Cum va imaginati paradisul?

 MamaVoastra, on Feb 24 2007, 22:47, said:

Mi-a placut cum ai facut de legatura intre ceea ce reprezinta fericirea si analiza matematica. Cel putin pe mine la asta m-a dus cu gandul.

Eu unul nu pot sa traiesc doar din vise. Nu pot sa ma imaginez facand asta. Am nevoie, in primul rand, de acea parte care lipseste pentru a ma simti ca un "intreg". :D In aceste momente simt nevoia de motivatie, care de ceva vreme imi lipseste. Vreau sa simt ca toate au un scop si ca nu lupt cu morile de vant... Nu pot sa mai zic nimic despre vise deoarece si acestea imi lipsesc... sper sa revin cu mai multe detalii atunci cand am "sa pot" sa scriu ceea ce trebuie ...

Nu incercati sa va imaginati sau sa visati paradisul. Cand (si daca) paradisul "se intampla"  poate il veti recunoaste.

Totusi trebuie sa ne indreptam pasii spre ceea ce vrem. Sa ne "aratam" calea. Doar nu o sa ma apuc de baut convins ca o sa ajung oricum acolo :D

 bujcat, on Mar 1 2007, 18:48, said:

Cei care l-au "vazut" spun ca nu seamana cu ce au vrut, sperat sau imaginat. Si nu am spus ca oricum ajungi acolo, doar ca e preferabil sa nu-l pre-gatesti cu imagini (si nici macar cu bere). Uneori poti sa-l recunosti dupa faptul ca "explica" sursa senzatiei de deja-vu.

"paradisul" meu pe pamant arata cam asa :
       - Fara zeci de "smecheri" pe strada..care o sa ramana toata viata pe strada si nu o sa faca altceva decat sa fie "smecher" chiar daca nu au o chifla in burta si n-au cum sa intretina o familie din cauza carora nu-ti poti lasa copiii , nu poti iesi linistit la plimbare pri anumite locuri pt este "cartierul lor" ..EX : chitila , buc.noi zonele de periferie ale orasului. Ar fi primul pas ca Romania sa fie privita altfel de cei din interiorul ei..desi multi se concentreaza spre cum e privita ea din afara.
       - Salariile din SUA :coolspeak:
       cam atat...deocamdata..sunt destul de multumit de viata mea..

 MamaVoastra, on Feb 24 2007, 22:47, said:

Excelent posting, MamaVoastra ! :oK: Nu numai o fata frumusica foc, da ii merge si mintea, BRAVO !  ;)

 MamaVoastra, on Feb 24 2007, 21:47, said:

Fericiti sunt cei pe care ii numim salbatic "nebuni"...dar ironic ei sunt cei buni...si acum ma refer doar la cei care si-au pierdut mintile si traiesc intr-o lume a lor...o lume fericita, cei care nu fac rau. Poate ca gresesc dar in ultimii 50 de ani lumea s-a schimbat complet iar fericirea e un cuvant din ce in ce mai greu de pronuntat, fata de 1600 este redusa la un covarsitor 40%, parerea mea. In acest ritm, suntem martorii ultimelor zile fericite pe pamant...iar la final, pentru cei ce gasesc fericirea in materiale si stari de spirit perisabile(masini,alcool,petreceri,droguri,putere) totdeauna va fi o veste proasta...Din punctul meu de vedere fericirea o simtim in noi, odata cu linistea atunci cand ne nastem si cand murim...se rezuma la CURIOZITATE, MUZICA SI IUBIRE. Nefericirea pe plan global as putea sa o sintetizez si mai simplu: lipsa electricitatii.

Despre care paradis e vorba în această sutră? Cel celest e descris astfel:

Descrierea Ierusalimului celest în Apocalipsa lui Ioan:
,,Și-n duh m-a dus pe un munte mare și înalt , și mi-a arătat cetatea cea sfântă, Ierusalimul, pogorându-se din cer, de la Dumnezeu, având slava lui Dumnezeu. Luina ei era asemănătoare cu aceea a pietrei de mare preț, a pietrei de iaspis. Și avea zid mare și înalt, și avea 12 porți, iar la porți, 12 îngeri, și nume scrise deasupra, care sunt ale celor 12 seminții ale fiilor lui Israel. Și spre răsărit, 3 porți, și spre miazănoapte, 3 porți, și spre apus, 3 porți, și spre miazăzi 3 porți, iar zidul cetății avea 12 pietre de temelie, și pe ele 12 nume, ale celor 12 apostoli ai Mielului. Și cel care vorbea cu mine aavea o măsură, o trestie de aur, ca să măsoare cetatea și porțile și zidul ei. Și cetatea este în 4 colțuri, și lungimea ei este tot atâta cât și lățimea. Și a măsurat cetatea cu trestia: 12 mii de stadii. Lungimea și lărgimea și înălțimea ei sunt deopotrivă. Și i-a măsurat și zidul: 144 de coți, măsură a unui om, adică a unui înger. Și plasma zidului ei este de iaspis, iar cetatea este de aur curat asemenea sticlei curate. Temeliile zidului cetății sunt împodobite cu toată piatra scumpă: întâia este de iaspis, a doua de safir, a treia de calcedoniu, a patra de smarald, a cincea de sardoniu, a șasea de sardiu, a șaptea de hrisolit, a opta de beril, a noua de topaz, a zecea de hrisopas, a unsprezecea de iachint, a douăsprezecea de ametist. Și cele douăsprezece porți sunt douăsprezece mărgăritare: fiecare din porți este dintr-un mărgăritar. Și piața cetății este de aur curat, ca de sticlă străvezie...(Ap. 21:10-21). Și mi-a arătat un râu al apei vieții, strălucitor ca de cristal, care izvorăște din tronul lui Dumnezeu și-al Mielului. În mijlocul pieței (cetății) și de-o parte și de alta a râului, un pom al vieții rodind de 12 ori, dându-și roada-n fiecare lună, și frunzele pomului sunt spre tămăduirea neamurilor." (Ap. 22:1-2)

Descrierea Paradisului Vaikuntha din Skanda Purana:
,,Privește Templul din pietre prețioase ce se înalță pe insula albă înconjurată de Oceanul de Lapte. În mijlocul Oceanului de Lapte se află sala sacrificiilor, făcută din pietre prețioase. Ea este construită din cristal pur, este imuabilă. Interiorul Templului este mpărțit în de 12 ori 12 părți și luminat cu strălucirea fulgerătoarea a soarelui. El se sprijină pe 16 stâlpi făcuți din smaralde și are 12 porți îndreptate spre cele 4 puncte cardinale. Nemurire (amrita), Beatitudie (ananda), creștere (puști), fericire (tuști), prosperitate (pușâ), bucurie (rati), stabilitate (dhriti), strălucire lunară (șașinî), iluminare (candrikâ), splendoare (kânti), lumină celestă (jyoti), bogăție (șri), acestea sunt numele celor 12 gardieni ai porților. Zidurile sanctuarelor secundare situate în cele 4 colțuri sunt din rubin și au ferestre perforate cu 16 deschizături fiecare. Sunt deci 4 ori 16 porți (kâla) ce dau numărul complet 64 kâla-și. Prea frumoasa sală de sacrificii radiază o lumiă egală cu cea a unei miriade de sori și această lumină va dura până la finalul tuturor kalpa-șilor (ciclurilor). În centru este Arborele imaculat înălțându-se din lotusul cu 100 de petale. Acoperișul este la 2 etaje și acoperit cu țigle de aur. Între etaje se află un zid împodobit cu mărgăritare. În vârful acoperișului se găsește un frumos kalașa, un vas de aur umplut cu laptele nemuririi. Catargul drapelului e din coral iar drapelul e imobil. Două păsări s-au cuibărit lângă kalașa într-o tăcere perfectă. În acest sanctuar strălucitor, luminos prin el-însuși, nici soarele nici luna nici stelele nu luminează. Aceasta este locuina lui Nârâyana, ce este dincolo de lumea schimbărilor [Existența universală] și chiar dincolo de ce nu se schimbă [Ființa supremă, Ișvara, Brahma saguna]. Îl ador pe acest Purușottama, care n toate cele Trei Lumi (Tribhuvana) e cel mai dificl de atins."

despre cel terestru și nu numai... căutați la Dante.. în Divina Comedie e spus totul...

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De exemplu vedem doar 3 culori de baza ( rosu, verde si albastru ) acestea formand toate culorile din spectrul vizibil. Sunt pasari si animale care vad si lumina cu alte lungimi de unda ( ex. infrarosu sau ultravioletul )..
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ah.. dacă ziceai roșu, verde, alb mai înțelegeam...

Editat de shapeshifter, 05 martie 2007 - 11:44.

Eu cred ca intotdeauna am cautat Paradisul, fiecare om vazandu-l dintr-o alta perspectiva. Dar fiecare vede in aceasta lume, numai si numai lucrurile de care are nevoie. Nimeni nu vede ceva care sa satisfaca poate intai dorintele oamenilor din jur, si nu numai al lui personal. Dar asa am fost intotdeauna si nu cred ca ne putem schimba. Este adevarat ca depinde de fiecare om sa isi faca viata mai buna si sa contribuie la perfectiune, dar face cineva acest lucru? Toata lumea vrea ca celalalt sa faca in locul sau, nu vrea sa vada pe cineva ca arunca hartii pe jos, sau vorbeste urat, dar el le face fara sa aiba nimic pe constiinta. Si atunci nu trebuie sa ne intrebam oare daca vom ajunge vreodata sa avem acest paradis? Eu cred ca este ceva irealizabil ... :-<

HEAVEN
THE ASCENT TO HEAVEN; THE SPHERE OF FIRE

Beatrice stares up at the noonday sun, and Dante does likewise for as long as he is able. When he drops his gaze it seems to him as if a second sun is illuminating everything. Dante finds that he and Beatrice have ascended to a sphere of celestial fire.
They continue to ascend, and Dante feels himself to be pure light, pure spirit, and draws himself towards God with this feeling. Beatrice tells him that he is now rising up faster than lightning strikes down. She states that everything seeks its own level and that the flame (of the Sun) seeks the Moon and is the heart of things that die. The natural urge of men's souls is to rise to Heaven, but they can kill this urge by sin and false joys - it is their not rising which is un-natural. 'The natural deathless thirst in Heaven to be - the aspiration all from birth may claim - impelled us upward with the speed of light wellnigh as fast to rise as eyes could see into the luminous vault's immensity, the while I on Beatrice gazed, and she gazed upward.'
It is not clear what happens to Statius from this point onwards; it is probably safe to assume that he ascends into Heaven separately from Dante and Beatrice.

