What a weird way to begin; he tells the reader that maybe reading this final portion of the Commedia would not be a good thing. Hi, I’m a poet, maybe one of the greatest poets ever, but if you can’t keep up, then put the book down and don’t even try.
1. O you who are within your little bark,
O voi che siete in piccioletta barca,
2. eager to listen, following behind
desiderosi d’ascoltar, seguiti
3. my ship that, singing, crosses to deep seas,
dietro al mio legno che cantando varca,
4. turn back to see your shores again: do not
tornate a riveder li vostri liti:
5. attempt to sail the seas I sail; you may,
non vi mettete in pelago, ché forse,
6. by losing sight of me, be left astray.
perdendo me, rimarreste smarriti.
Stay close at hand, don’t try to do this all by yourself, you will need a guide. Was there ever a great masterpiece where the author tells the reader NOT to read what has been created / written / revealed? In this second Canto, there occur two acknowledgements:
1. We are limited when it comes to searching for the deep truths of this life, and there ARE deep truths and discoveries that are out of our reach. We need wise guides, as has been mentioned on the way up Mt. Purgatory. This is no place for the Lone Ranger.
2. We are created to worship and search and thirst for holiness and transcendence. It has begun from the moment of our own coming into being. [La con-creata]
19 The innate and never-ending thirst for God
La concreata e perpetüa sete
20 in His own kingdom drew us up,
del deïforme regno cen portava
21 almost as swiftly as you know the heavens turn.
veloci quasi come 'l ciel vedete.
They were transported at the speed of light as a result of their hunger and thirst for God. Dante the Pilgrim trusted in and gazed at Beatrice as she trusted in and gazed at the Sun [God’s glory]. I am yet again reminded that those to whom we give our total trust will lead us to places we may or may not want to go. We must be wise and careful when choosing and following those in authority. We must be sure they have integrity, maturity and, for me at least, spiritual wisdom in this material life and in the holiness required for the next stage of the journey. This is reflected immediately in the curious usage of “Body” / Corpo by Dante the Poet, nine times in this Canto alone. Indeed, in v. 39 he uses “Body” / Corpo twice, in one verse! Dante the Pilgrim, and each of us, will need a wise guide for living in this material world and still believing in the primary presence of the spiritual reality as well. While he uses classical literature [Virgil and Ovid] such as Jason and the Argonauts, it is for a deeper and more nuanced teaching of the Christian teachings, such as the Incarnation; the joining of two bodies into one. That is illustrated by Dante the Pilgrim’s body being joined to the body of the Moon: two, yet one.
37 If I was there in flesh -- on earth we can't conceive
S'io era corpo, e qui non si concepe
38 how matter may admit another matter to it,
com' una dimensione altra patio,
39 when body flows into, becomes another body –
ch'esser convien se corpo in corpo repe,
40 that, all the more, should kindle our desire
accender ne dovria più il disio
41 to see the very One who lets us see
di veder quella essenza in che si vede
42 the way our nature was conjoined with God.
come nostra natura e Dio s'unio.
We indeed need to follow his furrow closely, for we will be diving into deep, yet beautiful waters if we decide to journey with him through Paradiso.
Dante, lover of mathematics and geometry and practical scientific experiments to measure light is also fully aware of the limitations of using only our senses to search for meaning and truth. It matters not in the medieval world view or the current culture wars between the “New Atheists” and Nobel Prize winning scientists who are people of faith, there are truths to be embraced that cannot be found in measurements and data.
52 She smiled a little, then: 'If the understanding
Ella sorrise alquanto, e poi "S'elli erra
53 of mortals errs,' she said, 'there where the key
l'oppinïon," mi disse, "d'i mortali
54 of the senses fails in its unlocking,
dove chiave di senso non diserra,
55 'surely the shafts of wonder should no longer
certo non ti dovrien punger li strali
56 strike you, since you see that, dependent
d'ammirazione omai, poi dietro ai sensi
57 on the senses, reason's wings fall short.
vedi che la ragione ha corte l'ali.
