As he passes through the gates with their terrible message of warning Dante sees an unsettling sight And I, all eyes, saw a whirling banner INFERNO Canto 3:52-69 [Translation Robert and Jean Hollander: the Princeton Dante Project] 'Making your mind up'Sometimes it's hard to make choices. Either we don't quite know what we want (will we have the beef or the chicken) where we are trying to balance the merits of two things we like, or we are worried about the consequences of our choice (if I have the chicken with the creamy sauce I will be putting on more weight than if I have the lean beef) where we are weighing up our desire (creamy chicken) against the outcome (calories). Usually finding it hard to choose isn't a big problem (unless for our spouses, who are sitting outside the changing room growing increasingly frustrated at the time it is taking to choose a new pair of trousers/shoes etc) but sometimes, when our choices really matter, indecision can be fatal. Sometimes not choosing is simply not a option and is in fact a form of surrender. When we refuse to take sides when one of those sides is clearly wrong, when we stay neutral when existential issues are at stake, when we stay silent and hide behind our newspaper when someone is being sexually harassed in our train carriage, when we 'opt out' of the discussion when the future of the community or the family is being decided, then we are denying something fundamental about ourselves, our necessary involvement and responsibility. When we opt out in this way we become less than what we should be, as Dante would see it, less than human, For Dante the refusal to decide for or against the Good was the worst sin that a person could commit. In his view each person creates his or her own identity through the decisions they make, be they good or bad. Being is a function of doing and doing involves decision-making. Those who refused to take sides, to commit themselves in the necessary moral choices of life were, in his view, opting out of life itself. In his own day Dante thought that far too many people were playing safe and 'sitting on the fence'. At that time there was a fierce battle raging over who should have supreme political authority over the city-states of Italy such as Florence, between the supporters of the papacy based in Rome, and those who supported the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor, who claimed to be the direct successor of the original Roman emperors. Dante was on the side of the Emperor and critical of the church and papacy. The Emperor, he believed, was the divinely appointed ruler over the material world and his rule would bring peace and safeguard the rights and prosperity of his home city of Florence. The papacy on the other hand, was responsible for the spiritual good of the citizens, guiding them to eternal happiness. Even in that regard, Dante thought, the Popes had failed, becoming as he saw it hopelessly corrupt. But Dante saw that the rapid growth and increasing prosperity of Florence and other italian city states led many to opt out of involvement in the big issues of the day. For some there was too much to lose. In his life before his exile, Dante had committed himself to one of the political factions within Florence, the so called 'White' Guelf party, which ultimately led to his exile in 1302 when, at the instigation of the then Pope, Boniface VIII, the 'Black' Guelf party took over control of the city. Although he eventually renounced membership of any factional party or group, calling himself a 'party of one', Dante knew what it was to make choices, take risks and suffer the consequences out of conviction. He believed that everyone who was able to should take responsibility for working towards the common Good, i.e. the revelation of God's will on earth (which he associated with the victory of the Emperor and the limitation of the powers of the Pope). But he believed many, motivated by greed and self interest, avoided doing so. For such as these, the moral cowards of his day, he created a very special place in his hell. In the ante-chamber of hell, he locates the people who refused to choose, who, in the afterworld as in life, hardly seem to exist at all. They spend eternity chasing a banner (flag) which has no emblem, represents no cause. Those who in this life chose no cause, who believed in nothing, are now seen as they really are; the devoted, committed supporters of nothing! As they chase the banner, they are gnawed at by worms and their blood, running to the ground, provides the nourishment for the maggots beneath their feet. In other words their pointless lives have become a form of death. These are the people as Dante puts it, 'who never were alive'. Centuries later, another poet trying to express his impression that the modern world was devoid of the commitment and passion that gave it meaning, found inspiration in this terrible vision. In The Wasteland T.S. Eliot describes his own vision of the living dead, the great crowd 'who never were alive' Unreal City,
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It's amazing how there really is 'nothing new under the sun', as the saying goes. If I said that in this post I was going to write about people being impregnated by horrific creatures whose offspring then burst violently out of their bodies or about hybrid dragon monsters, living creatures made from metal, you would probably think I was talking about something from the realm of science fiction, about face-hugging aliens or Transformers. But I am not. About a thousand years ago these were the horrors dreamed up (literally perhaps) by the author of the remarkable Vision of Tundale which recounts the three day journey of the Irish knight Tundale to hell and then heaven. The journey is arranged by God to cure Tundale of his sinful ways and put him back on the right track and his guide for the journey is his guardian angel. The 'alien offspring' and the hybrid monster are the next steps in the 'program'. It just goes to show - the best 'horrors' reflect our deepest fears, and these have been with us from the very beginning.
