Predictive History - The Story of "Civilization", "Secret History", "Game Theory" and more - Dante #3: Paradise Cantos 11, 12, 17, 24

Episode Date: August 22, 2026

Watch on YouTube: https://link-to-youtube.s.gy/dante03

Okay, good morning. So the live stream is on. So yesterday, you had a chance to ask questions about the previous class, and that went very well. So I want to thank you for asking a great question. You went back, you reviewed what we learned, and you matched our ideas with the text, and you recognized that there's a sentence, right? which is you shoot the arrow, it lands first, then it flies, then it is released from the bow, right? That's a great question. And then Carol had a great response because she's actually studying this tax. And so this is exactly the sort of interaction that I want in the seminar where you guys are really analyzing the text critically, and this is forcing us to think deeper about the meaning of the text. Okay, and this is exactly, you know, what Yale tries to achieve in its seminars back in New Haven. So let's begin with questions from yesterday.

You have a chance to go back and review the text. Again, it's really important that you guys spend time rereading the text to make sure you understand what's going on. Okay, so any questions from yesterday that you had? Yes You need to press on to for other people to hear. So like in Kendall 6 There is like this narrative of Rome's history and something that really confused me is actually a historical reference So okay so it said starting when Can you get us a line please Where do you see the line?

On the- Oh, her version doesn't have the lines. Oh, let's try to use one version, okay? As you can see, this is the minimum version of the Columbia website. Okay, let's use that guys so that we are aligned. The problem is I put metal bomb on both sides while only the Italian version is numbered. version is numbered only the Italian version is number yeah yeah I know so like I was talking about line 36 when palace died that it might gain a kingdom so according to my

understanding palace the story of Palace and Athena is a very Greek story and it doesn't have like much relevance to the Roman Empire it's a very personal Athena story so what does this have to do with the history Yeah, that's a great question. Does anyone know the answer? It's actually a very hard question. So I want to thank you for pointing us out. So Palace and Athena were twins, right? And Athena had to kill Palace in order to live. The story of the founding of Rome is that Romulus and Remus were twins. And they grew up together and they rose up together. And they loved each other. And then after they defeated like an evil uncle, they were assigned a plot of land, which became modern-day Rome. The two go to Rome and they decide we can't rule Rome as twins. One of us has to be the king. The other has to go away.

And so there's this competition, this competition leads to a war where Romulus kills Remus. Okay? And this is interesting because this is actually a very common archetype in something called Proto-Indo-European mythology. Okay, proto-Indo-European mythology, some of you may know, is the basis for European culture. Okay, so the archaeologists believe

that the proto-Indo Europeans lived in the steps of Martin Ukraine, they spread around the world to Europe, to India, to Iran. And they really conquered most of the world. And they did so with a certain mythology of conquest. Okay. And at the very basis of this mythology is that you must kill the person you love. You must kill your twin in order to climb to power. And this is what it refers to.

All right. So what Donnie is doing, what he does throughout the divine comedy, which is very confusing for people, is that he tends to combine myths together. Okay, so you have the myth of Palestine and Athena. What he's saying is that that refers to the myth of Ramos and Remus, right? Because we all know, because in this context, okay, this is the 14th century, obviously you're going to be very well educated to read Dante. So everyone knows the mythology of Ramos and Remus. And then what Donda does in this one line is it also reminds us of the legend of Palis and Athena. Okay, does that make sense? A follow-up question, because according to my understanding and according to Wikipedia, which is not a credible source, but it's valuable for basic understanding.

And Palis and Athena were not in direct opposition. Like they were not fighting over a territory. Athena locked Palace and accidentally killed her. So while the theme of killing a twin is the same, I don't see how this has to do with a territorial dispute. Okay. So again, the idea is that you must kill someone you love. love in order to fully become yourself.

Okay, so that's what poetry is. Poetry presents two ideas that may not be interrelated. It forces you to use your imagination in order to relate the two things. You're absolutely right, like Palis and Ramos and Remus, I didn't see the connection. And what Donny is doing is by putting them together with the grammar, It forces you to see the connection. Okay? What is an simile?

A simile is an unseen connection, right? The sky is a snail. Okay. All right. The sky and snail, they have nothing to do with each other, but because I put these two together, it activates, excites your imagination to see the connection. Okay, that's what poetry is.

Does that make sense? Okay. All right. Yes. Thank you, Carol. Yes. Thank you so much for the question. I want to preface today, it's our third day, and say that I've been really grateful for the open and candid dialogues and questionings we've had because this may not be happening as we're in the world.

That's one, so kudos to all of you. Second, I was very happy to hear from one of you this morning who said, I love the music because I played some music before class. started this morning and it was actually Jack Johnson when someone else said was from his college days. The reason I played some music is because I want to read a really short portion of his lyrics to you and kind of give you a glimpse of how I think it might be helpful to be approaching Dante and poetry and beautiful works of art in general. So this is from 20 years ago, upside down, Jack Johnson. Who's to say what's impossible? Well, they forgot this world keeps spinning. And with each new day, I can feel a change in everything.

And as the surface breaks, reflections fade, and in some ways, they remain the same. And as my mind begins to spread its wings, there's no stopping curiosity. So I hope to be hearing from more and more of you, hear that you're curious, hear that you're adding to the conversation. You know, even despite thinking that you may disagree amongst yourself, but that's part of the leap of faith that John talked about yesterday. So thank you. Well, thank you, Carol. Absolutely. And as you can see, what's happening is that across time, across space, different artists,

whether they're poets, their musicians, they're trying to convey the same message. So you have to think it might be from the same source, right? And that's what Dante is trying to explain in Divine Comedy. There is a common source. And from this common source, we can generate our creativity. Okay. Any other questions from last class before I begin? Yes, thank you.

So I don't have a question related to like the wording, but I was just rereading this and looking at the art in like the digital Dante. And something striking about Beatrice is that she actually looks kind of masculine. So I've been to like those art museums where they have like medieval galleries. And I think that the women did look different. had like veils and they were wearing dresses but Beatrice here at least on the digital Dante website doesn't really look like a girl so like is this is was this like purposeful in a way or something um why does okay um I don't know enough about

Renaissance art to comment okay but um let's imagine what what's happening. Okay, so last, last, yesterday we discussed how Dant is able to conceive the divine comedy, okay? And so Danty is starting off with a framework that enables him to construct the divine comedy, okay? So think of this as the blueprint of a scaffolding that allows you to slowly visualize the entire building. This framework must be the dialogue between Dante and Beatrice. Okay, does that make sense? Okay, so even from an early age, he knows Beatrice, he falls in love with Beatrice,

they don't really, but they really don't know that each other. And so what happens is that he imagines Beatrice as his basically imaginary best friend or in the future as his lover. Okay. Now, the problem, The problem with this is you don't know enough of Beatrice in order to make Beatrice a fully flesh-out character. So what happens is Beatrice becomes your alter ego. Okay? It becomes like a yin-yang dynamic, right? Where you are implanting your feminine aspects onto Beatrice.

And so in other words, Beatrice doesn't really exist as a real person. Beatrice is just Dante's twin, basically. So like a reflection of Dante, that's like higher and more divine. Okay. It's actually much more complicated than that, which is that you study this

occult esoterism, this mysticism, what they believe is that we are a reflection of God. God. And God is always a dual nature, both a masculine and a feminine. Okay. So within us, there's always a masculine and a feminine. So what Donnie has done is basically it split himself into two. He's Donnie the masculine and Beatrice the feminine. Okay. So again, I don't know, but what I think if I'm a painter, I'm an artist, and I recognize this, what I'm trying to do is show that Beatrice is just an alter ego of Dante.

Okay, does that make sense? And again, I'm just speculating. I'm just using my imagination as to what has happened. Because I'm not the artist, okay? I don't know what's going on. But this is really important for you guys to appreciate that the process of creativity, the process of imagination requires you

to recognize your dual self, split yourself off, off and have a dialogue within yourself that becomes the basis for the creation of whatever art you create, whether it's a painting or a poem or even a building. And this is usually how the creative process works. Okay. Any more questions? Got one. So we expanded our idea of vowels. And I was trying to think about Picarda made a vowel in the nunnery to God. I was trying to think of Picard's brother seemed to make a bow on the battlefield. We just imagine that. We don't know.

But like a person could just say, if this happens, then I swear to God something, something. And that's a vow. I was wondering what other vows a person would make, a common person, just in every day. And so I could think of like marriage vows is a simple one.

Baptismal vows might be made for you on your behalf, because an Abaptists don't exist. And so what other vows might, occur in everyday society that you're breaking because you don't have to just walk around and going I swear to God if I get an A I'm going to do X, Y, Z. Okay. Yeah, that's a really interesting question. So what I will say is that what Donnie will say is to be fully human, you must get into

the habit of making vows to yourself. Okay? Because that ultimately is what motivates you, what drives you to a higher good. Right? Making a vow means being able to have hope in the future and loving yourself and having faith in the universe. Okay. So these are three ideas that we'll talk a lot about for the next two days. Hope, love, and faith. So making a vow, it's an expression of hope, love, and faith. So you should be doing this every single day. Okay. Okay, any more questions? Okay, all right, so I want to begin class by talking about why we're here. Okay? So I want to talk about two basic principles. The first principle is what is our mission? Okay, and our mission is to share Dante with the world. So the construction of this class, the structure of this class,

it's unique because there are three things that make this class different from others in the world. Okay. First of all, I hate to say this, but it's free guys, all right? And this has to do with the generosity of Carol, who's and I'm me as well because I'm teaching this for free but this is an amazing space people online cannot see this but this is but we are really on top of Beijing you know this is a panamaic panoramic view of Beijing for those of you who are Beijing for the first time I'm sure this is an extremely impressive view so first of all it's free okay you guys are here I mean like I know some of you have you know flown from far away but basically it's a free class Okay, that's number one. Number two is the diversity of the students in this class. So again, people at home don't see this, but we have students from all age groups, okay? We have adults. We have even a knife grader, believe it or not. We also have people from different cultures, from different countries.

trees who've come a long way. Okay, so just the diversity of this class, it's also unique, right? And the third thing is that we are live streaming everything we do, okay? Nothing is rehearsed. If I say something stupid, it's going to live forever online. Okay, so the question then is why is the class constructed in this way? It's free, it's diverse, and it's being live streamed. And the reason why is that As a group, we are trying to prove to the world that anyone, anywhere, can love Dante. Regardless of your culture, regardless of your age, you can love Dante. Donnie speaks to you individually. And together, we're trying to show the world that anyone can read and love Dante and give them the tools.

and the thought processes in order to fully understand Dante and set everyone on that journey. I hope that regardless of where you are, whether in Africa or South America or even the Arctic, who knows, but this class will inspire you to partake in your own journey and this class will give you all the tools you need in order to fully appreciate Dante. So our mission here is to share Dante with the world, okay? It is an act of love, it is an act of faith, it is an act of hope. And we have to remember that. That is our central mission.

In order to achieve the central mission, you yourselves must, in this room, okay, must fully engage Dante and fully put your heart into Dante. And to do that, you have to remember how to truly understand Dante. And the trick is this, okay? It is to learn Dante so that you may teach it as an act of love. Okay, so this is the key. If you truly want to understand Dante, you have to read and learn Dante and imagine that you're doing so so that one day you can teach it to someone that you truly love as an act of love. All right.

So every day after class, you should go home and visualize that one day you can have your own classroom with your own students. or you can have your own children, or you could be talking to your mother over the dinner table, or you could be talking to your best friend. It doesn't matter, okay? But imagine yourself like Dante in heaven with Beatrice. And what are they doing? They are debating each other.

They're learning together. They're sharing with each other. That is the true act of love. Okay? So I guarantee you, if you put yourself in the frame of mind that I am here today so that tomorrow I can share Dante with someone I love as an act of love, you will truly understand Dante. Okay? So these are the two things I want you to keep in mind. Our mission here in this classroom is to co-create together a classroom so that

everyone in the world can listen in and love Dante. We are spreading Dante throughout the world. That is our central mission. Nothing else comes before this. And second, if you are truly to understand Dante, if you are truly to read the Divine Comedy and understand what's going on, you have to commit yourself to loving someone

and sharing Dante with that person. It could be anyone. It could be your mother. It could be your brother, it could be your student. It doesn't matter. But it has to be a real person, guys, okay? All right. Having said that, I want to explain why it's important to share Dante with the world.

Okay? All right. So let's go to the year 1300. In the year of 1300, there are many places in the world, okay? In the Middle East, there's something called the Islamic Golden Age, okay? Islam, Islamic Golden Age. In China and in Asia, there is the Pax Mongols are in charge. In Central America, you have the Mayans, okay? And in Europe, you have medieval Europe. You guys can't appreciate this, but in the year 1300, medieval Europe

was essentially a shithole, okay? It was the worst place in the world to be. Excuse me? Basically the Dark Ages. Yes? I find that a very reductionist view, to be honest. Like, a lot of people say bad things about the Middle Ages. I agree. Middle Ages is bad place to be compared to the Renaissance.

But we have to admit that the Middle Ages were the foundation for what became the Renaissance. And the Renaissance did not change things much for the average person. It changed things a lot for the intellectuals and for the high class people. I think that's important to keep in mind. Okay. So I'm trying to make a point here. The point is that in your 1300, if you were Mayan and you visited Europe, if you are living in Baghdad and you visited Europe, if you were living in China, you visit Europe,

you would think this place is a shithole, okay? You would think this place is hopeless. These people are barbarians. All they do is kill each other. There is censorship. There is no learning. It's all anti-learning, anti-intellectual. But at the same time, 20 years in the future, there's a renaissance, which then leads to the Second Revolution, the Enlightenment, the age of conquest, where Europe will span out and conquer everyone, okay? All right? So the question is, how did this happen? Why is it in the year of

1300 you go there and you think these people are completely hopeless right it's like basically like us I hate to say this but it's like basically us going to the to the Middle East right now and saying oh my god these play this place is hopeless they're all killing each other there's endless war they can't agree on anything they are they are anti-learning anti-intellectual this place completely hopeless how was it possible that 20 years later you would have the Renaissance, you have this emergence of Europe. And my answer is Dante. Okay? It is because of what Dante did. Because of what, because of the divine comedy that Europe would then go on to expand itself, to change itself. And then the question then is, okay, how is Dante able to fundamentally change the character of the

Europeans and it's the divine comedy and what I will show you is that he places three things before all others. Okay. He finally we imagines what it means to be human by placing three virtues above all else. They of course are faith, hope, love. Now, you think yourself, wait a minute here, this is just the Christian virtues. Okay. The only difference is, okay, back then you had faith, hope, and then it was charity. So what's the big deal here? The big deal is how Dante will come to define these terms. Okay? Divine comedy fundamentally is trying to show you what these ideas really mean. So for Dante, faith is the believe and the understanding of the nature of God, right?

Faith is to understand that God is first and foremost love. And God is not this vengeful, spiteful entity, but this all-forgiving, all-generous, all-loving source. Okay? That is what the faith is. Second is the idea of hope. The idea of hope is that by making vows, you can create for yourself your own future that you imagine it to be. Okay, so hope is fundamentally not a passive thing where you pray to God and hope God gives it to you,

but you actively imagine yourself and then God co-crates with you. And love for Dante is the unifying force of the universe. It is what God is. It is what connects us to each other. Okay? Love is about connection. Now, then the question then is, okay, if this is what Donnie said, how is this different from the Catholic Church or what Paul said?

Okay. And so what Dante says is this, for faith, hope, and love to exist in the world, it has to be an active act of imagination. Do you understand? These things don't exist by themselves. They're not given us to by God. It is imagined by us in this world. Okay? And what allows for the imagination to take place is poetry, which of course is divine comedy.

So imagine the divine comedy as really the big bang of Western civilization. It is what starts modernity because it enables us to imagine faith, love, and hope. All right. So for people at this time in the Middle Ages, this is a revolution. We don't think this is a big deal now because we live in a world created by Dante. But before Dante, before the Big Bang, people imagine these things as fundamentally about obedience. Okay? Just obey authority.

Obey the church. Obey the priest and you'll be good. That is what faith, love, and hope is. Okay? Now, what's interesting is that this idea, that everything is based on obedience, also comes from poetry. But it is Virgil, okay, the Inniad. And this is something we'll discuss later on, okay, next week. Okay, do you understand?

So what I'm trying to tell you is that at the fundamental core of the universe, is a spiritual war between two poets, Virgil and Dante. Virgil for his poetry makes us believe that for obedience, we can achieve faith, hope, and love. But what Donny is doing with the line comedy is arguing that, no, it must be for our imagination in which we are able to achieve faith, love, and hope. Okay? So this is the, this is basically the framework for this class. This is the grand thesis I will present to you as we go along. These next two days, we'll study why faith, hope, and love are important in how Dante will conceptualize this.

And then starting after the break, we will go into this larger cosmic war between Virgil and Dante to reimagine humanity. All right? So that's a plan. Yes? So my first question has to do with the very Eurocentric nature. of this so-called cosmic war. So Virgil and Dante are both Europeans, and I think it might be more appropriate to say that this is a war fought on the European thoughtscape rather than across the entire cosmos. And the second part is I'm a little bit confused when you're talking about obedience.

So you said that Dante speaks against obedience, but he speaks for the obedience of vows and obedience to God. So how is that different? Okay, so let me answer you your second question first. Okay. Okay. So it's really a difference between how you perceive your role in the world. Are you an active participant in the world? Are you a passive participant in the world? According to Virgil, according to the Catholic Church, I should also point out that this idea of obedience comes from two major theologians of the Catholic Church. They, of course, are Paul and Augustine, okay? Paul, who is the founder of the Catholic Church, and Augustine, who is the major theologian of the Catholic Church, who will systemize the teachings of Paul, okay? But they get the, but they get the ideas from Virgil. All right.