It was in Jean Piaget’s Theory of Development where he stated that in the earliest stages of child development simplistic schemas are formed based on the egoism of trusting only what the child can experience by the senses. Hence, when playing peek-a-boo with an infant, once the blanket hides the face, there is an assumption that the person no longer exists. That simplistic schema has continued in the current culture wars where we are told that the only reality that is to be trusted is to be found in our own personal experiences and data collection. When Dante the Poet writes “since you see that, dependent on the senses, reason’s wings fall short” he is speaking of the need to expand one’s schema beyond the circumference of one’s own epidermis, reaching out into the horizons of trust and faith. This is not to say that we DON’T use our reason for the discoveries needed at every level of science and life, but to know that, as Hamlet reminds Horatio, “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy [science].”
Dante the Poet uses what he knows, since it is still the Ptolemaic universe of perfect spheres which comprise the universe. And yet, there is real honesty in Dante the Pilgrim as he mysteriously enters into the first sphere of heaven, which is the moon, for he wants to know why it isn’t perfect, like a pearl, but shows gradations and markings. Truth to tell, in my forty plus years of parish ministry, I have also asked similar questions: why are we by the graveside of an eleven year old daughter who died of leukemia? Why is there no justice or recourse for innocents who are murdered or politicians who line their own pockets while farmers go bankrupt? Why? Why? That odd, apparently silly question about the markings on the moon is in fact the eternal question: “why is reality not perfect if there is a loving and wise God in control?”
Beatrice responds at different levels to this question; and she does not discourage questioning and searching, even in heaven. Some things may have to wait until we get to heaven, but other things can be researched through experiments. It is important to note that in her response and in fact, all through the Paradiso, physics and metaphysics cannot be separated. Reason can be used and faith can guide and the resulting discovery is dependent on both. I am reminded of John Polkinghorne, a theoretical physicist at Cambridge and an ordained Anglican priest who embraced both physics and metaphysics. In one lecture he noted: “I stand before you as somebody who is both physicist and a priest, and I want to hold together my scientific and my religious insights and experiences. I want to hold them together, as far as I am able, without dishonesty and without compartmentalism. I don’t want to be a priest on Sunday and a physicist on Monday; I want to be both on both days.” This is what we will experience all through this journey with Dante.
Finally, we are assured by both of these first two Cantos in Paradiso that God’s creation embraces the fullness of the design [Canto 1] as well as the uniqueness of each differentiation found in creation [Canto 2]. These first two Cantos tell us that while all of creation is formed by the same primary matter, there are still remarkable and authentic differences the forms this matter may take. In his lectures at Yale, Prof. Mazzotta tells us: “The physics can only be understood in terms of the metaphysics, so that Dante always sees the natural and supernatural as going hand in hand, They are not two separate dimensions. They are simply two different ways of looking at the same thing.”
112 'Beneath the heaven of divine repose
Dentro dal ciel de la divina pace
113 revolves a body in whose power resides
si gira un corpo ne la cui virtute
114 the being of all things contained in it.
l'esser di tutto suo contento giace.
115 'The next heaven, which holds so many sights,
Lo ciel seguente, c'ha tante vedute,
116 distributes its being among various forms,
quell' esser parte per diverse essenze,
117 contained in it and yet distinct from it.
da lui distratte e da lui contenute.
118 'All the other spheres, in varying ways,
Li altri giron per varie differenze
119 direct their distinctive qualities
le distinzion che dentro da sé hanno
120 to their own purposes and influence.
dispongono a lor fini e lor semenze.
Make no mistake, dear fellow pilgrims, these are the two most difficult and complex Cantos in the entire Commedia. As I suggested in Canto 1 of the Paradiso, one must find that which nourishes and not focus on all that is hard to swallow and understand. There are many resources to which one can go for insights on metaphysics in the High Middle Ages and parallels to the understanding of mystical contemplation in the Latin [Catholic] church versus the Greek [Orthodox] church. I will not spend time here on Aristotle / Neoplatonism / Scholasticism at all. What I want to say is: DON’T GIVE UP! It gets easier from here on out, and some of the most beautiful poetry and personalities in the entire Commedia are still ahead. Read your versions and commentaries of these first two Cantos, take a deep breath, and then relax; it is awesome up ahead. Truly. We just need to follow Dante’s furrow.