PODCAST · religion
Dante's Divine Comedy
by Mark Vernon
I invite you to experience the odyssey, by accompanying me as I discuss each canto. My book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide For The Spiritual Journey, is published by Angelico Press for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death on 13th September 2021. For more information see - www.markvernon.com
Episodes
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Pimps, remorse and blood. Dante's Divine Comedy and the critique of the Papacy
Dante encounters seven popes in the Divine Comedy, five in hell, one in purgatory and one in paradise - that last being Saint Peter. His condemnation of individual popes and, I think, the papacy is extraordinarily strong and discomforting to relate. But was it all revenge? Did he fall for the...
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The way down is the way up. Dante on how to live in turbulent times. Lessons from The Divine Comedy
This talk was first given to Idler Drinks. For more on Mark's work on Dante - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy
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Is hell forever? The Inferno. Jason Baxter & Mark Vernon on Dante’s film noir
“Circles of hell" has become commonplace in language. But what was Dante trying to show us when he wrote the inferno? What has been lost in translation, with this first canticle in Dante’s trilogy now part of a secular culture? Jason Baxter talks about his new translation of the Inferno with Mark...
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Is hell really boring? Rowan Williams & Jesse Armstrong, Dante & William Blake
Rowan Williams and Jesse Armstrong talked at The Idler festival, partly around the idea, caught in the expression, “boring as hell”. But is that right, they asked, when a drama like Succession so clearly appeals to us? The question is fundamental, for an age inclined to regard hell as appealing…
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Dante and civilisational decline. A dispatch on disillusionment in politics
Dante lived through a period of almost total social collapse. Civil war and city-state terror, practiced by the church as much as secular powers, drove him into exile for the last 20 years of his life. For a while, he lost everything. But then, through the trauma, he regained a ground and...
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What is intelligence? Dante in an age of AI
Dante's imagery, particularly in the Paradiso, offers powerful prompts to developing the sense of what it is to be intelligent. He wrote for modern times, he said. And now, as AI becomes more pervasive, he can help us understand how machine learning and human intuitions are very different...
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Seeing the Unsayable. Dante’s ineffable images
Reason fails before the greatest spiritual truths. That much is not news. But part of the genius of Dante is his conjuring of images that reach beyond the impasses of paradox and seeming contradiction. I consider 8 such moments when Dante sees the unsayable and offers images of the ineffable.…
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Dante and the Meaning of Easter
What is the meaning of Easter? How might Holy Week be more than an occasion for its retelling? Can death and resurrection live today, as they once did, 2000 years ago? Dante’s journey, in the Divine Comedy, begins on Maundy Thursday, 1300. It continues through the inferno, on Good Friday and Holy...
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Dante and Eternal Damnation
Dante would seem to be a key candidate for infernalism, the doctrine of endless punishment in hell for sinners who failed to turn to Christ. He’s said to be medieval and isn't that what they believed then? And doesn’t his Divine Comedy clearly, indisputably say as much? But Dante’s whole point is...
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Angels, Dreams & Myths. Dante on times of transition
The Divine Comedy is all about guides - finding guides, following guides, conversing with guides. Virgil and Beatrice are the best known, but there are other modes of guidance that Dante seeks and explores. Angels, dreams and myths accompanying Dante, even in the darkest moments. He learns to be...
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How can we transhumanise? And why we need to
Dante coined the word "transhumanise" in the Divine Comedy, 700 years ago. "Trasumanar" is the transformation he will undergo in order to share in the life of paradise. Today, the word has associations that are strikingly related to Dante's; partly quite similar, though changed in subtle but...
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Understanding Dante. A second Medicine Path podcast with Brian James
A joy to speak again with Brian, this time on Dante's Divine Comedy. We talked about what happened to Dante, what happened to Mark that opened up the Divine Comedy, how the poem works as an initiation, what it reveals about Christianity, what happens to Virgil, the nature of paradise, amongst…
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Dante, cosmology, and a conversation at Rupert Sheldrake's 80th do
Bernard Carr is a leading cosmologist who worked with Stephen Hawking and now investigates time, multidimensionality and consciousness, amongst other things. Bernardo Kastrup cites him as at the vanguard of the great task to integrate matter and mind. So I was delighted to get the chance to ask...
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Dante’s Paradiso. Awakening to the Light. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
This episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues continues Rupert and Mark's exploration of Dante’s Divine Comedy, taking a lead from Mark’s book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. Dante is now guided by Beatrice through the heavenly spheres and into the Empyrean. It is a...