So, um, so, um, the, um, what Augustine teaches people that is very important is that because of the original sin, because of our disobedience from God, humans are inherently evil. If you're inherently evil, you should probably not do too many things, okay? Because all you do is create more evil in the world. Therefore, you should just obey. And if you obey and you avoid sin, that is the fastest path to heaven. Does that make sense? Just obedience to what the church tells you, and you will do good in the world, or you will not do evil in the world, and then you will send to heaven.

Okay? So it's a very fatalistic, very pessimistic worldview. Okay? So that's a major difference. Yes? Can I add to this? I actually was rereading and researching last night, City of God by Augustine.

And he would say that because of the fall, let me pull up my notes, because of the fall, Jesus was the only perfect person because Adam was exiled from the Garden of Eden. Adam's sin essentially damaged human. nature. That's right. And the damage itself was inherited by all the descendants of atoms through the mechanism of of semen, right? And this, it's this concept of every human has

sexual desire, almost as a punishment. And even the people, even the saints and the most holy people of all time who denied themselves, they would, they would be, what about, celibate? They're denying themselves sexual desire. Augustine calls this. fake. He is not impressed with this at all. And he would say like, it's a person who's like fasting. They still, they're still hungry, right? And it's that hunger, that desire that's the, that you cannot fake. It's still there. Right. And so the greatest saint and the worst criminal are all equally fallen before God. Yes, exactly. So as, so, so you can appreciate, this is what's being taught in at this time, right? We are just completely hopeless. We are beyond,

salvation, we are just beyond redemption. Just don't cause any trouble, guys. Just obey and then when you die, maybe God will save you, okay? So it's a very pessimistic, very fatalistic viewpoint. But when you read it a lot in comedy, it's very optimistic. It's very hopeful. Okay, it's just emits love. Okay, so thank you so much for that, okay? All right, great. So let me answer the second question, which is, Virgil and Dante are your people. and so therefore they don't speak for all of humanity. Okay, so I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for saying this, but I don't perceive poetry as culturally located.

Okay, I think poetry is universal. The entire point of teaching Dante in Beijing in the year 2026 to mostly Chinese students, from different age groups, high school, university, adults is to prove the universality of Dante. Right? So if Dante is only European, why is it that we have students from China who are really focused on Dante, who find inspiration in Dante? Why is it that if culture really managed that much? How are we able to create this classroom?

Could you answer that? What I'm saying is not that they are limited to Europe. I'm saying that they are only representative of Europe. So it's like there are so many types of poetry out there and you're basically saying that these two are the archetypes. These two are the big bats. These two are the big bats fighting out against each other. I'm saying there might be better archetypes out there might be different archetypes out there also fighting it out right so you didn't but like but like rather than just saying there might be give an example um i'm not sure i could pronounce the name but uh for example like in india there are different

types of poetry and holy scripture and there one one of these i remember is called the aryanaka and they're about the forest they're about uh the primal the primal nature of man so instead of talking about obedience versus disobedience. Maybe we can talk about civilization via primal nature or man. I'm just saying these are different perspectives that Virgil and Dante do not encapsulate. Okay, so I don't know enough about Indian poetry to comment, okay? But the point I'm trying to make is this. In this classroom, we are making certain assumptions. We are assuming the universality of Dante. Donnie can speak to everyone of all cultures, of all ages, across all of time.

Okay? And you need that sort of arrogance or sense of supremacy in order to fully appreciate Dante. Okay? So I understand, yes, there must be other great works of literature out there. Show it to me. Okay? Rather than tell me, you're just being ignorant. You're just being racist. Show me, okay? Take it upon yourself to learn this stuff and share it with the world. I would love to be proven wrong about Dante.

I think Dante is the greatest poet in the world. I think Donnie speaks for everyone. I think Dante is universal. I think it doesn't matter if you are Chinese or if you are Indian or if you are anyone, okay? You will love Dante if you make the effort to appreciate Dante. And I don't think anyone else compares to Dante.

I make this arrogant statement. And if you say you are wrong, then take the time, as I take the time to learn Dante, and show me another poet who is just as worthy to learn as Dante. I'm not saying that you're racist. I'm not saying any of these things. I don't know why you're right

conclusion. I am saying that it is part of our academic responsibility to limit ourselves as researchers to what we know and what we do not. And I agree with you. You are making a very arrogant statement and perhaps that statement has a place in this class. But my point is it is part of your academic responsibility to limit the scope of that statement. Okay, this is not an academic classroom, okay? This is not designed to be an argument classroom. I already said what our two missions are, right? Share Dante with the world. Why do I share Dante with the world?

Because I think that in this time and age, when there is war, when there is hopelessness, when there is conflict, I believe that we suddenly dante to this world, spreading Dante to this world will give humanity hope. That's what I find out of our belief. That's what I think our mission is, okay? Not to share Dundee with the world, but to re-summon Donde physically into our world with our imagination so that Dante can help save the world from whatever we're doing. Okay, so keep in mind, guys, this is the point of why we're here to share Dante with the world. That's a primary mission. Everything must follow from this mission.

If you're like, no, I want to learn academically. There are tons of Dante academic courses. Right? Carol, when we introduce this course online, do we not say this? This is not a course. Okay, it's not an academic program. There's, for example, an Open Yale course by a student professor. Yes, it's very good.

Dante in translation, you can look at, look for many of these. Okay. Do you understand? That's why I have to emphasize, okay? There's a mission here. Let's stick to the mission. If you don't agree the mission, then this course is probably not for you. Okay, so it's not a course, but this, this setup, okay, or this platform, okay, is not for you. Okay, we are here to truly learn to love Dante so that we may share it with others. Okay. Any more questions before we begin? Okay, so what we're gonna do now is we're going to jump ahead. We're going to skip around because I want to show to you, all right, what how Dante is going to recreate the idea of humanity. All right. So first thing is we're gonna go to canto 11. 10. 10 11. Okay. So what's happening is that Beatrice and Dante are traveling through the cosmos, right?

And we're going to skip, skip around. Not because the other kinds are not important. It's just I don't, I don't have, as I mentioned yesterday, I don't have the full knowledge, just fully interpret the other cantos. But I want to focus on counten 12 this morning. So what's happening is that Dante will meet two individuals. The first individual is Thomas Aquinas, who is only 2nd Augustine. So Thomas Aquinas is the second most famous Catholic theologian in the world. And what is important is that he is going to try to reconcile classical Greek philosophy with the Christian faith. and he's really the first to attempt this. This is being done throughout the world in the Islamic Golden Age, but again, at this time, Europe is extremely ignorant and isolated from the rest of the world. And Thomas Aquinas is going to change that by bringing Israeli and thought back into Christian theology.

So that's Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas is part of an order called the... The Dominicans are essentially the Jesuits, the pre-Jesuits. And these are people who are dedicated to learning and education, and they are doing this in order to better enforce Christian orthodoxy throughout Europe. So that's the Dominicans. And then in Kendall 12, we will meet Bonaventure, who is part of of an order called the Franciscan order, okay?

Francis, the order was founded by Francis Assisi, who made a vow to poverty. And this is very similar to Jesus, right? Jesus, as we discussed yesterday, he found a movement called the poor, and they made a vow to poverty. And so St. Francis also made a vow to poverty. The problem with both orders is,

They started out great, okay? Their founders were visionary. They really brought hope to the world. I mean, the Catholic Church at this time was being criticized for corruption, for engaging in worldly affairs. And these two movements seem the answer. They were reformed movements that seemed to bring hope to Europe. But ultimately, both fail. So what Dante wants to figure out is, why is, why is that?

is it that these two movements which started out great the dominicans uh with their um selfless pursuit of knowledge and the franciscans with their selfless pursuit of spirituality why did they fail okay that's a question before us all right so um can we uh read carroll please this is count 11 okay heard ice canto 11 oh senseless cares of mortals of mortals how deceiving are silogistic reasonings that bring your wings to flight so low to earthly things. One studied law and one the aphorisms of the physicians. One was set on priesthood and one through force or fraud on rulership. One meant to plunder.

One to politic. One labored, tangled into lights of flesh. And one was fully bent on indolence. Okay. So here, Darnie is criticizing. academic studies, right? Okay. What is this concern about economic studies at this time? What does he mean? Anyone? Yes? They all have ulterior motives. Good, yes.

They focus too much on the material and not the spiritual. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So the idea is syllogistic reasonings, okay, rather than use your mind to pursue God and the true, Yes, did you have a question? No, no. I was trying to answer your question too. So I'm reminded of something in Crusader Kings, the game. Like, you can have your priest justify your claim to a plot of enemy land through theology. So what he's saying here, how I understand it is that he's saying that theology is not studied for its own sake, but to amass power. Exactly, okay?

That's what everyone agrees on, right? This is a problem with theology, with academics at this point in history. Quite honestly, it's no different today, by the way. But he points out this is a real problem. Okay, can you keep on going? Verse 10, while I delivered from our servitude to all these things was in the height of heaven with Beatrice so gloriously welcomed after each of those spirits had returned to that place in the ring

where it had been, it halted like a candle in its stand. And from within the splendor that had spoken to me before, I heard him as he smiled, become more radiant, more pure, begin. So he, of course, is Thomas Aquinas, all right, who will explain the Franciscan order. Okay? So this is weird because Thomas Aquinas is of the Dominican order, but he will explain the glories of of the Franciscan order. Now what he will do is he will criticize his own order. And then the next counter will meet another guy, Bonaventure, who is of the Franciscan order,

praise the Dominican order, and then he criticizes them on his own order, okay? All right. Keep on going. Verse 19, even as I grow bright within its rays, so as I gaze at the eternal light, I can perceive your thoughts and see their cause. You're in doubt.

You want an explanation in language. that is open and expanded so clear that it contends your understanding of two points where I said they fattened well and where I said no other ever rose and here one has to make a clear distinction okay so so we skip the head but Thomas Aquinas already is having a conversation with Dante and they found them well obviously refers to corruption in the Catholic Church okay so he's trying to explain how this happened. Keep on going.

Okay. Line 28. The providence that rules the world with wisdom so fathomless that creatures intellects are vanquished and can never probe its death. Depth so that the bride of him who with loud cries had wed her with his blessed blood might meet her love with more fidelity and more assurance in herself. On her behalf, commanded that there be two princes, One on this side, one on that side as her guide.

Okay, so these are the two most important terseats of this kind of. Okay, so let's try to unpack this. Does anyone know what the bride of Jesus is, the bride of God? What is the bride of God? Well, if I was a heretic, I would say Mary Magdalene. No, guys. It's the Catholic Church, right? The bride of God.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. God is a heretic. All right. The bride of God is the Catholic Church, okay? So how is the Catholic Church founded? It was founded for the sacrifice of Jesus, right? So after Jesus was crucified, the Catholic Church came in the being in order to continue Jesus' mission on earth, right?

So the Catholic Church made a vow to God that we will be forever Mary and I will forever promote your message in the world. the world. Okay. And in order to achieve this, what will happen is they will give rise to two princes to ensure that the mission continues despite the corruption and the decay of the Catholic Church. And these two princes are St. Francis who will found the Franciscan order who are devoted to poverty, and then Dominique, who founded the Dominican Order, who will promote themselves, who will dedicate themselves to learning, as well as promoting Catholic Orthodoxy throughout Europe, okay?

These are the ones who are responsible to squash all heresies. Okay? All right. So this is the origins of the Catholic Church. Keep on going. Verse 37, One prince was all seraphic in his ars. the other for his wisdom had possessed the splendor of cherubic light on earth.

So the sheriff and the shirubim are two orders of angels, okay? So the angels have taken possession of these two individuals, Francis and Dominique. And it's the angels who will guide them in their mission. Okay. First 40, I shall devote my tale to one because in praising either prince, one praises both. The labors of the two were toward one goal. Okay, so he's going to talk about Francis, okay? Keep on going. Verse 43, between Tupino's stream and that which flows down from the hill,

the blessed Ubaldo chose. From a high peak there hangs a fertile slope. From there, Perugia feels both heat and cold at Portozole, while behind its sorrow, Nocera and Gualdo under their hard yoke. From this hillside where it abates its rise, a sun was born into the world, much like this sun when it is climbing from the Ganges. Therefore, let him, who names this site not say Achesi, which would be to say too little, but Orient, if he would name it rightly. That sun was not yet very distant from his rising when he caused the earth to take some comfort from his mighty influence. for even as a youth he ran to war against his father on behalf of her the lady unto whom just as to death none willingly unlocks the door before his spiritual court at corumpatri he wed her day by day he loved her more she was bereft of her first husband scorned obscure for some eleven hundred years until that son came she had had had been

no suitor. Okay, all right. So let's try to feel what's going on, okay? Francis married someone. Okay, he married this person in the violence of his family, of his father. Okay. Does anyone know the story of Francis, Assisi? Okay, can you, can you explain who he is and what he did? So basically, he's a saint, obviously and the founder of the Franciscan order and and his whole thing is that he's really poor really really really really poor poorer the Augustinians poorer than Dominicans okay sorry sorry how did he become poor he gave away all his riches okay so he's born rich okay he's born into a wealthy family and he said to his parents I don't want this okay I want poverty so he rejected his family

He rejected his legacy. He rejected his community in order to wed poverty. Okay? So the bride, she is referring to poverty. Right? And who married poverty before Francis? Poverty has two husbands. Francis is the second. Who would be the first? Jesus, right? Okay? Jesus was the first husband and then after he died, no one wanted to marry her again. Okay? I don't want poverty. Screw this. Okay? Francis is like, I will do it. I will marry poverty. Okay, does that make sense, guys? All right? So the she refers to poverty. Keep on going. verse 67 nor did it help her when men heard that he who made earth tremble found her unafraid serene with amicus when he addressed her nor did her constancy encourage help when she even when mary stayed below suffered with christ upon the cross but so that i not tell my tale too darkly you may now take frances and take poverty to be the lovers meant in my recounting their harmony and their glad looks, their love and wonder and their gentle contemplation, served others as a source of holy thoughts.

So much so that the venerable Bernard went barefoot first. He hurried towards such peace, and though he ran, he thought his pace too slow. Oh, wealth unknown, oh good, that is so fruitful. Gideas goes barefoot, and Sylvester behind the groom, the bride delights them so. then Francis father, master goes his way with both his lady and his family, the lowly cord already around their waist. Okay, so he is referring to a happy marriage, right? Francis gives up everything to marry poverty, and they are the happiest couple in the world.

And there are followers who also embrace poverty, and they become a family, okay? And this becomes a Franciscan order, the early Franciscan order. why would you be happy marrying poverty? This goes into everything that we've been taught, right? You want to be happy, you must get rich. Why would you be happy marrying poverty?

Yes? Like, what if without money, you're living from the material ward. So there's, because without money, nothing you can buy. You cannot get happiness from those materials or some, like, physical object. Instead, you can truly find your spirits when the material cannot make you feel straight. Yeah, okay. So what you're saying is that money sort of blinds you, right? You focus on money, you focus on material world, and that blinds you from a greater truth. Okay, good. Anyone else?

Yeah, maybe because you want to go to paradise, go to heaven, because if you just do not be reached, then maybe you'll be in heaven just like the gods that, right? So maybe. Right. So Jesus said that if you are poor, you are riches in heaven. Yes. Okay. Blessed are the meek. Yes? So he had riches first, right? And he was giving them all away. Maybe he was trying to do good deeds by giving alms. Could you, could you elaborate on this? So like, he has all this money. And to get rid of it to become poor, he doesn't chuck it in the river. He gives it away to like beggars, to vagrants. And even when he found, his order the Franciscan order there he took in people who have no other home and for the people who have property he took their donations and he used it to do good works in the local area so it's a way of it's burning out the well are you just

assuming that or do you know that I read the story yeah okay so he gave away as well yeah okay all right but I'm saying like why would he do that yes so in the line 676 they say they're how many and they're glad looks their love and wonder and their gentle conglation served others as a source of holy thoughts so probably he's trying to show the world that you can also like like he said you can you can you can go look for your inner spirit and spiritual enlightenment rather than chasing money he as example he want to show the world that this is way can be a way okay so thank you first of all i love the fact that you refer to the text okay this is really important

We're here to learn Dante, always refer to the text. And second of all, you're actually right in that being an inspiration to others brings you tremendous delight. Right? So back to the second, learn Dante so that you may teach it to others as an act of love. Right? So the reason why you do that is it makes you a happier person. Okay, now that doesn't even more enlightenment, but it brings greater happiness to you. happiness to you. So by being a good example, by being good leader, he's creating more happiness in the world. Not in him creates more happiness. Good, okay?

So if bearing poverty can be good, why don't we do it then? Huh? There's been two husbands to poverty, Jesus and Francis. They're all saints. Yes? Well, because we would be all-sized by society. I mean, for example, there's also the philosopher Deogenes who lived in poverty. The cynic, yes. The cynic, yes.

Yeah, yeah, he lived in Athens in a barrel or something for his his whole life. A bathtub. Or a bathtub, yeah. And, yeah, he was also really poor, and everyone, like, looked down on him and, like, he was ostracized and yeah. But what did he do

it then? If he was ostracized, if he was humiliated, everyone laughed at him, what did he do it? Well, he didn't. care like he he felt happy so that's what matter but what's the source of his happiness no it's like the buddhist that you if you don't want if you don't desire then you're never going to have suffering because suffering is the point of desire yeah yeah yeah he just didn't want it yes um so I would I would turn inwards to me honest I would turn any words I would say this is a way for them to get

closer to God because as we mentioned before like in Dante's own fly to paradise, Petrus told him to shed his physical conceptions, to shed his physical logic, to shed his worldly things, and only when we are pure in spirit can we reach heavens. Now, suicide is not a thing in Catholicism, so the closest we can get to a state of being pure in spirit is by getting rid of all our property and having only this body left. Okay, right. Yeah, I understand that. I'm saying like, why is it hard? to just do that. Why do you not want to give up your property and your wealth? Anyone else? Let's have more participation, okay? Yes? We don't know actually what it will be like if we haven't experienced it before. So what if we give everything away and then. Exactly. Yeah, thank you. Okay. So we have one, which is we will become

social ostracize, okay? Humiliation. It's public humiliation. Okay. Everyone's going to laugh at us. Unless you like diogenes and you just don't care, okay? But that's pretty weird. Second is, so I could you repeat? If we haven't experienced it before, we don't know what it will be like. So what if I give everything away and then I'm actually miserable? So these are the two things, right? Ego and fear. Ego is you want to stand above the people around you.