Sometimes looking just isn't enough, you just have to jump in to get the full benefit. Exercise is like that. You can watch sport all day long but you won't lose a kilo in weight or improve your fitness level one iota unless you actually take part. Travel is like that too. You can watch any number of travel programs on TV but it doesn't mean you have actually been to those places. You have never experienced the sights, sounds and scents that make those places so distinctive and memorable. That's what Tundale discovered about one thousand years ago. He discovered that just looking isn't enough. Tundale was a young Irish knight who had an 'out of body' experience and went to hell with his guardian angel in order to see what lay in store for him unless he reformed his life. But Tundale soon found that to get the full benefit of the journey he had to experience the torments of hell for himself. Standing and watching other people suffer wouldn't help him at all. He had to know what it was like to be burned, frozen, beaten, chopped to pieces, famished and devoured. He had to stop being a spectator and take the plunge! Thank goodness he did. Whatever it did for his soul, it helps to make this wonderful account of his hellish journey so horrifyingly entertaining!
Some years ago the youth justice system in the UK tried to shock young offenders into reforming their lives by giving them an experience of what life in prison was really like. They were taken to visit adult prisons and allowed to meet and spend time with the inmates and to see the regimes there. The hope was that by seeing how unpleasant prison life was and how intimidating some of the inmates were, they might be so scared they would think again about committing crimes or causing trouble. Recently I heard on the radio that research has shown that these visits have proved to be largely ineffectual and the program is to be wound down. But whether it was successful or not it certainly wasn't a new idea when it was introduced. About 1000 years ago a young Irish knight who had seriously 'gone of the rails' wrote an account of just such a visit. Just as in the modern schemes he was shown the punishment that awaited him if he didn't reform, in the hope that he would be so terrified he would be shaken out of his wicked ways and change his life. But it wasn't a prison he was taken to, it was hell itself. He was shown and experienced the tortures of the damned and felt (and smelt) their pain! Unlike the more recent schemes this 'scheme' worked and he came back to this world a reformed character. Here and in subsequent posts I want to try to describe this vision of the tortures of hell and trace some of the influences it had in later versions of hell and paradise, in literature and in art.
In the previous post I looked at some of the illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, a 15th century French manual describing the end of the world, the last judgement and the punishment of the wicked in hell. It's an amazing document and the illustrations are quite remarkable and beautiful. The illustrations show the activity of the Antichrist, the signs of the Apocalypse and the Last Judgement. After the Last Judgement the illustrations show in graphic detail the terrible punishments and tortures that lie in wait for the damned. In this post I want to show you these illustrations, not just to revel in the twisted imagination of these Renaissance monks as they imagined the unspeakable horrors of damnation (although I do!) but to think about what they tell us about the Renaissance view of sin. A warning before we begin - this is not for the faint hearted or the sqeamish!
Some of the most remarkable, wonderful and unsettling images of hell and damnation from the middle ages are found in a 15th century manual describing the apocalypse (the end of the world) produced by Carthusian monks in France known as Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur (The Book of the Vineyard of our Lord). Now held by the Bodleian LIbrary in Oxford its illustrations and are available to view here. This seems to have been the second volume of a larger, two part work, completed some time before 1463 in France. Its author and illustrators are unknown. It's thought to be Carthusian because one illustration depicts two Carthusian monks. These images depict the Antichrist and his war on the Church, the signs of the coming of the end of the world, the Last Judgement and then, in full gory detail, the sufferings of the damned. (I should point out the book also pictures the saints in paradise but these are really boring by comparison!) The whole point of this blog is to argue that our ideas of heaven and hell owe far more to the imaginations of writers and artists in the middle ages and Renaissance than to the bible and here we get a really good feel for the kinds of ideas that were shaping the thinking of Christians bout the afterlife at this time. They are fun, shocking, amusing and very, very interesting.