THE HEAVEN OF THE MOON
As one ascends, one arrives at the first of the levels of Heaven, that closest to the Earth - the Heaven of the Moon. 'It seemed a cloud enclosed us, shining, dense, with polished surface firm that, diamond-bright, was dazzling in the sun's reflected light. We passed within the eternal pearl, as sinks a ray of sunlight in the stream, which drinks the light, land is not opened: cleft and whole. If I were body or unsubstanced soul I know not.' This is not unlike being inside a dazzlingly bright cloud.
When there, Beatrice explains the dark marks seen upon the face of the Moon to Dante. Beatrice points out that they cannot be caused by variance in the density or transparency of the Moon, as otherwise eclipses would not be as they are. She tells Dante that they are a visible sign of the diverse states and essences distributed throughout the Heavens.
The Heaven of the Moon is the slowest moving of the Heavens, being the furthest from the Primum Mobile.
As this point Dante is surrounded by the blessed of this Heaven. 'As translucent glass, or shallow water where the light will pass clear to the bottom, mirrors those who gaze. Faint as a white pearl on as white a brow, so there were many faces round me now eager for speech'. They appear as if made of, or glowing with, moonlight, and can fade in and out of sight at will, as a stone sinks into dark waters. They are relegated here, to the lowest Heaven, for the failure of their vows of chastity in life, even if not by their own fault, such as those who were victims of rape.
Dante wordlessly questions Beatrice as to why those blessed are placed in a lower Heaven because of things which, in life, they could not control. She explains that all of the blessed are equally high in Heaven, and close to God, but differ in what part of the Eternal Inspiriation they are aware of. Those visible in each Sphere of Heaven are not contained in that Sphere, but appear to be there because they claim that particular celestial eminence.
As for their apparently being punished for things beyond their control, Beatrice points out that this is because they bent to that violence, by lack of will, rather than resisting unto death, and that this is important because Free Will is God's greatest gift to man. She tells Dante that the Old and New testaments are man's guide within the care of the Church, but that people should also beware of 'evil shepherds' and not be led astray by them - to be 'men, not sheep'.
Following this, with Beatrice, Dante almost instantly ascends to the second sphere of Heaven.

THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
As soon as one arrives at the Heaven of Mercury one is surrounded by hundreds of spirits of the Blessed, each one casting an affluent glow. The spirits in this Heaven glow with the light of the sun, and are clothed in the same light. They are pleased to see visitors, as they see them as people by whom their loves are magnified. They can come and go almost instantly, flying like swift sparks.
The spirit of the Emperor Justinian tells Dante that 'this small low star on which we meet contains good spirits passionate in pursuit of fame and honour of earthly life, and hence desires may swerve so far that strength which love requires is somewhat lessened for its mounting rays. But yet no less we give to God the praise, no less perceive that our deserts and gains are justly measured in the perfect scale. For in us the live justice doth prevail, and malice may not warp affections here.'
That is, those here are those who gave service in life, but whose service was somewhat marred by ambition.
Following the departure of the spirits of this Heaven, Beatrice lectures Dante on the fall of Man, and God's scheme for his redemption, and then, as quickly as before, Dante and Beatrice ascend to the third sphere of Heaven.

THE HEAVEN OF VENUS
Dante does not know where he is going until he arrives at the Heaven of Venus. It is the most beautiful place he has ever been. The souls in this Heaven glow and dance like the flame of a torch, at varying speeds, some faster than the lightning. As they go, they sing hosannas in voices so beautiful that anyone hearing them will long to hear them for ever after.
Those in this Heaven are the spirits of lovers, but those whose love was marred by wantonness.
From this Heaven, the glory of the Sun, in the next Heaven, is visible.
Some of those in this Heaven are unhappy with the avarice and corruption of the Papal court.

THE HEAVEN OF THE SUN
Again, one travels instantly up from the Heaven of Venus to the Heaven of the Sun.
The Heaven of the Sun glows with a glorious light. 'Round us bent a glowing girdle, living, conquering, that more than all it showed could sweetly sing, making itself a circling crown, and we its centre.'
Each of the spirits here is an ardent sun in their own right, glowing with the light of love. They dance and whirl about, and will circle around visitors such as Dante to inform them of what lies in this Heaven. They can also see the thoughts of visitors. Different groups of spirits may speak to visitors as they pass through this Heaven.
Thomas Aquinas is one of the spirits here, who consist of wise religious men, doctors of the Church and teachers.
From here one ascends rather more slowly to the Heaven of Mars.

THE HEAVEN OF MARS
As one approaches Mars itself, one can see that on its face is a huge white Christian cross with the figure of Christ upon it, which gleams as if with moving specks of white light. Up from the specks of light comes a sublime hymn that can easily entrance the listener, whose theme is 'Arise and Vanquish'. 'From arm to arm, from crest to base, thereon there moved innumerable specks of light, as the cool darkness men in daylight make may be transthrust by one invading ray, wherein the motes unnumbered whirl and play. So in continual interchange did they motelike their interlacing dances break and join and alter. Crossing swift or slow, from short to long, the specks unnumbered go. And as sweet music turned to harmony of many cords of viol or harp may chime sweetly to one who doth not understand the notes they render, so a strain sublime entranced me from those myriad notes, although I could not follow their triumphant hymn.'
Each of the specks of light is a spirit, the souls of the soldiery of Christ, or, as a voice from the cross puts it 'In this fifth circle of the Eternal Tree of which no fruit shall fail, no leaf be shed, which from its summit with full life is fed, are spirits which before to Heaven they came were of such eminence of earthly fame as must the more exalt the loftiest song'. One or more of the spirits here will rise to greet the visitor, leaving the cross and yet remaining on it. 'As down the tranquil night's unclouded sky a light may dart and draw the following eye, as though some star its station changed (yet not leaving a vacant place among the stars, nor where it goes itself establishing), so from its place upon that cross there shot a star toward me, yet which did not leave the cross's foot, but, gem to, scarf, thereon like glowing fire in alabaster shone.'
The colour of the glow of the spirits of this Heaven can change from white to a topaz colour, which glows more as the spirit is spoken to.
For Dante, Beatrice has him gaze at the cross, and a voice from it has him gaze on the Cross's horns. As the voice names some of the spirits there, they flash along it, like lightning flashing along a cloud. The spirits in this Heaven include Joshua, Maccabee, Orlando, Charlemagne, William, Rinaldo, Robert Guiscard, Duke Godfrey and many others.
From this Heaven, one instantly arises to the Heaven of Jupiter, the light changing from the red of Mars to the white of Jupiter as one goes.

THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER
In this Heaven the spirits again glow with light, and wheel in ordered flight through the wide white star of Jupiter, singing as they go the Song of the Just. Each flight moves so as to form a golden letter on the face of the Heaven, and chants the Latin words and phrases which these letters, collected together, shape, such as 'Diligite Justitiam' and 'Qui Judicatis Terram'. When a word is formed, the spirits pause for a while before moving on to form new words and phrases in the Heaven. The spirits here are the just, Princes who have loved righteousness, and people who were once Pagans who are now in bliss.

THE EAGLE
As Dante watches the spirits of Jupiter gradually form a gigantic eagle, its wings outspread, on the face of Jupiter. It is a 'myriad entity woven of praises of the will divine'. The eagle then speaks to him in the voice of all the spirits which form it of the mysteries of Divine justice, comparing the depths of divine justice to the depths of the sea, which, although man cannot see them, they are still there. It then speaks of the necessity of Faith for salvation, and of the sins of certain kings across Europe and the Middle East. Having spoken the eagle closes its beak, and the spirits making it up each glow brighter than any star and sing the Song of the Just again. As Dante puts it 'Music they were, but not as notes that blew, but rather thoughts of God, the flute-holes through'. The eagle then speaks again of faith, salvation and predestination.
From here one again arises instantly to the next Heaven, the Heaven of Saturn.
Presumably the spirits here unmake the eagle and go back to their shaping of words on Jupiter once Dante is gone...

THE HEAVEN OF SATURN
Upon arriving at the crystal sphere of the seventh Heaven, Dante is immediately faced with a great golden ladder. 'In that great crystal which doth bear the name of the earth's ruler through that golden age when every evil left the temperate land, I saw a ladder. To so great a height it rose that not my eager straining sight could follow, coloured like reflected gold; and on its steps were splendours manifold, ascending and descending. Countless they, numerous as though upon those golden bars the emptied depth of Heaven had poured its stars. As jackdaws, when the day begins to break, lift their chilled wings, and rise in flocks that make straight outward, or a wheeling course prefer, so seemed that sparkling host, that made its flight in groups which on their chosen steps would light.'
The ladder is filled with the spirits of this Heaven, 'gloriously flashing their message of pure love'. They are lucent spheres of beautiful light, who each enhance the light of the others, and who can whirl as they speak and ascend and descend the ladder. Those here are those who had given themselves to devout contemplation in life, and who practised temperance. This includes St Benedict.
A spirit on the lowest rung of the ladder named Damien's Peter speaks to Dante of this Heaven, and those here. He also condemns the luxury in which modern prelates of the Church live, and he and Dante speak of predestination. As they do so the other spirits on the ladder begin to change their motion. 'As thus he spoke those other flames, that shone upon the higher steps, began to whirl and brighten, and descend from rung to rung. And every motion that they made thereon enhanced their beauty.'
Grouping around Damien's Peter, they send a cry 'unto the heights of Heaven', which ascends as a deep articulate thunder, beyond Dante's comprehension, and which stupefies him. Beatrice comforts him, telling him that everything is holy here in Heaven. She tells him that 'in that cry you lacked the wit to hear, the vengeance you shall see before you die thundered aloft through Heaven its meaning clear. The sword of wrath, which smites and sundereth, will haste or hinder not to deal its death, though those whose wrong it vengeth think it slow, and those who fear its dreadful edge to know think it too instant in its fall.'
After conversing with the spirits here, as though a whirlwind blows the spirits all sweep upward, carrying Beatrice and Dante with them. 'Believe that flight of mine was over ere a hand which feels the flame could be snatched backward. In that space I came to reach the high sign of the Heavenly wheel which follows Taurus. O most glorious stars! Impregnated with virtues luminous! All that I am, or have of genius, or much or little, from your lights derives. With you was rising, and with you would set, that ardent heart which sires all mortal lives when first I breathed the air of Tuscany and then, when largesse was bestowed on me to enter the high sphere in which you wheel, I found your region mine. Oh, give me now, devoutly I entreat thee, equal power to the hard passage that I take!'
Beatrice speaks to him as they rise, telling him that as he is so near 'the ultimate blessedness, that you should seek approach with eyesight clear and most awareness of the glories here; and therefore, ere to more ascent we go, I charge thee to look backward. Look below; and see how wide a realm, and how complete, already have I placed beneath your feet. For then the exultance of your heart will be of equal mood to meet Christ's chivalry triumphant in its height celestial, when through the ether on your sight it breaks.'
So Dante looks back towards the Earth, seeing the sun and all the planets in their crystal spheres with the globe of the Earth laid out within them all. 'Then looked I downward through the seven spheres. How mean, how paltry our proud earth appears seen from that height! I needs must smile to see its meagre aspect. O sound choice that takes its value at the least! How truly they are upright called who raise their eyes away. I saw Latona's daughter,' (Artemis, the Moon) 'shining now without those shadows which to earth she turns, making me doubtful of her density; sustained the aspect of Hyperion's son;' (Helios, the sun) 'and saw the daughter fair of Dione,' (Aphrodite, Venus) 'and Maia's son,' (Hermes, Mercury) 'in his vicinity their courses take; I saw Jove's temperate fire between his hot son and his chillier sire; observed their various orbits; all I learned, their size, their swiftness, and the distant vast that parts them on their paths. And far below the map of Earth was spread: the hills I know: the winding rivers. All that threshing floor for which we strive so hard, to lose at last. So from the Eternal Twins my glance I cast on all we had passed to that far height attain, and turned it to her beauteous eyes again.'
And with that, one arrives at the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

THE HEAVEN OF THE FIXED STARS
As soon as he arrives in this Heaven, Dante is presented with a procession of the Triumph of Christ.

THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST
When he arrives, the Heaven is dark, but quickly a faint light grows golden, brightening the sky. This marks the drawing nigh of the 'Squadrons of the Rule of Christ', and of Christ Himself. As the curtain of pure light draws nearer, it seems like the bright light of a full Moon, though everyone seeing it knows that it is the light of Christ. He has all the souls who were true to him on Earth around him, vast hosts of them, all formless and merged into a single clear translucent flame. 'For each soul was not, in its Master's sight, substantial seeming, but reflected light, and He the Substance.'
Through the curtain of light, one can see Christ Himself, but the light is so bright that one must turn away. Beatrice tells Dante that what he sees is 'the path God's suffering paved with fire, and Christ comes down it'. The mortal soul cannot look upon Christ as he approaches without having their mind refuse, and give way under the pressure. Dante gets around this by seeing 'the Banquet of the Lord of Heaven' reflected in Beatrice. He sees 'splendours in a space I might not share, and yet could know them'. This inspires Dante to prayer.
The light of Christ grows a garden around him, of lilies, for His life, and roses, for His blood. As Dante prays, lifting his heart to God, a response comes down to Beatrice. 'Down from midHeaven, through all its splendours, came separate intense, a tiny orb of flame, that when it reached her, ringed her round complete, a crown of light, pulsating. Song most sweet were discords of the storm, to that great lyre that sounded, as their Queen was throned in fire. O, sapphire, that the brightest Heavens contain, central! O, song that hymns thy, deathless reign! Clear through the breathless, waiting hosts, it said: "I am the Angelic love. The light that led the waiting world to God. The Uncreate Fire. Who sheltered in her womb the World's Desire I compass ever, height on height to tread. O Lady, follow where thy Christ hath led! The highest, holiest, inmost sphere shall be Diviner, flowering all its hope in thee."'
As the song ceases, the circling lights return Beatrice's praise in a sweet silence, before they lengthen upwards with a chant of 'Regina caelis rose'.
These lights are some of the spirits of this Heaven. Beatrice speaks to them and they become each become a golden-red radiant sphere, spinning on its axis. Together they dance in perfect harmony.
The spirits here are all vicars of Christ, who have done His will in life.
One of the spirits of this Heaven, a sphere of light of the greatest beauty, is St. Peter. He examines Dante concerning Faith, and approves his answer with a triumphant cry through the Heaven of 'Deus Laudmus'. Following this, he is examined on Hope by St. James, who also approves his answer with a cry of delight from Heaven, and a clarion cry of 'sperent in te' from the spirits there which is accompanied by a glorious flash of white light. Lastly, St. John appears, the light emanating from him so bright that it blinds Dante (though not permanently). He examines Dante concerning Love. Again, Dante passes the examination, and the most sweet strain Dante has yet heard sounds through Heaven. A strong light strikes him and by it, Beatrice restores his sight, making it, in fact, better than before.
It can be assumed that a similar set of examinations would be applied to any other mortals who travel so far in Heaven...
With his sight restored, Dante sees that Adam has joined the three saints. He tells Dante that he lived from nine hundred and thirty years on Earth, and was four thousand, three hundred and two years in the same place as Virgil (presumably Limbo) before spending a short time in the Earthly Paradise and ascending into Heaven.
As he watches, Dante sees the four spirits change to a crimson hue as Saint Peter also denounces his degenerate successors upon the Papal throne. Then they rise up into the air. 'As we see the frozen vapours in white flakes to fall when the Sun feels the Goat's extended horn, so through the ether rose, like flakes of fire, those lights triumphant. Not could sight aspire so high to follow.'
As he watches the four spirits rise, Beatrice points out to Dante how far they themselves have risen. He sees the Earth below him again as they rise to the Crystalline Heaven.

THE CRYSTALLINE HEAVEN, OR PRIMUM MOBILE
This is the ninth and last of the material Heavens, called the Crystalline because it is transparent and invisible, or the Primum Mobile because from its infinite speed the other lower Heavens take their slower motions.
Beatrice talks to Dante about the nature of this Heaven. 'All reality Round its fixed centre moves; but in this height where God is all the love and all the light, where is no otherwhere, no where can be. Love graspeth all in one including zone of mystery only to its Maker known. What language can define infinity? Five is the half of ten, but that to see the limit of the ten must first be seen. Here is no limit of space; and naught hath been, nor will be, ended or commenced. Behold the roots of Time's full-leaved but fading Tree!' She also rebukes the covetousness of mortals.
In this Heaven Dante sees a bright point of light directly overhead surrounded by nine concentric rings of fire, the innermost very small, and spinning very fast, the outermost huge and spinning slowly. At the point of light everything begins, and everything concludes, Beatrice tells Dante. As she speaks, each of the rings sends forth innumerable lights which dance within its circle, sounding hosannas as they go. She continues to explain that they each ring is one of the Angelic Orders, around God, in the centre:
'The inmost circles have revealed to thee the Seraphim and Cherubim. So fast they spin around that central source that they shall share its verity the most they may. And as their vision is sublime, so far they gain their purpose.
'Those their course beside, the loves that round the next swift circle ride, are named the Throne, because they brought to be completion of the primal ternary. And you should know that their delightings are according as their sights can penetrate the truth which quietens every intellect. From which we can perceive the blissful state is founded on the sight of God direct, from which love followeth in its course. The sight is merit in itself, which grace begets, and the desire for holiness; and so from grade to grade doth the sweet process go.
'The second ternary which flowereth thus in this eternal spring, where never night sees Aries trample, doth perpetually unite in its hosannas, which it sets in three accordant strains of melody, as the three orders of its gladness are. For here are three ranks of divinity; thus ordered - Dominations, Virtues, Powers.
'The third, last ternary consists of these: first Principalities, Archangels next, and, last and outmost, Angels flame and sing. All these gaze upward, being so drawn, and draw from downward with a might as victoring.'
Beatrice then talks of the creation and nature of the angels, before denouncing modern preachers on Earth.
As she speaks, she and Dante ascend to the Empyrean, rising towards the centre of the rings of angels, into the bright point of light, the rings of light fading as they go into that blinding light.

THE EMPYREAN
This is the highest Heaven, outside of time and space. It is the Heaven of God's immediate presence and the only real home of the angels and the redeemed, whose blessedness consists of their eternal vision of Him.
'Behold, from out the Heaven of greatest space passed have we to the sphere where light is all; light intellectual by pervading love impregnated: pure love of holiness impregnated with bliss, which bliss transcends all separate sweetness. Here your eyes shall see the twofold chivalry of Paradise; and those who from an earthly conflict rise in the same aspect as their forms shall be before the throne of judgement,' says Beatrice as she and Dante enter the Empyrean.
At this point a bright light swathes Dante so that he cannot see. From within himself he summons a power to conquer all that he had been, and is able to see again. 'There I saw Light like a river in its molten glow That golden flowed between two banks aflower With spring's fresh miracle. From out the stream Came leaping sparks that in the blossoms fed, Rubies in cups of sunlight. Each would seem To sate itself with fragrance, and return As others outward leaped that joy to learn.'
Dante bends to taste from the stream, and as his eyes meet its flow, he sees the stream change to a golden rose, and sees through 'the previous beauty of the sparks and flowers, lo, the two courts of Heaven were manifest! But where are words their wonder to declare? A light transcending every light is there by which His creatures their Creator see, where only in that sight their peace may be.'
Up through the petals of the Rose of Paradise are the ranked thrones of the saints, with the Blessed Virgin at the peak. The boundary of the top petals of the open Rose contains a point even more radiant than the general golden glow of the Empyrean with 'over it a thousand angels making festival hovered and sang and sported; every one distinct in art and function, separately a thought of God created.' At that point sits the Blessed Virgin, the sight of whom fills Dante with deepest joy, the 'deliciousness for which the victor saints of Heaven are glad.'
Beatrice points out to Dante an empty throne set in the Rose, which is designated for Henry VII. 'As a hill images itself in some clear lake, as though upon its own rich verdancy to gaze, so in that light, around that eminence, round and around in thousand ranks I saw the conquering saints of God. And if so low, so large the light, the concourse, nearly viewed, judge what must be the outmost amplitude of the wide petals of that golden Rose. But not the great breadth nor the ample height could give denial to mine eager sight of the full sweep of that ranged ecstasy. For, where God is, nor near nor far can be, nor Nature's laws have any meaning there. Within the yellow of the eternal Rose Beatrice drew me, while its petals spread wide open to that sun which round it shed an everlasting spring, the while its praise continual perfume gave.'
Those in the Empyrean, within the Rose of Paradise, are 'the ranks of Christ's great chivalry, which with His blood, a sacred spouse, He won'. The many saints there do not obstruct the light from above. They constantly sing hosannas.
Over them fly Angels who, 'while they fly, do sing His glory whom continually they serve, and by that service magnify'. They descend into the Rose of Paradise and drink the love of God there before ascending back into the sky. 'Their faces were of lively flame: alight their wings with lustrous gold: the rest so white that dull in contrast were the whitest snow. And as within the flower they ministered with fanning wings the ranks of saints along, passion they gave and peace alike to know; for in the bliss of that most holy state passion is peace, and peace is passionate.'
At this point, Beatrice goes from Dante while he is gazing around, and ascends to her throne, which is in the third circle below the Blessed Virgin. Saint Bernard, who has been assigned to Dante to ensure that he 'mightst complete a perfect progress' points her out to Dante. 'Seated high, the living everlasting light divine crowning her brows with its reflected rays, I saw her, far from any reach of mine. Far as from darkness of the deepest sea the thunders of the utmost Heaven may be, I saw her inaccessible'. Dante prays to her, thanking her for what she has done, and she smiles down on him in response.
St Bernard describes the ranks and orders of the Rose to Dante. At Mary's feet, the only inhabitant of the second rank, sits Eve. In addition to Beatrice, the third rank contains Rachel. 'After these, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and beyond the Moabite maid who was the ancestress of him who sinned and sang, and in the stress of penitence misereri mei cried.'
'Petal by petal, rank by rank,' St Bernard tells Dante of the 'illustrious names of old, half-circling down the Rose's rounded cup,' until he reaches the seventh rank which contains the 'unnumbered names, but ancient all, a tale of Hebrew dames and others who, before Christ's victory, looked forward, and believed the light to be.' On the other side of the Rose, separated from them by a cleft between petals, 'are those who loved the Christ their eyes had seen, or looked with faith upon a backward day.' Because of this every petal is filled on the first side, but there are many vacant seats on the other 'waiting those who yet shall rise triumphant.'
On a throne at an equal level to that of Mary sits St John. Beneath him sit Saints Francis, Benedict and Augustus, with, below them, the 'conquering Christian saints'.
Close to Mary sit the patricians of the Court of Heaven. On Mary's left hand sits Adam, on her right sits St Peter. Beside him sits St John, and beside Adam sits Moses. Next to Peter sits Anna, Mary's mother, so entranced by her daughter that she does not sing hosannas. Beyond Anna sits Lucia. Note that some of the saints here are also present in, or perhaps visit, the lower Heavens too...
In a third division of the Rose are enthroned those 'who come to God unmerited either by deeds or faith, their lives too soon expiring', that is, the children, who remain children in Heaven forever. He tells Dante that 'in the first ages innocence alone secured salvation to the child of those who were themselves devout. A later day allowed male children such release if they were circumcised and sinless. After that the period of full grace full rite required of Christian baptism, that the innocent wings should gather power to soar.' So that, now, only baptised Christian children will find their way to the Empyrean.
When Dante has seen all this, St Bernard begins a prayer to the Virgin, asking her to complete Dante's journey, so that what he has seen does not lose its power on him. She looks down at him, then up, and the Light of God shines down on Dante, giving him the Beatific Vision and the Ultimate Salvation. 'But what I saw therein no words could tell, no human memory from God's citadel retire with plunder of its wondrous store. As he who dreamed, and can recall no more, nor that from his encumbered mind dismiss, so toiled am I. I know no more than this: I dreamed. I waked. I know the sweetness yet, though the deep source my yearning thoughts forget.' 'This I know: Had mine eyes wavered from that sacred glow I had been irretrievably lost. Therefore, aware of peril, did I strive the more the weight of infinite value to sustain.' 'As I gazed, it seemed that form was on that painted light pictured in human semblance. There I raised Eyes tranced and raptured by that wondrous sight.'