Fear is you don't truly know yourself, you're afraid. Okay? So these are the two major reasons. the ego and the fear. Yes? Sometimes you also have like responsibility about raising a family or caring about like your family. So that could be a reason. Like besides your ego, you need to care for others.

Yeah, exactly. Right. If you're a family, you can't take a vow of poverty. You have to feed them as well. So poverty means complete social isolation, right? It means you can't get married. It means you can't have kids. So it is an average.

of tremendous sacrifice. Good, thank you. Anyone else? Yes? So I think that, you know, when you have like materialistic goals, it kind of motivates you sometimes. So, for example, if there's like a test and my mom promises me like a new iPhone 17 pro, like I would definitely like work harder for that. So I just think that for like a lot of people, it's very hard to let go of like their materialistic desires because then they would feel like my life is so devoid of meaning and I think that they're scared of that. Yeah, so what you're saying is short-term gratification versus long-term reward, right? Maybe if you embrace a life of poverty, you go to heaven and that's great.

But in the short term, you're better off just being rich, right? So, good. Yes. Anyone else? Yes? Yes. No, sorry, sorry. You, yes. I think, you know, in ancient times, in time of dainty, wealth means physical possessions,

Chittles, or real estate, and all these carries tremendous responsibility for the person who possess them because and this leads to burden some life and secondly and secondly it's just going back to the text I think when the Franciscan and the Aquinas the Dominican they praise the other and criticize themselves there might be a new interpretation which I think might be interesting which You know, if we, if they, what if these two criticize themselves because they do not have equal wealth and equal knowledge. If there is a tiny scene, you know, your wealth is only yours if your knowledge deserve it. So it means that if your wealth is equal to your knowledge, maybe it's a good thing.

If the wealth goes to a person who has great knowledge and great capacity to distribute the wealth and use the wealth in a wise way, not for his family, but also for society, I think he might be a good thing. Okay, so that's a very interesting comment. But have we had an instance where a truly wise man also had tremendous wealth? Maybe Solomon, okay? So, so, so, but I mean, there are examples. But historically, we've, we've had more cases where you can either choose wealth or wisdom, right? The classic example, of course, is Socrates, a man who was basically poor all his life. In fact, his wife made all the money in the family, okay?

He had a family, he had kids, but the wife had to raise the kids because he didn't take money for his teeth. He just went around and taught for free. He was engaged in wisdom. Okay. Any more questions or comments before we move on? Yeah. Maybe because the, you know, people who just live in ancient time, they sometimes believe in God, believe their stories, maybe.

But, you know, the world is being regulated by the system, right? The system is for rich, for rich people. The people who have money, it means that they have right to talk, and they have right to do whatever they want. So maybe just because the social system just want people to be rich. If you can be rich, then you'll be one of us. But if you do not, you have your own wisdom, then I'm sorry, I won't give you the right. I won't give you the money.

Maybe that's the problem. Okay, that's an interesting point, okay? This is certainly true for all world where all that matters is money. Money moves around the world. This is not true actually in medieval Europe. Okay? medieval Europe yes there's hypocrisy where the Catholic Church is filthy rich they own a third of all the land in Europe that is true but but what is taught what people believe is that money is the root of all evil so the money doesn't matter what matters is salvation what matters is going to heaven okay okay yes is it kind of gaslighting that the Catholic Church has said that they owns like most of the land but they say money is the root of evil.

But meanwhile, they have all the money and can do whatever they want. And so what would you prefer? They own all the property and they tell everyone, you're nothing, I'm everything, you guys are poor, you guys are going to hell. Would you prefer that? No. I'd rather be deceived.

Yeah. I'm interested about the charitable concept of all of this. I know this is not the modern age. Modern age you have to pay a lot of taxes, and the taxes go towards public works and you can donate to charity and you have all these things going on. But in the Middle Ages, wealth was pretty stagnant, right? However, there are some few charitable endeavors by believers. Like, there's this custom of almsgiving by rich ladies.

And there's also the Catholic Church and the monasteries, and they provide sanctuary to criminals, and they provide schooling. So like is that a type of charitable outreach that would not be possible had they not been so organized and so rich? Yeah, so charity is one of the chief Christian virtues, right? So we say faith, love, and hope, but back then it was faith, hope, and charity. So if you're a rich person, you were obligated to share your wealth with the people around you. Okay? And guys, it's hard to imagine this, but Back then, no one really cared how rich you were. It was not a big thing, okay? It was a source of a lot of corruption,

but for most people, they didn't really care. At the elite politics, it didn't matter, but for most people, it did not matter, okay? We live in a world that is money obsessed. It is crazy how we just love money. We think that money is a source of all good in this world. For other reason, we worship this fake, fake trillionaire Ellen Musk. They guys are fake trillionaire, okay? All of the money he has is made up.

It doesn't really exist and we worship him. Okay, so anyone else from any other time in human history comes to our day and everyone says like you guys are the most superstitious people in the world. Okay. You guys worship this fake God money and you send your entire life around it. You guys are superstitious, you guys are ignorant, you guys are backwards. Okay, I guarantee you anyone who comes from the past to today would be uphold by the way we live our lives. All right, okay. So having established the fact that is ego and fear that prevents us from truly understanding God, okay? This raised the question of how then can we overcome the ego and the fear, right? That's a question.

And this is a central question if we are to save humanity or if Dante is going to reimagine humanity. Keep this in the back of your mind. How do you overcome ego and fear? I've already given the answer, faith, hope, and love, but let's examine what this really means. Okay? All right. So can you continue, Carol, please?

First 88. Nor did he lower his eyes in shame because he was the son of Pietro Benardone. nor for the scorn and wonder he aroused, but like a sovereign, he disclosed in full to innocent, the sternness of his rule. From him he had the first seal of his order. And after many of the poor had followed Francis, whose wondrous life was better sung by glory's choir and the imperian, the sacred purpose of this chief of shepherds was then encircled with the second crowned by the eternal spirit through Anorius. And after in his thirst for martyrdom within the presence of the haughty sultan, he preached of Christ and those who followed him. Okay. So Francis is being

described as an exemplar of faith, hope, and love. Why? Because not only did he embrace poverty, but he went to the Islamic world and tried to convert the Sultan. Okay. That is the exemplar model of faith, hope, and love. Okay, does that make sense? Okay, keep this image in the back of your mind. This man who is a Christian from this backward place called Europe, He goes to probably the wealthiest place in the world and he tries to convince the Sultan that

Hey, you're wrong. You're worshiping the wrong God and let me tell you why. Okay I keep on going. Verse 103 by finding hearers who were too unripe to be converted he not wasting time Return to harvest the Italian fields there on the naked crack between Arno and Tiber he received the final seal for Christ, and this his limbs bore for two years. When he who destined Francis to such goodness was pleased to draw him up to the reward that he had won through his humility, then to his brothers as to rightful heirs, Francis commended his most precious lady, and he bade them to love her faithfully.

Okay, so, okay, so you guys understand what's happening, right? Francis will die, he'll go to heaven to, to receive his justice reward. his brothers, his entire followers, to be loyal to his wife, right? My wife is poverty. Now that I'm gone, my only request, my last one testament is for you to be loyal, to take care of my wife, who's given me everything in this world and who's helped me to ascend to heaven. So, of course, what do they do? What do they do? obviously yes they're not disloyal they abandon poverty and and and by how if you if you

are this brotherhood the Francis in order what's the easiest way for you to abandon poverty marry someone who are rich no because they're all celibate right this is France as an order so they're supposed to marry poverty and So what do they do? And it's a loophole, right? They're not going to like, you know what, screw this? We're going to marry rich people, okay? There's a loophole.

What is the loophole? Oh, the loophole is actually really famous. So like, it used to be that during the time when Francis was alive, when people give the Franciscan order a house in town to live in. And Francis just climbed up the roof and started tearing off the shingles. And the town was like, stop,

stop, stop. And Francis was like, no, you're giving us a house. We can't have that. Even if we share it, we can't have that. And so the town told Francis, okay, I guess we're lending you the house. And Francis begrudgingly agreed. So after he died, this kind of went overboard. Like Franciscans were borrowing things left and right, left and right. And eventually they became like the other orders. But all of their things are technically borrowed. Okay, well, they basically own property, okay? So let me ask you to ask you this question. Why were people giving them property? Why were people giving them property? So did they say something like, give us property and then you can perhaps ascend to heaven or like... The francis would never ever say this, okay?

They would never say, if you make me rich, I'll make you go to heaven, okay? That's not what happened. Like donate to our just cause? No, they would never say that for what happened. Yes, yes, you go first and then you're going to. you okay yeah you should be poor so so i'll take your property from you no they would never ever do that okay they would never do that what happened they were actually inspirational they were really inspirational like rich people some people wanted to be franciscans but they could feel

like they couldn't cut off their material ties entirely so they give the franciscans on property exactly you do understand it's a bribe guys okay if i'm rich i'm a billion dollars and these guys are going to have in because they're poor what i'm gonna do i'm gonna bribe these guys said hey i'll I'll give you half a million. I'll give you half a billion. I'll give you half my wealth, okay? I still keep a half a billion. You get a half a billion.

We all go to heaven, guys. What a great deal? You understand. That's what happened. They did not intentionally try to become rich, but they were forced to become rich because everyone wanted to go to heaven, okay? The idea here is like money doesn't really matter.

It's salvation that matters. They have the keys to heaven. everyone was like, how much can I pay for these keys? And for Francis, like, no, that's how this works, guys, okay? This is not how it works. But if you are not Francis and you're just this normal human being, and people are offering you like billions and billions of dollars, it's hard for you to refuse, okay?

And that's what happened. It doesn't make sense, guys. Okay, the Francis would never, ever say, give me money and you go to heaven. the Pope did, okay, but not the Franciscans. All right? Yes? I think the relationship between the Franciscans and the Pope is really interesting.

On one hand, Francis was a devout Catholic, and he would never contradict the Pope. In fact, he was told by Catholic Central to maybe tone the richest bad thing down a little bit because you're making us look bad. And Francis was like, okay. Also, even though Francis is widely known as a peacemaker, during the question, crusades, he did not speak up against the crusades, and he approved the crusades tacitly, because after all, he was affiliated with the church. Okay, yeah, so this is a very important point, okay?

So what's happening in this time is that there are a lot of people who are opposed to the Catholic church because the Catholic church is filthy rich, and they were like, wait a minute here, Jesus was poor. He said, don't be rich. And you guys are filthy rich. okay and they were like ostentatious about it like you know just go to Rome man

okay it's a wealthiest place in the world so there's all this criticism in a way for the Catholic Church to deal with this criticism is to sponsor the Franciscan order right as a way to co-op

these people and show you see there are people in the church who are dedicated to poverty so the Francisms were useful political pawn for the church to maintain legitimacy, okay? Right, so thank you for that. All right, let's keep on going. Verse 115, and when returning to its kingdom,

his bright soul wanted to set forth from her bosom, it for its body asked no other buyer. Consider now that man who was a colleague worthy of Francis. With him in high seas, he kept the bark of Peter on true course. such was our patriarch thus He's referring to Paul by the way, okay? Paul, keep on going. Such was our patriarch, thus you can see that those who follow him

as he commands as cargo carry worthy merchandise, but now his flock is grown so greedy for new nourishment that it must wander far in search of strange and distant grazing lands. And as his sheep, remote and vagabond, stray farther from his side at their retreat. turn into the fold, their lack of milk is greater. Though there are some indeed who, fearing harm, stay near the shepherd, they are few in number. To call them would require little cloth. Now if my words are not too dim and distant, if you have listened carefully to them,

if you can call to mind what has been said, then part of what you wish to know is answered, for you'll see the splinters on the plant and see what my correction meant, where one may fatten well if one does not stray off. Okay, all right. So this is a central dilemma, okay? These are people, Franciscans, who have the most noble purpose, okay, to spread the message of Jesus, to bring hope and salvation to the poorest people, to embrace poverty.

These are the best Catholics. But there are two central issues. The first is their ego and their fear, right? The fact that to truly embrace poverty, the way that Francis did, you have to abandon society. And no one wants to do that, right? It's a social debt. And you're afraid of what it means to be poor.

So the ego and the fear. But another issue is that once you truly embrace poverty, and you are seen as holy, the entire world wants to corrupt you. They want to bribe you. They want to give you money so that they can share in your holiness. And over time, that accumulates and you just become just as corrupt as everyone else. Okay? So these are the two central dilemmas.

And the question then is, how do you overcome this situation? how can you actually bring salvation to humanity if there are these constraints okay one is our own psychological constraint of ego and fear another is just the social constraint okay how how even that's viable people will try to buy out okay do you understand the dilemma right okay And this is a situation that Dante is facing in medieval Europe in the year 1300 to 1321 when he's writing the Vycomedy. Okay, any questions before we move on? Okay, all right, let's move on to Kendall 12, please, okay? And now we are going to meet Bonaventure, who's going to talk about the Dominican order, and then he's going to criticize the Franciscan order, okay?

No, sorry, no, no, he's going to raise the Dominican order and criticize the Franciscan order, okay? Oh, sorry. Something that I've got to mention is that the reason, so for St. Thomas Aquinas, the reason why he thinks that the Dominican order became corrupt is eventually they've had too much power, right? The Dominican order are the Jesuits of the time. They're committed to learning. They are committed to economic inquiry. but the Catholic Church uses them as inquisitors to maintain orthodoxy throughout the throughout Europe okay so they spread far and wide and accumulated towards power and that ultimately

corrupts them it doesn't make sense guys okay all right now now we talk about the dominicans okay count to 12 no sooner had the blessed flame begun to speak its final word than the millstone of holy lights began to turn but if It was not yet done with one full revolution before another ring surrounded it. And motion match with motion, song with song. A song that's sung by those sweet instruments surpasses so our muses and our sirens as first light does the light that is reflected. Just as concentric, like in color, two rainbows will curve their way through a thin cloud

when Juno has commanded her handmaid. outer rainbow echoing the inner, much like the voice of one, the wandering nymph whose love consumed as sun consumes the mist, and those two bows let people here foretell. By reason of the pact God made with Noah that flood will never strike the world again. So the two garlands of those everlasting roses circled around us and so did the outer circle mime the inner ring. When dance and jubilation, festival of songs, and flame that answered flame of light with light, of gladness and benevolence, in one same instant with one will, fell still, just as the eyes, when moved by their desire, can only close

and open in accord. Then from the heart of one of the new lights, there came a voice, and as I turned toward it, I seemed a needle turning to the pole star, and it began. The love that makes me fair, draws me to speak about the other leader because of whom my own was so praised here where one is it is right to introduce the other side by side they fought so may they share in glory and together gleam christ's army whose re-arming costs so dearly was slow uncertain of itself and scanty behind its ensign when the emperor who rose forever helped his ranks in danger only out of his his grace and not their merits, and as was said, he then sustained his bride, providing her with two who could revive a scraggling people. Champions who would, by doing and by preaching, bring new life. Okay, all right, so again, the brightest Catholic church, and the two champions are Francis and Dominic, okay? Keep on going. First 46.

In that part of the West, where gentle sepher, rises to open, those new leaves in which Europe appears reclothed, not far from where, behind the waves that beat upon the coast, the sun grown weary from its lengthy course, at times conceals itself from all men's eyes. There, Calaroga, blessed by fortune, sits under the eges of the mighty shield on which the lion loses and prevails. Within its walls were born the loving vassal of Christian faith, the holy athlete, one kind to his own and harsh to enemies. No sooner was his mind created than it was so full of living force that it still in his mother's womb made her prophetic Then at the sacred font where faith and he brought mutual salvation as their dowry the rights of their espazo was were complete Okay, so so the idea here is that Francis married poverty Dominique will marry faith okay

All right. Keep on going. Verse 64. The lady who had given the ascent for him saw in a dream, astonishing fruit that would spring from him and from his heirs, and that his name might echo what he was. A spirit moved from here to have him called by the possessive of the one by whom he was possessed completely. Dominic became his name.

I speak of him as one whom Christ chose as the worker in his garden. He seemed the fitting messenger and servant of Christ, the very first love that he showed was the first injunction Christ had given. His nurse would often find him on the ground, alert and silent, in a way that said, it is for this that I have come. Truly, his father was Felice and his mother, Jovanna, if her name, interpreted, is in accord with what has been asserted. not for the world, but for which men now travail along to Deo's way or Osceans, but through his love of the true manna, he became, in a brief time, so great a teacher that he began to oversee the vineyard that withers when neglected by its keeper.

And from the seat that once was kinder to the righteous poor, and now has gone astray, not in itself, but in its occupant, He did not ask to offer two or free for six nor for vacant benefits, nor decimus quesunt paparum dei, but pleaded for the right to fight against the erring world to serve the seed from which there grew the four and twenty plants that rim you. Okay, all right, so, okay, so let's go into the history of the Dominicans. Dominicans were founded for a very specific purpose. So at this time in Europe, there's a major threat to the Catholic Church. It's called the Cathars, okay?

The Cathars. The Cathars, the Cathars, okay? And to deal with the Cathars, and they are in Southern France, in a place called Aborigines. The Catholic Church lots of something called the Albanian Crusade. Okay? The idea is that these cathars are what they call Gnostics. What are Gnostics?

