Dante's Divine Comedy

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 you don’t want.2. Understand that death is your friend not your enemy.3. Know your body as experiencing subjectivity not a flawed object.4. Resonate with virtue not reduce to bits and bytes.5. Know your intellect and love not just your cognitive abilities.6. Aim for the richness of diverse unity not the tyranny of singularity.7. Work to release true wealth not enable rich winners. To follow the Divine Comedy, canto by canto, try my podcast/YouTube series - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy My book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide For The Spiritual Journey (Angelico Press) is forthcoming - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book 

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 cajole or chasten it.Love leads Dante to the truth that was there all along, and calls to us as well, speaking of the being, consciousness and bliss that is the ground of reality, known when perceived aright.To follow the Divine Comedy, canto by canto, try my podcast/YouTube series - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedyMy book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide For The Spiritual Journey (Angelico Press) is forthcoming - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book

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

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 path7. Life is not a hero’s journey but a lover’s journey6. Light is intelligent5. Intelligence is a kind of resonance4. Unity is diverse, not singular3. There is a Christianity beyond Christianity2. Freedom is about saying yes to life, not choice1. The greatest question to ask: who I am?For more on Dante, including details of my forthcoming book - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy

Dante reaches the end of his journey, which is also the origin and moment of complete reception of divine life and light.

Bernard takes Dante on a tour of paradise, which is also a gathering together of all he has experienced.

Dante sees paradise as a white rose of beauty and heavenly amphitheatre of life, shining like the sun.

Dante enters the Empyrean conveying, in visions, the direct experience of divine, living light.

The unity of the eternal and temporal, as interpenetrating expressions of the divine, is unpacked by Beatrice.

Dante gains inner sight of the still centre of all things, the spark of being and ever present origin.