PURGATORY
Purgatory is the second part of Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. We find the Poet, with his guide Virgil, ascending the terraces of the Mount of Purgatory inhabited by those doing penance to expiate their sins on Earth. There are the proud - forced to circle their terrace for aeons bent double in humility; the slothful - running around crying out examples of zeal and sloth; while the lustful are purged by fire.
Dante's Purgatory is a lofty island-mountain, the only land in the southern Hemisphere, at the antipodes of Jerusalem. On the lower irregular slopes are the souls whose penitence has, for some reason, been delayed in life and whose purgation is now delayed in death. Above that is the base of Purgatory proper, the place of active purgation, which consists of seven level terraces surrounding the mountain and rising one above another, connected by stairways in the rock.
On these terraces the seven deadly sins are purged by penance from the souls that have been beset by them. On the summit of the mountain is the Garden of Eden, or Earthly Paradise, from which the purged souls ascend to Heaven.
Purgatory (from the Latin 'purgare', to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their providence and free transgressions. All sins are not equal before God, nor dare anyone assert that the daily faults of human frailty will be punished with the same severity that is meted out to serious violation of God's law.
On the other hand whosoever comes into God's presence must be perfectly pure for in the strictest sense His "eyes are too pure, to behold evil". For un-repented venial faults and for the payment of temporal punishment due to sin at the time of death, the Church has always taught the doctrine of purgatory.
The Catholic doctrine of purgatory supposes the fact that some die with smaller faults for which there was no true repentance, and also the fact that the temporal penalty due to sin is it times not wholly paid in this life. This doctrine that many who have died are still in a place of purification and that prayers avail to help the dead is part of the very earliest Christian tradition. If a man departs this life with lighter faults, he is condemned to fire which burns away the light materials; for God, to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works, and prepares the soul for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter.
Are the souls detained in purgatory conscious that their happiness is but deferred for a time, or may they still be in doubt concerning their ultimate salvation? The ancient Liturgies and the inscriptions of the catacombs speak of a "sleep of peace", which would be impossible if there was any doubt of ultimate salvation.

PURGATORY IN GENERAL
Dante's layout/vision of Purgatory is as shown below:

The Map Of Purgatory (vezi poza atașată)
The will fails one at night in Purgatory, and one can blindly stray about - usually downwards. Sleeping unprotected or alone in Purgatory may also cause one to be tempted by agents of the Devil, such as serpents. This can lead to a rapid descent down Mount Purgatory...
Those expiating their sins in Purgatory do not eat or drink, and like those condemned to Hell will heal from any wound or injury. They also do not cast shadows, being dead as they are.
According to Statius it is entirely possible for sinners to be condemned to different part of purgatory for their different sins in life, moving upwards from terrace to terrace until all of their sins are purged.
Although it is part of the world, Purgatory is inviolate to all merely physical forces, such as those of the weather, fire, ice, and so on. It is also guarded by angels, an angelic gatekeeper at the entrance to purgatory proper, and angels stationed at the way up from each terrace of Purgatory to the next (who when Dante travelled through Purgatory, usually indicated to him and his companions the way up). This tends to imply that if one somehow came to Purgatory without permission, and tried to ascend, it would not be long before one was stopped or turned back to ones proper place by the angels stationed throughout the terraces.

ARRIVING IN PURGATORY, AT ANTE-PURGATORY
Exiting from Hell, one emerges on a flat and reed-grown seashore, with the mass of Mount Purgatory looming above. If one emerges at night, in the southern sky is a cross of four particularly noticeable stars that light up the whole sky. These stars are the symbols of the four Cardinal Virtues, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice - the virtues of active life, sufficient to guide men in the right path, but not to bring them to Paradise. According to the geography of the time Asia and Africa lay north of the equator, so that even to their inhabitants these stars were invisible, meaning that only Adam and Eve have ever seen these stars, from the terrestrial Paradise, on the summit of the Mount of Purgatory. Possibly the meaning is that these stars, symbolising the cardinal virtues, had been visible only in the golden age.
People are present by the exit from Hell, mostly those who guide souls up into Purgatory, and know what it is. One of them is Cato. They will challenge those who emerge, and if the emergees do not show proper reverence to God, and that they come here by His will, who knows what may happen?
Along the shore, up the steep slope are shady places where, at dawn, enough dew remains to wash away the stains of Hell from the emergee.
As dawn rises, an angel comes to the shore. It is at first visible as a bright white light moving swiftly over the sea, out of the dawn. As it approaches it can be seen to be standing on a boat, which leaps lightly over the waves, leaving scarcely a ripple behind it, propelled by the angel's outstretched, motionless wings, with no sails or oars. The angel is sufficiently glorious that mortal eyes shrink from it.
The boat which the angel pilots carries a hundred souls to purgatory. They sing 'In exitu Israel de Aegypto' as the boat carries them along. The angel brings its boat to the shore and disembarks the souls there, blessing each one as they step onto the shore.
With all of its souls off-loaded, the angel sails away again in search of more souls to bring here. Similar boatloads of souls arrive on the shores of Purgatory quite regularly.
The newly arrived souls head up Mount Purgatory, guided and hurried along by the likes of Cato, into Ante-Purgatory.

THE EXCOMMUNICATE
However, also upon the beach are the souls of those who have died in outside the Church. Those who died repentant but un-reconciled with the Church must wait outside of Purgatory proper for thirty times longer than they were outside the Church, though the prayers of those on Earth can reduce this time somewhat.
Those who have come to Purgatory by means other than an angel's boat will have a hard time finding a way further up the mountain from here - its lower slopes seem simply too steep. However, souls here can, with persuasion, reveal the path upwards, a steep and narrow cleft, so small that both shoulders brush its walls as one climbs.
  
THE LETHARGIC
After quite a hard climb, one emerges from the cleft in the rocks onto a terrace, the first level of Ante-Purgatory. From here Mount Purgatory can be seen looming above, and the shore can be seen below.
This ledge holds the negligent, those who postponed their repentance to the last hour, but who did repent before death. There is a band of them waiting on this ledge. The Lethargic must wait, and pray, for a time equivalent to the time they spent drifting through unrepentant days before they can be admitted upwards, into Purgatory proper. Again, the prayers of those on Earth can reduce this time somewhat. All of those here are lethargic in behaviour, as well as in religious observance.
The narrow cleft continues upwards from here to the next ledge.
    
THE UN-ABSOLVED
This ledge holds the spirits of those who had delayed repentance, and met with death by violence, but died repentant, pardoning and pardoned. Nonetheless, they must wait, and pray upon this ledge until they are allowed upwards into Purgatory proper. Mortal visitors will attract large numbers of those here, who wish to be heard, and absolved.
Again, the cleft continues upwards, but this time also leads around Mount Purgatory to the right.
    
THE NEGLIGENT RULERS
The cleft leads around the mountain to a valley cut into its side with the steep bare height of the mountain above. The path winds down into the valley to the level of its floor; it takes only three steps - far fewer than would seem necessary - to go from the side of the valley to its floor. The valley is very lush. "Gold and fine silver, cochineal and lead, The Indian wood-blue lucid and serene, The fresh-flaked shining of the emerald green, Would fade defeated from too hard compare With the bright flowers and spreading verdure there. Not colour only, but their fragrant scent - Nature to one a thousand odours blent - A large anonymous delight supplied, Sweetness un-singled, unidentified."
In the midst of the valley a group of souls can be seen singing Salve Regina. These are the rulers who were virtuous, but negligent of salvation in life, and who must now wait and pray here until they are admitted to Purgatory proper. These include the Emperor Rudolph, Ottocar (the father of King Wenceslas), Peter the Third of Aragon and Henry III of England.
At dusk, all of those in the valley sing a hymn. Also at dusk, a snake comes to the Valley to tempt those who wait within it, and make them its prey. It always comes from the unguarded end of the valley, glancing backwards at times, licking and sleeking its scales "as though assured and leisured for the overthrow of those it sought".
However, to protect those within from the snake, a pair of Guardian Angels are assigned to the valley, coming "from Mary's heart", and fly downwards through the dusk. "Two angels in a single wonder came, and in their hands two swords of shortened flame, shorn of their points; and their down-planing wings were green, and all their wind-blown raiment, green as leaves new-born, as when on Earth is seen the tender break of her returning springs". One settles close above where the path upwards enters the valley; the other on the opposite side of the valley. No one can bear to see the eyes of the Angels. They swoop down on and drive away the snake before it can bother those in the valley - if they did not, those inside (and elsewhere on the mountain) would be in danger of corruption, and falling, down the mountain.
Dante rested in the Valley, and dreamed of an eagle. "Then saw I in the far blue heights of air, with wide-stretched wings, a golden eagle soar: An eagle poised to swoop. And I was where the friends of Ganymede he left behind stood (so it seemed) and upward gazed, when he was raped aloft to Heaven's consistory. 'Perhaps,' I thought, 'it soars by custom here disdaining else to strike an earthly prey.' And, as I thought, it wheeled, and stooped, and came swifter than any bolt, and yet more dread, and bore me upward in its claws. . . The flame Of Heaven was round us now. I felt it sear my shrinking flesh, and in that tortured fear perforce I waked."
A gap in the face of Mount Purgatory leads upwards from the valley.

THE GATE OF PURGATORY; THE ANGELIC GATEKEEPER
Going upwards again from the valley, one comes to the gate to Purgatory itself. At first this appears as a simple fissure in the wall of the path, but as one approaches it becomes clear that it is, in fact, a gateway entrance, with three steps before it that shine blindingly in three colours. The first is white marble, polished to a mirror finish. The second is basalt, coloured darker than purple with a rough finish and two cracks along its length and width forming the sign of the Cross. The third, and last, is flaming porphyry, brighter red then arterial blood. The gate itself is of solid banded iron.
In this blinding light sits an angelic gatekeeper, as glorious as the one bringing souls to the shore of Purgatory. He sits on a granite block, its feet on the third step, holding a drawn sword, with light reflecting from it like a bright flame, too near to the light of Heaven for mortal eyes. He wears a dusty-earth coloured robe.
The gatekeeper guards the gate into Purgatory proper well, but will allow those who are sufficiently devout, and who have a valid reason through. Pleading devoutly will help in this. When Dante comes to the gate, the gatekeeper inscribes seven 'P's on his forehead with the point of his sword, one for each mortal sin, and advises Dante that he does not fail to wash them all off as he ascends.
The gatekeeper has two keys in his robe, one of silver and one of gold. These were given to him by St Peter, who advised him to err on the side of generosity when using them. Both are needed to open the gate when used in order, silver then gold. If the keys do not turn in the lock, then the person's entry to Purgatory is denied, at least at present.
If the gate does open, which it does with a shrill shriek of un-oiled hinges, the gatekeeper advises those let in not to look back as they ascend further - those who do are brought back to ante-Purgatory, perhaps because, in looking back, they show that they still have some urge for the sins below.
When passing through the gate, one hears a distant 'Te Deum'. The gate clangs shut behind those who are let in.
Beyond the gate, the way up is narrow and difficult, with the rocks to both sides being very irregular, the rocks receding back and protruding out at random. This makes the upward path slow to traverse...
The first three terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be considered to arise from love perverted, that is, sins which arise from the heart of the sinner being set upon something which is wrong in the eyes of god. Those being purged here must have their love set upon the right path.