Gnostics are people who believe in the ideas that Dante believes, okay? That we have a direct connection to God, who is the monad, the source, and that this material world doesn't really matter. What matters is our spiritual life. And these cathars are impossible to deal with because they're not afraid to die. In fact, they welcome death, right? Before the Catholic Church is like, if you don't obey us, we'll burn you at the stake. And the confers are like, fine. I'm happy to burn at the stake. Okay. So the Catholic Church launches these crusades against the Cathars,

who are in the Southern France. And the Cathars are not afraid to die. And they are so holy and they're so inspirational that the community who are by the way majority Catholic they rally behind the Cathars and protect the Carfair's right to believe in what they believe okay the Catholic are so inspirational that in one famous instance when the Catholic Army the Crusaders has basically surrounded a fortress okay and again what's really important to understand is that the majority of people fighting for the Cathars are themselves Catholic. And so what happens is this fortress is about to fall.

And the commander of the Catholic army says to the Cathars, we wouldn't want you guys. The Catholic people who are protecting you, will let them live. And the Catholic People protecting the Cathars said, fine, we will convert, okay? We will become Cathars ourselves. We will die with you. Okay. So that's how inspirational they were.

So the Catholic Church is like, what are we going to do? Okay. Because, yes, we can possibly step them out, but this is embarrassing for us. and their example is going to possibly over for us. So they create the Dominican order in order to deal with the Kathar threat, the Aborigin Crusade. And the idea is that you cannot kill these people. What you do is we educate these people.

Okay? So rather than use the sword, they use the pen. So the Dominican order would go into a village, and there's only about like 1% who are Cathars, right? But you didn't figure out who they are. And they would interrogate everyone. And quite honestly, that worked because in interrogation, you could figure out who the cathars were. Because there were to make inconsistencies in the stories, right? And then once you isolate them, then you could then re-educate them.

And that's the idea behind the Dominican order. And as you can imagine, the Dominicans fought themselves. They were warriors for Christ. That their mission was not to kill people. Their mission was to show them the error of their thinking. Okay? Reeducation. Enlightenment.

And through that, the Catholic Church was able to step out the cathar threat. Does that make sense, guys? Okay. Any questions about that? Okay, let's keep on going. First 97, then he with both his learning and his zeal and with his apostolic office, like a torrent hurtled from a mountain source, coursed and his impetus with greatest force, struck where the thickets of the heretics offered the most resistance.

And from him there sprang the streams with which, the Catholic Garden has found abundant watering so that its saplings have more life, more green. If such was one wheel of the chariot in which the Holy Church, in her defense, taking the field, defeated enemies within, then you must see the excellence of him, the other wheel, whom Thomas praised so graciously before I made my entry. And yet the track traced by the outer rim of that wheel is abandoned now, as in a cask of wine when crust gives way to mold. His family, which once advanced with steps that followed his footprints,

has now turned back. Its Fort Foot now seeks the foot that lags. And soon we are to see, at harvest time, the poor grain gathered, where the tears will be denied a place within the bin and weep. I do admit that, if one were to search our volume leaf by leaf, he might still read one page with, I am as I always was. But those of Aquasparta or Casale who read our rule are either given to escape in it or making it too strict.

I am the living light of Bonaventur of Baniorerea. In high offices, I always put the left hand interests last. Okay, the left hand interests, what he's saying is that the Catholic Church is very corrupt. They are always doing left-hand interests, okay? The left hand just means whatever is sinister. And I am the most pure. I am the most just official. Okay, keep on going.

Verse 130. Illuminato and Augustine are here. They were among the first unshot poor brothers to wear the cord, becoming friends of God. Hugh of Singh Victor II is here with them. Peter of Spain, who with his 12 books, glows on earth below, and Peter Book devourer, Nathan the prophet, Ensum, and Chrysostom, the Metropolitan, and that Donatus, who deigned to deal with that art which comes first.

Ravenous too in here and at my side shines the Calabrian Abbott Joaquin, who had the gift of the prophetic spirit. To this, my praise of such a paladin, the glowing courtesy and the discerning language of Thomas urged me on and stirred with me the souls that form this company. Okay, all right. So, okay. So again, to summarize, we learn about the Francisco order and we learn about the Dominican order. They both start out as just good and righteous. Over time, both will become corrupt, okay?

The Franciscans become corrupt because people want to. give them property, okay? The Luminicans become corrupt because they have too much power, okay? Their power of life, that the power of life and death over people, and they spread throughout Europe in order to be the army of the Catholic Church. Okay, so you can imagine it's a similar situation where the rich are bribing them in order to carry favor with them, okay? To settle local scores, to gain a place in heaven, to influence internal politics, okay? All right? Yes. So in this section we see that they see that the Dominicans are in Paradiso. If the Dominicans were converting the Cathars, what is Dante's actually thought of the Cathars?

Does he think they were good or bad? Okay, so we will never know what Dante thought of the Cathars. He knows what happened, but he probably believes that they were a heretical sect because that was the official doctrine, okay? And remember, at this time in history, Donning has much greater problems to deal with, okay? The fact that brothers killing brother, the fact that the Catholic Church is so corrupt, those are those are his concerns.

Does that make sense? Yes? I've noticed that this is something that Dante likes to do. Like he likes to roll call people. Like I remember reading about Dante roll calling people in hell. Like he condemned a bunch of people who are still alive to hell and there's a place in hell for them. And basically he's making a goodie list and baddy list here. Can I see it like that?

Yes, exactly. Okay, yeah. This is a way for him to try to structure the world and also to make sense of what's going on in the world, okay? Basically, from his perspective, he has a power to judge people. So those that are doing wrong, he can put it in hell, those that he knows that did good, for example, his patrons, he puts into heaven, okay?

All right. Another thing that I want to talk about is we assume that whatever he writes is intentional meaning it's a conscious decision on his part to frame the way things are okay a lot of poetry is subconscious because you are channeling the divine doesn't make sense so we can objectively as critics as readers make some historical parallels between what he's saying and we know okay But it could be possible that his understanding of the history is different from our understanding of history. It's also possible that he really didn't know about the Cathars because they were suppressed. Okay?

We know about the Cathars because of our own research. So does that make sense to you guys? All right? We're assuming that Dante knows what he's actually singing. But it may not. It may just be complete inspiration. And we as critics are able to look back and say, oh, I see the connection here,

but he may not be conscious of this information. Okay? Does that make sense? All right. So that's why it's impossible to say, what is his intention. Because he himself may not know what his intention is. He's just a poet.

He is a prophet for God. He's just speaking what he believes to be true, even though he himself may not know actually what he's saying. saying. Okay? Yes? Do we have any, like Gustafsky wrote to his brother all the time and he's like, this is what I'm thinking. Is there any letters that exist of Dante at all? Yeah, so there are lots of documents. So Dante was a published poet before Divine Comedy. Devine comedy is his last act, but he's written also many different works as well. And you know, it's really strange because none of his works received the same acclaim as the Divine Comedy,

but he was sure he was the greatest poet in the world. And he was sure that in his lifetime, he'd be recognized as the greatest poet in the world. Excuse me? Well, what happens, when we read the Inferno, what's happening is that he places himself with the same status as Virgil and the other great Latin epic poets, okay?

So already he's conceived himself as a legendary poet, even though he's not that famous at this point, even though he's not recognized as the greatest poet at this time. He is confident that he will be recognized in his lifetime. It doesn't work out that way. He'll die after he finished Divine Comedy, and people will recognize the Vine Comedy as a work of Genius after he dies, but not during his lifetime.

All right. Sorry. I have questioned. I just, I just question. You know, do you think, Dan, you really think that he's a point? Because, you know, they asked the people pay the money for him to be the point.

Or it's just people who, right now, we thought that he was a point. So what that means is that what the purpose of every's writing. If there's nobody who paid money for him to do that, and there must be some purpose for himself to write down to such a long poem you know we can call the masterpiece or he can just write it by himself just do not worry or care about the readers is that what you mean okay let me let me ask your question has to have been anyone history who has been a great poet who has chosen to be a great poet you are not you don't choose to be a poet you don't choose to be a prophet you are chosen by god Okay, and God channels his power through you. And how do we, how do people know that this is a great poet?

How do we, how do we know? By reading their work? Yeah, but, but so. We're going to read a lot of work, but how do we know what's, what's great and what's not? If the world persists throughout the course of history, like over time, if it survives. Yeah, but, but how does.

survive over time. Because people have to maintain it, right? Citation. You know, you know, no, no, no. I think we just know if the word is, is great. We just know the work is great. Like, it's, yeah, but how do we know? We just know it. No, but I mean, why? How? Like, the contents have been proven by time? This is not a hard question, okay? Yes. It resonates with our experience. And what do we call this? Truth and beauty, right? You understand? Like, if people read the Divine Comedy and they think,

oh my God, it made me cry. Oh, my God, that's so beautiful. No one bothered to keep it around, right? It's truth and beauty that makes Divine Comedy a great work of poetry. It's no difference from, like, why do you go to concert and pay 50 bucks? I've never been to concert.

I don't know how much they cost, okay? But I know you're sitting around with 10,000 people, it's a pain in the ass. But why are you doing this? Because the singer, whoever he or she is, moves you to tears. Because it resonates with you, do you understand? Okay? We are looking at the divine comedy from an intellectual analytical perspective, but it's able to be so powerful because first and foremost,

it resonates because it speaks beauty and truth, do you understand? And beauty and true can only come from God. Try to, do you understand that, okay? Only a human being by channeling God can create such truth and beauty in the world. And only a person can do this. If you get two people to try to do this, it won't work, okay? Try it. Try it, try to get two people to write a poem together.

It sucks. It has to be a person channeling the monad, the source. And then you know it's beautiful because everyone who reads it is moved to tears because it's beautiful, right? No different from a painting. Why do we have, why do we separate certain paintings? Because they're more beautiful than others. Okay, this is not a random thing. Does that make sense?

Okay, any more questions before we move on? Okay, so let's go to Cantor 17. Okay. And we also don't have time to read count of 17, but I will introduce some basic ideas for Kendall 17, and then we will go to kind of Kendall 17. And so, Dante has a series of questions that he must resolve before he can meet God, okay? He is going to meet God. That is the purpose of Divine Comedy.

It is a pilgrim's journey into the heart of the universe, the soul of the universe. And he is full of ego and he's full of fear. The ego is like, I'm the greatest poet in the world. Why don't people recognize that I'm the greatest poet in the world? The fear is, I've been exile from Florence. And where does my life go from here? I have a family. How can I feed my family?

I have no source of income because the people in Florence who exiled me have stolen everything from me. Okay? I've got nothing in this world. And so I know my mission is to write the divine comedy. I know my heart. That's what my mission is. But the reality around me is like I'm in exile. I have kids.

I have no property. What am I going to do now? Also, I look around the world. I look around the world, and I start out with the Guelves, and we defeat the Gilebeans, but that Guelphs fought amongst themselves. So what's the hope for this world if all we do is is fight for power? I also think about the Franciscans and the Dominicans, and they start out great, but then they became everyone like everyone else.

Okay? Okay. So what is the point of my existence? Why am I writing divine comedy? Is there any hope for humanity? Is there any hope for us? Okay. So what's going to happen is that Dante must reserve these fears, these doubts before he can actually meet God because if you're coming to meet God from a place of ego and fear, you're not going to meet God, okay? This is not. You don't see God. So the way he does. is that he will in heaven meet his ancestor or grandfather. I can't actually remember if it's grandfather or great-grandfather, but it's an ancestor, okay? What the

answer is gonna do is reassure him by telling him the history of his family, the lineage, okay? Where they came from, all the great deeds, that the family has done throughout the course of history. And then what the grandfather is going to do is give Dante the prophecy, okay? Where your life is going to go. Why would this be reassuring to Dante? Why would knowing your family history be reassuring to Dante? You are at a stage in your life,

when all hope is broken. You're in exile, you're poor, but hearing your history, your family history we came from, does give you hope. Why? I guess? Because it gives you something to hold on to. They can take away everything you own in this world,

but your connection to your ancestors and the great deeds of your ancestors. They will never go away. They cannot take that away. Yeah, okay. So what this is saying is that you'll be remembered for your ancestors. actions, okay? Just as your actions of your father will remember, just as the actions of your grandfather remembered, okay?

That's what you will leave to the world. Not your wealth, not your achievements, but your actions. Okay? Your actions will be celebrated. Your actions will be remembered. Anyone else? What will this matter? Also, it gives a sense of cycle where like even if times are bad, then like just with time it gets better. Yeah. So there's a plan. in motion, right? So by saying like, you know, this is what your grandfather did, this your father did, you're saying that there is a plan and this is all part of your destiny, Dante. You came to this point because it was planned from the beginning and your family was just enacting out the plan and now

you have come to this point and you must do your part as well. Okay, and that is very reassuring, I would think, right? What, why else? Yes? So I'm just going to add on to that and say that I think, at least I think during this time, like ancestry was seem as to be like very important and like your ancestors were seen to be like much wiser than you were. So I think that just Dante by listening to his ancestors reassure him like he felt that, yeah, I'm reassured because I trust these people a lot and they definitely know more than you.

Yeah, exactly. Okay, that's a really good point, okay? So, yes, the ancestors are giving you support. Yes. Yes? By looking at their achievement, their endeavors, you can also see what they've yet to achieve, and maybe that's for, and that's how you connect the thoughts. That's how you realize, so this is the part that I would do, that they didn't manage to achieve.

Yes. You're part of a family, and you have a responsibility to do your part. Right? You have to add to us. So yes, you're going to find comedy and you'll probably die afterwards. You won't achieve any fame, but your achievement will add to our family legacy, right? That's your responsibility. So what's happening is that just the idea that you're part of a family legacy. It's removing the ego and fear from him, right? Okay, it's cleansing him. And any other comments or thoughts? Okay, so when we come back from the break, we're going to read, not the family history, it's a bit long, but we'll read the prophecy that the grandfather tells Dante. Okay? And so something to keep in mind is, it's really complicated, okay? But I want you to keep this in mind.

So Dante is dies in 1321, okay? He actually finished his divine comedy in 1321. What's interesting is that the Divine Comedy is set in the year 1300 Easter Sunday. Okay, he tells us this in the infernal, okay? So in other words, he already has the benefit of hindsight. He already knows what's going to happen to him, okay? But he sets his character in the year 1300, and then his grandfather will tell Dante what will happen in the year. in the year

1302, okay? 1302 is when Duna is exile from Florence. And this marks a traumatic event in his life. Okay? So, think about this, where Dane is writing in 1321, who already knows what's already happened. But he set his character

in the year 1300 so that his grandfather can tell him what will happen two years from now. Okay, two years from now. Okay? and and and and and and that is the setting for uh can't oh 17 which will read after the break any questions guys yes uh you said that to connect with god you need to let go of fear and ego but then how can he do so in heaven which is like already with god right he's not in heaven didn't you say that he let go of fear

by talking with his ancestors right okay so um okay so so so do what understand understand this is that this is a literary conceit. Okay, the way he lets go of his ego and fear is by writing the Vain Comedy, right? And in a like comedy, the scene that he sets to help us appreciate how he's able to let go of his ego and fear is the meeting with his grandfather in heaven. Does that make sense? Okay? So that means in the beginning of the writing, he's not quite yet like, like, like, like, right like to state of enlightenment that's right okay that's a really that's a

really important thing to appreciate where maybe from an early age he's able to conceive the divine comedy okay but the very process of writing it is also revelatory and enlightening you understand all right and so he will change as a person through the process of reading the line comedy the same thing as as we in the Vine, in Comedy, where I'm sure that by reading it, you yourself are going for a spiritual and emotional alchemy, right? You're thinking much more deeply about who you are. You're thinking much more deeply about your relationship with the world. And maybe your heart is opening up.

Well, it's the same thing. Well, it's obviously the same if you write the thing, right? Because what's happening is that the poetry is a revelation from God. Okay. It is you are co-creating the process, but what you're really doing is you're just ascribe for God. Right, that doesn't make sense, guys? All right, okay. So we'll take a break, we'll come back at 1 o'clock, okay?

All right, thanks, guys. Okay, all right, guys, we are alive. First of all, I want to thank so much Carol and our team. There are some comments online talking about the sound quality and the video resolution quality. And Carol and her team worked really hard yesterday. And now a new version is uploaded, complete, with better sound and video quality. So thank you so much, Carol, and your team for your self-suitication to promoting Dante in the world. Okay.

So what I will do now is discuss the central conflict, which is how does Dante reconcile his divine mission, which is to be the prophet poet for the monad with the fact that his life really, really sucks. In 1302, he was exile from his hometown of Florence, where he's been, his family has been there for generations. He loves the place. He loses everything. He loses all his property, all his wealth because of his exile.

And now he's just fooling around. Okay, so how does he reconcile? this pain, this agony, this suffering with his large divine mission. And here, what he's going to do is he's going to reimagine Virgil, the Inniad, okay? So what I'm going to do is I'm going to summarize for you the plot of the Inniad. We should read it together. We don't have time, but for the sake of the conversation today, I'm just going to give you a brief summary of the Inniad, okay? So this is Virgil, and for about a thousand years, this is the greatest epic poem of the Western tradition.

And if you're an educated person, you have to read it. It is the Bible, okay? It's actually much more important than the Bible. So the main character is Ineus. And Ineus is a prince of Troy. And like Dante, he loves Troy. They've been, his family has been there for generations. It is the greatest city in the world.

Unfortunately, the Greeks have to come and destroy it, okay? And Ineus has to watch his city being destroyed by the Greeks. This is Trojan War, of course. They sneak in because of the Trojan horse. And Ineus wants to die trying to save Troy. But his mother, Venus, appears before him and says, know, Ineus, you have a higher mission. You have a higher calling. You, your son, will be destined to found the greatest empire in the world called Rome. Rome will be the new Troy. Troy must be destroyed

in order for Rome to rise. And Rome will be the end of history. It will be the greatest empire in all human history. So Ineus is like fine, okay, because he's been ordered by the gods. and so he and his family and the followers, they get on ships and they sail to Italy where they're supposed to found the new empire of Rome. They get shipwrecked and they end up in Carthage. And in Carthage, Ineus there falls in love with a queen ditto. And Ineus is really, really happy in Carthage.

