was really revolutionary was because back then people were really afraid of God. People were afraid of the unknown. They didn't know what heaven looked like to what the afterlife looked like. So a lot of, so a lot of things that they were doing on earth were fearful or they were very safe. scared to do anything and that was because, you know, they're lost because of fear. So, you know, I'm going to be entering college. It's a different life. I don't really know what I want to major and I don't know what my future looks like.

So in a way, I am also lost because of fear, but I know that that's okay, you know? And, you know, reading good books can show you a path. My fourth takeaway is the value of art. I remember you said this line, poetry is aimed to put you in awe, not to put you in fear. and divine comedy is meant to inspire you to reach higher heights. You also said, you know, poetry embeds itself into the collective conscious, and embeds itself into how you see the world. So reading Dante, especially listening to it in Italian,

it's something that's a little bit more emotional and you, like, art, it, like you said, it embeds into how you see the world. It lets you rise beyond the material world, beyond grades, tests and the mundane and it's a it's a reflective experience and so those are four takes the weeks that's beautiful thank you someone skylar okay uh uh damien i i think personally reading the divine comedy helped gave gave me more faith in god okay wonderful great uh david um so i just created this uh just a few minutes ago so i think there are so many layers of um you know um understanding the lecture theory.

I think on the fundamental level, this lecture gave me appearance that's basically the first induction into the world of literature. Because before going to these lectures, I thought Divine Comedy is just a traditional, moralistic, allegorical installation. installation where you have very well structured universe of different figures that will give you very clear idea about the medieval or late early Minnesota, you know, a great wise mind's admonition as to how to lead life, right of life. But then I realized that, you know, below this surface of the structure,

each individual, each actor, or each protagonist have their own life and their own complexity, which is, I think, you know, give me the initial idea about how a great literary work is created. It is the creation of individual living figure in this magna opus. opus. So I began to appreciate Dante as a poem. But then I realized that Dante is not just an orderly poem, but a poet, but actually it's channeling some supernatural power that you have alluded to in many, many places. I think what behind this, this, this, divine message is infinite. So I, for long, I can derive many pragmatic knowledge about,

for example, relationship, how to be a parent, although I'm not parents, and how to understand love, human life. For example, I just today I learned that a word romance love could take infinite forms. Anger or hate could all be a form of love. And it's not just regard love as, you know, one-dimensional harmony that always pleasing, always, you know, cherry and literature.

So it's very complex. And secondly, So on the second level, I learned how to be a teacher. I'm not teacher, but I observed how you teach. I think this class is also a performative experience where you let the student to co-create with you. And I learned that you are probably, I speculate that you are probably also

try to draw inspiration for next book from the interaction with the students. I observe, try to understand how to co-create something out of the learning process, not just to spread knowledge, but to create new knowledge. And on the third level, I think I'm also learning how to understand this dentist text. in the context of culture. So I have many questions marks about this, but it's just a, you know, it's just very complex questions and it's, you know, we don't have time for that. But for example, I, I, it did give me, you know, some impression about the different between Italian literature and English literature.

For me, you know, Italian literature is much more colorful, is more remarkable, is more remote. has more element of Romanticism, has more tendency to prevent things in a very colorful compared to in the literature where it is more black and white, almost like the weather in England England. Anyway, so, but yeah, and then, I, yeah, that does make stenties. work very very unique because dainty is not that I have the luxury of writing on the so-called coat tale of the English Empire British Empire which makes this much more difficult for people outside Italy to appreciate dante but if you if

you if you read the original the Italian version you can see that it is it is has multi-dimensional elements is not it's not even colorful but it as it has a cadence and the you know the the the tonality of this literature is is immense so and and on the last level i think uh from the chinese perspective uh you know the the message every message uh whether it's from god or from from from a poem, point, it is conditioned on the language. So fundamentally, we are viewing or reading this text, you know, in the context of a culture that is,

that was formed by, or shaped by Christianity. Every person's name, at least in today's world, from the reader's point of view, every reader's name, I'm David, or, We have also Fred and we are already put within the drama of Christianity. You know, we don't have, we can't call ourselves some strange African name or Chinese name if we want to be in the classroom in the first place. So this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is,

this is, we see some very challenging question about how to transpose, uh, dainty into Chinese consciousness. But I don't. recognize that as a Chinese person I do derive a lot of value from Danti even if I'm looking at it from the perspective of Confucianism or Taoism or Buddha because I do think that Danty in many perspective is already going beyond Christianity in his messages thank you. Thank you very much okay yes okay great who's next Julian. Yeah, so I'm going to make it.