THE FIRST TERRACE - THE PROUD
But eventually one emerges on the first terrace of Purgatory proper. This is a flat are about six metres wide, with sheer rock rising before and falling away behind. The bare, flat rock of the first terrace stretches away to left and right.
The rock face ahead has no visible way up to the next terrace, but is of clear white marble, carved with many wonderful life-like sculptures giving examples of humility - angels, the Ark of the Covenant on a car drawn by oxen with seven choirs the carvings of whom seem almost to sing going before it, and many others. Even the speech of the subjects seems to have been sculpted:
"Upon the fronting rock I gazed. It seemed, our further course to block, it rose uncleft by fissure, gate or stair. But its own marvel filled mine eyes. Its white clear marble was with sculptured wealth so well, so richly furnished, Polycletus' art not only, but the actuality of Nature, might accept the inferior's scorn. I saw an angel who, I might have sworn, spoke Hail! to her to whom he came to tell the gracious verdict that reversed our woe, when the long-wept-for peace, by Heaven's decree, to men was granted; held no more apart by God's refusal of our guilt. For she to whom he bent, who turned the holy key of Love's high gates, this speech imprinted showed: Ecce ancilla Dei! Apt as seal on the soft wax. ... Here the marble live seemed motion, as their car the oxen drew, bearing the sacred ark, which taught the bane of those who more than seemly service do. Before them moved seven choirs. My senses warred: 'They sing.' 'They sing not.' With no more accord sight knew the incense real that scent denied. The humble Psalmist, more and less than king, danced on before, with garments girded high; While Michal, from a palace window nigh, looked sombre scorn upon him. I moved to bring before mine eyes the next bright history that gleamed beyond that leaning queen's contempt. Here rode the prince for whom Saint Gregory by prayer won Heaven: the saint's high victory according to the Emperor's worth. Was he, Trajan, outriding seen. Beneath his rein a woman wept. Around him horsemen rode with stir of trampling hooves beneath. Above, the golden eagles that his standards showed swayed in the wind, so live the scene. It seemed, the woman holding to his bridle said: 'Lord, wilt thou venge me for my dearest dead, My son, for whom I mourn uncomforted?' And he to her: 'My soon return await.' And she, as one by urgent grief possessed: 'But, Lord, if thou return not?' 'Then will he True justice deal who takes my vacant state.' 'But will another's deed be praise for thee, Who hast thyself ignored it?' He thereat: 'Take comfort, for thy prayers prevail. The plea of justice rules, and pity's call must be as potent to delay me.' Visible speech so sculptured we beheld, beyond the reach of earthly art: nor can I clearly tell a thing so different."
Around this terrace slowly move those purging their sins here, each weighed down and bent over by a heavy burden, praying as they go, for themselves and those on Earth who are still in danger of Hell.
On the pavement itself, placed where the penitents here cannot help but see them, bent under their loads as they are, are carvings as wondrous as those on the cliff-face, giving examples of the sin of Pride, which is the sin being purged on this terrace.
"There saw I Lucifer as lightning fall, Heaven's noblest cast from Heaven. The further side showed where Briareus, raised by equal pride, smitten by celestial lightning, sprawled supine, by chill death weighted to the earth he spurned. Thymbraeus I saw. Pallas and Mars I saw yet armed around their father, gazing down upon the giant's dismembered limbs. I saw Nimrod beneath his toil bewildered stand, the nations ranged around on either hand who shared his pride in Shinar. Tears were mine thy seven and seven children, Niobe, slain in their youth around thy feet to see. And here was Saul, face-fallen, pierced and dead by his own conquered weapon: rain nor dew Gilboa from that fated moment knew. And foolish here I saw Arachne too, half-spider now, and mournful to survey the tatters of the work her hurt had wrought. And Rehoboam, his high threats forgot, now terrored in his clanging chariot fled the hard pursuit behind him. Forward lay Vision succeeding vision. Alcmaeon within the lucid pavement made appear his mother's bright adorning bought too dear. Further, Sennacherib on the temple stone stretched lifeless, while his murdering sons withdrew. And next Tomyris, who to Cyrus said: 'With blood that was thy thirst I feed thee full.' And all the pitiless ruin she caused was shown. Headless beyond, the bold Assyrian bull. Great Holofernes, sprawled, whom Judith slew, while on its flying rear his army bled. Troy saw I also there, how piteous low! Blackened and hollowed by its eating fire, and all its pride degraded."
Around the curve of the first terrace from when one ascends to it one eventually nears the way up to the second terrace. An angel is stationed there, white-winged and white-robed, with an unthreatening visage, full of light.
For Dante, he beats his wings across Dante's forehead, erasing one of the 'P's the gatekeeper placed there and making the others fainter. Dante quickly discovers that the fewer and fainter the 'P's on his forehead, the easier his ascent.
Upwards, a neatly-cut but steep and narrow stair is carved into the rock, so narrow that ones elbows easily touch both sides at once as one ascends to the second terrace.

THE SECOND TERRACE - THE ENVIOUS
This terrace is very similar to that below, but lacks the carvings, being very bare and empty, with no apparent penitent.
However, as one walks along the second terrace, one begins to hear the wings of invisible entities sweeping past, and among other things they call the traveller to join them "in their courtesy to join the Table of Love" as they fly invisibly past.
On this terrace the sin of Envy is purged. The penitents here sit, dressed in hair-cloth, along the inner edge of the terrace, so still and so coloured that they are, at first, very hard to notice. Their eyelids have been sewn closed with threads of iron, and they resemble blind beggars who constantly sigh and pray to the saints to be prayed for. They can and will talk to passing travellers, and warns of the dangers of Envy, though some do not like to relive the memories this stirs...
At this point, Dante is assailed by thunderous flying voices that are a warning to him to stay on the correct path, in the same way as a bit keeps a horse on the correct path. It seems that Dante is, at this point, paying to little attention to Heaven, which he can see above him, and too much to Hell and the Earth below.
As one carries on around the terrace, one comes to face the Sun, which seems very bright, too bright to be shaded even with ones hands, and which seems to advance on one.
In fact, and angel is standing in the sunlight at the foot of the way up to the third terrace. He tells travellers to enter the less steep steps which lead up to the next terrace. He erases a second 'P' from Dante's forehead.
'Beati Misericordes' accompany one up these stairs.
On the way up, Dante is lectured by Virgil regarding the way in which, the more people who are accepted into Heaven, the more God likes it, as the larger the numbers there, the more they reinforce one another's praise and worship, to the greater glory of God. "The Eternal Good Is both ineffable and infinite. The more there are who in its rays unite, The more its conflagration heats. The more Of folk in Heaven whose souls have understood Each other, in the light of Love Divine, The more of love doth midst and round them shine, As mirrors, each to each, reflected light Cast to their own advantage."
For half a league or so, Dante has ecstatic visions of forebearance on the stair. "Here a temple showed, with moving groups about its doors, and one who with a mother's gesture called: 'My son, why hast thou disregarded? While that we have sought thee grieving?' ... Then a crowd I saw fired with fierce hate, and voices shouted: 'Slay!' And in their midst a youth was bound, and they hurled stones on him from every side, that he sank deathward, but his eyes were gates of prayer raised to an opening heaven, and from his lips, un-stilled by scourging pains or life's eclipse, petitions for their pardon came, that so stirred pity to see it."
These are sent to him to aid him by opening his heart to the peace of God.
Higher up the stair, smoke begins to drift across the sun, darkening it more and more until sight is completely lost and there is no clear air. One stumbles on blindly.

THE THIRD TERRACE - THE WRATHFUL
Through the smoke, one begins to hear the 'Agnus Dei', "Oh, lamb of God, who takes all sins away" coming from all sides. These are the voices of the penitent who are being purged of their Wrath on the third terrace and who are hidden in the smoke. They ask travellers to be mentioned in the prayers of those who pass.
The way up out of the third terrace lies opposite that up onto the third terrace.
Going onward through the smoke the sun eventually becomes visible again.
Dante sees visions of examples of anger in the clearing smoke. "Born of Light, by Heavenly Will, Its power descends upon us. She who sings, Impious, in likeness of the bird which most For sorrow in its song finds ecstasy, First my imagination held: so still My mind was mirrored on itself that naught Intruded inward to divert its thought. Next after Philomela came a sight Of one who hung in torment crucified, Yet haughty and dispiteous while he died, While round him grouped Ahasuerus stood, Esther, and Mordicai called the Good, Who was of speech unbending. As will burst A bubble, failing of its watery frame, So passed this vision. In its place there came A maiden, weeping anguished tears, who said: 'O Queen, why hast thou made this choice accurst, Wrath-blinded? Not to lose Lavinia, Thy own life hast thou lost; so losing me. Mine is the grief, the bitter grief for thee. Oh, Mother, for thy ruin must I weep Much more than for another's.'"
Some of the light which seems to come from the sun in fact comes from an angel, who guards the stair upward, and who will point it out to travellers. His glory makes it impossible for mortals to look at him. The angel removed a third 'P' from Dante's forehead, sweeping his wings over Dante's face to do so, saying "Beati Pacifici who from evil wrath are free."
The stair upwards from the third terrace is wide enough for two to walk abreast.
The fourth terrace of purgatory expiates the sins which can be considered to arise from love defective, that is, love which, although directed towards the correct subjects is too weak to drive the sinner to act as they should. Those being purged here must have their love strengthened so as to drive them correctly.

THE FOURTH TERRACE - THE SLOTHFUL
On this terrace, those who were slothful in life, who loved the Good but who did not act to promote it as well as they might have expiate their sins. Their love is strengthened on this terrace - "the loitering oar resumes its regular stroke."
This terrace is of plain undecorated flinty rock. As one goes along it in search of the way up to the fifth terrace, a clamourous outcry arises from in the distance. This comes from a crowd of people running at speed along the terrace, weeping and crying aloud as they go. "Swiftly they came, and voices cried aloud amid their weeping. Two in front proclaimed: 'How quickly Mary to the mountain ran!' and: 'Caesar once, Ilerda to subdue, struck at Marseilles, and ere his foemen knew had entered Spain.' And other of the crowd, jostling behind, cried: 'Hasten! Hasten all! From insufficient love let love's pursuit not slacken, and the power of grace recruit from strain to reach it.' ... In the rear they ran, and shouted: 'Those who saw the seas divide to give them passage, in their sloth they died before the chosen heirs to Canaan came.' And: 'They who would not, with Anchises' son, toil to the end, they bought a life of shame with that reluctance.'"
The members of the crowd are quite spread out, but still move quite fast, as a mass, passing anyone who is merely walking and racing off into the distance. There are many such crowds, each one racing around the terrace. They are not allowed to pause in their running through night and day.
Dante was assailed by a dream of a Siren on this terrace, from which he was only rescued by the intervention of Virgil. "A woman crooked in deformity, squint-eyed, and stammering in her speech, with hands Ill-shaped to make caresses, and her hair it seemed disease had whitened. Such to see was little bliss, but as the light expands with morn, and the chilled limbs their strength renew which night hath stiffened, so my gaze on her had power for her transforming. Straight and tall she rose, and soft swift speech, and eyes of love, she gave, and in her face the warm blood beat, even as desire would have it. I could not stir mine eyes from that regard. Her speech was sweet as song, and song became. 'I am,' she sang, 'I am that siren who the seaman charms in distant ocean. Not to heed would wrong the fountains of delight. To find my arms I turned Ulysses once. Who once belong to what I gave them will but seldom go. Such peace I give.' She had not ceased her song when came another of a different hue, alert to foil her, holy and austere, 'Virgil,' who cried, 'behold, what meet we here?' And he came forward in my dream, as though he saw this last one only, on the first, rude hands who laid, and tore her garments through, Opening her before, and showed her belly bare. Whereat there issued from that womb accursed such stench as waked me."
Progressing further around the terrace, one arrives at the way upwards, at which is stationed an angel, who invites travellers to 'Come hither' with a voice far beyond those of mortals in its sweetness and benignity. He has white, swan-like wings, with which he fans those who ascend the stairway past him. For Dante, he removed one of the 'P's which had been inscribed on his forehead.
The fifth, sixth and seventh terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be considered to arise from love excessive, that is, love which although directed towards ends which god considers good is directed towards them too much for the sinner to gain bliss from them, and also so that the sinner is distracted from the love of other things of which god approves. Their love must be cooled to a more sensible level.