And Carthage is this new city that's being built and Ineus sees his life being here. The gods get angry at him and said, Ineis, you idiot, we told you to Italy, not Carthage. Get your ass moving. So Ineus is like fine, whatever. So he keeps on moving. But now he's like really, really angry because his home, Troy was destroyed.

And then he falls in love with Ditto in Carthage. And the gods kick him out. Okay. so he's really confused. So what he does is he goes into the underworld where he meets his father, Incheus. And his father just died. Because Incheus is going to tell him why this is happening.

What the gods have planned for you. And when in his talks to Incheus, what happens is that the prophecy becomes the history of Rome. And Innes is told that when you go to Rome, your son will found a new people, the Romans. The Romans will slowly expand across the Italian Peninsula, then it will conquer Carthage and then conquer all the Mediterranean. And it will become the greatest empire in human history. So it's basically just the same thing as what Justinian told us, right? Then you have Julius Caesar who will give rise to Augustus Caesar.

And when this happens, when Rome becomes an empire, it is the end of history. Humanity will be saved. Heaven will come to earth and peace will reign forever, the Pax Roman. And this is why things that had to happen the way they happened. Troy was destroyed for a reason to found Rome. So Innius had to go on this long, painful journey in order to build the foundation stone for the greatest empire and human history. Okay? And obviously, when Ineus hears this, he's like, yes, now I understand.

Now I can fully commit to my mission. So he goes to Italy, where he fights churness, okay? And then it ends with his victory, and now Rome can be born. Okay. So the Inniat, it's basically the Bible of the Roman Empire. It explains where Rome came from, why Rome is the U.S. Empire in the world, and where Rome is going. Okay, does that make sense?

So we're going to take this plot line from the Ineat and compare it to how Dante rewrites this, okay? And you're going to see a massive contrast because here in the Eniad, the prophecy is one of triumph, one of glory. But in Dante's prophecy, it's completely different, okay? So this is Conto 17, and we're going to read Dante's grandfather telling him what lies in store for him. when he leaves heaven, he returns to the real world what awaits him. Okay? All right. Please read.

Like Thethon, one who still makes fathers wary of sons, when he had heard insinuations, and he, to be assured, came to Clemene. Such was I, and such was I seen to be by Beatrice and by the Holy Lamb, that earlier had shifted place for me. Therefore, my lady said to me, Display the flame of your desire, that it may be seen well stamped with your internal seal. Not that we need to know what you'd reveal,

but that you learn the way that would disclose your thirst and you be quenched by what we pour. Oh, my dear root, who, since you rise so high, can see the point in which all times are present, for just as earthly minds are able to see that two obtuse angles cannot be. be contained in a triangle, you can see contingent things before they come to be. While I was in the company of Virgil, both on the mountain that heals souls and when descending

to the dead world, what I heard about my future life were grievous words. Although against the blows of chance, I feel myself as firmly planted as a cube. Okay, stop. Okay. All right. So what he's referring to is the fact that in inferno and in procuratory, Virgil was his guide. And during this journey, Dante met individuals who would give him glimpses into his future. Okay. And this is the final prophecy. Keep going on going. Verse 25. Thus, my desire would be appeased if I might know what fortune is approaching me. The arrow one foresees arrives more gently. So did I speak to the same living light that spoke to me before. as Beatrice had wished, or was my wish was now confessed. Not with the maze of words that used to snare the fools upon this earth before the Lamb of God who takes away our sins was slain,

but with words plain and unambiguous that loving father, hidden yet revealed by his own smile, replied, contingency, while not extending past the book in which your world of matter has been writ, is yet in the eternal vision all depicted, but this does not imply necessity. Just as a ship that sails downstream is not determined by the eye that watches it. And from that vision, just as from an Oregon

that year receives a gentle harmony, what time prepares for you appears to me. Hippolytus was forced to leave his Athens because of his stepmother, faithless fears, and so must you depart from Florence. Okay, so Hippolytus was the son of These years. who was exiled unjustly. So the idea is that, yes, Dante,

unfortunately, when you go home, what happened to you is that you'll be exiled from Florence unjustly, okay? They will do a terrible wrong to you, but there's nothing you can do about it and it's all part of the plan. Keep on going. First 49.

This is willed already, soft four, to be accomplished by the one who plans and plots where every day Christ is both sold and bought. Okay, so the man who will plan and plot is the pope, okay? So the pope is going to plot your exile and the removal of your faction from Florence so that you can never ever return. Okay, this is the pope, he is corrupt, he buys and sells salvation. I keep on going. Verse 52. The blame, as usual, will be cried out against the injured party, but just vengeance will serve as witness to the truth that wields it. You shall leave everything you love most dearly. This is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others bred, how salt it is, and know how hard a path it is for one who goes descending and ascending others' stairs. Okay, all right. So this is the complete opposite of the vision, the prophecy in the Inniad, right?

Where Innes is told about the glory that awaits Rome. And here it's going to be opposite where Donny is told, yeah, the only thing that awaits you is exile. You'll be blamed for the exile. You lose everything and you depend on the mercy, the generosity of others. In other words, you're going to be a beggar all your life, Dante. You'll be a beggar until the end of your life. Yes? Could this be seen as drawing a parallel between himself

and the experiences of that guy, Aeneas, I think his name is Aeneas from Troy and the suffering of Christ? Like, could you be drawing this comparison that he is suffering to bring about greatness later? Yeah, that's exactly the parallel. So you say two things, okay? Yes, clearly he is referencing Ineus, and his journey and the prophecy from the Indianan, okay?

Because the Indian is basically his template to write the Divine Comedy. But you also point out that Jesus is not really mentioned in the Divine Comedy, guys, right? He's referenced, but he's not mentioned direct, well, he is mentioned directly, but he doesn't appear in the Divine Comedy, right?

And so you can make the imaginative leap that Dante is really presenting himself as a Christ's figure in a divine comedy, the one who must suffer, the one who must die in order to bring about salvation in the world. Okay? So, so yeah, thank you for that. Okay. Any more questions, guys? All right, let's keep on my way. First 61. And what will be most hard for you to bear will be the scheming, senseless company that is to share your fall into this valley. Against you, they will be insane, completely ungrateful and profane, and yet soon after not you, but they will have their brows blood dread. Of their insensate acts, the proof will be in the effects,

and thus your honor will be best kept if your party is yourself. Your first refuge and your first inn shall be the courtesy of the great Lombard. He who on the latter bears the sacred bird. Okay, so when Donets exiled, he's exiled with his political faction, right? The white Guelves. And obviously when they're faction, they're angry about this, and they want vengeance. So they're plotting how to get back and kill their enemies, the black Guelves. And what the grandfather is saying to Dante is, do not partake in this politics. These people have gone insane with hatred and bloodlust.

They can only end up dead. You have to not only live in poverty, not only do much, you be a beggar, but you must abandon everyone you know in order for you to seek the true path, okay? This is not just exile, it is also isolation. It doesn't make sense. All right.

But at the same time, you will find generous patrons who will give you food and housing and that is your salvation, yes? I think something else that he gives up is vengeance. Like, I know that the urge to avenge yourself is extremely strong, and it will be hard, giving his anger, to give up vengeance. But the truth is, like, passion is like a cup within us, and a cup can only hold so much water.

So if you fill the cup with hatred, with vengeance, then you have no place that I forgot. And what Dante is doing is clearing out the hatred and vengeance, so yes, more place in his sense. cop for God. Yeah, okay. So let's be clear, okay. You have to you have to you right in that he needs to clear his hatred, he needs to clear his vengeance. At the same time we need to recognize that when he goes in exile, when he becomes isolated, when he is dependent on the mercy and charity of

others, that only makes him even more angry and vengeful and hateful, right? So then the question then is how can he go about dissipating and cleansing himself all of this hatred, anger, and vengeance. The answer, of course, is by riding the inferno? By writing the inferno,

by going on this journey to hell to see that hatred, vengeance can only lead you to hell, okay? It's something that he must experience for himself in order to cleanse himself. That's why you must first go to hell before you go to heaven.

Because you must experience for yourself that anger, and hatred can only lead in one direction, okay? All right, let's keep on going. Verse 73, and so benign will be his care for you that with you two in giving and an asking that shall be first, which is, with others, last.

You shall, beside him, see one who at birth had so received the seal of this strong star that what he does will be remarkable. People have yet to notice him because he is a boy. For nine years and no more have these fears wheeled around him. But before the Gascon Gowls the noble Henry, some sparks will have marked the virtue of the Lombard. Hard labor and his disregard for silver. Okay, so now he's just sucking up to his patron, right?

He's in exile. His patron is the one who is financing the writing of divine comedy. He's saying what a great guy this guy is. He's selfless. He will do great things, okay? Keep on going. Verse 85. His generosity is yet to be so notable

that even enemies will never hope to treat it silently. Put trust in him and in his benefits. His gifts will bring much metamorphosis. Rich men and beggars will exchange their states. Will I tell you about him you will bear inscribed within your mind but hide it there? And he told things beyond belief even for those who will yet see.

them. Then he added, son, these are glosses of what you had heard. These are the snares that hide beneath brief ears. Yet I'd not have you envying your neighbors. Your life will long outlast the punishment that is to fall upon their treacheries. After that holy soul had, with a silence, showed he was freed from putting in the wolf across the web whose warp I said for him. I like a man who, doubting, craves for counsel from one who sees and rightly wills and loves, replied to him, I clearly see, my father, how time is hurrying toward me in order to deal me such a blow as would be most grievous for him who is not set for it. Thus, it is right to arm myself with foresight that if I lose the place most dear, I may not lose the rest through what my poems say. down in the world of endless bitterness and on the mountain from whose lovely peak I was drawn upward by my lady's eyes and afterward from light to light in heaven I learned that which if I retell it must for many have a taste too sharp too harsh

yet if I am a timid friend of truth I fear that I may lose my life among those who will call this present ancient times the light in which they're smiled the treasure I had found within it first began to dazzle as would a golden mirror in the sun then it replied a conscience that is dark either through its or through another shame indeed will find that what you speak is harsh nevertheless all falsehood set aside that all that you have seen be manifest and let them scratch wherever it may itch for if at the first taste your words molest they will when they have been digested and as living nourishment as does the wind so shall your outcry do the wind that sends its roughest blows against the highest peaks there's little cause for claiming honor

therefore within these fears upon the mountain and in the dismal valley you were shown only those souls that unto fame are known because the mind of one who hears will not put doubt to rest put trust in you if given examples with their roots unknown and hidden or arguments too dim to unapparent okay great thank you all right so what we're gonna do now is we're gonna try to put everything together okay this morning we discuss the central dilemma Dilemma facing Dante okay first of all has make sense of why his life sucks why he's in exile why he's begging people for charity At the same time he's trying to figure out why the world sucks why is it that There's so much chaos there's so much infighting there's so much treachery there's so much hatred there's so much vengeance

And we talked about how Previously there was hope that great individuals such as Francis and Dominic would change the character of the Catholic Church so that it would become less corrupt. But instead, the Catholic Church maintained to be corrupt and change the radical nature, change the nature of the Franciscans and the Dominicans. So what hope is there in this world? Okay, that's a central question. in a world of complete darkness, where is the light? Okay, all right?

So now we just read the prophecy giving the doctor saying, yeah, your life is really, really going to suck after you leave heaven. You've been to hell, you've been to procuratory, now you're in heaven, you've seen the universe, and when you return, it's only one of exile, one of isolation, one of poverty. And yet Dante is Has now Purpose just like Ineus right in his here hears that he will

Found a great empire called Rome and that excites him That propels him to greatness That propels him to victory and now Donne hears oh yeah when you go home you're just going to suffer all the time yet it also propels him to purpose and to greatness. Why? What is going on here? Why would the idea of exon isolation give him hope? Yes? So difference between Dante and most people who go through exile and isolation is that he's given a preview. He's given a peek behind the curtain. When we say that it's easier for a rich, it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven. The rich man will say to you, well, I can't see that far.

Or maybe they don't have the willpower to keep themselves from being wealthy and being evil. However, Dante has had a glimpse of what lies behind the veil and he knows that his life has a purpose and is this guiding light, this actual thing that keeps him going onwards. Okay, yes. Let's be more specific and concrete, okay? Okay, let's think about this. Dante, let's imagine Dante, if he didn't actually experience hell, purgatory in heaven, okay? His father appears to him in a dream, okay? He's at home. His grandfather perished to him in the dream and says that, my grandson, in two years' time, you'll be exile from the city you love, the city you were born, the city that your family has inhabited for generations.

How do he feel? You feel the spirit, right? But after he's been through this journey, the same vision, the same fate gives him hope and purpose. Why? Yes? Well, also as a poet, it's a great way to focus her energy into creativity. Well, like, if you take off all the distractions and you put all your energy into creating, then he can think, okay, maybe it's this time, this period of my life where I can just put everything I know and all my

everything I can accomplish. Okay, so that's a good start, okay? If he is to achieve the divine comedy, he needs to go into isolation, okay? This is an isolation that's the last 20 years, by the way. It's just something about 20 years to finish divine comedy. Okay, so that's the start, okay? He appreciates that his purpose is to go into exile and isolation in order to write this divine comedy. This raises a question like, well, that kind of sucks. It's like going to prison for 20 years and then my reward will be I'm dead.

Right? So I am reminded of something I once saw on a Catholic website. So it was actually about a saint, a former nun, a saint. And it was one of her quotes. And she said, I am impatient to suffer and die for Christ. So there is this, let's say there's this almost preoccupation with suffering and the ennobling of the spirit in Catholic theology. Like they think that suffering, especially in the name of Christ, ennobles the spirit. So maybe Dante is subconsciously

Likeing himself to a Christ's figure and he thinks that suffering for the sake of Christ for the sake of his great work is a sign of his faith and he would be nowhere for this suffering Then he would have been if he did not suffer. Yeah, okay and that's not wrong and that's exactly what For instance and Dominic felt as well, okay? But let's let's feel about this okay you're Dante and you're in the divine comedy Not for yourself not for God but for others to read as well So you want others to be as inspired as you in serving God, right? You understand? So yes, someone convinced you to be like him.

Yeah, I mean, like, of course he understands that the ex-down and the isolation will allow him to act divine comedy. But he needs you to move you, inspire you in a way that allows you understand why he's doing what he's doing, and also to want to emulate him, right? to want to also go in exile and isolation in order to be truly creative. So how does he do that? All right. Let's not, let's just imagine him just as a normal person, just like you and me, okay? He's no different.

And he is in the situation where he knows he's going into exile and isolation for next 20 years to write Divine Comedy. And after he finishes, he's going to die. That's what the prophecy says. So how does he find hope and purpose in this fate? Maybe it's kind of inspiration because as a writer, you must have an inspiration which can allow you to have great work. So maybe I think what Stanton wants to do is not just try to make money, but he just tried to create a masterpiece in his own life.

So maybe that is, you know, the reason why if you got hope. Okay, all right. So let's think about the sequence of events, okay? This prophecy doesn't happen in hell. It doesn't happen in purgatory. It happens in paradise. And it is the last prophecy before he goes and fulfills his destiny, which is to meet God, okay?

So what does he learn in hell, purgatory, and paradise, which prepares him to accept this prophecy? What is it? These past two days, what do we learn about the universe? What are some ideas that we've learned these past two days? Let's start naming them, okay? Yes? Maybe it's because he witnessed the light and the greatness and the beauty of God with his own eyes and that gives him the courage to continue.

Okay, again, you're being too general. I want specifics. What do we discuss these past two days? and what impact would they have on Dante and how they would change the way he sees the world? Okay, ask yourself this question, these past two days. How have reading Dante changed the way you've seen yourself and the world? Think about this question, okay? Use your intuition, use your imagination.

How have I change in the way that I see the world? Yes? Well, well, you see the human himself as, like the middle of the universe and then he is like he's like what embodies the universe and he's through through our actions we can like improve the universe or person that okay yeah exactly first first the first thing he's he recognizes that you matter your actions matter regardless of who you are you do matter okay but carda I mean She did something really, really good.

I mean, like she bowed herself to God, and then she broke this vow. And it matters, okay? In her mind, it's like, what? I mean, like, God's really, really busy, right? God's, like, taking care of the universe. And I'm just like this little princess in this poor little place. And I break a vow, but I heard no one. and I was faithful to him all this time,

but my one little action at this one time does matter. It matters so much that it changes the universe, okay? That's the first thing that Donnie realizes. I do matter, okay? So what I write does matter. That's empowering, don't you think? Right? Because why else am I spending 20 years writing a poem?

And the answer is because God is watching you. Because everything you write will be read by God and then it will be reflected throughout the universe. With my actions, I can change the very trajectory of the universe. Okay, that's the first thing that we learn. What else did we learn? Yes? I think it's also important to remember that this is a two-sided coin. Like, on one hand, your actions matter and you can change the universe.

On the other hand, your misactions matter, and your misactions could make the universe worse. So instead of this constant fear of damnation or constant fear of hellfire, Dante replaced it with a humanistic fear of what will my actions truly do? Like he is taking the reins back from the devil, and he's giving the reins to himself. Yes, okay, this is really important, guys, okay? At this time in history, the Catholic Church tells you to fear God. You understand. Live a life of fear. Do not do anything because you'll probably screw it up. Right. And what we learn is God is love. God will never judge you. Only you judge yourself.

Therefore, just live the life you want to live. Live your best life. Aspire to greatness. And that's what God wants. God wants will. He wants desire. He wants you to be your creative best. So don't worry about angering him. Don't be afraid of him. Love him as much as he loves you, right? Okay. Good.

Really important, guys, okay? One, we do matter. Everything we do does matter. Number two is God is non-judgmental. He will never, ever punish you for doing what you think is right. Okay, just follow your heart. Good. What else? What else have we learned these past two days? Just ask yourself, what have you learned these past two days? What ideas have stuck in your head? Yes? That the fear of unknown stops you from aspiring to the higher. Yeah, right, good. Yeah.