When I first went to the National Gallery to visit the Visions of Paradise exhibition I asked the guard at the door the best way to find the exhibition (I get lost easily!) He kindly gave me directions and then added with a smile "you can't miss it". And he was rightI The brilliant light of the picture grabs your attention the moment you are within view. You can't take your eyes away from it. The painting is massive and its light is intense, startling, breathtaking. Botticini knew what most of us over the age of 50 already now only too well, that to see you need light! (I find it's impossible for me to read now unless I have a powerful lamp shining directly onto the page in front of me). And his picture is full of light; it's almost like a bright lamp itself, shining brilliantly in the corner of our room/galley/chapel, helping us to see! Not words on a page of course, but the divine reality. In the last post I talked about the lower panel of the painting, with its focus on the sponsors, Matteo Palmieri and his wife Niccolosa. In one sense the painting is really about them and I discussed the ways in which their position on the mountain top represents their claim to have been virtuous patrons, not just of Botticini and this painting, but of Florence. But the first thing you look at when you see the painting, as the guard pointed out to me, is not the two pious, kneeling figures in the centre, but the glorious dome of heaven above and its spectacular brilliance. In this post I want to talk about how understanding the importance of light in this picture helps us to grasp the spiritual and theological purpose of the painting! Having overcome his doubts about making the journey Dante now stands at the gates of hell. Inscribed over the gates he sees this terrible inscription Through me the way the city of misery But lest he think this place is the creation of some malevolent power opposed to God, he discovers that this terrible place was conceived by and created by God. Justice moved my creator on high The most terrible thing of all is the sheer sense of hopelessness this forbidding place inspires. There is no end to its horrors the pilgrim discovers. it has always been and always will be. Before me there was nothing In confusion he turns to Virgil his guide for help. Virgil tells the pilgrim that he must be brave and with an encouraging hand he leads the way through the gates. These words I saw darkly inscribed over an archway. And I said Inscriptions above doors and gates can be very revealing. They are usually intended to tell the visitor something about of the place they are about to enter. It can be a company name, a memorial inscription reminding visitors of how and when the building was erected or, sometimes, it can be a message suggesting how the place and its purpose are suited. This was brought to a terrible reality in the sign that was posted by the Nazis above the gates of many of the concentration camps they constructed. The sign said "Arbeit macht frei" (work shall set you free). The sign was a travesty of truth. The work those condemned to the camps would do would probably kill them and, if it didn't, then the gas chambers would finish the job. There was no freedom here only, perhaps, the freedom of death. Whether they intended it as such or not, the Nazis gave to these words a malevolent irony. It challenges everything we thought we knew about 'freedom'. As the pilgrim and Virgil enter hell they read the sign inscribed on the gates. It proclaims that this place of torture and hopelessness has been created by the Justice, Wisdom and Love of God. Just as we are revolted by the Nazi signs over the gates of their earthly 'hells', the reader is confused and horrified by the words on the gates of Dante's hell. How can this place from which there is no escape, not even the escape of death, be a manifestation of the divine wisdom and love? Is there a similar malevolent irony at work here too? Is love not what we thought it was? Is God not who we thought God was? Understanding the answer to these questions is, I think, one of the keys to understanding the whole work.
So, how do you imagine heaven? Green meadows? Rolling hills? Golden cities? Cloudy vistas? I imagine we all have our own personal vision of what heaven might be like, but I doubt if anyone reading this would have gone for the 'alien mothership' vision employed by Francesco Botticini in his masterpiece The Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven now on display as part of an exhibition in the National Gallery in London. Like a great otherworldly vessel, the huge resplendent 'dome' appears to hover over the earth, its insides open to view from below. Inside we can see row upon row of 'superior beings' sat in an ordered hierarchy of importance watching the action in the centre - a human being is physically being lifted up (on what appears to be a magic carpet) to the apex of the structure where she is greeted by the 'supreme being' (seated but also seated on a magic carpet). The human being of course is Mary the mother of Jesus and it is the risen and exalted Jesus himself who greets her. This is no medieval representation of alien abductions or a foretelling of the invention of hover boards, but rather a vision of heaven, heaven as the destination of the righteous and the home of God and the angels, but a heaven which is a truly 'alien' physical space just beyond the stars. Colourful, magisterial, bizarre, and, in the views of some of that era, heretical, this painting (also known as the Palmieri Altarpiece) is one of the strangest and most imaginative depictions of heaven ever attempted in art. In this and the following posts I want to explore this wonderful painting