THE FIFTH TERRACE - THE AVARICIOUS
The way up to the fifth terrace brings one out onto a place not unlike the other terraces. This terrace differs from the others in that the ground here is covered with people lying face-down, sobbing tears and lamentations. In between their tears they sigh, and speak words such as 'Adhaesit pavimento' and 'Anima mea.'
Those expiating their sins here are both those who were too avaricious in life, and those who were not avaricious enough. They are those who turned their eyes to Earth and its goods, separating themselves from God by their own will, by either desire for earthly things, or too great a rejection of them. Now where, in life, they did not lift their eyes to Heaven, their avarice holding them from high pursuits, now they must lie with faces and bodies presses to the Earth until their sin is cleansed. Those doing so claim that there is no worse punishment in all of Purgatory.
There are so many people lying on the ground here that one must pick one's way carefully to avoid treading on them; the easiest way is along the very edge of the terrace.
When Dante was here, he felt Mount Purgatory shake as if in a mighty earthquake. When this happened, a cry of 'To God be Glory in Excelsis' rose up from all those in Purgatory. The mountain quakes in this way when someone at last ends the expiation of their sins and is freed to ascend, and all of those in Purgatory hail their release. Dante and Virgil learned this from Statius, the former sinner whose release caused the shaking of the mountain in the first place.
The way up from the fifth terrace lies to the right of the place where one climbs up onto the terrace. Another angel stands watch at the entrance of the way up, and when Dante passed erased another of the 'P's from his forehead. The way up to the sixth terrace is a steep one.

THE SIXTH TERRACE - THE GLUTTONOUS
In the same way as below, the steps leading up from the sixth terrace lie to the right of those which lead up to it.
As one goes around the sixth terrace, in the middle of it an apple tree becomes visible. It branches hold ripe, sweet-smelling applies. In shape it brings to mind an inverted fir tree, growing broader the higher one goes, making it impossible to climb. A stream falls from the mountain above onto the tree, drenching all of its leaves.
Approaching the tree, a voice from out of the branches warns one not to eat of the fruit of the tree, as if one does, ones food will lack as if it were no food at all. There is no sign of the source of the voice. The voice will then continue on, giving examples of the virtue of Temperance. "More did it in her thoughts to Mary seem that all the wedding should be fitly set and furnished forth than that rich wines should wet the lips which answer now for you. And they, the Roman matrons of old time, would stay their thirst with water. Daniel counted naught the price of food, if wisdom might be bought with the same coin. The earliest age of men had golden beauty of simplicity: acorns were sweet, and brooks were nectar then. And so John Baptist in the wilderness ate honey and locusts only - wherefore he, the greatness of abstention to express, is glorious in the gospel's imagery."
Those on this terrace are expiating the sin of gluttony. As such, they are starved skeletons, with chalk-white cavernous faces, hollow eyes, skin tight to their bones and all the other signs of prolonged hunger. To those on this terrace, and indeed most likely to anyone who is at all hungry, the scent of the apples and the water falling on the tree is irresistible, and they cannot help but eat and drink of them. Unfortunately, that is part of their punishment, as in doing so they are left hungrier and thirstier than before.
A number of those on this ledge are former highly-placed members of the Church, now paying the price for their indulgences in life. At first reluctant to speak, as soon as one talks to a traveller, many those here will flock around visitors to speak to them, and tell their tale.
Continuing on around the terrace, one comes upon a second apple tree, with broad-spread fruit-laden branches bending low. This tree is concealed by the curve of the mountain so that one is close to it when it is first seen. Its fruit, although appearing to hang low, are in fact held up just too high to reach. There is a crowd of sinners around the tree, raising appealing hands towards its fruit, until they become disillusioned and depart.
A voice from the branches of this tree warns passers-by not to come too close, as the tree is one grown from a seed of the apple tree from which Eve plucked that fateful apple. "Pass warily, nor come too nigh; a tree there is beyond from which Eve plucked the knowledge of sad years, and this one from that fatal seed is bred." Having spoken its warning, the voice from the tree will continue on, speaking of the dangers of gluttony and the punishments awaiting those who succumb to it.
A thousand paces or so beyond this second tree a voice hails travellers. It comes from an angel, glowing with a fierce, bright clear red light. He points out the way up to next terrace.
When Dante passed, a wind smelling of sweet graces and a million flowers brushed his forehead, as the angel's wings, shedding an ambrosial fragrance, erased the penultimate 'P' from his forehead.
The staircase up to the seventh terrace is narrow, so that travellers must go in single file. As Dante ascended he was lectured by Statius on generation, the infusion of the Soul into the body, and the corporeal semblance of Souls after death.

THE SEVENTH TERRACE - THE LUSTFUL
One emerges onto the seventh terrace to face a field of tall, clear, flames, held back from a narrow path along the edge of the terrace by a strong wind rising from below.
There is a sound of voices from out of the fire, singing hymns, 'Summae' and 'Deus Clementiae', and those expiating their sins here can be seen moving in the fire, burning as they chant. They also cry of the virtues of husbands and wives, the obligations of marriage, and repeat their hymns again. Those on this terrace are expiating the sin of lust, having their excessive passion burned away in fire.
There are, in fact, two groups of sinners in the fire, one stationary, one moving around the terrace. When the two groups meet, their members kiss shortly and move on without pausing, as they turn away crying "Sodom and Gomorrah!" and "Pasiphae in a cow incarnate lay that she might draw the bull her lust to sate!" The moving group are those who committed unnatural acts of lust (those who cry 'Sodom and Gomorrah!') while the stationary are those who sinned no less, but by simply lusting too much, rather than wrongly.
Around the terrace, one comes upon the angel who guards the way up to the Earthly Paradise, as glorious as all the others. He sings "Beati mundi corde" in a voice with such an intensity of life that no human voice can compete with it. The angel tells travellers that they may not ascend unless they submit themselves to the fire - the way up lies on the inner edge of the terrace, through the flames, towards the chanting which comes from the other side. "O ye spirits purified, you may not enter by this stair except the fire hath licked you. Through its flames ascend, heeding the chant beyond." This angel removed the last 'P' from Dante's forehead.
Dante was very dubious about this, but was assured by Virgil that the fire was of a spiritual nature, and would not harm him physically. And indeed, this is the case. The fire does not burn the body, but it is nonetheless very painful. "After them I went, but when I felt that cleansing heat's intensity, I would have flung myself in boiling glass to quench the burning."
A chant is heard from the other side as one makes one's way through the flames. "Venite, benedicti Patris," it says. It from a blinding white glow which is present at the bottom of the steep ascent to the Earthly Paradise, where one emerges from the flames. It encourages those who emerge to carry on upwards while there is light to do so.
The ascent, though steep, runs straight between the rock faces to either side, and lies so that the light of the setting sun illuminates it along its whole length until the sun is entirely set.
Dante, Virgil and Statius slept on the stairs rather than ascend all the way to the Earthly Paradise after emerging from the flames. While he slept, Dante dreamed. "I dreamed a dame I saw youthful and fair. Amid a field of flowers she pluckt, and wandered singing. This she sang: 'Tell him who asks my name that Leah am I. With my fair hands a garland wreath I weave, my mirror and myself to satisfy. But Rachel at her glass from morn to eve sits ever. Fain her own sweet eyes is she to worship: better with my hands to me it seems to twist my crown; for diversely my pleasure is to do, and hers to see.'"
And carrying on up the stairs, one emerges in the Earthly Paradise...

THE EARTHLY PARADISE
The very top of Mount Purgatory is a flat, circular land. This land is the Garden of Eden, from which Adam and Eve were exiled so long ago.
The Earthly Paradise is like a beautiful lush garden, the place where human life began, before the Fall. The sun shines, the sky is blue, grass and shrubs grow, flowers bloom. None of them show any signs of disease or death, as if carefully tended. The trees are beautiful. Everything smells fresh, fragrant and lovely. The breeze sings gently through the trees, accompanied by a great deal of birdsong, strong enough to be pleasant, but not so strong as to be annoying. It is very easy to walk through the place, though there are no obvious paths. In some places there are meadows, the lush grass dotted with many beautiful flowers. It seems a place of eternal peace. All of the living things there are eternal, made so by God, and inclement conditions never trouble the place.
Dante encountered a beautiful damsel, Matilda, picking flowers in one such meadow, singing as she went. She explained to Dante about the Garden, its creation and maintenance, and the two clear, beautiful streams which flow through it. The first (the one by which Dante finds her) is the Lethe, which empties the minds of those who drink of it of all cancelled sins. The second one, the Eunoe, when drunk enhances ones recollection of the good which one has accomplished. The Lethe must be drunk of before the Eunoe, though. The water in the two streams flows eternally.