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Dante's transfiguration of time & love, seeking & suffering, telepathy & transhumanising
Various human experiences are deepened and resolved as Dante travels through hell, purgatory and paradise. The Divine Comedy can be read as an examination of this transfiguring of perception. From the alienation of hell, through the transforming time of purgatory, to the ever-expanding awareness…
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Dante on Idealism. Or Dante in dialogue with Bernardo Kastrup and others
This is a contribution to recent dialogues on idealism between Bernardo Kastrup, John Vervaeke, Matt Segall, Philip Goff and others, including myself. I draw particularly on: - Dante's account and analysis of his journey to the heart of consciousness in all its fullness - source and manifestation…
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Why Paradise? Part 3 of 3 talks on Dante's Divine Comedy
Paradise. Destiny for a chosen few? Dismissed today by many. Or might it be the end for us all? Dante tells us to follow closely in the richest, subtlest and most expansive part of the journey conveyed in the Divine Comedy. He shows us how to develop paradisal perception, the way to know this...
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Why Purgatory? Part 2 of 3 talks on Dante's Divine Comedy by Mark Vernon
The mode of life called purgatorial is a medieval superstition, according to some, and the very purpose of mortal life, according to others. So what did Dante make of Purgatory and what has it to teach us now? In the Purgatorio, the essence of the spiritual path is shown in encounters and...
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Sexual Mores & Divine Eros: Why we need Dante to teach us about love
The liberal world and western churches increasingly seem to suffer from the lack of a sophisticated understanding of erotic love - an approach not merely governed by morals but arising from insight into who we are and our deepest nature. Erotic love can be felt on nearly every page of the Divine...
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Why Hell? Part 1 of 3 talks on Dante's Divine Comedy by Mark Vernon
The notion of hell is delighted in by some and causes offence in others. So why did Dante write about this infernal domain on his journey through reality? What is its meaning? What might be learnt from it? The inferno illuminates how desires go awry, the nature of our being is misunderstood,...
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Dante’s Purgatorio, How to be transformed: a conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
This episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues continues Rupert and Mark's exploration of Dante’s Divine Comedy, taking a lead from Mark’s book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. Dante and Virgil have found the way out of hell and a new adventure begins on Mount Purgatory....
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The Way Up and the Way Down. Dante and the One Path from Hell to Paradise
Dante’s Divine Comedy famously opens with the poet wakening in a dark wood. His life has seemingly taken a wrong turn. But why must he embark first on a journey through hell, before ascending Mount Purgatory, only then entering paradise? What has the way into darkness to do with the way into…
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Light, Love, Logos, Life - How to speak about God
John Vervaeke, Paul VanderKlay and Paul Anleitner asked what "God" means, with John challenging the Pauls to talk about God via Light, Love, Logos and Life, so as not to hide behind the "g" word. Drawing on Dante, I offer some thoughts... The original conversation is here -...
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The Darkness That Is Light. Thoughts from an exhibition
The Dante exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, for the 700th anniversary year of 2021, brought together some of the Divine Comedy’s greatest illustrators, living and dead, from Monika Beisner to William Blake and Sandro Botticelli. Here are my reflections on these studies in line and light…
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Listen to audiobook chapter from Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey!
Audible have released the audiobook of Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. I hope you enjoy the first chapter, Inferno 1. For more information go to Audible. And for more on the book as a whole see my website - https://www.markvernon.com.
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Dante's Inferno, Part 2, dangers in spiritual seeking. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
This episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues is the second part of a conversation between Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon on the Inferno of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Deeper regions of hell are explored, in which individuals aren’t just confused about life but have become wedded to their…
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Angelology with Lorna Byrne. A conversation and inquiry with thoughts from Dante and Blake
Dante and Otherworld Journeys was an online conference organised with the Scientific and Medical Network - https://scientificandmedical.net/events/dr-kayleen-asbo-lorna-byrne-dr-peter-fenwick-mariel-forde-clarke-david-lorimer-felicity-warner-dr-mark-vernon-dante-and-otherworld-journeys/ This is…
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Dante's Inferno and the meaning of descent. A conversation with Rupert Sheldrake
The Divine Comedy by Dante is one of the great spiritual works of the Christian tradition. But how can it be read and what does it mean? In this episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon discuss the first part of Dante’s cosmic pilgrimage. It takes Dante through...
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Dante and Otherworld Journeys - online conference booking now!
Dante was clear: he wrote so that others might follow him on otherworld journeys. So what might this mean? With the Scientific and Medical Network, an online conference, Sat 27th Nov, to explore this issue. Join individuals who have studied it and others who have so travelled. Full details here -...
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Dante and Spiritual Intelligence - a lecture to the Temenos Academy
This lecture was given to the Temenos Academy on Tuesday 19th October 2021 - a particular delight as it was on its perennial philosophy course that the Divine Comedy first began to open up to me. See here for more details - https://www.temenosacademy.org I make some remarks on the Inferno and...
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How To Know Paradise and Know It Now - the way of #Dante's #Paradiso #DivineComedy
Today, people feel Dante's Paradiso is irrelevant. It's not. It is the place of true perception and delightful knowledge, and the goal of the Divine Comedy. The question is how to follow Dante's lead and become aware of this domain of reality that is here, now as much as anywhere. In this...