So I have three points, so not so long. One thing I really appreciate about Dante and that you always pointed out is his paradoxes, the use of paradoxes in his language. Like every time we talked about something he wrote, it was always a paradox. And that's really interesting because that's how you can combine different different truths. That's how we can combine differences, that you can remove differences that we have in today's world. And you will see past, that you can use your imagination to see past these differences that you have with other people. And through, and so, yeah, they become paradoxes that you have to basically overcome and think about.

then also for me the point of being able to resonate with Dante himself a lot I felt like when I was younger I went through some kind of phase of inferno maybe or hell when I was

yeah when I had a phase of yeah you could say depression and now it's maybe like pergatory for me and I'm able to climb up the stairs a bit and it was really my love I think for knowledge that brought me this far, which is probably similar to Dante as well.

Yeah, that I just want to keep on learning about stuff. And then the last point would be about, yeah, hope, as you say as well, is a really important factor, obviously, that you convey hope when you talk, you convey hope when you act. and I feel like Dante gives a lot of hope for people at his time, and obviously for now he can give hope. Yeah, that's, I think. Thank you.

Okay. Very important. Edward? Yeah, there's probably a lot to say. I think one of the main things I've appreciated from this study is obviously having the chance to go through the whole divine comedy and reflect you know in my own life you know normally in life you might do some like one thing wrong or one thing good and you might reflect on it whereas this going through the journey with

dante obviously almost if you do reflect forces you to look at uh yeah your own life in a lot more detail um so and almost that process in itself reflects the divine comedy in the sense that when you first start looking at, say, the sins you've committed before that may be aligned with the Divine Comedy, you can kind of feel bad about it and think, you know, I've done this. But then you can also go through your own inferno purgatory and into paradise, you know, because there is there is that feeling of hope and that, you know, you can relate to Dante. He's made mistakes. Virgil's made mistakes. you know a lot of people in the book have made mistakes but there is always hope so i suppose that's applying the divine comedy on myself in the second stage was be then you also look at the

world differently it probably makes you even though we already know makes you realize i would say we live in quite a sick society in that you know there's a lot of sins that we're we see in the piece but they just happen every single day whether it's in politics business or general entertainment uh so i think after reading it i would conclude that the world would probably be a better place if everyone read dante i agree i agree and that's my mission to make sure everyone does read dante um Andy can we have some um thoughts from you sure um we use um we use metaphor to comprehend and discuss concepts that are maybe too big for us to fully understand. So we say things like life is a baseball game or the universes like the ocean,

and we connect them to things that are small enough that we can see, touch, and understand. Most to all of literature is a metaphor for like the human condition. And they usually just deal with like one single aspect of it. This is love. This is a book on loss or redemption. We've discussed a lot about like paradise loss here. And that's what Dante is doing is we're all using metaphors to discuss, or every single great author has used a metaphor to discuss what Dante is just describing matter-of-factly. And Paradise Lost is what we've kept bringing up the most often, but it's just one part. It's just a fall.

And what led up to that. And so when we admire books like Lord of the Rings or Crime and Punishment or Joyce's Ulysses, we're admiring it from a secondhand. nature where we could just go straight to the source and Dante and the divine comedy just cover it all. So I told Carol that as we come in here at the start of this building, I saw there's a structure outside in our little, that little square and it's a little purgatory. And I saw kids walking up the purgatory this one. And Carol had mentioned, Carol mentioned that that's a good, a good metaphor for what we do in here, because we're not in hell. We're not in paradise. And so we come here and we do the hard work of every year I give myself big challenges for mind, body, and spirit. And Dante gets to cover two of them.

Great. Thank you. Ivy, I would like to hear from you, okay? What is your feelings after taking this course? I wish to study classics in university. And before this, I always believe. that the Greek civilization is like basically the foundation of Rivenaisons where like people respect the gods and they fear the gods and everything is at the mercy of external forces that we cannot control so like the Greek civilization is basically a world of fear and like yeah just fear but I also remember before this course started, I watched her videos on YouTube. And in one of the videos, you mentioned that both Homer and Dante, their works are focused and based on love.

