Dante's Divine Comedy
Mark Vernon invites listeners to join him on a journey through Dante's Divine Comedy, discussing each canto in depth. The podcast explores the spiritual and philosophical themes of Dante's epic, connecting them to contemporary life and the soul's quest for meaning. It accompanies his book published by Angelico Press for the 700th anniversary of Dante's death.
Episodes
Pimps, remorse and blood. Dante's Divine Comedy and the critique of the Papacy
Dante encounters seven popes in the Divine Comedy, five in hell, one in purgatory and one in paradise - that last being Saint Peter. His condemnation of individual popes and, I think, the papacy is extraordinarily strong and discomforting to relate. But was it all revenge? Did he fall for the politics too? Or was his message one of renewal, revival and reunion with God?Dante was concerned about sa
The way down is the way up. Dante on how to live in turbulent times. Lessons from The Divine Comedy
This talk was first given to Idler Drinks.For more on Mark's work on Dante - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy
Is hell forever? The Inferno. Jason Baxter & Mark Vernon on Dante’s film noir
“Circles of hell" has become commonplace in language. But what was Dante trying to show us when he wrote the inferno? What has been lost in translation, with this first canticle in Dante’s trilogy now part of a secular culture?Jason Baxter talks about his new translation of the Inferno with Mark Vernon. They discuss what Dante could convey in language and why the text never ceases to offer fr
Is hell really boring? Rowan Williams & Jesse Armstrong, Dante & William Blake
Rowan Williams and Jesse Armstrong talked at The Idler festival, partly around the idea, caught in the expression, “boring as hell”. But is that right, they asked, when a drama like Succession so clearly appeals to us?The question is fundamental, for an age inclined to regard hell as appealing or intriguing, is one on the way to being lost. Drawing on Dante and William Blake, two great diagnostic
Dante and civilisational decline. A dispatch on disillusionment in politics
Dante lived through a period of almost total social collapse. Civil war and city-state terror, practiced by the church as much as secular powers, drove him into exile for the last 20 years of his life. For a while, he lost everything. But then, through the trauma, he regained a ground and rediscovered the fullness of life.The Divine Comedy is the product of that transformation. The journeys throug
What is intelligence? Dante in an age of AI
Dante's imagery, particularly in the Paradiso, offers powerful prompts to developing the sense of what it is to be intelligent. He wrote for modern times, he said. And now, as AI becomes more pervasive, he can help us understand how machine learning and human intuitions are very different capacities.This was part of a talk given at the Scientific and Medical Network - https://scientificandmed
Seeing the Unsayable. Dante’s ineffable images
Reason fails before the greatest spiritual truths. That much is not news. But part of the genius of Dante is his conjuring of images that reach beyond the impasses of paradox and seeming contradiction.I consider 8 such moments when Dante sees the unsayable and offers images of the ineffable.- how darkness leads to light- how appearances can be the opposite of the truth- how the immediate eclipses
Dante and the Meaning of Easter
What is the meaning of Easter? How might Holy Week be more than an occasion for its retelling? Can death and resurrection live today, as they once did, 2000 years ago?Dante’s journey, in the Divine Comedy, begins on Maundy Thursday, 1300. It continues through the inferno, on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, before he enters purgatory on Easter Sunday morning, at dawn. The climb up Mount Purgatory, t
Dante and Eternal Damnation
Dante would seem to be a key candidate for infernalism, the doctrine of endless punishment in hell for sinners who failed to turn to Christ.He’s said to be medieval and isn't that what they believed then? And doesn’t his Divine Comedy clearly, indisputably say as much?But Dante’s whole point is that nothing is as it seems to the unawakened eye.I think what Dante is doing is taking evil comple
Angels, Dreams & Myths. Dante on times of transition
The Divine Comedy is all about guides - finding guides, following guides, conversing with guides. Virgil and Beatrice are the best known, but there are other modes of guidance that Dante seeks and explores.Angels, dreams and myths accompanying Dante, even in the darkest moments. He learns to be present to them and trust that whilst in one encounter they can bring fear or shame, in another they ins
How can we transhumanise? And why we need to
Dante coined the word "transhumanise" in the Divine Comedy, 700 years ago. "Trasumanar" is the transformation he will undergo in order to share in the life of paradise.Today, the word has associations that are strikingly related to Dante's; partly quite similar, though changed in subtle but crucial ways. Understanding those differences illuminates the dangers of transhuman
Understanding Dante. A second Medicine Path podcast with Brian James
A joy to speak again with Brian, this time on Dante's Divine Comedy.We talked about what happened to Dante, what happened to Mark that opened up the Divine Comedy, how the poem works as an initiation, what it reveals about Christianity, what happens to Virgil, the nature of paradise, amongst other things.For more on Brian see http://brianjames.caFor more on Mark see https://www.markvernon.com
Dante, cosmology, and a conversation at Rupert Sheldrake's 80th do
