Paradiso

Dirty boots, fancy gloves, la divina comedia Paradiso, and me and myself!


"But already my desire and my will
were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,
by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars."

The Divine Comedy (Italian: la Divina Commedia) is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321.
It is widely considered the preëminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.
The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect in which it is written as the standardized Italian.
It is divided into three parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
On the surface the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially the writings of Thomas Aquinas.
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Part 3: Paradiso




Following the Ptolemaic astronomy of his time Dante conceived of the earth as stationary and central in the universe, with the sun and moon and the five visible planets revolving about it at various speeds. Each of these seven heavenly bodies has its own sphere, or "heaven"; beyond them is the sphere of the fixed stars, and beyond that the ninth and last of the material heavens, called the Crystalline because it is transparent and invisible, or the Primum Mobile because from it in infinite speed the other lower heavens take their slower motions.
These nine spheres are severally moved and controlled by the nine orders of the angels, and all the spheres and the heavenly bodies in them have certain spiritual significances and certain influences on human life and character. As Dante passes upward with Beatrice the souls of the blessed appear to them in the successive heavens according to their corresponding predominant character in their earthly lives. Beyond the nine material spheres is the Empyrean, outside of time and space, the heaven of God's immediate presence and the only real home of the angels and the redeemed, whose blessedness consists in their eternal vision of Him.

The System of Dante's Paradise
The Ten Heavens
10. The Empyrean: the Holy Trinity, the Virgin, the Angels and the Saints
9. The Crystalline, or Primum Mobile: the Angelic Orders
8. The Fixed Stars: the Church Triumphant
7. Saturn: Temperance; Contemplatives
6. Jupiter: Justice; Rulers
5. Mars: Courage; Warriors
4. The Sun: Wisdom;Theologians
3. Venus: Love marred by wantonness
2. Mercury: Service marred by ambition
1. The Moon: Faithfulness marred by inconstancy