But when I was reading Homer, I didn't really get that message. Like, I didn't really realize that what has driven Odysseus or what has driven Achilles is love. But I think for Dante, it is really easy for me to perceive the message of love and to perceive what love means. So I think the reason why I cannot perceive love in Homer but can in Dante is because Homer's world is one that is more, that is closer to the initial goodness or like the initial perfection of the world. Like his world is pure than Dante's and ours. And that's why people believe in gods. Like I think the gods are manifestations of people's inner intuitions.

So, but for Dante, his world and our world are both like we are constantly blinded by everything floating around us so it's quite difficult for us to gain access to our intuitions so that's why things become less external and we need to like look inside to see what's real um so i think like within such chaos of the world um this course or dante um and Professor Deng achieved like some sort of separation within my own mind like the separation of chaos into earth into sky into hell into love quite similar to the separation like in the Greek mythology I think that's what this course achieved within me and so I think this is really a beginning for my

journey to the future and I am also always conscious of the importance of faith. And while we were reading the Infernal and Purgatory, I was horrified by the fact that I don't know who to pray to. Like, I don't know how to pray. Like, what names should I utter? And I was really afraid that I'm going to end up in hell or purgatory. But then I think as we delve deeper into the major beliefs of Dante,

I think it actually offered more comfort than fear because Dante's thoughts is that it's okay if you're not Christian or if you don't believe in a God or if you don't believe in the gods. Love, faith, and hope are the fundamental things that exist within ourselves. And so, yeah, I think I just need to try and believe in my intuition, so I would have less fear in the future. And last of all, if there's one faith that I really adapted in this course is the face for poetry, I think I'm convinced that poetry has the greatest power in the world and it can actually change the world. So I think in the future, before trying to teach Dante to others, I will keep reading Dente and keep reading other great poetry so that, yeah, we can make the world a better place. Thank you. Great. Carol, let's, sorry, sorry, we just went out of time, but, but, okay, Anna. It really makes me more religious in the sense, like more pious, I guess, to, um, to, sorry, sorry, we just went out of time, but, but, but, uh, okay, Anna.

really makes me more religious in a sense, like more pious, I guess, to reconcile all the theologies in Catholicism. And also it makes me think about like, you know, that poet society where the teacher says, you know, like science and law and medicine is how we live. But music, literature, poetry, all these are what we live for as humans. And it really makes me feel like poetry is what will do it all. So yeah, thank you. Okay, great. Do? So one of the things that amazed me amazed me the most during this seminar is that like your ability to get into the outsource mind, right, what you call close reading. I mean, I think this is like a high level demonstration of close reading, right?

And that, and I always wondered, like, how could you find all those hidden details in history and then connect the dots together, right? Like, for example, when you're reading, you mentioned before, like, when you're reading Frank Jacob, right, and you understand the mentality of his, of his, or say, philosophy and so and since you can speculate a you have proposed a certain series that enables you to to to to to to make good predictions right and and during this course we went through Dante's mind Beatrice Virgil and It's just amazing.

I think it's your superpower to bring zero narrative to yourself and explain it to us. And other things that like and another thing is that like and another thing is through reading the wine comedy, I feel like it helped me to see myself like. more clearly. You know, like, since I was young, like, since I was young, I mean, I grew up in China, right? Like, like, everyone around you just keep telling you that, oh, it's got to make a bunch of money, and it's all about the social status and, and, and, uh, institutional achievement. But, uh, like since I was young, I always knew. that I always felt like there's something wrong about it.

And I always had faith in my intuition. But I just couldn't articulate it why I should not think or live that way. Right. And through this course, I came to understand more clearly that this divine spark has always been within me. and like just like the email that I wrote you wrote it to you right it helped to it helped me to it helped me to more determine to be myself and yeah that's it thank you okay oh yeah so before

i come here i have already read divan comedy but it's in chinese and i feel like i'm very confused especially for the paradiso. But I feel like even if I can't understand it, I feel like the image you have in your head is very beautiful and is divine. And when I come here, I feel like the learning journey of Divine Comedy is just like Dante.

at the first I'm very afraid to ask any questions or to express my opinions but over time I feel like I've gradually gained a deeper understanding on Divine Comedy and the the connections between these ideas and my own life and how should I become in the future For example, like our parents always tell us to be a moral person, be virtuous and do good things. But I don't actually, like I want to know the logic, not the framework. Why actually you need to do good things? and I have I think I have gained a systematic and thorough understanding on this. And I feel like towards the end, all of all of our classmates have formed a bond between us.