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Book Launch and Celebration of Dante 700, 14 Sept 2021, event recording
For further details about Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book For further details about the Dante Society of London - https://dantesocietylondon.com/index.html 2:34 Welcome 3:23 Dante’s first 700 years 6:08 Dante...
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Why Dante Matters - a conversation with the Church Times podcast
Mark Vernon talks about Dante and his new book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey (Angelico Press) at the Church Times podcast. This year marks 700 years since Dante’s death, and the Church Times of 10 September 2021 includes features by Robin Ward and Alexander Faludy, as...
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Book launch! Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey
To preorder Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey see - https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781621387480/dantes-divine-comedy To join me and register for the online book launch on 14th September at 6pm BST see -...
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Did Dante really go to paradise?
In this 700th anniversary year, the truth of the Divine Comedy is a key issue. Modern critics may explain its spiritual veracity by putting its impact down to social construction and performativity. But Dante knew about literature as much as he knew about divine life. He is emphatically clear…
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Dante and the Divine Masculine
Categories like feminine and masculine can constrain as much as illuminate. But there is no denying that men and male entities play a major, often surprising part in Dante's journey through the Divine Comedy. This talk complements my look at Dante and the Divine Feminine, now considering Dante's...
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Dante and the Divine Feminine
Categories like feminine and masculine can constrain as much as illuminate. But there is no denying that women and female entities play a major, often surprising part in Dante's journey through the Divine Comedy. Saints including Beatrice, Lucia and Mary, historic figures such as Piccarda,...
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Seeing In Depth - Dante on the Trinity
The Divine Comedy aims to deepen and broaden our perception of reality, often by exploding preconceptions. Nowhere is this more true than in Dante's take on the Christian perception of the Trinity. For Dante, it is way more than a doctrine. It is a mode of seeing that reveals reality as dynamic…
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How Dante Discovered the Power of Now
For more on Dante do see - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy Details of my book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey, are here - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book Also, use this code, “dantemv”, to get £10 off my Divine Comedy course at...
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Descent is Ascent - How the road up is the road down in Dante's Divine Comedy
[This is an audio version of a talk with images, which is on my YouTube channel.] Making sense of why Dante had to travel through hell, what was going on in purgatory, and how that's all linked to the destination of heaven, comes with appreciating how, in the spiritual life, descent and ascent…
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Longing for the Infinite – 7 key features of Dante’s transhumanism
The word transhumanism was coined by Dante to capture his realisation of divine life in paradise. It has been colonised today by technologists dreaming of utopias. I explore 7 key differences to recover Dante’s vision from the Divine Comedy, in the 700th anniversary year of the great poet’s…
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Dante, awakening, and erotic love
Dante’s journey is all about erotic love, through ugly possessiveness, and powerful passions, to the realisation that love is usually experienced as an ignorance about what we desire, to which he awakens. The Divine Comedy is, therefore, a crucial resource for understanding this energy that…
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Dante's Divine Comedy and Spiritual Sight
This is a recording of a talk I gave online as part of St Albans Cathedral's online adult education programme. The talk with images is online here - https://youtu.be/MiiG-isCCA0 For more on Dante, including details of my forthcoming book - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy
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Dante Top 10 Spiritual Insights
We will learn a lot about Dante’s language, love, politics and humanism in 2021, the 700th anniversary of his death. But perhaps not so much about the spiritual insights he felt charged by heaven to communicate in his Divine Comedy. My top 10 spiritual insights are: 10. Comedy transcends, not...
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Paradiso 33
Dante reaches the end of his journey, which is also the origin and moment of complete reception of divine life and light.
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Paradiso 32
Bernard takes Dante on a tour of paradise, which is also a gathering together of all he has experienced.
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Paradiso 31
Dante sees paradise as a white rose of beauty and heavenly amphitheatre of life, shining like the sun.
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Paradiso 30
Dante enters the Empyrean conveying, in visions, the direct experience of divine, living light.
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Paradiso 29
The unity of the eternal and temporal, as interpenetrating expressions of the divine, is unpacked by Beatrice.
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Paradiso 28
Dante gains inner sight of the still centre of all things, the spark of being and ever present origin.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
I invite you to experience the odyssey, by accompanying me as I discuss each canto. My book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide For The Spiritual Journey, is published by Angelico Press for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death on 13th September 2021. For more information see - www.markvernon.com
HOSTED BY
Mark Vernon
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Dante's Divine Comedy currently has 144 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Dante's Divine Comedy about?
I invite you to experience the odyssey, by accompanying me as I discuss each canto. My book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide For The Spiritual Journey, is published by Angelico Press for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death on 13th September 2021. For more information see - www.markvernon.com
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Dante's Divine Comedy publishes regularly with 144 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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Dante's Divine Comedy is created and hosted by Mark Vernon.
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