This essay presents a unique approach to Dante's Comedia, viewing it as an instruction on the means by which one can actively participate in Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven as a transformative psychological exercise in personal de... Read more

This essay presents a unique approach to Dante's Comedia, viewing it as an instruction on the means by which one can actively participate in Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven as a transformative psychological exercise in personal development through a deep engagement with the imagery rather than a passive literary exercise. This deep personal engagement is based on the psychological insights and techniques of medieval religion, philosophy, and science, particularly those represented in the imagery of the Catholic Church coupled with an understanding of medieval cosmology, both of which were quite familiar to Dante. As a personal journey. the realms of Hell, Purgatory, the Earthly Paradise, and Heaven need to be understood, not strictly speaking as personal psychology, but as personal psychology enmeshed in the threads, webs, and knots of one's culture and cultural psychology, where it is difficult to sort through who to praise and who to blame and participation and progress in life are hampered through that confusion. Given the widespread knowledge of that imagery and those techniques during Dante's time, it is not impossible to suppose that this sort of personal undertaking of the journey Dante presented in Comedia was actually intended and encouraged of the reader and a part of the conscious design of the author, but this is nowhere supported in the literature. The full instruction on the means by which to experience the Comedia as a personal journey for the modern reader requires some small forays into and discussion of modern psychology, particularly that of the analytical psychology of C. G. Jung. These are limited and kept as brief and as simple as possible to inform the everyday reader rather than to satisfy scholars on the matter. Some brief definitions of relevant terms and concepts and their application and relevance to the personalization of the journey is all that is required. Crucial to the personalization of the journey is an understanding of the alchemical Imagination of Nature which is presented following a short introduction to Dante, the Comedia, and his guides on the journey: the Roman poet, Virgil who guides him through Hell and Purgatory, and a young woman, Beatrice, whom he admired in his personal life, and who conducts him through Heaven. A description of the means to engage the personalized journey follows that.After reading the necessary introductions to the history, some brief introductions of a few psychological concepts and the alchemical Imagination of Nature, and the instruction on the application of these to the undertaking, the reader will be able to join Dante in his journey. The description of the journey itself is limited to the most salient images along the way and their relevance to personal transformation for the modern reader are likewise kept to a minimum just to give the reader an idea of where to begin his personal interpretation and understanding according to his/her life experience and includes some necessary explanations of the symbolism but does not cover all the imagery and all its symbolism as the primary point of this essay is solely the instruction on the personalization of the journey.Most high school grads are familiar with Dante's Inferno either from High School or from popular culture. Some were even required to read it in English class, but even though most people are familiar with it, few people have read it or care to but find the imagery to be from pretty cool to world transformative in novelty and richness. To read the current essay, it is not expected that one has or should read any of them, a basic internet search of the imagery and basic story-lines is all that is required. Those who want more detail on the work than a web search can provide but still don't want to read the full poem are referred to the Penguin Classic editions of the works which include very informative and elucidating introductions. Less