Don't be afraid. Just love. Just trust. Okay, because love is the underlying principle of the universe God is all in love okay don't be afraid take the risks take that leap of faith good what else I can follow your heart and do the free will and do not be restricted by the material word yes exactly okay don't care about the judgment of others if God's gonna judge you no one else is gonna judge you okay just follow your intuition just follow your heart do what you believe is right what else yes you have two forgive yourself to be a better person? Okay, yes. Okay, let go

all of the past. Forgive yourself. Good. What else? You need to care about a poor guy because if you care about them, you can give them money, maybe you will go to heaven with him. No, that's not what I thought I believe. Also, the most important

thing, of course, is that there is intentionality in the universe. They are all part of God's grand design. Remember, the metaphor that Beatrice uses is the body, right? God is the mind. We're all part of the body. So we are moving towards God's plan, okay?

All right? So this is all that we've learned these past few days. And think about how, if you believe these things, you don't go fear exile. You're not going to fear isolation. Why? Yes? Well, because in your heart, you know that you're doing the right thing.

Like, if you, like, from your instincts and your intuition, you didn't know if you did the right thing. Obviously, it wouldn't make sense. But if you know from just from your intuition that you know the right thing, then it's probably the right thing. You don't need logic or something to figure things out. You just need to... So the most important thing, and you say this, is like,

bloody knows it's not his fault for his exile in isolation. This is really important, guys. Right? It's not my fault. I need anything wrong. Why is this? Yeah? So this is something.

that confuses me. Like earlier on, you said that if there's a will, there's a way, and you use the example of Picarda. And Picarda is in a similar situation to Dante. She is oppressed by a militaristic force, and she is forced to go against her vows. And well, how is Dante's situation different? If he believed in will so much,

why couldn't he have used the will to find out a way to stay in Florida? Okay, all right, so you raised this question, okay? And the answer is their purpose is different. Do you understand? Carter's will is always to serve God, to be married to God, to live in a nunnery, right? What is not his purpose? What is his purpose? To write the divine comedy, guys, okay? You understand? That's what his will is. His will is not to be the mayor of Florence. His will is not to be the Pope. His will is not to conquer his enemies. His will is to be the poet, the greatest poet in human history. That is what he wants. Okay, do you understand? Yes?

So like as we mentioned everything has a consequence and then like Dante did end up dying because of malaria after he finished the divine comedy. Do you think that is his consequence, like he has fulfilled his role of writing this poetry and then after that his mission is complete and do you think that is like his will or like God's will or like okay so okay that's a great question okay why is it that he died after he finished divine comedy and I was something really strange for you guys but let me ask you this question do you think Dante was a healthy person probably not probably not guys okay probably not here's why sick most of his life right and that's probably why he had the visions that he did because he spent

most of the time in bed dreaming, right? Yeah. So I would argue that if it went for the Divine Comedy, he'd probably be dead at 40. He started the Divine Comedy at maybe around 40, and he died in his 50s. Do you understand? Yeah.

Okay. I mean, like, it was his will that kept him going. Right? So you could say, well, it was because he spent so much effort into running the Vincomity that he exhausted his body and he caught him there and then he died. But you'd also argue, well,

the guy was probably not healthy. to begin with, okay? Most of these poets are not athletes. They're not the healthiest people you will meet. They're often like, you know, daydreaming or getting drunk or something, okay? But they're not working out and stuff. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you. Yeah, yes. So something I'm curious about is Dante's attitude towards predetermination. Like if you look at this passage, so he's basically prophesying to himself, like at his time while he was writing this passage all of these things that the angel has said to allegedly past version of himself has already happened so he is trying to frame this as okay

i've been told that this is going to happen this is not a surprise to me at all which just seems very uh wishy watching too okay all right okay let's be clear okay dante is writing this not to console himself okay but to give us whole hope. Does that make sense? Okay? Because we are Dante in the poem. So when we read this, we shouldn't feel despair for the fact that we're going to get into exile. It should give us hope. We're trying to figure out why this is the case. All right? Number one, and this is the most important, is we know it's not our fault. Right? Okay. And this is important because what's the one reason why the voice traumatizes children? Do you guys know? If they think it's their fault.

Okay, and that's why. If anything was their fault, divorce wouldn't matter, okay? But children think this divorce was my fault, and that's what traumatizes them. Okay, so Dante hears him, it's like, oh, it's not my fault. This is all preordained. And they will blame me, but God himself knows that it's not my fault so my heart can rest at peace, okay? I can forgive myself.

I can forgive others. So let's focus on this. Okay, number one is, let's see on this clearly. Number one is Dante knows it's not his fault, okay? Let's keep on going. What now? I know, but let's think about the psychology, okay? You know it's not your fault.

Now what? I'm interested in how he just accepted this fate. Because if it's, it's his fault, he was like, yeah, I'll, I deserve this, but it's not his fault. I'm just like, why this kind of things, this kind of accident happened to me. And is he going to feel like kind of unfair or just... Okay, right, right, right, right. Yeah, go on.

Because to follow on, his fate is part of his destiny. So if he embraces his destiny, I mean, that would be what's next embracing his destiny. Yeah, he now appreciates this is my fate. And it was, it's part of God's plan and is my purpose. to write divine comedy. I don't know why. I don't know what impact it will,

but given the fact that my grandfather told me that I'm going to go into exile and isolation, it's not my fault, and I know for a fact that God loves everyone, that God has a plan, there's a reason, a perfect reason for everything, and I'm part of this plan, then I should just do

what God tells me to do, which is what divine comedy, right? And we call this what? faith, hope, love. That's his salvation. The faith. Faith is understanding the nature of the universe. That God loves us. God is a plan.

And if we just follow the plan by following our intuition, things will turn out okay. We don't know how, we don't know why, but they'll turn out okay. That's what faith is. Hope is to see what the future is. The future is you'll finish divine comity and that's enough. Okay, and then love is why are you doing this? You're doing this for love of Beatrice, love of family, love of God, okay?

All right, these three things, which he discovers here. Yes? So to sum it up, your idea is that Dante believes in predetermination by God, right? Okay, all right, so let's think of this, okay? This is a good question, okay? This is actually a really good question. So thank you, okay? We just said these past two days that free will is,

fundamental law of the universe. We also say that if there's a prophecy then there has to be predetermination. So how can we make sense of this paradox? Is this a paradox? Yes? That arrow the arrow thing that the goal was mentioning, right? Because because if there's no ordinal relationship between those things, predetermination is just determination. There's no what comes first and what comes next. Okay, yes? Well, I just say that free will is like there's a there's like a plan, but like we can choose through free will to either follow it or not follow it. Like there is definitely a plan for every person, but like you don't have to follow this. But people that go against their intuition, right?

Like they do. That's right. Yeah. So remember what free will is. Okay. God loves you. God is trying to pull you back to him because there's the aspect of God inside of you, right? you desire to return to God.

This is the fundamental logic of the universe. God loves you. God's calling you back to him. You love God. You're returning to God, but you have the free will to deny God and turn away from God. That is the free will.

Yes? So a follow-up question. So if God has a plan and God allows you to use your free will to turn away the plan. Then let's look at the people who prosecuted Dante, who drove him out of Florence. So are you, because God knows that these people are going to drive him out from Florence, therefore God must have set the plans for these people. And therefore, God, God's plan for these people, his all good plan for these people is for them to do such an evil thing to drive him out of Florence.

So why? Does anyone want to respond to this? Those people sin on their own behalf of their own free will, right? It's not. God's plan for them to commit to what they did in that case how did God know about it okay okay you're assuming God that cares what happens here God doesn't really care what happens here right what God's plan is is for us to return to him does that make sense God's calling for us and we want to return to him so our actions here is to return to him okay And what happens here on this planet doesn't really impact this grand logic. Does that make sense?

I don't think you made it clear, like how God knew that what the bad guys were going to do if the bad guys really had free will. And if God's plan for these bad people is for them to be bad, how could a good God do this thing? Right. So in this prophecy, what has? happens to all these people who have persecuted Dante, they have a worse faith than Dante, do you understand? Yes, Don't they have exile in isolation, but these people have a

much worse faith than you do. So what's a problem here? The problem is if God's plans for these people to be bad, then how can Almighty good God like make people do bad and then condemn into hell. It's like playing a puppet show. Why would you make the bad puppet? Well, I mean, I mean, if you do bad things, bad things are going to happen to you, right? If I hit you, you're going to hit me back. I think there shouldn't be the dichotomy of bad and good in any serious academic discussion. I mean, we are in a very complex world and of course there is retrobootation, there is, you know, good and bad, but, you know,

bad but we cannot really you know just a tag or anybody or any events just with the very simple you know a tag of good and a bad which will make me discuss it very difficult so I I think the the minor characters in Dante's life or in Dante's books you know are also part of the plan as Danty intended but but you cannot say that their actions are evil and therefore it's not be tolerated by God. I don't think there is there is no need there's any need to discuss even this logic. Okay, all right, you, yes?

Yeah, I was thinking, I think earlier we were making a point where like people do what they think is good based on your judgment. So I was thinking what if those people were doing what they thought was like good, was the right thing. and then they sent like Dante and exile, but then it was like object to leave bad because like God didn't want it, so that's why they got punished.

That was kind of my interpretation. Okay, look, the situation is never as complicated as this. Sorry, the situation is never as simple as this, right? What happened was that Donnie was sent into exile and he said, and they said to me, you can come back, but you must confess to certain crimes. And Donets like, no, screw you, I didn't do anything wrong. Do you understand?

So it's not, it's not simple, it's not black and white. Okay, do you understand? Yeah. Okay, never in life are things black and white. There are four people here, okay? So let's go one by one, okay? You first? It's also that we're framing the people who say exiled Dante, they were doing a bad thing.

But if they had been more pure in their thinking and their intentions, maybe they wouldn't have gone against Dante. So they had, maybe God had a good predetermined plan for them, but they went against it because they didn't look at the situation in the right way. Okay, all right. Okay. So something I want to say is this, okay? No one is really at fault because the situation in Italy is one of complete chaos and warful.

fear, okay? It's kill or be killed. So in their eyes, what they're doing is they're trying to protect families. They're trying to protect their children. Okay. So this is a problem that Donnie is trying to deal with. We live in an evil time where everyone is forced to do the evil. And so what can we do about it? Okay. That's a question that Donnie is facing. For whatever reason, we just end up in a situation where evil rules. And those who commit the most evil are usually the ones who triumph in this world. Maybe not in the next world. Maybe they'll go to hell, but in this world, they will always triumph. And so what can we do about this? And the answer isn't, oh, we'll just wait for God's judgment day. No, no, there has to be a different answer. We're trying to figure out what

it is, okay? Yes. Something that came to mind on top of what we just discussed was simplicity. When Dante embraced his destiny to write divine comedy, it simplified his whole worldview down into it. It's something that comes to mind is simplicity is close to God. Whatever God is, whatever love is, it's simple. I don't know if that makes sense. No, it makes perfect sense, right? He now has focused. Before he had doubt, he had ego, he had fear, now he just has focused.

Like, I'll just write the Vine Comedy. And I won't die until I finish it. Okay? Now he has complete will. The absolute will is now the contingent will as well. Okay, so that's what this prophecy has done for me. It's given in the future, and he knows his place in the universe, okay? So, do you have a comment of question?

Okay, yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe the point was that Dante, he would have never gone through everything if the people chose to do, not chose to do evil to him. So, like, it's a bit complicated, but like they chose to do that. But if they didn't choose that, then through free will, then Dante would have never went through all of this. So, like, how, like, so in the end. it wasn't really a plan from God himself. Right, but what Donnie recognizes, that everything has a purpose. Do you understand?

Everything has a purpose, and that's why he's able to forgive others because as long as he achieves his purpose, then everything... So he still would have achieved his purpose if he wasn't persecuted? No, he would not have been able to, because he would not have been in exile, right?

You need isolation, you need exile in order to write divine comedy. So he needed other people to persecute him, basically. But others were going to persecute him anyway, because this is all political faction fighting, right? This is all political violence right now. Yeah. Okay. All right. Did you have a question?

Yeah, because, you know, first of all, I think original saying is kind of thing that I've been reading in the Bible. It means that our people have seen. This is for sure. And you can say that it's not my fault. You can say this is not my thing, you know, because saying is the original one. Everyone has to be blamed because we steal the apple, right, from the tree. And secondly, I think the Odyssey is also kind of thing maybe that influence, maybe because in Odyssey, you know, the hero just always have to excel, right? So maybe Denton's, yes, maybe Denton's are every hero that need to be exiled.

Maybe. Okay, all right, guys. Okay, so let's let's now focus on the question, okay? The question is, Dante is in a time of pure hopelessness. Whenever you do ends up causing even more problems. And so for Dante, what is the solution? What is the only way forward? Okay.

And this prophecy tells him, you will go into exile and isolation. And in exile and isolation, it doesn't say this, but it's to write the divine comedy. Okay? So why would the divine comedy be a possible solution to all this chaos and darkness and violence? Why? Yes? Because it reunites all the types of thinking, the religion, and it guides through love.

And because love is uniting, well, it's a way to just unite everyone, whatever the culture or area. What does Divine Comnity do and bring to the world that is missing in Europe at this time? It just, like, it proposes a solution for people who, like, went through suffering without understanding why they went through suffering. Because, like, they went through suffering before because of obedience, but through the Catholic Church. but now he proposes a new solution that you can go through suffering because you actually want to make a positive change in the world and not just like obey the church. Okay, but how? Okay. So you suffer and now you can now explain your suffering. What do we call this?

Order. No, okay, so think about this, okay? This is really important. What? No, no. Think of this. Before the divine harmony, this was not, this did not, this was not present in Europe and with, because of its absence,

people were committed tremendous violence against each other. People were just fighting all the time, okay? So Dante decides, I must go into isolation, exile, in order to write the divine comedy in order to to bring this into Europe, right? What is it on comedy? And why does it change the destiny of your forever? Is it about forgiveness? How people as individuals can forgive themselves and each other?

What allows you to forgive someone? What allows you to forgive someone? To recognize a sin and to recognize it's not necessarily their fault? To recognize it's not their fault. And how do you do that? By unconditional love. Observation. Observation is not enough.

What else do you need? Let's talk concretely, okay? Let's figure this. Let's talk concretely. Give in an instance, we forgive someone. Okay? Just tell us a story. And we'll figure out what's going on.

Like if someone gets angry, he hits you, and then you just think it's because of his emotions and it's okay. But what allowed you to know it was his emotions? Like knowledge, What knowledge? Empathy. Empathy, yes, okay? What allows for empathy? Love. Wisdom, what like? Okay, when you're saying, when we're saying this person hit me because he's angry, he's emotional, so he lost control. What are you really doing?

Consideration, considering the person. You go beyond him, you know, you go above him in your knowledge and knowledge. reasoning what does it mean to go above your reasoning and your knowledge you put yourself into his shoes how you do that though imagination the imagination guys you can understand the imagination yes i think it's also like looking inside yourself inside like before like when don't was first ex out he was not thinking about all of us he was thinking about the outside he was thinking objectively these guys harmed me and objectively i'm so angry about it but when he looks inside that he can find this strength you can continue under strength to forgive. So he's using this to tell people to look inside, not outside.

Yeah, because empathy is basically imagining what would I do if I were here. Exactly. Okay. Does that make sense to you? Okay. When you forgive someone, it's an act of imagination. Right? Because you're imagining that if I were that person, I would also get angry and hit someone. Do you understand? Sometimes it's also knowledge. Like in some case, you can imagine the person and then Sometimes you just know why he's angry. Right. And that now is a solution, right? If we can increase the imagination of everyone in Europe,

this violence, this infighting, this chaos, this greed, this corruption would have to decrease. Not coming in the end, you can't do that, but it would have to at least decrease. Does that make sense? And before, people lack in imagination. Why? Why did people lack an imagination before? It's all about obedience to God. That's the Catholic Church.

The obedience, but what emotion was limiting your imagination? What emotion limits your imagination? What? Fear, right? You understand? So let's go back to your instance where someone hits you, right? If you're afraid, what do you do? You hit them back?

You understand? So it's the fear that limits your imagination, And at this time in Europe, fear is dominant emotion. So if Dante is to release people from their fear, he must prove to everyone that God is love. You understand? And once he does that, the imagination now is released and people can be imaginative. And this will mark a new age in Europe and basically let Europe conquer the world. My question now is, how does Dante prove to everyone that God is love?

Everyone now lives in a time when they're afraid of God, when they think that if I sin, God will punish me and send me to hell for all eternity. The fear is what limits imagination. What allows Dante to prove to the world that God is love? Don't be afraid of God, yes? So basically, he's making the unknown unknown. So like people are scared of hell, they're scared of burning in hellfire, and to be honest, they don't really know that heaven exists here. And Dante in the story here, he's taking a role of a pilgrim and he's going to all these places and he's like a tour guide and he's saying, oh guys, this is here, this is that, this happens, that happens, that happens. As long as you don't do that, this won't happen to you.

And he's turning the unknown into a known and that's how you move fear. Okay, so let's just say that Dante opens university and says, and this, you know, I'm going to teach you to be not afraid of God. And here are the reasons why you should be afraid of God. Okay? Would it work? Probably not, okay? Probably not, because we know that Thomas Aquinas tried it, didn't work.

The Franciscans tried it didn't work. The Dominican started it didn't work, okay? But Dante, he was able to prove that God is love. How? He has to live it. Excuse me? He has to live it and he has to write the divine comedy, the channel himself as the example. Okay, yes, okay? The divine comedy is what proves it. Do you understand? Because what is the divine comedy? Yes? Go ahead. Well, you know God loves you because he gave you the free will. Like you, like you, I mean, the divine comedy says that through the will, you can decide your own fate or your own destiny.