Like, yeah. And I have a question. So like many others, they have their dreams, right? I have my dreams, but I feel like my dreams are very, very strange and different from, like their dreams, they, it's, it's feel like it's a, it has a storyline, right? I feel like in my dreams, they are fractions and it's like watching a movie behind a curtain. And I try to understand all of the bizarre things in my dream. But I can just, it's like I don't understand it. It's like watching a cloud.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Crystal, then Bruce? Okay, so I'll try to be quick here. But then like basically I think this is a very rewarding experience for me

to be able to engage in such a diverse cohort with people from different backgrounds, different age groups, from different career paths and whatever to discuss the same work. And then like before I came here, like my perception on Dante's about comedy is basically like it's a fiction and it's very imaginative, basically like Dante's going on this imaginative journey where he goes through these three different regions and whatever. But then I was kind of impressed to see that there are a lot of real life connections that still applies today. For example, who we can use like very common logic to interpret some of the words of Dante. I think that is very amazing.

And I feel like what I feel, well, this might not align with Dante's cosmology is that even the most divine has these like human features or human nature within it. So it's like, okay for us to be flawed. And also like I feel pretty mentally and physically like stressed throughout this journey. because I think this is such a masterpiece and I feel like at the same time through this seminar I kind of feel the greatness of art like how it's capable to unite all of us together and how for example we cannot understand Italian but we can still feel like all the emotions within those languages and I cannot

understand my handwriting but I think this is also like a great opportunity for me to get to know like Western culture and literature a lot more I feel like it kind of connected all of the works I read in literature class together. For example, like, I don't know, The Odyssey and also Paradise Laws and etc. I really appreciate that. And I feel like I would really want to reread the Divine Comedy and try to understand more of it in the future. And also, despite that I study a major that is completely the opposite of classics, I think I will want to spend some time to read other relevant works.

and I feel like it's pretty worth it. And then yeah, I just want to say thanks for this opportunity and for everyone. Yeah, thank you. Bruce. Yeah, okay, so I've been reading a lot, I've been reading many more words, but I don't want to read it. Because I think there are two things.

The first one is collectivism. Because as we know, it has been told in China and all of things about collectivism, which means you have to love your country, you have to love your family, have love your company, and all of these things is good. It's really good.

It really can help me aloud, by, you know, being a good person, right? But there's another kind of things, like individualism, which is, I think, is maybe we need more in China. Because after so many people just get lost, about, lost their job, about, you know, drop out from the school, they sometimes just being hopeless. Just why?

Just because individualism, which cannot let them to know more themselves. So if there's, you know, if there are no authority who will guarantee you that you can be perfect, then you just be hopeless. but individualism which can really let you to know who you really are and really can make you feel peace and comfort even though you've been denied by this whole system you know like school or whatever but if you do believe yourself you can be better and I think that is really impressive and I think this is very good opportunity for me to be here to be taught by Jiang and I think she's hero you're here sorry you're here and you are all heroes and you just give us the way to see see yourself, in ourself, yeah, not deny ourselves by other kind of things. Like be rich, be powerful, be famous. No, not a lot of things, but you have to believe yourself. That is what it really, yeah, important.

Thank you. Okay. Um, uh, Fred? Um, I haven't been here for a very long time. Okay. Um, I guess the question was how has it changed you? Well, it's made me realize, you have to do things in the real world and it's important just to get to places and do things and speak to people. Like a lot of theorizing is useless.

And I'm very glad that I got to sit in this room because I guess people who started from the beginning weren't really watching the live streams, but I was watching the live streams. And I just had a vision of what it would be like to sit at the desks. And I just really, really, really wanted it to happen. And then it happened. So on the first day, I thought I'd be really. really, really nervous and my heart would be racing, but then for some reason, the intunedness of this group made it feel natural immediately. It was really strange. Like, I'm a really big fan of

you. I've been, I've watched like every one of your videos from when you're only writing on a whiteboard, when you had no screen. Okay. And so I thought I would feel so nervous even answering a question, but it was, it felt so natural and it's difficult to explain that other than love, learning and all these good things make what would otherwise have been nervous situations feel natural thank you okay uh kill yeah um so i love the star metaphor because i believe in latin and perhaps in italian as well the word for desire is desiderare and actually the short form of it is deciderate which means from the stars. And I think this whole journey has reminded me,

and possibly more of you, that we're all from the stars. And that desire is that calling to go back. And I really love Francois' imagery and you putting the web, Endra's web in my mind. And actually, for me, my vision is actually to catch fish and to build community,

which actually was also something inspired by videos I watch from you. And catching fish, it's almost the imagery of the Indras net. There seems to be a lot of souls caught in the web and in the nets. And some are freer, some are less free. and I want to help free people. You can go freely in and out, but hopefully retrieving your route back to the stars, and that's my vision, and it was actually a lucid dream.