Bernard Carr is a leading cosmologist who worked with Stephen Hawking and now investigates time, multidimensionality and consciousness, amongst other things. Bernardo Kastrup cites him as at the vanguard of the great task to integrate matter and mind.So I was delighted to get the chance to ask Bernard about images from Dante. We talked about relational cosmologies as advocated by Carlo Rovelli, wh
Dante’s Paradiso. Awakening to the Light. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
This episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues continues Rupert and Mark's exploration of Dante’s Divine Comedy, taking a lead from Mark’s book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. Dante is now guided by Beatrice through the heavenly spheres and into the Empyrean. It is a journey into the abundance of infinity and eternity, which immediately struck Rupert as akin to a DM
Dante's transfiguration of time & love, seeking & suffering, telepathy & transhumanising
Various human experiences are deepened and resolved as Dante travels through hell, purgatory and paradise. The Divine Comedy can be read as an examination of this transfiguring of perception.From the alienation of hell, through the transforming time of purgatory, to the ever-expanding awareness of paradise: Dante show us how time & love, seeking & suffering, telepathy & transhumanising
Dante on Idealism. Or Dante in dialogue with Bernardo Kastrup and others
This is a contribution to recent dialogues on idealism between Bernardo Kastrup, John Vervaeke, Matt Segall, Philip Goff and others, including myself.I draw particularly on:- Dante's account and analysis of his journey to the heart of consciousness in all its fullness - source and manifestation - in the Divine Comedy- how minds as we know them not only dissociate but also project and introjec
Why Paradise? Part 3 of 3 talks on Dante's Divine Comedy
Paradise. Destiny for a chosen few? Dismissed today by many. Or might it be the end for us all?Dante tells us to follow closely in the richest, subtlest and most expansive part of the journey conveyed in the Divine Comedy. He shows us how to develop paradisal perception, the way to know this experience of reality now, and to become ready for it in the hereafter.Paradise is when the deepest truths
Why Purgatory? Part 2 of 3 talks on Dante's Divine Comedy by Mark Vernon
The mode of life called purgatorial is a medieval superstition, according to some, and the very purpose of mortal life, according to others. So what did Dante make of Purgatory and what has it to teach us now?In the Purgatorio, the essence of the spiritual path is shown in encounters and discussions. Purging itself, for example, is not about being rid of what we don't like, an activity that i
Sexual Mores & Divine Eros: Why we need Dante to teach us about love
The liberal world and western churches increasingly seem to suffer from the lack of a sophisticated understanding of erotic love - an approach not merely governed by morals but arising from insight into who we are and our deepest nature.Erotic love can be felt on nearly every page of the Divine Comedy, in perverted and desperate forms, as well as in free and joyous souls.He understood that eros ha
Why Hell? Part 1 of 3 talks on Dante's Divine Comedy by Mark Vernon
The notion of hell is delighted in by some and causes offence in others. So why did Dante write about this infernal domain on his journey through reality? What is its meaning? What might be learnt from it?The inferno illuminates how desires go awry, the nature of our being is misunderstood, perceptions narrow, and how societies, even civilisations, become lost.This is the first of three talks, ori
Dante’s Purgatorio, How to be transformed: a conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
This episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues continues Rupert and Mark's exploration of Dante’s Divine Comedy, taking a lead from Mark’s book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. Dante and Virgil have found the way out of hell and a new adventure begins on Mount Purgatory. They first encounter souls who are shocked by their deaths and bemused by the afterlife. Then, th
The Way Up and the Way Down. Dante and the One Path from Hell to Paradise
Dante’s Divine Comedy famously opens with the poet wakening in a dark wood. His life has seemingly taken a wrong turn. But why must he embark first on a journey through hell, before ascending Mount Purgatory, only then entering paradise? What has the way into darkness to do with the way into light? He learns to say ‘yes’ to all of reality, and that the light includes the darkness, even as tragedy
Light, Love, Logos, Life - How to speak about God
John Vervaeke, Paul VanderKlay and Paul Anleitner asked what "God" means, with John challenging the Pauls to talk about God via Light, Love, Logos and Life, so as not to hide behind the "g" word.Drawing on Dante, I offer some thoughts...The original conversation is here - https://youtu.be/UGq34dLXrFIMore about Dante and my work - http://www.markvernon.com
The Darkness That Is Light. Thoughts from an exhibition
The Dante exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, for the 700th anniversary year of 2021, brought together some of the Divine Comedy’s greatest illustrators, living and dead, from Monika Beisner to William Blake and Sandro Botticelli. Here are my reflections on these studies in line and light depicting darkness and life.Modern works discussed include those by Monika Beisner, Dante and Beatrice in the
Listen to audiobook chapter from Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey!
