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    How to find happiness with The DIVINE COMEDY
    How to find happiness with The DIVINE COMEDY
    How to find happiness with The DIVINE COMEDY
    Ebook110 pages1 hour

    How to find happiness with The DIVINE COMEDY

    By Luisa Pinnelli

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    About this ebook

    What are the nature and signs of the lost souls? How do the various characters in Hell behave, and how do they think and feel? How do they present themselves and what arguments do they put forward to justify or embellish their guilt? And above all, to what extent are they aware of it? The author aims to answer these questions in a psychological and sympathetic investigation based on a close examination of the text, key words, and associations within the work itself. In this way historical authenticity is maintained while also allowing the extraordinary modernity of the first canticle of The Divine Comedy to shine through, its aim in the poet’s mind being to illuminate the dark recesses of the conscience to liberate the reader from the sequence of errors which give rise to the pain of living.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLuisa Pinnelli
    Release dateApr 2, 2013
    ISBN9788867558049
    How to find happiness with The DIVINE COMEDY

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      Book preview

      How to find happiness with The DIVINE COMEDY - Luisa Pinnelli

      sick.

      Part One

      Disorientation and the search for help: Virgil (canto I)

      The introductory canto tells the story of a man who halfway through the journey of his life loses the straight way / la diritta viaand suddenly finds himself in a dark wood / selva oscura. He sees a hill bathed in sunlight and would like to reach it, but three fierce beasts appear, blocking his way: a spotted leopard, a lion and a she-wolf. The latter is the most frightening and threatening. He is overcome with fear but all of a sudden sees the shade of a great sage who appears before him and offers him a way to salvation, promising him the rapid intervention of a hunting dog that will clear the path.

      The man in question is Dante, the sage is Virgil, the dog is the Greyhound. But from the words our life / nostra vita in the first verse, we deduce that the story concerns us all, when we suddenly find ourselves in a moment of deep existential crisis and desperately seek a solution. Let us begin by looking at the wild beasts that represent the base tendencies which take over the human mind in moments of confusion, hindering its clarity: the leopard, with its beautiful spotted coat, is still a symbol of seduction nowadays, difficult to resist, since it brings with it the illusion of pleasure. The lion, with its great mane, is the symbol of the arrogance that deceives us into believing ourselves to be the strongest. The she-wolf, so lean and ravenous, represents on the one hand avarice and on the other the mechanisms of the mind that lead us into believing that we are extremely astute.

      The illusions are seductive and provide temporary satisfaction. In the long term, however, they lead nowhere. We can be aware of them as dark forces over which we have no control: indeed, they control us and prevent us from moving forward. What can save us in this situation if not a high and authoritative voice that calls us in a direction we sense to be different? Virgil, author of the Aeneid, offers Dante the path to salvation: It is another path that you must follow… if you would flee this wild and savage place / A te conviene tenere altro viaggio… se vuo’ campar d’esto loco selvaggio. In the darkest moments of our lives we must not force ourselves to move on: rather, we must agree to turn back, to re-descend into the depths of the soul and understand the root of the evil that chains us to the past. Only an understanding of the past can free us from the duress that transforms our lives into a repetition mechanism.

      In essence, Virgil is proposing to Dante the catàbasis eìs àntron, the descent into the underground cavern. On the other hand, who better than the author of the Aeneid to lead a journey into the dark recesses of the mind? In antiquity, Aeneas, who abandons a world in flames in order to create for himself and his people a new destiny, was the prototype of the man who takes on the exploration of the unknown not in order to satisfy personal curiosity (like Ulysses), but to save his world. While Virgil represents the theoretical and methodological competence needed for the investigation of the unconscious world, the Greyhound, whose arrival Virgil prophesies, represents a sort of instinct and practical orientation through which negative tendencies are identified, hunted out and suppressed. It could be said that Virgil and the Greyhound complement each other, like the detective and the police dog in many thrillers in our own time.

      Feelings of inadequacy and hope of success.

      The three heavenly women (canto II)

      The journey Virgil proposes to Dante is arduous and it is only natural that Dante should not feel himself up to it (I am not Aeneas nor am I Paul. Neither I nor any think me fit for this / Io non Enea, non Paulo sono, me degno a ciò né io né altri ‘l crede). He compares himself to Aeneas who visited Hades, or to Saint Paul who ascended as far as the third heaven. Both the Trojan hero and the Apostle to the Gentiles faced an enormous task, but Dante still feels himself to be just an ordinary man with no special mission to carry out. Virgil encourages and reassures him: he is not alone, someone is watching over him. Who is this? The Virgin Mary, Saint Lucia and Beatrice are the women who are protecting Dante from above and who are concerned for his salvation. Virgin Mary is generous and compassionate (there is a gracious lady in heaven so moved /donna è gentile in ciel che si compiange); Lucia is strong and combative (the enemy of every cruelty / nimica di ciascun crudele); Beatrice is sincere (true praise of God / loda di Dio vera) and truly loves her Dante (my friend, who is no friend of Fortune / l’amico mio e non della ventura).

      The Virgin Mary was the first to be aware of Dante’s crisis and it was she who set help in motion. She immediately summoned Lucia, who, in her turn, urged Beatrice to descend into Limbo to contact Virgil and send him to Dante (I was among the ones who are suspended when a lady called me, so blessed and so fair, that I implored her to command me. Her eyes shone brighter than the stars. Gentle and clear, the words she spoke to me – an angel’s voice was in her speech / Io ero tra color che sono sospesi e donna mi chiamò beata e bella, tal che di comandare io la richiesi. Lucevan li occhi suoi più che la stella; e cominciommi a dir soave e piana con angelica voce in sua favella). Mary is the ever-present mother capable of perceiving danger before it is too late; Lucia is her courageous ally, ready to battle with the enemy; Beatrice is the one who indicates to Dante the way of truth. The three women are clearly in contrast with the three wild beasts: Virgin Mary with the spotted leopard, Lucia with the lion, and Beatrice with the she-wolf, as is kindness with seduction, courage with arrogance, sincerity with dishonesty. We can already spot the line-up for battle: on one side, the dark wood and on the other the sun bathed hill; below, the wild beasts who symbolise the lower consciousness; in the middle, Virgil who offers the vital tool of reason. Near him, the Greyhound represents effective action crowned by success.

      So we have the map of the human mind ready for the psychological analysis that alchemists called nigredo (blackness). The darkest crisis generates in us the desire for salvation; the experimentation of evil acquaints us with the negative tendencies that stand in the way of a healthy and natural development; reason is the only thing capable of carrying out a serious examination to identify the blocks that must be removed in order to allow change to occur. Lastly, faith in the positive tendencies that exist in nature on a par with the negative ones is also necessary. From this prodigious mix the chance of success of the alchemical operation known asnigredo is born.

      Fear of living and hatred of life.

      Indolents and sinners (canto III)

      As soon as Dante enters the gate of Hell, the first thing he hears is the deafening sound produced by a discordant combination of sighs, weeping and lament, voices loud and faint, the sound of slapping hands / voci alte e fioche e suon di

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