Wow. Okay. So thank you. Thank you very much for this experience. All right, so first of all, I want to express tremendous gratitude. This is the last day. I'm feeling nothing but gratitude for everything to everyone. So my intention for organizing this seminar and working with Carol is, I want to read Dante in full. And I want to understand Dante because I've taught Dante for the past four years,

but I always cheated. You know, I've always skipped around and looking for passages that conform to my particular perspective and I said to myself that's not really fear what I want to do is I want to read Dante in full but I also knew that you can actually you cannot actually read Dante unless you read it from a place of love so how do I create a situation where I'm motivated to read Dante because it's hard to read Dante okay you think that's hard I also think it's hard it's not it's never been in it was never an easy journey so I thought that if I read it with

students and I'm able to inspire them to love Dante then that will inspire me to truly understand Dante and that's exactly what has happened okay because I came in not knowing what these 12 days would be like and I had some conceptions of where of what Dante would be but um I knew that only if I went deep into Dante and put my faith in the poetry put my faith in this class I truly appreciate Dante. And so what would happen is we would have these great discussions in a day. I go home and I spend all my time just replaying in my head what we discussed and looking for problems, looking for areas in which I could expand.

Then I go to bed. Then I would have actually no idea what I would teach in the morning. But because I knew that when I came to class, you guys wanted, would expect me to be heroic and teach Dante in the most engaging way possible. I'm like, okay. So like, I don't have any ideas on how to teach and like let me pray and hope that I have something to something. And so I get up and then some visions, ideas would start coming in my head and like a framework coming to my head. And I come to class and I would start and then your energy, your enthusiasm, your love would compel me to further expand my visions. Right. So for example,

You know, yesterday we had a very interesting class where we had this experiment, where Francois and Edward were doing this experiment. And that was not planned in any way. What happened was that I was teaching about the systems of Dante. Then Francois came up to me and said, hey, so let's, I've drawn up some notes and like, great, show it, okay? And then Francois was presenting, and then I was inspired at that moment. It's like, oh wow, you know what? I can do this experiment, right? And like, I hope it works.

If it doesn't work, then oh, well. But I hope it works. And it worked out really, really well. Okay? So this entire class has been one of a leap of faith. I didn't really expect anything from this class. I thought I'd be challenged to read the line comedy. But I really did expect the effect on me.

I didn't expect the effect on you guys. It's just spending the past 12 days with you. I've seen myself transform tremendously. I've seen you transform tremendously as well. So my major transformation is I've left teaching at my school, and now I'm looking for a new path forward. So like Dante, I'm so lost in the woods. And I'm like, well, you know, I'll teach a seminar to just pass a time, right?

To just hope for the best. And having taught this seminar, I'm like, I now know what I must do. Okay, I now must share Dante with the world. Because I see Donnie's impact on each and every one of you. Maybe it's something that you can't articulate yourself, but the fact that you're dreaming lucidly, the fact that you're willing to share these dreams with everyone of us, and the fact that you're willing to help,

you're willing to discuss the meaning of these dreams, it's an act of love, it's an act of faith, it's an act of hope. And I realize that if we really want to change the word for the better, then Dante could be an answer. It's one of the answers, and so I'm committed to teaching Dante around the world now. So thank you for that. But also, I recognize that teaching Dante is not enough. I need to summon Dante back to this world.

And what surprised me is, I'm not sure if you guys know they are cult or rituals, But you know, these 12 days, it was an occult ritual. You know how these billionaires, they spend a lot of time trying to summon demons into this world, right? Well, through our reading of dying together, we all engage in our imagination that brought Dante back to this earth. I really feel that. I really feel that there's an essence of Dante in each of us now, okay? And we've brought Dante back to this world. And if we can bring more people into this community, if we can spread Dante more to people, then there'll be more of Dante in this world.