Audible have released the audiobook of Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. I hope you enjoy the first chapter, Inferno 1.For more information go to Audible. And for more on the book as a whole see my website - https://www.markvernon.com.
Dante's Inferno, Part 2, dangers in spiritual seeking. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
This episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues is the second part of a conversation between Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon on the Inferno of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Deeper regions of hell are explored, in which individuals aren’t just confused about life but have become wedded to their confusions and the seeming power they bring. The deep ramifications of the worship of Mammon and worlds built on
Angelology with Lorna Byrne. A conversation and inquiry with thoughts from Dante and Blake
Dante and Otherworld Journeys was an online conference organised with the Scientific and Medical Network - https://scientificandmedical.net/events/dr-kayleen-asbo-lorna-byrne-dr-peter-fenwick-mariel-forde-clarke-david-lorimer-felicity-warner-dr-mark-vernon-dante-and-otherworld-journeys/This is the conversation, with extra thoughts, that I had with Lorna Byrne - https://lornabyrne.comI was particul
Dante's Inferno and the meaning of descent. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
The Divine Comedy by Dante is one of the great spiritual works of the Christian tradition. But how can it be read and what does it mean? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon discuss the first part of Dante’s cosmic pilgrimage. It takes Dante through the circles of hell, until he reaches the lowest point of reality, the region furthest from God. It bec
Dante and Otherworld Journeys - online conference booking now!
Dante was clear: he wrote so that others might follow him on otherworld journeys. So what might this mean?With the Scientific and Medical Network, an online conference, Sat 27th Nov, to explore this issue. Join individuals who have studied it and others who have so travelled.Full details here - https://scientificandmedical.net/events/dr-kayleen-asbo-lorna-byrne-dr-peter-fenwick-mariel-forde-clarke
Dante and Spiritual Intelligence - a lecture to the Temenos Academy
This lecture was given to the Temenos Academy on Tuesday 19th October 2021 - a particular delight as it was on its perennial philosophy course that the Divine Comedy first began to open up to me. See here for more details - https://www.temenosacademy.orgI make some remarks on the Inferno and Purgatorio first, about how spiritual intelligence recognises the significance of now and knowing yourself.
How To Know Paradise and Know It Now - the way of #Dante's #Paradiso #DivineComedy
Today, people feel Dante's Paradiso is irrelevant. It's not. It is the place of true perception and delightful knowledge, and the goal of the Divine Comedy. The question is how to follow Dante's lead and become aware of this domain of reality that is here, now as much as anywhere.In this illustrated talk, I track how Dante's perceptions expanded as, led by Beatrice, he transhum
Book Launch and Celebration of Dante 700, 14 Sept 2021, event recording
For further details about Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-bookFor further details about the Dante Society of London - https://dantesocietylondon.com/index.html2:34 Welcome3:23 Dante’s first 700 years6:08 Dante Society of London9:14 Invoking Dante today10:33 Introducing my new book18:08 Reading in Italian and Engl
Why Dante Matters - a conversation with the Church Times podcast
Mark Vernon talks about Dante and his new book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey (Angelico Press) at the Church Times podcast.This year marks 700 years since Dante’s death, and the Church Times of 10 September 2021 includes features by Robin Ward and Alexander Faludy, as well as several reviews of books published to mark the anniversary.In a Church Times review of Mark’s bo
Book launch! Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey
To preorder Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey see - https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781621387480/dantes-divine-comedyTo join me and register for the online book launch on 14th September at 6pm BST see - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mark-vernon-on-dantes-divine-comedy-tickets-168394477415?keep_tld=1For more details about the book and an excerpt from the introdu
Did Dante really go to paradise?