in some detail especially looking at the ideas about heaven and paradise that might have influenced Botticini. Dante the pilgrim is on the threshold of the greatest adventure of his life. He is beginning a journey which will take him through the wonders of paradise to the highest heaven and the vision of God. But on the way, he knows, he will be a witness to the horrors of the damned in hell, and of the trials of those who must purge their sins away through suffering, in purgatory. This then is going to be an arduous, harrowing journey. He must prepare himself! The day was coming to its end and the darkening air Inferno Canto 2:1-6 To help his resolve he reminds himself of two other famous visitors to the afterword. He thinks about Aeneas, the protagonist of Virgil's great epic poem the Aeneid, and his journey to the underworld. Then he remembers that the Apostle Paul spoke about a journey he made to paradise in the third heaven. But these thoughts don't help him; in fact they make things worse. When he contemplates his famous predecessors he realises that he has no qualifications for such a journey. He is no ancient warrior here (like Aeneas) nor is the chosen apostle of the Church, like Paul. Suddenly he feels terribly inadequate. He tells Virgil his feelings and seeks his help. But me? Who has deemed me fit to go there? Inferno Canto 2:31-36 And so he begins to have second thoughts Like someone who loses the desire Inferno Canto 2:37-42 Virgil sees the pilgrim's dilemma. He understands the terror in his heart "If I have rightly understood your words", Inferno Canto 2:43-48 Virgil encourages the pilgrim by telling him why he came to help him. He tells the pilgrim that the lady Beatrice herself, the great love of Dante's life, visited him in his 'suspended' place at the edge of hell, where he exists in a shadowy half life with the other great pagan thinkers and writers, and that there she asked him to find and help the pilgrim. He is only here to help the pilgrim because the woman Dante the pilgrim (and Dante the writer) adored has summoned him. By saying this Virgil reminds the pilgrim that Grace and Beauty are waiting for him on 'the other side'. I was one of those who were suspended Inferno Canto 2:52-57 Beatrice had been told about the pilgrim's struggle on the mountain by Saint Lucia who in turn had been sent by the Virgin Mary herself. Beatrice had been desperately worried that Dante the pilgrim would be too afraid of the the wild beasts ever to leave the forest and find the way to paradise. Virgil describes what she said to him about the pilgrim "My friend, who is no friend of Fortune, Inferno Canto 2:61-70
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Archives
April 2016
GalleryThis blog is as much about images as it is about text. Below is a slideshow of the pictures and images used in this blog. Click on any of the pictures to go to the post where that image is featured.
PostsLocating Paradise #1 In a Garden, Far, Far Away
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'
The Resurrection According to Rahner
Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #4 'And Who by Fire'
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #3: Held in the Balance
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2: Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #1: The Broad and Narrow Gates
Daily Dante 7: Many Rivers to Cross
Daily Dante 6: 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'
In Hell Everyone Can Hear You Scream. The Vision of Tundale #3
Teeth, Spikes and Cleavers: At the Sharp end of Hell. The Vision of Tundale #2
'No Pain No Gain': The Vision of Tundale #1
'Hellzapoppin':
Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #2 'It's The End of the World as We Know It (and we feel fine)'. Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #1
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #2 Blinded by the Light
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #1: Glorious and Immortal
Daily Dante 5: What the gates said.
Daily Dante 4: When I find myself in times of trouble
Daily Dante 3: I'll take you there
Daily Dante 2: Fierce creatures
Daily Dante 1: If you go down to the woods today
In Seventh Heaven or 'What Enoch Did Next'
A World of Fire and Ice: Heaven according to Enoch
The Power and the Glory: Visions of God as king in the Hebrew bible
The Beautiful Bestiary of Catherine Cleves: Monsters and Demons in detail.
Heaven is for Real: Heaven as a physical space up above the sky
Resurrecting the Dead or Reviving the Flowers? The loss of resurrection faith in Judaism.
The Defeat of Death #1: The promise of resurrection in the Isaiah Apocalypse.
The Defeat of Death #2: Death as a hostile power and promise of God's victory in Isaiah
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: The 'Last Judgement' according to Stefan Lochner
Hell in the Hospital: The 'Last Judgement' of Rogier van der Weyden in the Beaune altarpiece.
'Hell' in the New Testament #2: The gates of Hades shall not prevail
The Hours of Catherine Cleves: Imagining hell and purgatory in Catherine's prayer book
'On Earth as in Heaven': The kingdom of God as a revelation of heaven
'Hell' in the New Testament #1: Gehenna
Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version got it so wrong about hell
Heaven is not our home
Domes, Depths and Demons: The cosmology of the Hebrew world
A Bigger God
"See you in Sheol" - Sheol, the common destination of all
Heaven, Hell and Christian Hope
BooksBelow are some of the books which have helped me the most in the research and writing for this blog. Click on any image to find out more about that book at its page on Amazon uk.
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