But not only do I want to bring Dante back, I always want to bring back Plato, Homer, Jesus, okay? Everyone's want to bring back Jesus, but like in the right way, okay? Like in the right way, like those start wars, okay? And so I see now that is my mission. I see tremendous hope because I see the impact of this teaching, on you. So I'm just coming from place of tremendous gratitude, a place of tremendous hope. So thank you so much for that. I mean first, I mean like I would like to thank above all Carol, okay? Because this is our first time working together and I can't show enough

appreciation for you and your team because it's actually hard to put these things together. All right? The idea that we can come to this class, I can teach what I teach, and we can live stream it and the live stream is able to go very smoothly and you guys are able to engage and the fact that I didn't do any work before class you know Carol was one who brought everyone together so I can't so I can't appreciate Carol enough so thank you so much Carol oh I also like again um um um thank you for having the will and the idea yeah but again I'm gonna Carol and our team are amazing. So Carol, could you thank your team?

Yes. I want to thank our IT and AV staff, Schiaz and Wei Chun, because we do realize that there are issues every day, but they've really tried their very best, and it's around the clock, because there's also uploading, and we know where we are.

The networks are slow here. I want to thank Yang Lio Peters, and Jing Yi, the person who cleaned the whiteboard, just every single person. And, you know, she was the one who cleaned up all your water bottles and then we're going to show your water bottles every day

and set everything up. But I do want to thank Jung for summoning. And, you know, actually, if this were an occultish experience, You're the priest and you helped to summon this for us and you helped to lead us on this pilgrimage. So I know you have put in your heart and soul to it as if we were children on your back. And you've shouldered a lot of responsibility. So really a heartfelt thanks to you. So, you know, it seems like I did a lot of work.

but let me tell you I am not exhausted I am not at all exhausted I feel so energized I feel so hopeful I feel a deep sense of gratitude so Fred asked so what's next what can we do and I mean we're already doing a lot okay so I know okay we're just a classroom but you know there are a lot of people watching this online and they are going to be inspired by our example. The love of divine comedy is already implanted in your heart. And maybe you don't know this now, but your life has changed because of the divine comedy.

You won't know this now, 20 years from now, when you look back, you will see it yourself. Because your entire life trajectory will be different now. Many of you, for example, Ivy is going to read more and more poetry. And you're going to keep on studying Divine Comedy. comedy like Crystal and this is going to just blossom in you and then eventually when the time is right you're going to want to share this with other people you're going to share with your children with your friends with your students and there's going to be a chain reaction okay so I have complete faith that this will happen that

this is a beginning of something wonderful. It will take time, but it will happen. And already we are making a huge difference in the world. So what I want to do, okay, so let me present to you my grand vision for the world. I want to start a network of schools around the world, okay? And this network of schools will teach the great books. and even the cult and game theory. And my ambition is to educate the next global generation of Dantes, of intellectuals. Because I see the spark of Dante in all of you. And I'm sure there's millions more of young children who could be the next Dante. But you have to reach out to them.

you have to give them the opportunity. So my end goal is start a network of schools. And it's not like a two-year project. I plan to spend the rest of my life, 50 years, developing this network of schools around the world everywhere so that as many people can participate in reading Dante as possible. And my invitation is to all of you

to consider one day joining this network of schools. Okay, so you could go off on your, own path and see the world because as John would say life is a journey and you have to go through hell and purgatory before you can reach heaven okay so I'm not saying my schools will be heaven but I'm saying like you all have an open invitation to come to the school and you can come as whoever you want you can come in as a student you can come as a teacher you can come as just maybe a volunteer but I want to stay in touch and And I feel that we came here for a reason.

It is the wheel of the universe for us to come together. And why that is, we don't know, but I hope we can stay in touch. And I'm gonna build these schools. And my mission now is to travel around the world, spread the message of Dante, and teach more classes. And I think eventually these schools will will naturally blossom because I think that I've seen the future.

These visions keep on coming in my head and the universe do not will it, then we will not be here today. Okay, so thank you to everyone for giving me hope. And this is just the first step in a long, long process. Yes? Are we the first generation of neo-dentists? If you want to be, yes. want to be, yes, yes. Okay, all right. So thank you so much, okay. And let's stay in touch.

And again, this is just the beginning of something wonderful. Okay, all right. Bye-bye.