ctaylor

"There is no greater sorrow than to be mindful of the happy time in misery"(The Divine Comedy).  Dante and Virgil encounter three spirits that are currently in a state of misery, but are mindful of the happy times when they were alive.  In Circle three, a spirit sits up abruptly when Dante passes and asks Dante if he remembers him.  Dante replies that he doesn't recognise his face, but that it may have been distorted by his sufferings.  The spirit replys that he was a citizen of Florence called Ciacco, or The Hog.  Ciacco, while in his misery, is thinking about his happy, living past, and also the future of the Blacks and Whites.  His prophesy is mournful because he remembers the time in his life when he was happy, and is currently in a more somber situation.  In the sixth circle, Filippo Argenti rose up from the slime of the swap to harass Dante as he passed on Phlegyas' boat.  When Dante asks who he is, he says he is, "'one who weeps'" (The Inferno).  The spirit became morbid when he saw Dante , who was there before his time.  It reminded him of when he was happy and made him miserable.  Upon entering circle six, Dante talks to a few souls who are burning in a stone coffin.  One of them is Cavalcante Del Cavalcanti.  He expected Dante to be lead by his son, Guido.  When Dante tells him he is being lead by Virgil, the spirit mistakes his words for Guido's death.  The sight of a mortal being reminds Cavalcante of the happiness he shared with his son.  When he finds that he isn't there, he weeps and falls backward into the flame because he was thinking of a jovial time, while in an atmosphere much more depressing.  All three of these spirits think on a happier time, while in a miserable situation and become sad, weep, and mourn.

"A great flame follows a little spark" (The Divine Comedy).  Dante finds himself in the dark woods of error.  He tries to make his way out to the mountain of joy, when he is confronted by three wild beasts.  An action of his, the one that caused him to be in the dark woods was a spark that exploded into a flame, his onerous journey through hell.  The first souls that Dante sees being tormented are the souls of people that eschewed any and every path, good or evil.  These people, even though they committed no evil in their lives, they did no good either, living only for themselves and are punished to an eternal torment of being chased by a swarm of wasps and hornets, which make them bleed.  They had a little spark, being amoral, and the denouement was a great flame of eternal torment to be brought upon them.  The first circle of hell that Dante encounters if filled with "virtuous pagans."  They were born before Christianity, which was their spark.  When they were born, their life was an imprecation.  They could not be redeemed because Christ had not been born yet, so they are not tormented, but instead are engulfed in the pain of having no hope. 

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Posted by: ctaylor    in: My entries

Modified on January 12, 2006 at 9:55 AM

The church, according to personal beliefs by many current United States citizens, is supposedly separated from the government.  The thing is, our president says, "God bless you", as a formal salutation.  The youth of the nation are taught creationism in their Social Studies class.  Is the Church really divided from the State, or is that just a blind eye's view.  I believe that hypothetically, the Church and State are divided.  There is no connection between the President of the United States, and the leader of any religions.  There also isn’t a set religion, dictated by law that has to be worshiped.  In relation to the Churches of the "old world" and the governments of the "old world", we really don't have a connection between our Church and State.  So in that sense, the Church and State are divided.  But they show the President praying on national TV and he says, "God bless you" on national TV after addressing the population of the U.S.  I believe that there is no such perfect separation of Church and State that people believe there is.  Each and every person believes in something, whether it is Christianity, Paganism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Satanism, or any other religion, including those that don't believe in religion, so you can't expect the President of the United States of America to not take part in a religion, because that's not possible.  The publicity of the president praying is wrong though, if his prayer is private.  I believe that if he is praying in front of the nation, for something that concerns the nation, like the War on Iraq, that it can only spur more believing, which is what makes things happen.  The creation theory has to be taught in school.  Darwinism and the Big Bang theory can't be taught without creationism.  It is not right to only teach one side of the controversy and not the other just because the Church is supposed to be "separated" from the State.