In this 700th anniversary year, the truth of the Divine Comedy is a key issue. Modern critics may explain its spiritual veracity by putting its impact down to social construction and performativity. But Dante knew about literature as much as he knew about divine life. He is emphatically clear that he has travelled to the high heavens and seeks to write so that we may follow him too.In this talk, I
Dante and the Divine Masculine
Categories like feminine and masculine can constrain as much as illuminate. But there is no denying that men and male entities play a major, often surprising part in Dante's journey through the Divine Comedy. This talk complements my look at Dante and the Divine Feminine, now considering Dante's encounters with figures such as Belacqua and Statius, Bernard and Cacciaguida. Archetypal qu
Dante and the Divine Feminine
Categories like feminine and masculine can constrain as much as illuminate. But there is no denying that women and female entities play a major, often surprising part in Dante's journey through the Divine Comedy. Saints including Beatrice, Lucia and Mary, historic figures such as Piccarda, Francesca and Cunizza, and mythological entities like the sirens all figure.In this talk, I use Erich Ne
Seeing In Depth - Dante on the Trinity
The Divine Comedy aims to deepen and broaden our perception of reality, often by exploding preconceptions. Nowhere is this more true than in Dante's take on the Christian perception of the Trinity. For Dante, it is way more than a doctrine. It is a mode of seeing that reveals reality as dynamic and dancing to its depths.For further talks and details of Mark's book on Dante see - www.mark
How Dante Discovered the Power of Now
For more on Dante do see - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedyDetails of my book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey, are here - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-bookAlso, use this code, “dantemv”, to get £10 off my Divine Comedy course at The Idler via this link - https://www.idler.co.uk/product/dantes-divine-comedy-in-100-images-with-ma
Descent is Ascent - How the road up is the road down in Dante's Divine Comedy
[This is an audio version of a talk with images, which is on my YouTube channel.]Making sense of why Dante had to travel through hell, what was going on in purgatory, and how that's all linked to the destination of heaven, comes with appreciating how, in the spiritual life, descent and ascent are profoundly linked.Dante explores the links between virtues and vices, moving beyond the literal,
Longing for the Infinite – 7 key features of Dante’s transhumanism
The word transhumanism was coined by Dante to capture his realisation of divine life in paradise.It has been colonised today by technologists dreaming of utopias.I explore 7 key differences to recover Dante’s vision from the Divine Comedy, in the 700th anniversary year of the great poet’s death, which is also to explore the richness of true transhumanizing.1. Purge what stops you wanting not what
Dante, awakening, and erotic love
Dante’s journey is all about erotic love, through ugly possessiveness, and powerful passions, to the realisation that love is usually experienced as an ignorance about what we desire, to which he awakens.The Divine Comedy is, therefore, a crucial resource for understanding this energy that surges through us. The poem is rare in the western Christian tradition in embracing eros, not trying to cajol
Dante's Divine Comedy and Spiritual Sight
This is a recording of a talk I gave online as part of St Albans Cathedral's online adult education programme. The talk with images is online here - https://youtu.be/MiiG-isCCA0 For more on Dante, including details of my forthcoming book - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy
Dante Top 10 Spiritual Insights
We will learn a lot about Dante’s language, love, politics and humanism in 2021, the 700th anniversary of his death. But perhaps not so much about the spiritual insights he felt charged by heaven to communicate in his Divine Comedy.My top 10 spiritual insights are:10. Comedy transcends, not excludes tragedy9. Morality gets you nowhere, insight leads everywhere8. Descent and ascent are the same pat
Paradiso 33
Dante reaches the end of his journey, which is also the origin and moment of complete reception of divine life and light.