But that's just logic. That's just reason. I'm saying like, like, how do you convince someone? that God is love, right? And that's it with divine comedy. Yeah, all right? So what's going on? Why would the divine comedy prove that God is love? And we just said that if Dante were to open a university and lecture on God is love, it wouldn't work. No one would care. They need to let the readers or the audience go on the journey like he didn't. to embody and to emphasize. What is art, guys? Tell me what is art.

Why is art different from everything else? Yes? It's like the difference between an encyclopedia definition of the emotion anger and a piece of art titled anger. So like the encyclopedia edition tells you, it doesn't show you, it tells you what anger is. It's quickening of the pulse, cortisol, etc., etc. But the art, you look at the art,

and you feel it for yourself. You can interpret it for yourself even. But with your intuition, you arrive at the same general conclusion. And art is a channel of consonance between the creator and the observer or the experiencer. Truth, truth, because divine comedy, if divine comedy contains the truth and reflects the truth over time, across dimensions, across different mediums, it'll persist, and therefore, it's proven. Yes, okay, yes. Did you have a...

Yeah, art is just like expression of... Like, just expression of ideas that you get from God. You don't... Like philosophy, for example, it's just like logical thinking, and you can do that by yourself. But expression, to express art, you need a higher form to be inspired by something. Okay, okay, all right.

So let's be very specific, okay? Again, use your intuition. Did you have a comment or? It's a very simple one. So I feel like it's just kind of similar to how the divine comedy state as long as because we could resonate with it. So we believe in it. So that's why it's the truth. Okay.

Okay. Yes. But I want to be specific, okay? I want each and every one of you to think of a movie or a song or a painting or novel that has changed you. Can you think of something that has changed you? piece of art that has changed you. Okay, just name it. Yes? For example, like the, you know the movie, the Terminator, because you know the movie... That is not a piece of art, by the way. Inception.

Inception, okay, yeah. Bruce Lee. The movies, Bruce Lee, okay. Historic materials by Philip Pullman. What, what? What? Historic materials. Is that a novel? Yeah. By what?

It's about growing up and it's about killing- Oh, Philip Coleman, his dark materials. Yeah, yeah. Okay, alright, great, okay, yes. I've actually read that so, so I actually know this example, okay? But tell us why it's changed you as a person. Why? Like, like Philip Pullman, reading his dark materials has given me a new perspective

and what happens after I die. So, this is kind of personal, but I used to be Christian. I used to have this vague faith that if I was good I will go to heaven and everyone who is bad towards me will go to hell and when I read his dark materials it's like being freed and being burdened all at once So sometimes the sometimes the emotions I feel when I am hurt are no one's fault but my own and any closure that I can find I have to find within this world Because after we die all of us are equal every soul is equal and we become new life so I need to have initiative I need to forgive and I need to avenge myself okay all right so that's great okay so this is an example of transformation right your

worldview your worldview has changed the way you perceive yourself the way you perceive the world is different but what was it about his dark materials that made this transformation possible personally I would say is the story it doesn't force a moral upon me I just read the story and I just read the story and I follow the journey of the protagonist and I can emphasize with them okay all right all right okay yes okay did you have a question or comment yeah I think it it names something in yourself that was that used to be unnameable that you don't know how to explain it and someone did it for you and through its their

music you you you feel that emotions in your heart that like finally now you you you had this realization that that oh this really speaks to me And now I know how to... Resonance, right? Yeah. So let's go back to the start materials, okay? Let me ask you this question, okay? Do you, did you cry when you read his dark materials?

Yeah. Did you laugh? Yeah. Did you, were you angry? Yes, extreme. Okay? So do you understand, guys? First and foremost, art is an intense, emotional experience.

Do you guys understand this? If a song moved you, the movie touched you, it's because it was an intense emotional experience for you. And that's one. Two is this intensive emotions. What it does is it goes into you, it opens you, and allows for the entry of the ideas into you. Okay. And these ideas, these words, these songs, these melodies, it's almost a lot of. like a virus that grows over time, right? So the transformation doesn't happen like today, but it happens

over time and you even know it's happening. And then over time, what happens is that your very perception of reality changes. Does that make sense? That is why the divine comedy was proof of God. Okay? Because God could enter you and God could transform the way you saw the world. That's what Divine Comedy is meant to do. It's meant to fill you with love. It's meant to feel you with God. It's meant to give you hope, faith, and love. Do you understand? It's a piece of art. So what it does is what every piece of art does. It shakes you emotionally. It makes you afraid, it makes you happy, it makes you angry, it makes you emotional, okay, it's able to do

so because it's truth and beauty. Does that make sense? All right? And that's why the Vain Comedy marks a radical turning point in European history. It doesn't happen right away right, it takes about 100 years, but because it's so beautiful, because it's so truthful, People are drawn to it. They will read it. And when they read it, they will transform because of it. And as they are transformed because of it, it will inspire them to create tremendous pieces of art. The Renaissance, those painters, Michelangelo, Donatello, they all read the line comedy. Why? And how do we know it? Because the Renaissance occurred in what city? Florence. Is it all just a coincidence?

right why florence and why not venice why not genoa right why florence specifically does that make sense guys wouldn't wouldn't they like ban the divine comedy in throens because it's from dante and they accept them that's a really good point okay so if you analyze this and you're like wait a minute here it's heretical it's heresy it's critical of the kitt of katic church They were not dare ban this. Why not? No. They were not dare bandness. Ackler is already got into a force of itself. So it's any attempt to ban it was just backfire.

No, there's a very good reason why they were not dare banned in the line comedy. Why not? At this time in history, where does art come from? If someone like Leonardo appears and he's able to paint the Mona Lisa, how is he able to do this? He would go against God. Do me? He would go against God because they're like divinely inspired piece of work. Exactly.

You understand this, okay? To try to burn down a painting, to try to destroy an artwork, would be to go against God. that who dares goes against God, right? Because at this time in history, you see Leonardo paint the Mona Lisa, right? You asked Montalisa, hey, Leonardo, how are you able to do this? He told you, I didn't do this, God did this, right? There's no other explanation.

He's like, well, because of my synapses were connected in a certain way, No, it's like, God! Sorry. Yeah? Yeah, again, I'm going to nitpick your logic here. So you said that Dante's divine comedy and the Renaissance occurred in the same city, Florence, and you say that that's because of Dante's or by extension of God's influence. And I would have to say that there are genuine historical reasons why Florence is a fertile ground for the Renaissance. There is the inflow of trade caravans, and there's its fractured nature.

a fractured state actually contributes to a flourishing of diverse ideas and there is a status as a city instead of a suburb so there's a high concentration of intellectuals and it's traditional status as a seminary as a place of education so i think there's loads of reasons and it's not necessarily because of dante i don't dispute this and if you talk to any academic he'll explain to you these very reasons okay you have the medeadjis the banking family who are the patrons of the arts you're the fact that this is a city-state system so there's no central authority the pope cannot have forces authority on Florence. You had, as you point out, the trade, the wealth. There are lots and lots of really good reasons, okay? But my question is,

why Florence and not Dennis or Genoa or any other of these Italian city states, right? What did it happen after Dante and not before Dante? In fact, the Renaissance happened, I would say, about 100 years after the death of Dante, okay? And that's enough time for the divine community to fully, fully incubate the culture. Does that make sense? Because you need to create mass, right? So maybe after Donnie died, there were maybe like 50 manuscripts, and then maybe 100 manuscripts, and then a thousand manuscripts, okay? But you need time for this artwork to fully embed itself in the imagination and in the culture. Okay? Okay. So again, we can argue forever what was the cause of the Renaissance okay but I'm just saying for this

class the purpose of this class just take the sleep of faith and trust when I say that it was Dante's divine comedy that enable the Renaissance okay all right personally I would say that it was a huge factor of Renaissance but I would not say that it was it directly enabled it was just a step in the Great River of History Okay, well, what I would like to do is teach Dante to the entire world and we'll see which parts of the world except Dante. And I guarantee you the part of the world that accept Dante, regardless of where they are, it could be in China, it could be in the Middle East, it could be in Africa. I don't care which parts, but I guarantee you this, whichever parts of the world make Dante part of the curriculum, make every child read Dante, I guarantee. I guarantee you they will flourish more than other parts of the world.

I make you this promise, okay? Yes? That's super powerful. We shall see that. Yeah, and that's my mission, okay? This is why I'm teaching Dante right now. It's part of a larger mission to spread Dane around the world. I guarantee you those parts of the world that do love Dante will flourish.

What does Florence mean, by the way? Do you guys know? Ferenzi, spring, right? I find out of flourishing. Yeah, flourish, spring, flora, same thing. Right, okay. And what's it Greek for flourishing? Do you guys know? What's it Greek for flourishing?

No. Fudimonia. Anyway, anyway, I went on top. Anyway, but like, you see, see how, what's happened, right? Donne is facing dilemmas. Okay. His life sucks. All of Europe sucks. Okay. And then he has his prophecy and he understands, okay, now my mission is to write divine comedy. Okay, that's why I'm going to exile. That's why I'm going into isolation. Because by running divine comedy, I can bring the imagination to the world and it's imagination that is our salvation. All right. So the divine comedy must be the greatest piece of all. in the world for this to happen. And if I were righted, I don't have to fear the Catholic

Church because the Catholic Church knows this must be the work of God. All right, I can say what I want. I don't care what I say. As long as it's beautiful and truthful, it will be saved, okay? And so what saves it is the poetry, the beauty of the words. And again, unfortunately, we don't speak Italian, but if you were actually to read the Divine Comedy in Italian, you cannot help but be emotional. You cannot help but be moved by the words. And you will feel, I think, I actually don't know this because I never tried,

but I bet that for some people, they actually have an out-of-body experience where they will actually transcend the physical form and be more in touch with the divine. It would be like taking ayahuasca or a psychedelic of some sort, okay? All right. If you were to actually practice, we send in the Divine Comedy, does that make sense? Yes?

I'm just, you said that any country, any region that adopts Dante as part of the core curriculum would flourish. And I would just like to point out that the country that most definitely does this right now is probably Italy. And I don't know what's your opinion now how they're doing. I don't think, yeah. Yes. Well, actually, I was in Italy and Florence and I were near Florence and I've talked to people who studied the divine comedy for six years and they, they all say that they hated it because the teacher didn't like they, like, they didn't do it like teach it like you. It's like totally different experience. They like only looked at the grammar and at the language, but they didn't actually like understand what you're saying about the law of an imagination.

really like plain. Yeah, okay. Like they don't teach it the same way as you teach it. Look, look, look. Look, you can make anything terrible by making it, by testing it, right? Like, you just add tests or anything, it's gonna be terrible. Because you're not, because test is forced you to abandon your imagination. Right, and that's why I say, you want to read that by and comedy,

you have to use your intuition, your imagination. Okay, and you just truly understand it, then you, will transcend. Does that make sense? All right. Okay. All right. So now let's talk more about faith, love, and hope. I want to be very specific here about what these things are. So what we're going to do is we're going to go to Kendall 24. And I'll set the scene, okay? The scene is Dante and Beatrice are in heaven. And they and Beatrice becomes Dante's teacher. And they are exploring the cosmos to find more about how heaven works to find out of the nature of reality the nature of god so what do do you think happens now you guys guess do you guys know what happens now we just talked about this

you learn and you finish your learning and now what does it be a test guys okay yes so before dante can meet god um he has to prove he's working he's working he's working And to do that, you have to pass an examination or an oral examination. So there's going to be three apostles, Peter, John, and James. And each of these apostles is going to test Dante on a concept. The first concept is faith. What is faith? Second concept is what is hope. Third concept is what is love. And only if Dante answers all three to the section of these apostles, can now he ascend to the highest realm, the imperium.

It doesn't make sense. Okay? So this is really funny. You're in heaven, and they make you take an examination. Okay, so you can never, ever escape tests. All right. So this is the test of faith. And by the way, what's happened is that Beatrice has taught Dante,

and now Beatrice has to observe Dante, okay? She cannot participate, she cannot help Dante. Dante is now by himself, okay? He now has to prove that he's absorbed the true teachings of heaven. All right. Okay, so, Candle 24. Candle 24. Oh, fellowship that has been chosen for the Blessed Lamb's,

Great Supper, where he feeds you so as always to fulfill your need, since by the grace of God, this man receives foretaste of something fallen from your table before death has assigned his time its limit, direct your mind to his immense desire, quench him somewhat, you who forever drink from that source which has sought and longing seek. So Beatrice and these delighted souls formed companies of spheres around fixed poles, flaming as they revolved, as comets glow, and just as in a clock's machinery to one who watches them, the wheels turn so that, while the first wheel seems to rest,

the last wheel flies, so did those circling dancers, as they danced to different measures swift and slow, make me a judge of what their riches were. Okay, stop, okay, all right. So guys, for homework, Not only do I want you to reread what we discussed today, but I also want you to look at artwork, imagery inspired by the Vain Comedy, okay? It's a very visual poem, and there's lots of paintings, lots of artwork inspired by it,

so that you know how creative it is, but you also recognize how crazy all this is, okay? Verse 19, from that sphere which I noted as most precious, I saw a flame come forth with so much gladness that none it left behind had greater brightness. And that flame world three times round Beatrice, while singing so divine a song that my imagination cannot shape it for me. My pen leaps over it. I do not write. Our fantasy, and all the more so, speech are far too gross for painting folds so deep. Oh, you who pray to us with such devotion, my holy sister, with your warm affection, you have released me from that lovely

sphere. So after he had stopped his motion, did the blessed flame breathe forth unto my lady, and what he said, I have reported here. She answered, O eternal light of that great man to whom our Lord bequeathed the keys of this astonishing gladness, the keys he bore to earth, do test this man concerning the faith by which you walked upon the sea. Ask him points light and grave, just as you please. That he loves well and hopes well and has faith is not concealed from you. You see that place where everything that happens is displayed.

But since this realm has gained its citizens through the true faith, it rightly falls to him to speak of faith that he may glorify it. Just as the bachelor candidate must arm himself and does not speak until the master submits the question for discussion, not for settlement.

So while she spoke, I armed myself with all my arguments preparing for such a questioner and such professing. On hearing that light breathe, good Christians speak, show yourself clearly what is faith. I raised my brow, then turned to Beatrice,

whose glance immediately signaled to me to let the waters of my inner source pour forth. Then I, so may the grace that grants to me to make confession to the chief centurion permit my thoughts to find their fit expression and followed father as this truthful pen of your dear brother wrote that brother who with you set rome upon the righteous road faith is the substance of the things we hope for and is the evidence of things not seen and this i take to be its quiddity okay stop okay all right so what's happening is that

the apostle is now testing Dante. And the first question is, what is faith? And what Donnie is going to do is he's going to repeat what Paul wrote in Hebrews, okay? Which is faith, what does he say? Faith? Yeah, faith is a substance of the things we hope for and it's the evidence of things not seen.

Okay? All right. So, this entire situation is kind of weird. Why is it weird or paradoxical? Peter asked Dante, what is faith? And Donnie's response is, well, I'm going to refer to the expert on faith, which is Paul. And I'm going to repeat what Paul said, which is that faith is the evidence of things unseen. Why is that weird? Why is this entire situation weird? Yes? Well, because she despises the Catholic Church and Paul is the Catholic Church

So why would he like recite his words and not like the words of Jesus or something? So I think despise the heart is harsh, okay? Yeah, he is critical of the Catholic Church Right he thinks the Catholic Church should be reformed, but you know he doesn't believe the Catholic Church should be abolished But doesn't we're going on, yes? The weird thing going on is that all this while Dante is talking about imagination, intuition, and importance of looking into himself. And he criticized the traditional mode of theological learning, which is to recite things and then spew it back out in your way when it comes to your own interest. And what he's doing right here is that he's reciting something and he's spilling it out. So what is he doing here?

Yeah, so it is a bit weird, don't you think, right? So Donne is saying, you know, use your imagination, use your will. and now he's partaking in an examination, right? Hebrews. Are you looking for Hebrews? Hebrews 11, yes. Hebrews 11 is where this is, okay? So maybe we'll just read a bit of that, okay?

So this is written by Paul. He's trying to explain what faith is. Hebrews 11, NIV. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for an assurance about what we do not see. Yeah, right, but it goes on, right? So, so, so, so maybe you can have the whole passage. Okay, okay, so there's something really weird going on

because where are they? They're in heaven, right? So basically, who can you have questioning Donnie about faith? Yeah, well, not that, but how about Paul? because Paul is the expert on faith, right? If you're in heaven, you can access anyone. Get Paul to ask Donnie about faith. So clearly this is a paradox, right?

And this is another way that Dante is signaling that he differs from the official teachings, okay? So yes, he's going to repeat the official doctrine, which is a faith is the evidence of things unseen, but he's going to make sort of changes to it. Does it make sense, guys? Because otherwise, why don't I have Paul test you? All right. I can just read Hebrews 11, okay? Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith, we understand that the universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith, Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith, he was commended as righteous. When God spoke well of his offerings, and by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith, Enoch was taken from this life so that he did not experience death. He could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Okay, stop. Okay. So do you guys understand what's going on? Okay? So faith is the idea that you understand the nature of reality. That it's all designed by God. Everything that happens is for purpose. And everything is leading to this point in history. That is what faith is. Faith is the understanding. God and here again it's really important Dante would agree with Paul's understanding of faith and that's why he repeats Paul's understanding okay but at same time we need to be aware that Paul's not present this is like really really weird right Paul's at present here he's not mentioned here so we have to be suspicious about what's going on okay it seems as though Donnie is just reciting but Donnie is gonna make some new changes to this understanding. Can you read please?

Verse 64, and is the evidence of things not seen, and this I take to be it's quiddity. And then I heard you understand precisely if it is fully clear to you why he has first placed faith among the substances and then defines it as an evidence. I next, the deep things that on me bestow their image here are here, hid from sight below so that their being lies in faith alone and on that faith the highest hope is founded and thus it is that faith is called a substance and it is from this faith that we must reason deducing what we can from syllogisms without our being able to see more thus faith is also called an evidence okay all right okay so again he repeats paul and now he's going to make adjustments to paul right

So faith for Paul is the evidence of things unseen. It is the divine plan. It is what keeps the world together. It is what moves history. That is what faith is. What does Dante say? And how does it change? Paul.