THE MYSTIC PROCESSION
As Dante walked with Matilda, on the other side of the Lethe to where he was (the same side as Matilda), a bright white light burst through the woods all around them, as fierce and sudden as lightning, but constant. A sweet melody came through the light, at which point Dante felt reproach at Eve for causing all of this glory to be lost to mankind. The melody became an articulate chanting - voices singing 'Hosanna'.
The light proved to come from seven candles, their flames so pure and steady that they could be confused with golden masts, leaving long rainbow trails through the air behind them. They moved of themselves, unsupported.
Behind them came twenty-four Elders, prophets and evangelists, robed in a white which shines beyond the whites seen on Earth come, going two-by-two, garlanded with lilies. In unison they sing "Of Adam's daughters blest be thou, and ever blest thy beauties".
Following the Elders came four six-winged angels, moving in a square formation, their wings crowded with eyes, each one crowned with a garland of green leaves, like the angels seen by Ezekiel and John. In the square delineated by the angels moves a two-wheeled chariot, drawn by a griffin whose high-raised wings (raised up too high for Dante to see their tips) pass through the rainbow trails left by the candles, but do not break them. The bird-like forelimbs of the griffin are golden; the rest of it is white and vermilion red. The chariot it drew is beautiful, but simple in construction. To the right of the chariot three damsels (actually nymphs) danced a whirling dance, the first glowing as red as the heart of fire, the second glowing an emerald green, the third a white as pure as the new-drifted snow. On the left of the chariot another four nymphs dance, all draped in purple. The leader of the purple-dressed nymphs has three eyes.
After the chariot and its attendants came two more elders, wearing different clothing to those who went before, sober and grave of mien. One held a caduceus, the other a bright and naked blade, seeming to be so keen that even though he is out of its reach it inspires fear in Dante. One is a healer; the other is not.
Next came four more Elders in humbler clothes, and behind them an old man with undimmed eyes, but who is blinded by an inward dream.
Lastly come seven garbed in the same style as those following the candles but rather than being garlanded in lilies, these are garlanded in fire-red roses and other scarlet flowers so that they seem crowned in fire.
This Mystic Procession symbolises the Triumph of the Church.
When the chariot was level with Dante, the entire procession halted at the sound of a crack of thunder, and all of those in it gathered around the chariot and sang, crying "Come, spouse to Lebanon", "Benedictus gui Venis" and "Menibus o date lilla plenis", scattering flowers over the chariot as they did so, so that it en-globed in a cloud of petals.
A woman appeared out of the cloud of flowers, crowned with olive branches, from which a white veil hung, wearing a green mantle over a flame-red gown. This is Beatrice, Dante's new guide.
It was at this point that Dante noticed that although Statius was present, Virgil had disappeared, his work in escorting Dante here completed. Virgil being unable to go any further towards Heaven, or see any further ahead, he had departed. It is not entirely clear what becomes of Virgil after this; presumably he returns to Limbo, in Hell...
Dante recognises Beatrice from when she was alive on Earth, and cannot help but stare. She reproves him for this rudeness. Those in the procession sing "In te Domine speravi", and Dante weeps in anguish at the shame of this. Members of the procession ask Beatrice why Dante is being chastised, and she tells them that it is because he spurned her in life, and fell so far that only his seeing Hell could save him, and that Dante himself requires repentance before he can enter Heaven. Hearing this, Dante eventually admits his sin, and his error, confessing all.
By now the procession has ceased strewing flowers over Beatrice, and Dante is almost hypnotised by her, suddenly finding himself immersed in the stream (the Lethe) up to his neck. Beatrice baptises him in the stream, and he drinks of it before emerging on the far side (where the procession is) and being embraced by the purple-clad nymphs (who are Beatrice's handmaids), one after another, before they lead him to Beatrice who is now standing by the griffin, un-veiled. He sees the griffin reflected in her eyes as the other three nymphs dance around him to an angelic choir.
Statius has accompanied Dante across the stream and to the chariot.
Then the procession turned, wheeling rightwards to face the sun, and moving off, with Dante and Statius in tow, everyone moving in time to the angelic choir.
Three bow-shots later, the procession halts at the base of a huge tree, bare of fruit, flower or foliage, which looms huge overhead. This is the apple tree from which Eve plucked the fatal fruit, so long ago. Dante is told that anyone who strips the Tree of its leaves or fruit is committing blasphemy against God by doing so.
Upon arrival, everyone in the procession cries out to the griffin. "Blessed art thou, O Grifon, that thy beak rends not the rind of this accursed tree. For sweet although the tasted wood may be, bitter its tortures in the belly's bound", and the griffin draws the pole of the chariot to the tree, and binds it there, saying "So is preserved all seed of righteousness". When it does this, the tree bursts into life again, leaves and flowers appearing all over it, accompanied by a heavenly tune which entranced Dante into sleep.
Dante woke to find Matilda bending over him. Of the procession, only Beatrice, the chariot and the seven nymphs remain, the other having risen up into heaven while Dante slept. Beatrice tells him to write of what has been revealed to him on his journeys when he returns to Earth.
At this point an eagle stooped from the skies down at the tree, tearing its bark with its claws and shredding swathes of foliage, its wings smiting the holy chariot before it returned to the sky.
Then a starved vixen crawled out the undergrowth and towards the chariot, but was driven off by the scourging words of Beatrice, and fled back into the undergrowth.
With the vixen fled, the eagle struck again, at the chariot this time, leaving feathers scattered over its floor, and a voice from Heaven came, saying "O ship of mine! What evil cargo weights thy hold!". Dante saw a scorpion rise from between the two wheels of the chariot, boring through its floor with its sting, then wrenching out a part of the floor and wandering about with it, as if with a trophy.
The chariot, however, immediately regenerated itself by sprouting a covering of feathers, like those which the eagle shed onto it, before growing seven heads, three along the chariot pole, and one at each corner of the chariot body. The lead head on the pole was horned like a bull, while the four at the corners of the body each have a single horn.
In the car then appeared a harlot, then a fierce giant, rising up as if to keep her for himself, and they embraced for a while, though the eyes of the harlot roved onto Dante they did so. When the giant noticed this, he whipped the harlot from head top toe and freed the monster which was the chariot from the tree and raced off through the woods with it, and out of sight.
With the chariot gone, the seven nymphs sing around Beatrice, sighing and pitiful, and, with the nymphs before her, and Dante, Statius and Matilda behind she leads them off through the woods, saying "Modicum et vos videbitis me", inviting Dante closer so that he may better hear what she has to say and then, before long, chiding him for asking no questions of her, telling him to reject his shame and fear and to speak as one fully awake, rather that somewhat enmeshed in dreams. And so Dante is told about the chariot (God's vessel, though it endures no more), the creatures and what it all means. Beatrice also speaks a prophesy concerning one who shall restore the Roman imperiu. "Thou knowest the chariot which the scorpion tore was once God's vessel, but endures no more; but let him well believe whose guilt is this: God's vengeance will not spare that deed amiss for eaten sops above the victim's grave. The eagle who with plumage strewed the car, making it monstrous first, and then to prey, will not be heirless always. This I say, who see its certain coming. Stars too high for human hindrance or assault decree That very near from now the time shall see five hundred, ten, and five, God's ministry, the two who sinned, both giant and harlot, slay."

Editat de shapeshifter, 05 martie 2007 - 12:28.

 crazy_sandrutzzyk, on Mar 5 2007, 10:46, said:

Ceea ce gandesti tu ca fiind imposibil se realizeaza...chiar des...in microuniversuri interactionale afective...privit la plan global...ar fi o porcarie...Si tu devii inger pentru o clipa si eu drac pentr-o secunda...ideea e de paradis ca loc ideal de a petrece eternitatea...eu personal...fara rock si putina cearta sau hai sa punem si OTV sa fie tacamul complet...daca nu ai piper degeaba :) ...atata timp cat exista un echilibru e perfect..parerea mea. Daca o luam in extreme ajungem la rai si iad ori asta e o mare porcarie...nici nu exista si ar fi o pedeapsa ambele tabere.

căutați și la Balzac...
http://www.bartleby.com/20/

Editat de shapeshifter, 05 martie 2007 - 12:39.

 shapeshifter, on Mar 5 2007, 11:30, said:

Sunt atat de multi ce au descris atat de frumos si paradisul...si iadul...totul se rezuma la talent si inteligenta. Eu sunt mai degraba interesat sa aflu parerea ta sincera, ca pe ei i-am citit.

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totul se rezuma la talent si inteligenta.
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intelect pur... cine crede că astfel de capodopere s-au născut (doar) din imaginație și talent se înșală amarnic... vede prea puțin...

 shapeshifter, on Mar 5 2007, 18:02, said:

:confuzzled: sa ma fi inselat eu...?...foarte probabil..dar nu imi place sintagma "intelect pur"...ca a gustat din ea..mai merge..ca il are...nu sunt de acord...ne prabusim in butoiul cu extreme fara parasuta...

Lucrarea initiatica este un proces activ si cu adevarat interior, in sensul ca toate posibilitatile celorlalte stari, individuale si supraindividuale, sunt cuprinse in personalitatea ce se manifesta ca fiinta umana si atunci prin opera initiatica se realizeaza efectiv toate aceste stari, printr-un efort esentialmente interior, spre deosebire de mistic care, chiar daca ajunge sa comunice cu ingerii, adica atinge stari supraindividuale, el nu le va realiza efectiv, ci „iese din sine”, se „extazeaza” fara ca dualitatea jivatma-Atma sa fie depasita. Scopul suprem si autentic al initierii efective este tocmai Identitatea suprema, realizarea Omului universal, chintesenta a starilor atat individuale cat si supraindividuale, existand o diferenta calitativa si ierarhica fundamentala intre telul initierii si cel al religiei crestine de pilda (deci a misticului), in primul caz fiind vorba de Eliberare, iar in al doilea caz de „mintuirea sufletului”, Eliberarea raportandu-se la domeniul spiritual si al intelectului pur, iar mantuirea la domeniul subtil, deci individual. In cel mai bun caz religia conduce individul spre Paradisul terestru, spre starea edenica, dar „Paradisul este o inchisoare”, caci cel care a dobandit mantuirea este inca inlantuit in individualitatea umana pentru o durata nedefinita si numai Paradisul celest, tel al initierii efective, permite „eliberarea” reala; in Paradisul celest Adevarul este contemplat in mod direct, fiinta vorbeste fata in fata cu Dumnezeu, privind Soarele cu ochiul inimii imediat, in vreme ce in Paradisul terestru contemplarea Adevarului se face indirect, Soarele este vazut mediat, reflectat in apa, pentru comtemplarea directa „alesul” inaltandu-se prin opera interioara in domeniul realitatilor spirituale, in timp ce pentru comtemplarea indirecta individul deschizandu-se ca un receptacul, ca un rezervor de ape in care se reflecta realitatile superioare.