Paradiso 32
Bernard takes Dante on a tour of paradise, which is also a gathering together of all he has experienced.
Paradiso 31
Dante sees paradise as a white rose of beauty and heavenly amphitheatre of life, shining like the sun.
Paradiso 30
Dante enters the Empyrean conveying, in visions, the direct experience of divine, living light.
Paradiso 29
The unity of the eternal and temporal, as interpenetrating expressions of the divine, is unpacked by Beatrice.
Paradiso 28
Dante gains inner sight of the still centre of all things, the spark of being and ever present origin.
Paradiso 27
Dante is full of the superabundance of heaven, when the lights around him turn red and Peter condemns the church.
Paradiso 26
A blinded Dante realigns his desire to the heavens, and is confronted by the unexpected light of Adam.
Paradiso 25
The light of hope, James, joins Dante and Beatrice. They shine with this virtue, before the heavens fall silent.
Paradiso 24
Dante must delight Saint Peter with insights on faith. He finds words to express his awareness and love.
Paradiso 23
In a series of shattering visions, Beatrice helps Dante steady himself and become capable of the light.
Paradiso 22
Beatrice helps Dante tolerate the tremendous vision in Saturn, as Benedict descends the ladder.
Paradiso 21
Dante is in the heaven of Saturn, though its glory must be shown gradually, lest he be blasted by the light.
Paradiso 20
Souls Dante never expected to see are encountered in Jupiter, and Dante learns of new heavenly dynamics.
Paradiso 19
The heaven of Jupiter shows the divine plenitude. Accepting human finitude readies Dante for more.
Paradiso 18
A deeper symmetry in life appears to Dante as, guided by Beatrice, he moves to the heaven of Jupiter.
Paradiso 17
Dante learns that he will face exile and, in the heaven of Mars, absorbs the virtues to say yes to it.
Paradiso 16
The tragedy of Florence is rehearsed though, in heaven, a deeper love and life transcends even the worst.
Paradiso 15
In Mars, Dante meets his forebear Cacciaguida, who offers a vision of times more aligned with the divine.
Paradiso 14
Contemplating the divinisation of humanity and creation, Dante finds himself in the sphere of Mars.
Paradiso 13
Imagining the motion of the stars is practice for perceiving the divine splendours Dante enjoys in the sun.
Paradiso 12
Dante contemplates a double circle of light in the sun, as Dominic adds wisdom to the ascent of love.
Paradiso 11
Thomas Aquinas offers the life of Francis of Assisi to illuminate seeing the light of the Sun in this life.
Paradiso 10
They arrive in the heaven of the sun, the light most manifest to mortals, heralding divine light within.
Paradiso 9
Dante meets souls who in life were erotic lovers, to discover more about what carries us heavenward.
Paradiso 8
Dante, in the reality of Venus, encounters a kingly soul and kindred spirit to explore love, diversity and unity.
Paradiso 7
Dante is dissatisfied with the traditional account of the crucifixion. Beatrice leads him to a beautiful new vision.
Paradiso 6
Dante presents a big history and, in this mercurial sphere, we are invited to peer beneath events.
Paradiso 5
Beatrice shows Dante and us something of the freedom to align our lives with divine life, prompting a dramatic change.
Paradiso 4
Dante is dazzled, overwhelmed by the seeming paradoxes of paradise. Beatrice shows how they are transcended.
Paradiso 3
Dante is immersed in the state of mind that confuses reflection and reality as a soul appears, Piccarda.
Paradiso 2
Dante warns that the journey into paradise is risky. Then, they arrive in the sphere of the Moon.
Paradiso 1
Dante explains how his intellect and desire, drawn by Beatrice, blessed by gods, enable him to rise into reality.
Purgatorio 33
Beatrice prophecies about the future for Dante and Christianity, and Dante is ready, renewed for the stars.
Purgatorio 32
Dante is saved from momentary madness, before Beatrice leads him to a display of spiritual corruption.
Purgatorio 31
Beatrice continues to berate Dante, until he collapses. Then, he's carried through the Lethe and changes.