This is a really hard question, but let's try to figure this out. So Paul says that faith is understanding. obeying the underlying plan of the universe. Okay, that's what faith is. There is a plan. There is a God. Miracles do happen. You don't see these things, but they do happen.

That's what faith is. You don't trust your eyes. You trust your heart. And then Dante says that faith is what finds everything together. It is what underlies everything. How is this different? How is this logically different? Can you repeat what he said? The next deep things.

Verse 70. The deep things that on me bestow their image here are hid from sight below so that their being lies in faith alone. And on that faith the highest hope is founded. And thus it is that faith is called a substance. And it is from this faith that we must reason, deducing what we can from syllogisms without our being able to see more, see more, thus faith is also called an evidence. Okay, this is really hard, okay? And I actually may get this wrong, okay?

But I think there's a difference between what Paul says and what Donnie says. Paul says that faith is the belief in a grand plan, that faith is what moves the universe. But Donnie says something different. What is this? Yes? He's saying that faith are the cornerstones of the universe, but that you're, you have to build on these cornerstones by reasoning and syllogism. So where does faith come from?

So he's saying that, let me use an example here. So let's say that you don't follow Dante's advice and you use logic to define everything. So you go to logic your way out of believing that God exists. However, what Dante is saying here is that you just have to take it as a matter of faith that God exists. And then you can build on the fact that God exists and then figure out. out what you want to what you want to know okay okay okay all right so so okay I'm gonna tell you what I think this is saying and I could be wrong okay and what I'll just say what I'm saying and we'll see what matches with the text okay

I think in Paul's formulation what he's saying is that the plan already exists and you just have to believe it exists okay it's sort of passive doesn't make sense but what Donnie is saying is that faith is the underlying substance of the universe. And it's what moves the universe. And it's from faith. We can build things. But this raises a question like,

where did faith come from in the first place? And what he's trying to suggest, okay? I may have this wrong. What he's trying to suggest is that it's an active thing where we are projected our faith. It's faith. Our faith is what drives the universe. Okay?

In other words, what faith is is our imagination. It's the imagination that's the animating force of the universe. So we've gotten from Paul, which is just passive, just accept faith, accept miracles happen, accept God, there's God, to one of us active, like, we are projecting our faith on the universe, which creates the universe, which moves things. You understand? Okay, so about us, there would be no faith.

About us, there would be no universe. That I think is a difference. Okay? So can we just read it again, make sure that my interpretation is correct? I could be wrong. Okay, but let's read it again and see if this is correct, all right? Verse 70, the deep things that on me bestow their image here are hid from sight below so that their being lies in faith alone.

And on that faith, the highest hope is founded. And thus it is that faith is called a substance. and it is from this faith that we must reason deducing what we can from syllogisms. Without our being able to see more, thus faith is also called an evidence. Okay, what do you guys think? Do you think that this matches the text? Yes? I have a question.

Yes. What are the deep things that on me bestow the image here? Where is it? In the first line. The deep things that army bestow their image here are hid from sight below so that the being lies in faith alone. So, I mean, he's talking about things like angels and demons and God itself, right? The deep things, the things underlying reality, the things below reality. Forces.

To me? Forces. Like underlying forces. Things you can't see, right? Spirits, right? So these spirits must exist for some things. And he's saying it must exist for faith alone. Right?

But then what's faith then? And how these spirits come to being? It must be an active force, the imagination. Right? And the imagination can only come from us or from God. And I'm just interpret to say, it's coming from us, I think. Okay? This reminds me of an analogy I heard about God being a clockmaker.

and whether the clock maker kind of designs the innards of a clock and leaves it be and the clock runs itself, or is there human agency in the clock running? And I think what I hear is that Paul sounded more passive in that, and could be what was mentioned as more be determined, that things were set in motion. But here, Dante is you matter. You're an active agent. Imagine and do.

And you're part of the grand truth and beauty of the universe. Yes, yes. And also, like, reason must be based on the imagination, right? You must believe God exists. You must believe there is a plan to the universe. And from that, you can reason things out. Okay. Reason and imagination are not.

conflict with each other reason that imagination, reason is built on top of imagination. Okay, so again, we can argue back and forth and I wish we actually had a dotic scholar in here who actually knows this stuff okay, but I'm just I'm just guessing, okay? This is what my intuition is saying he's saying, okay? Do you have footnotes on this? Let's look forward to rereading and I mean this is I mean this is part of what's very important by about this text. Okay, so, so, so we'll figure this out, okay? So, uh, we'll go with the, go and do some research guys, okay? Tell me what this is actually saying. I think this is a, um, you, he is suddenly changing the meaning of Paul. Okay. Paul again is passive, he's active. And we're saying is that

what I'm saying that's very important is that faith is imagination. When you believe in God, you also have to believe in yourself. You also have to imagine, okay? it's an active act of imagining. It doesn't make sense. All right. Okay, let's keep on going. Oh yeah. So what do you mean?

Face is the kind of thing, you have to determine your mind to believe it so it will exist. Or if you don't believe it and the face just do not exist. Okay, okay. So let's clarify this, okay? In science, right? God doesn't exist. If you can't see it, it doesn't exist. Is that correct?

Right? And what Donnie is saying is that, if you do it that way, you'll never get anywhere. All right? And yes? Well, no, but energy is something that you talk about inside. And energy you can see, so energy can be got inside. Sorry, it's not something you can't see. It's something you can't measure.

Okay. You can measure energy. Yeah. Right, okay? So if you can't actually measure it, it doesn't exist. But then it's like you have all these holes in science, which is like, what is consciousness? Right? No one is allowed to ask this question. What is consciousness?

Yes? So I'm actually really interested in this question. So like Dante has been shown like these deep things, right? He has been shown these angels. And Beatrice is leading around like this. I mean the Dante and the story, not Dante the offer. And so is the Dante in the story's faith, therefore diminish because he has seen and has proof of these things, because he's no longer believing him on merit of faith anymore. Okay, that's a really interesting question, and I think the simple answer, but does anyone have a response to this?

The divine comedy is a product of his faith. Do you understand? It's only by having faith, could he write the divine comedy? No, no, no. I'm talking about the Dante in the story, not the Dante the offer. Oh, okay, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I'm just really looking forward to understanding what love in this case in Dante's mind is because it looks like faith, faith looks like love, sounds like love. So yeah, so.

I think, you know, I try to read this text from on different layers. So the fundamental layer for me is textualist layer. So I'm trying to read everything in Italian. And in the, you know, in the presentation of the concept of face, I think I, if, I'm totally, I'm not fluent in Italian, but I think the word used for evidence actually is augmenti. So it's not evidence. It's not, it's not evidence. So I think there is a major diversion between the English and the Italian text. So if we take evidence away and change it to the argumenti. So there is... It's on line 76, credenza.

So the English is not an exact line by language. The face. I'm talking about evidence. Evidence. Evidence in Italian is Evidenza. And in the Dante text, it is argumenti. It never used evidencea. So it is argument. Sorry, sorry, okay, so, okay, let's think about what this line actually means. Faith is the evidence of things unseen. What does that line this line actually mean?

Faith is the evidence of things unseen. What does this actually mean? That it tells you your senses don't, like, you cannot trust your senses because your sense doesn't catch it, but. Right, right, there's no evidence this exists, you understand? It's all faith. Faith is the only evidence. The only argument.

I think the original word, argumenti, is the perfect word, because it is just an argument. It is just a perception. You don't have to deduct anything from it. That's faith. Right. Okay. Yes. Okay.

So that's the idea. Okay. There is no evidence, okay, beyond faith. You have to believe it exists otherwise it doesn't exist. That's it. There's no point in arguing of this because there's actually no evidence otherwise. Yeah. Yeah.

I know. So back to my question about the fictional Dante, is the fictional Dante's faith diminished because he has proof of what he used to believe in? Okay, so this is how I would understand, okay? Dante, the program, would not have been allowed to go on this journey unless he had faith. Doesn't make sense. Okay? But within the faith, which is hard, there has to be some experiences that confuse him, that blind him from his true faith, which is like, why am I in exile in isolation and poor? If I'm truly worthy of God, why did God have this faith for me? Okay? So he's going on this journey because he has faith. and this journey it's meant to

remove all the doubts and the fears from him it doesn't make sense the faith is always there he wouldn't be on this journey unless he had that faith right and this entire journey it's meant to clarify for him

why he has faith so you're saying that he goes on this journey and he experiences all these things of his own free will that it is not poured into his brain. Okay. So first of all, the divine comedy, it's a pure act of imagination, right?

He didn't actually go to heaven. He might have, he might have had visions, but he didn't actually go to heaven. And this pilgrim, it's meant for, it's meant to allow us to go on our own journey. do you understand and because he's meant to represent us then it depends on who you are doesn't make sense there is no objective experience it's all a subjective thing where if you read the text you're gonna have a different experience as Dante than if I were to read the text as Dante all right so this is a question that you have to answer by yourself

Okay, yeah. Yeah, so like I'm just curious at where the line is. So we basically established that faith is believing in something despite material evidence to the contrary or a lack of material evidence. That's what we said. Okay, so that what is what you say? Yeah, okay. So Paul says faith is the evidence of things unseen. Okay, so. So. So Paul says faith is the evidence of things unseen. Okay. So. So. So. To put this in very simple terms, okay, there are things that exist in this world that you can never prove to exist. If you try to do so by science, by measuring it, you get nowhere, okay? You would never prove God exists. You would never prove consciousness exists. But if you are to truly experience the world, if you're trying to make sense of the world, then you have to assume certain things about the world through your faith. For example, God exists, consciousness exists.

We are connected to God. Okay? And from then, you can reason things out that help you seek the truth. But there is no evidence that these things that God exist was true in the first place. Okay? And that's why science today has run into a dead end. Like, I'm not sure if you guys study science, okay, but you look at physics, you look at neuroscience. It's all a dead end.

Okay. All right. Then tell me in the past 70 years, what's physical? What quick food physics have we had? We have had the particle accelerator, which- That's technology. I'm talking about physics. It has allowed us to have insight into the particular things that make up atoms.

I think what you are citing basically just articles, news articles. You are not a scientist. You cannot make that, you know, even that comment. You know, what scientific findings, breakthroughs, what, what are not you cannot make that judgment look look look you talk to any physicists and he'll tell you the last major breakthroughs quantum mechanics quantum physics okay after that we we've had things like string theory that's like okay but it's not a major breakthrough maybe maybe we should talk to a physics

physicists okay then guys go go home do do the homework okay tell me in the past many years what major theory in physics have we had no professor you're making an extraordinary So the burden of proof is upon you. No, no, no, I'm telling you what I've read online. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What you read online? Well, I was a physicist.

I was a physicist from age not eight, and I've studied also physics, you know, until college. My intuitive understanding is I agree with Professor Jiang that the so-called breakthroughsuits are just in the last 70 years or 50 years, or 50 years is just you know just basically just speculation so I but I cannot see that I really on the same level as the top scientists in the world of course I just

you know I'm mature but I think you have to you have to do your homework before you make any comment thank you and just yeah and just look at just look at neuroscience like that the people will live in it yeah can hear me yeah like people dating back to maybe 5,000 years ago or maybe even before that people will live in Amazon forest they've been they've been since then they already been starting using psychedelics like iowa scott but now we still have yet to figure out how um it works i mean we know the theories like the synapses the receptors but how they um they form all this kind of how they have all those experiences we don't know we've been having that medicine for thousands of years okay and also like

we don't even know how they came up with ayahuasca right because ayahuasca is a blending of two plants there's like a million plants you could blend together right how do they know that these two particular plants together in their certain quantity would induce the psychedelic experience that's pretty amazing to think about right if it's just random uh it would take a million years to figure this out how did they do that how they able to figure out ayahuasca it's without one another the the only the actually the psychoactive herb that can only last for like 10 minutes 20 minutes but with the other herb among millions of herb um they combine they they create this ayahuasca that can actually give you

a full experience rather than just 10 minutes of tripping yeah so there's no way it could have been random right there's no way it could have been random it was not like okay you know what just trimillion plants and see which two work out right they could have been random we've heard about the story of shenong cheng bai's how even translate that the the guy who try yeah yeah who tastes this guy in ancient china who tastes like down the herbs and even got praised in a few times and and he wrote a book about all those herbs i mean that that could be not true but i mean okay look look look look okay i I was going to tell you, no one knows how they came up with this, okay?

It is one of the most powerful psychedelics in the world, and it's saved, and it gives you this transcendental experience, and as you point out, it requires two plants, it requires two herbs in a certain quantity together, okay? And it's like, how do they figure this out? Because there are like these millions of these herbs in the Amazon, right? Yeah? I'm saying that I absolutely agree with what you say in the context of

Dante. So back to your stated mission for this class is to spread Dante and make people realize how good Dante is. And I'm saying that I agree with your mission. I think it's really great. But if you try to make this super science, if you try to elevate this above science, above common knowledge, then I think it will be really hard to convince people why you will not be able to achieve your mission. Okay. Okay. I didn't say it was better than science. I said that if you just work with the current paradigms of science, you get into a lot of dead ends, including consciousness, including a lot of things, okay? All right. Any other comments or questions?

Yes? I do believe what the professor said, because Dante is kind of a solution, is kind of a possible way for us to lead into new future. So it doesn't mean that Dante just try to deny ever, you know, philosophy or it can be, Danty is not out of top of it, but as Danting is kind of a new channel, I think. Maybe this is new possible. Yeah, so. Do you remember in Channel 2, Dante and Beatrice were talking about the, the dark spots on the moon? And Bidre said to Dante, you should do a science experiment, right?

Donne is not anti-science. He's not. In fact, he loves science. He himself was a scientist. Okay, so this is not an anti-science. science thing. But what Donnie is saying is that you have to believe certain things about the world if you are truly to seek the truth. And certainly these things are, you know, are just things you can't see. You can't never know. You just have to believe in them. That's what the faith is. Okay. I want to share something. I really appreciated David pointing out the word argumente, whether it's evidence or argument in English.

because what the verse that captured me was on that faith, the highest hope is founded. So to me, this passage is about faith, not just as almost like a blind faith that if you think about what Paul could be saying, faith is just, okay, you don't see it, but that's what it is. So have faith in that. But this here is where hope is founded. So it's a driving force upon which imagination, things, people have action. It's a driving force. Exactly. Okay.

So we'll end with this, okay? What's the highest hope? What's our highest hope? Exactly, right? What is the highest hope? Yeah, yeah, guys. I'd be curious to hear your answers. But what is salvation then?

What is heaven? Return to God, right? Like we've been talking about this, like this morning, which is like God is calling to us and we are calling to God. That's what the highest hope is, to be able to return to God, which is our salvation and redemption. Okay, yes? My highest hope is to make every organism, every living being

in this universe happy and safe and loved. And I don't think that has anything to do with returning to. this God. But that's what theologians say is returning to God. Returning to God is if you return to God by yourself, that's not enough. Everything has to return to God. God has to be made whole, right? Because God splitting itself up into the world, and now everything has to return to God for the world to be whole again. Okay, and that would be the highest happiness, the highest hope. And my point is we can't just look inwards and be like, I'll meditate all day and this will be good. We have to do works, do good works.

No one is saying meditate all day. Donnie is saying you have to learn, you have to debate, you have to inquire, you have to experiments, right? That's what Donny is saying here. My question is, has Dante done any good works? Like Dante the fictional pilgrim, has he done any good works as the result of his experiences? I don't understand a question. What I'm saying is after he got enlightenment, so he realized that his highest mission is to return to God and to make God whole, right? making everyone around and return to God. So what has he done towards this goal? I'm talking about Dante the fictional character, not the offer.

Well, well, we don't know because we're finished the line comedy yet, right? Okay, okay, when we get there, we'll know what he did. Okay, yes? Clarification on faith. Can I interpret it as just fully committing to a hypothesis, like in Dante, Dante's terms, fully committing to the hypothesis that fully committing to the hypothesis. If you change the hypothesis to faith, yes, committing to your faith. Committing to your hypothesis that God exists. No, because hypothesis can be proven wrong. Oh, that's true, that's true. Right?

The faith is the assumption, the thing from which everything must come, right? In order to achieve the highest hope, you need to have faith, right? I think the true value of this class is not only about denting, but also about God, because people right now don't believe in God. Most of them believe in money, the power, the science, the AI. So which means that we lost our face, we lost our hope, we lost our love. But if the denting really, you know, can really recall people in memory, maybe people can just on the one hand develop their science for no problem. But on the other hand, they should know the phrase, hope, and love is the most important thing that can leave people to live, together happily and not just hatred or just have war.

Maybe. So I get to ask a lot what I think the path forward is. We live in a world of war. We live in a world where Donald Trump is president, you know. And so what is the path forward? And the answer is, if we all read Dante, our imagination would be activated and we would have the faith to achieve the highest hope. Okay. The answer is not in me. The answer is in you. The answer is by reading Dante to achieve your true potential, your true self.

Okay, all right. So we'll leave that for now. We'll continue this tomorrow, okay? All right. So but thank you. You're all improving. It seems you're all transcending or you're all being enlightened, okay? And that's really the power of Donner. Just a few days of Dante is going to make you a better person. Okay, so again, the homework is to reread what we read and make sure you understand what's going on, okay? And again, all this is my interpretation. Look for other interpretations. They're all available online, right? And really come to your own understanding. And if you feel that my interpretation is a bit off or there's a little bit off or there's a little, problems with some of my arguments, challenge us, okay? This is a place meant for free debate,

open dialogue. I don't censor anyone. I don't stop anyone from talking. Okay? All right, guys, see you tomorrow.