Incarnated in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 19 - 45

After Dante's warning to his readers (or perhaps some of his readers), we return to the plot, ascending through the heavens to arrive at the moon . . . or really, in the moon.

Dante and Beatrice find themselves inside this translucent pearl in the heavens.

And in so doing, Dante proves the incarnation really happened . . . at least, if you accept that his journey really happened.

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The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:11] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto I, lines 19 - 45. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, scroll down this page.

[03:12] Backgrounds: A brief history of "natural philosophy" in Dante's day.

[07:29] Backgrounds: The incarnation, of the prime methods of redemption for Dante.

[10:10] A thought experiment: the universe as a diaphanous, aesthetic object.

[12:20] The journey into the universe . . . or mystery (without spoilers).

[14:16] Hysteron proteron: the rhetorical flourish of PARADISO and the ultimate structure of COMEDY.

[17:16] Lots of joinings here and in the first canto, all anticipating the incarnation.

[18:37] The complex symbolism of the moon as a pearl.

[21:27] The incarnation in the foreground of the narrative.

[24:17] Dante's journey as proof of the incarnation.

[26:37] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto II, lines 19 - 45.

My English translation of PARADISO, Canto II, lines 19 - 45:

The congenital and eternal thirst

For the God-formed kingdom pulled us up

Almost as quickly as you see heaven turn.

Beatrice looked up and I stared at her.

And perhaps as fully as a crossbow bolt

Hits and flies and leaves its catch,

I suddenly saw myself in the place where

My eyes were turned to a marvelous sight. And because

I could not keep my cares from her,

She turned to me, as happy as she was beautiful.

“Direct your mind to God in gratefulness,” she said to me.

“God has joined us with the first star.”

It seemed to me that a cloud covered us,

[A cloud that was] shiny, dense, solid, and pure,

Like a diamond hit by sunlight.

The eternal pearl took us

Into itself, as water takes in

A ray of light yet remains fundamentally unified.

If I was a body—and here we can’t conceive

How one dimension can interact with another,

As must happen, if one body is received into another—

That [fact] should all the more spark our desire

To see the one who lets us see his essence

In which our nature and God were unified.

Then what we hold by faith will be seen,

Not [with] a demonstration but [as] a self-evident fact,

Like those primal truths that humans believe.