Paradisul terestru si Paradisul celest sunt cele doua etape fundamentale ale drumului initiatic si ele corespund Micilor mistere si Marilor mistere din antichitatea greaca; Micile mistere cuprind tot ce se raporteaza la dezvoltarea posibilitatilor starii umane privita in integralitatea ei, avand ca scop final restaurarea starii primordiale, edenice; Marile mistere se refera la realizarea starilor supraindividuale, avand ca tel suprem Eliberarea finala, Identitatea suprema. Micile mistere, corespunzand unei realizari „orizontale”, „terestre”, „fizice„ sau „naturale”, conduc „alesul” in punctul central al starii umane, numai din acest punct fiind posibila comunicarea cu starile superioare, de-a lungul axei verticale, si deci, Micile mistere reprezinta o etapa indispensabila prin care orice initiat trebuie sa treaca obligatoriu inainte de a incerca sa depaseasca starea individuala; realizand Micile mistere, initiatul devine el-Insan el-qadim, omul primordial al traditiei islamice, sau tchenn-jen, omul veritabil al traditiei extrem-orientale, sau Roza-Cruce al traditiei occidentale, sau „omul bun” al traditiei valache, realizarea sa spirituala corespunzand initierii regale. Marile mistere, reprezentand o realizare „verticala„, celesta, metafizica sau supranaturala, conduc „alesul” intr-o ascensiune celesta, prin starile supraindividuale ale fiintei, in final obtinandu-se starea de el-Insan al-kamil, Om universal, Sufi, Yogi, de om transcendent, cheun-jen, realizarea spirituala corespunzand initierii sacerdotale. Omul veritabil este vestigium pedis, urma omului transcendent, find centrul, punctul central al starii de existenta considerata, in vreme ce omul transcendent este axa, locul geometric al centrelor tuturor starilor, pentru cei din starea respectiva omul veritabil confundandu-se cu cel transcendent caci axa nu poate fi perceputa decat prin urma sa aflata la nivelul starii. In traditia extrem-orientala se mentioneaza o ierarhie taoista compusa din trei grade corespunzand unor etape ale Micilor mistere si care sunt in ordine ascendenta �omul intelept� (cheng-jen), „omul calificat” (tcheu-jen) si „omul Caii” (Tao-jen), etape precedate de trepte exoterice confucianiste: „omul citit” (cheu-jen), „savantul” (hien-jen), „inteleptul” (cheng-jen), spunandu-se ca „cheu priveste (ca model) pe hien, hien pe cheng, iar cheng priveste Cerul”; intr-adevar, odata intrat pe cale, initiatul nu realizeaza dintr-o data Micile mistere, ci lucrarea interioara, asemenea unui drum, este efectuata treptat, etapa cu etapa, existand o multitudine indefinita de astfel de trepte initiatice, prezentate in mod simbolic ca fiind in numar de 3, sau de 7, sau de 9; in privinta Marilor mistere, adesea etapele intermediare nu sunt mentionate caci pentru omul obisnuit tot ce depaseste domeniul individual apare ca „indiscernabil” si „indescriptibil”. Desigur, depinde de calificarea si de posibilitatile fiecaruia ca drumul sa fie parcurs mai repede sau mai incet, in mai multe sau mai putine etape, dar este important de remarcat ca aceste etape sunt stadii spirituale ale realizarii interioare, formand o adevarata ierarhie initiatica bazata pe gradul de cunoastere al „alesului”, gradul suprem fiind acela de „adept”. In basme si in alte mituri initiatice etapele caii sunt simbolizate prin diverse „obstacole”, „incercari”, sau „probe”, pe care „alesul” trebuie sa le depaseasca, dar trebuie sa fim foarte atenti in a nu confunda sensul simbolic cu obiectul in sine, caci aceste obstacole pot fi comparate numai aparent cu „incercarile vietii”; in realitate, niciodata „drumul vietii” presarat cu diverse „greutati” nu se identifica cu drumul initiatic si niciodata invingerea greutatilor inerente vietii nu va insemna initiere si realizare spirituala, dar se obisnuieste - si este normal sa fie asa, ca viata si evenimentele ei sa fie folosite cateodata la simbolizarea procesului initiatic, nasterea, moartea, nunta etc. fiind elemente simbolice pe care le regasim in cadrul realizarii spirituale, deoarece viata obisnuita reflecta, ca si intreaga natura, realitatile principiale si intr-o societate traditionala toate evenimentele vietii repetau ceea ce facusera zeii la inceputul lumii. Probele initiatice sunt in general rituri purificatorii, simbolizate adesea prin calatorii raportate la elementele grosiere (bhutas), aceasta purificare prin elemente permitand realizarea starii de simplicitate, de puritate de copil, despuiata de cojile lumii profane si, in general, de „combinatiile” si „complicatiile” lumesti, dar purificarea fundamentala este distrugerea ignorantei (avidya) si deci riturile purificatorii trebuie privite in esenta lor ca o curatare de ignoranta si de iluminare intru cunoastere, „spalarea” de „murdariile” lumesti echivaland cu devoalarea cunoasterii spirituale; „Si din lacrimile neincetate sufletul primeste pacea gandurilor. Iar din pacea gandurilor el se inalta la curatia mintii. Iar prin curatia mintii omul vine la vederea tainelor lui Dumnezeu” zice doctrina isihasta. Simplitatea „alesului” este echivalenta cu starea de El-Faqru din traditia islamica. O fiinta contingenta nu-si are ratiunea de a fi suficienta in ea insasi si nimic din ceea ce este nu-i apartine de fapt, fiinta umana, ca individ, fiind nula in raport cu Principiul; fiintele, umane sau altele, in orice stare a Existentei universale s-ar afla, sunt intr-o dependenta totala fata de Principiu din care isi trag intreaga realitate si „in afara caruia nu exista nimic, absolut nimic” (Ibn 'Arabi), or a fi constient de aceasta subordonare esentiala inseamna a poseda „saracia spirituala”, starea de El-Faqru prin care, in acelasi timp cu realizarea efectiva a dependentei totale de Principiu, se produce „eliberarea”, detasarea de toate lanturile lumesti, ieirea din „curentul formelor”, fiind depasita alternanta viata-moarte, solve-coagula, „alesul” ajungand de pe circumferinta in centrul rotii cosmice, unde domneste „vidul ce uneste razele si face roata” (Lao-tseu); „Cel care a ajuns la supremul vid, acela va fi fixat solid in liniste” (Lao-tseu); „Pacea in vid este o stare inefabila” (Lie-tseu). „Simplitatea”, expresie a unificarii tuturor puterilor fiintei, careacterizeaza reintoarecerea la starea primordiala, este starea de copil; „simplitate”, „micime”, sunt expresii echivalente cu cea de „saracie” inteleasa in sens evanghelic: „Ferice de cei saraci cu duhul, caci a lor este Imparatia Cerurilor” (Matei V, 2). Aceasta „saracie” (el-faqru) conduce, conform esoterismului musulman la El-fana, la extinctia eului, a lui jivatma, obtinandu-se „statia divina” (El maqamul-ilahi), unde, dupa cum zice Tchoang-tseu, se rezolva toate opozitiile. Cel care nu se opune nimanui, nimic nu poate sa i se opuna, opozitia fiind in mod necesar o relatie reciproca; lipsa oricarei opozitii inseamna lipsa dualitatii, inseamna lipsa fricii, a durerii, sau, cu alte cuvinte, inseamna distrugerea ignorantei si dobandirea cunoasterii metafizice. „Daca prostia ar durea, spitalele ar fi pline de bolnavi” zice o vorba de duh, insa, in afara sensului imediat al cugetarii respective, exista unul mai profund raportat la relatia prostie-durere: durerea sau suferinta din domeniul fizic este reflectarea ignorantei si al dizarmoniei din domeniul metafizic, in diverse traditii „suferinta” fiind un simbol al „ignorantei antimetafizice”. Alaturi de durere, o alta consecinta a ignorantei in lumea sensibila este frica si nu intamplator proba initiatica prin care Harap Alb a fost validat ca „ales”, fiindu-i recunoscute calificarile initiatice, a implicat frica: ursul-tata pazeste podul si fratii mai mari vor fi „infricosati” de el si nu vor indrazni sa „intre” pe cale, sa treaca podul (poarta), in vreme ce Harap Alb, fara frica, se va avanta si va fi admis sa urmeze drumul initiatic. Nelinistea, angoasa, frica sunt trasaturi specifice epocii moderne, sumbre (Kali-yuga), ale lumii profane, datorita dezechilibrului, dezordinei si ignorantei ce predomina perioada actuala a ciclului, caci omul este infricosat numai de ceea ce nu cunoaste, de ceea ce nu intelege, de ceea ce nu asimileaza, ajungand chiar sa urasca „necunoscutul”; disiparea ignorantei inseamna disparitia fricii, frica fiind incompatibila cu cunoasterea: am putea vorbi deci in acest sens, nu de o „angoasa metafizica”, ci de o „angoasa antimetafizica”, jucand oarecum rolul unui veritabil „gardian al pragului” (ursul-tata) dupa expresia hermetistilor si interzicand omului accesul la domeniul cunoasterii metafizice. Drumul cunoasterii metafizice este dificil, ignoranta fiind disipata treptat, fiecare treapta corespunzand unei probe initiatice interioare prin care se dizolva, se sacrifica o parte a eului, in acelasi timp coagulandu-se si inviind o parte a Sinelui, fiinta dobandind un grad de cunoastere si deci, de puritate, tot mai inalt. Cu fiecare etapa a drumului are loc o moarte initiatica urmata de o renastere (regenerare), diada moarte-renastere insemnand de fapt o transformare a fiintei si, sintetic, se vorbeste de prima si de a doua moarte initiatica, de a doua si de a treia nastere, asa cum, etapele initierii desi pot fi o multitudine indefinita, sunt sintetizate in cateva trepte reprezentative. Fiecare renastere se asociaza cu o schimbare de nume, schimbarea drastica avand loc o data cu initierea virtuala cand numele ce oglindeste individul profan este inlocuit cu un „nume initiatic” ce descrie noua stare, de natura sacra, si de remarcat ca numele „Harap Alb” eroul basmului il primeste odata cu „intrarea” in fantana, adica pe poarta initierii.

Editat de shapeshifter, 13 martie 2007 - 14:01.

Nu-i chiar atat de greu sa-ti inchipui Paradisul. Noi, oamenii, am fost creati sa traim intr-un Paradis, prin urmare avem implantata in noi dorinta de a avea un coltisor al nostru, linistit, pe care sa il ingrijim, unde sa simtim satisfactia muncii si prietenia, unde sa ne bucuram de viata de familie fara problemele de azi: boala, moarte, conflicte de tot soiul, lipsuri, stres, teama. Biblia descrie Paradisul exact asa cum am amintit.(Verificati Apocalipsul 21:1-5, Psalmii 37:10,11,29, Isaia 11:6-9; 65:21-25). Observati ca versetele mentioneaza faptul ca cei rai vor disparea, iar cei drepti vor stapani pamantul pentru eternitate. De fapt, ganditi-va logic: Ce scop a avut Dumnezeu initial cu Adam si Eva? Acela ca ei sa traiasca in gradina Eden, care era pe Pamant, nu in cer, de a extinde aceasta gradina pe intreaga suprafata a Pamantului, prin munca proprie, si sa dea nastere unor descendenti care sa se bucure de o viata plina de sens, folosindu-si capacitatile la maximum si cunoscand minunatele lucrari ale creatiei. Or, Biblia afirma ca Dumnezeu nu se schimba. Scopul sau a ramas acelasi. Doar ca primii oameni s-au razvratit, alegand independenta (amagiti de Satan), iar Dumnezeu a ales sa le ofere un timp oamenilor pentru a vedea daca e intr-adevar atat de bine sa fii independent de Dumnezeu. Nu uitati ca au fost de fata si ingerii, nu se rezolva problema pur si simplu distrugand prima pereche umana si creand o alta. Ar fi putut reaparea aceleasi indoieli. Asadar, in prezent traim adevarul cuvintelor apostolului Pavel: "Este adevărat că Dumnezeu a trecut cu vederea timpurile unei astfel de neștiințe, totuși acum el le spune oamenilor că toți, pretutindeni, trebuie să se căiască. Pentru că a stabilit o zi în care urmează să judece cu dreptate pământul locuit, printr-un om pe care l-a numit. Și le-a dat o garanție tuturor oamenilor înviindu-l din morți“. (Fapte 17:30,31). In timp ce oamenii se straduiau sa inventeze noi forme de guvernare, Dumnezeu pregatea incheierea acestei controverse: a pregatit o "samanta", Isus, care avea sa plateasca un pret de rascumparare cu propria-i viata perfecta, astfel incat toti sa putem fi iertati de pacate si sa ne putem apropia de Dumnezeu, si in prezent Isus domneste ca Rege in ceruri asteptand sa actioneze asupra pamantului la momentul stabilit. Majoritatea profetiilor Biblice s-au implinit, nu ar trebui sa ne mire sau sa fim neincrezatori in putinele profetii care au ramas sa se implineasca. Lucrurile nu sunt atat de complicate daca lasam Biblia sa fie autoritatea in materie de adevaruri spirituale. Complicatiile apar cand ne umplem mintea cu filosofii umane.

Pt. mine Paradisul inseamna sa fiu singurul barbat din lume dintr'o populatie de 6.5 miliarde de oameni. -_-