Dante is now ready to leave Antepurgatory and enter Purgatory "proper". In Canto IX the day has come to an end, and he lays down to sleep. This is his first night on Mount Purgatory, and it is filled with dream. Dante comments that he dreams during the hours close to dawn,
...when our mind, far straying from the flesh
less tangled in the network of its own thoughts
becomes somehow prophetic in its dreams.
IX.16-18
His dream is a dream of God's power (in the dream it is an eagle - the bird of Jove) carrying him further up to a "sphere of fire" (IX.30). The "heat" was so intense that it woke Dante from his slumbers. A few things are worth noting in this passage. First we have Dante's comment about dreams. Apart from being consistent with medieval dream-theory (see Mark Musa 101ff.) the dream episode speaks to us of being disentangled from our own thoughts, our preoccupation with ourselves. Indeed, perhaps we are so self centred that God can barely get a word in edgewise while we are awake. Therefor God will speak in dreams when He cannot get our attention in waking life: to many things distract us from being attentive to the voice of God.
Second, as Dante awakes he finds that he is further up the Mountain than when he fell asleep. Virgil explains to him (IX. 52 ff) that Lucia (St Lucy, a figure of Light & divine illumination) has come and carried him further up. We need not be conscious of God's operations in our lives in order for them to be effective. Dante has found that he has been carried up without his knowledge. It is a wonderful image of the hidden ways in which God works in our lives, even without us being aware of that it is happening.
Third, in the dream Dante is borne up to a "sphere of fire" - the images in this Canto are sensual. It is, after all, about love. For Dante (following Augustine) sin is about disordered or defective love. Love is ultimately the force that rules the universe. Our problem is that we love some things too much, or other things not enough, or that our love is misdirected. The goal is to reach the sphere of fire - the place of love purified and ordered aright.
Dante comes to the 3 steps which lead to the narrow entrance to Purgatory proper. There are various interpretations of these 3 steps, but I will take the one which speaks of the 3 stages of repentance: self-examination; contrition (being sorry for our sin); and penance. The colors of the 3 steps are white, black, and red. It is a poetic image which is not limited to what I have presented here. As he comes to the gate of Purgatory, the angelic guardian of the entrance tells him to make sure he is "cleansed of these wounds" (IX.112). Dante discovers that upon his forehead are inscribed seven "P"'s. These seven letters (from the latin peccata- sin) are the symbols of the 7 deadly sins, each of which must be washed away and purified as he ascends the mountain. In a final image of mercy, the angelic guardian, holding the 2 keys to the gate, tells him that was told by St Peter "Admit too many, rather than too few, if they but cast themselves before your feet" (IX.129). While the "gate is narrow", we might also hear Dante proclaiming with the hymnwriters that there is a wideness in God's mercy.
My latte order is up, so I shall return shortly... update:
Well, if you are keeping track, that was a long latte - almost 2 days. By now Dante and Virgil are among the souls whose sin was Pride. As they make their way, they see elaborate carvings in the stone of examples of great humility: first we see Mary, with the words ecce ancilla Dei carved below; King David dancing before the Ark (X.64 ff); and the Emperor Trajan stopping to help a poor widow (X.76 ff). As they continue along, and Dante is about to tell us about the various forms of penance, he gives the reader both warning and encouragement,
But, Reader, when I tell you how God wills
His penitents should pay their debts, do not
abandon your intention to repent.
You must not think about the punishment,
think but of what will come of it - at worst
it cannot last beyond the Final Day.
X.106-111
As we come to Canto XI, they meet Omberto, who tells them how his pride ruined not only his own life, but that of his. We may think sin is a private matter, but it always involves more than just the self. As the effects of virtue ripples outward, so also do the effects of sin. We see that the form of penance is suitable to the particular sin. The souls of the proud are weighed down by heavy rocks. They are stooped low, their "stiff neck" bent in a constant posture of humility.
Coming to Canto XII, Dante now sees examples of pride carved into the rock. These examples can be understood for what they really are, and the pilgrim is ready to have the first 'P' removed from his brow. Dante meets the angel of humility, who invites Dante to come closer and discover that "henceforth, climbing will be easier" (XII.93). He hears the penitent souls sing out "Blessed are the poor in spirit", and himself "seemed to feel to myself much lighter now than I had been on level ground" (XII.117). To climb without pride is to remove a great spiritual burden. Pride actually weighs down the soul, even while we tend to "hold ourselves high".
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