Dante et Jung, revisited

celebrating the birth of Dante... 21 May 1265

some of my thoughts that I have been drafting on Dante to date:

in current reading of Dante I note the "shades" in Dante and "the shadow" in Jung. Always loved Jung's Mysterium on alchemy and noticed Dante cites the "vessel".. writing in that critical gnostic era of the Holy Grail. Havent read Dante in ten years and my first thought was of Walter Benjamin.. connections/references/meanings. poets of history

DANTE:

b 1265, d1321

Dante a Guelf, of Pope, versus Ghibelline, of Emperor

Commedia set Easter 1300 (Jubilee Year, 1300)

-read Nov/Dec, 2000 post Sarfatti-

 INFERNO

Canto I: amazing statement in the woods..
savage animals

II with Virgil....start

“Amor mi mosse, che mi fa parlare,” “love has moved me, and makes me speak.” ahh to fall asleep with the universal thoughts of Dante moving in my head.. c'es magnifique 
identity: Paul or Aeneas? Jung personality 1 or personality 2?  
the divided will

Canto III to Hell, met Charon

Canto IV the unbaptised; Monsters @ each circle entry.

pre First  of Hell still light, quiet.

Reading Dante "Comedy" again.. thank you Pope Francis, no doubt those in the first circle of hell should all be in heaven now!

Canto V 2 o yet first, illicit love re: Boethius

Canto VI 3o Gluttons, in cold, rain & snow.

Canto VII 4o Avarice: weights crush down on each other;

Anger -smiting each other dark & marshy;

Fortune.
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/11/18/recapping-dante-canto-7-or-hell-by-the-numbers/

beautiful evening! thought of my shadow as I took the elevator down to watch network news and to email in the store. Very chatting night!  introduced 2 of my cute, maybe 30yrold, energetic Jamaican neighbors and a date is on! a buddy on the verge of selling almost all got a new gig going on in DUMBO, $$$ ahead! that sadsack 17yr old runaway was here, i told him to go to therapy, then told him to make friends with the teen sons of my philosophe Dad buddy. l'philosophe was there reading Kabbalah, au'jourdi. (I told him to read Gershom Scholem, the master of Judaism mysticism). TY Walter Benjamin and all of my angels for a fun amazing night of listening to dreams and hopes, in the basement cafe of my building in Newark, NJ.

synchronicity .. Mary Daly

Thoughts of Boston...

So love Mary Daly.. when I was a doctoral student I spent so much time reading her works as part of my intellectual life. Her ideas actually run through my mind everyday. I loved her notion of time of the day having some meaning and those times that seem to come up all the time. Def have several time of the days that kind of give me a sense that I am in the here and now, doing what I should be doing at that time! Thanks Mary Daly!

Thanks Santa! December 25, 2008

happy for a good Christmas! the epiphany of being in the middle of 34th St at Herald Square on Tuesday, the 23rd. Tears of joy that I was alive and back in the mix! Remembering Aout 1977, Little America Wyoming and being in the middle of the continent and feeling part of the universe. December 2008 being in the midst of the megalopolis and feeling just one with the universe and able to help make sense of it all. My student presentations were good. Many hugs and lots of chocolate and cookies.. whew.. havent had such sugar rushes in years!

endless chats and all of the endless reconnects done each holiday season! Wow!
shouts to my siblings who are with my sister in the country. She has multiple health issues and is out of control in her neediness these days.  I send encouraging messages although I keep it real. The demons we have in us, the Jungian shadow. Om mani padma hung.

So, for Christmas, I think of how to be kind to the lonely. We all face the existential fate of being alone in the world.. but about those who are alone due to mental illness or substance abuse or fate. I am fortunate to have been greatly loved when I was young and to have had the love, trust, support of thousands of people in my life. I may be alone at times but I never feel alone in the universe. I have my memories or my real connections or just the realization that loneliness is just a feeling and feelings change. Most of all though, I have always had my spiritual sense of being with the angels. LOL, I hope not the flakiness but being born on the Feast of the Guardian Angels and named for an archangel. Anyhow, I have great faith that my angels will never allow me to fall to the ground, or at least they will pick me up!

This year has been a struggle as I have used that damn cane and often feel I should just fall to the ground when I am in a lot of pain. I think of songs like Cold Play "vida" or Darlene Lee and the E Street Band, or Bruce Springsteen, or Sylvester, or "havent stopped dancing yet" and try to shuffle a bit to imaginery music.  My feeling of bliss, alive in the middle of 34th street, 2 days pre Christmas, gave me the epiphany to just cry for joy! Most of all, I remember the Helen Keller saying about when she feels alone or damaged or angry, she goes to New York City to experience our great waves of humanity!

so, the magic of Christmas hit me again. The spectacle, the gathering together of loved ones, the sparks of the universe, and more than anything... my delight to appreciate the lives and processes of so many other human beings in my life.

big hugs, peace. love. compassion

Gershom Scholem Kabbalah illustration