Monday, 23 March 2015

The Descent into the Inferno - (358)

Introduction

On the brink of the descent into hell, Dante is overwhelmed with fear. Virgil says to him "I understand from your words and the look in your eyes,” “your soul is sunken in that cowardice that bears down many men, turning their course and resolution by imagined perils”.


Fear of the Abyss and Trust in the Divine

Virgil explains how Beatrice was sent from heaven by the prayers of the Virgin Mary (Divine Mother) and St. Lucia (divine light) to ask Virgil to help Dante out of their concern for him. Virgil says to Dante “Why do you lag? Why this heartsick hesitation and pale fright when three such blessed Ladies lean from Heaven in their concern for you and my own pledge of the great good that waits you has been given?”.


Conclusion

This is our situation, we feel fear for the work in our own abyss, why? Perhaps out of a certain skepticism or distrust in our divinity, we think out of ignorance that our Being may not perhaps want self-realisation and that it won’t happen, and because of that we do not allow ourselves the courage that we need to descend and face our own abyss. By thinking negatively in that way – that we don’t have the support of our Being or that we don’t trust that the support of the Being will reach us, we don’t allow the work and the Being to have their full effective power in us so as to help us.


End (358).

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