dante to the fedeli d'amore

I dreamt of Caesar again last night. In Dante's Limbo, we were on the borders of Hell. I guess I had not heard that the Pope had already closed the Gates of Limbo. Or did he?

Well, in my dream, I was an angel descended from Paradise (a thousand years imagining paradise). No doubt, this must have greatly surprised my Caesar since he has come to believe that I spend my evenings flying round Japan on my broomstick... but guess what? I do that too.

It was my wings that gave away my angelic state. Sheer like the thinest, most finest silk in the world, they were shimmering rainbow wings (fairylike and reminsicent of Yang Guifei's famed dress of feathers):

Her most beautiful dress, a gown "shimmering like sunlight" was made of rare feathers brought as tribute to the Emperor. It was a fairylike robe which she wore to perform the famous Rainbow Dance (still preserved in modern Japan) before the Emperor. A dress of feathers was the dream of every woman of the Tang Court.

Touching down in Great Limbo, I found him there. Dressed like Dante all in white, he introduced himself to me as Caesar. And, thereby recognizing him in his ghostly person, I stepped forward and told him: On the edge of Hell, Limbo is the place where shades are punished by having many great desires but no hope.

Virgil was there, of course, as was Plato and Socrates. There was Euclid and Ptolemy; Hippocrates and Galen were there as well. Seneca and Zeno; Averroes and Avicenna. If truth be told, indeed, the company was so good in Limbo that-- at first-- one could hardly feel sorry for those who found themselves there.

And, none were sinners per se. But they lacked faith. And for no other evil then this, they find themselves forever Lost with no hope; living in longing.

Then in my dream I stepped very close to him and pulled out a scroll of an illustration a friend had once shown me from an old Bible. A tree of death (or the tree of sin). I there pointed to the very worst sin-- that of faithlessness (despair or apostasy).

And that was it.

The mood of the dream was very comforting-- everything was lit up in warm sunlight and my wings were pure shimmering splendor. Unfortunately, aftre waking from the dream I became increasingly downcast as I realized that the dream was not about caesar at all.

To have desire but no hope, being reminded of this state of limbo on the edge of hell, I thought of Dosteovsky's concept from Brothers K about hell being nothing more than the inability to love. And when you really think about it, what is truly necessary for love but hope and faith?

This is Dante writing to the Fedeli d'Amore:

To every heart which the sweet pain doth move,
  And unto which these words may now be brought
  For true interpretation and kind thought,
Be greeting in our Lord's name, which is Love.
Of those long hours wherein the stars, above,
  Wake and keep watch, the third was almost nought,
  When Love was shown me with such terrors fraught
As may not carelessly be spoken of.
He seemed like one who is full of joy and had
  My heart within his hand, and on his arm
  My lady, with a mantle round her, slept;
Whom (having wakened her) anon he made
  To eat that heart; she ate, as fearing harm.
  Then he went out; and as he went, he wept. (tr. D. G. Rossetti)

**

 

Adonis and I arrived safe and sound in the western part of his empire last night. Blasting music and dancing in pure joy, his grandma said: "Not many kids can move their hips like that, you really should sign him up for a hip-hop class"... and looking at him shaking his booty, I remembered the way the kids danced in Africa. Just like my baby.

I had fallen in love with someone else and so had broken off my engagement with his father... but going to visit him down there-- he was like a different person. In Africa. He danced in pure joy too. Sometimes people would come up to him in the streets and shops in Mafeteng and want to dance-- right there.. And-right there-- he would dance. I thought, it is a diferent universe here. Once we were driving way into the mountains of the Kingdom in the clouds and these two little girls were dancing by the side of the road smiling and smiling as they danced in the wind. There was no music. My baby dances like that. Sometimes when I think about South Africa, I think it must be how it feels like in Heaven-- a place where people can change. 

--Out of Africa (in LA)

 

Just noticed Namit's post at 3Quarks on Islamic Mysticism: the Mystic Tide. Recommended.

 

Comments

[Peony]

Namit's piece included one of my favorite poems by Ibn Arabi:

My heart is capable of every form.
A cloister for the monk, a fane for idols,
A pasture for gazelles, the votary's Kabah
The tables of the Torah, the Koran.
Love is the faith I hold: wherever turn
His camels, still the one true faith is mine

[Don Croner]

“I dreamt of Caesar again last night . . .” Lucky you! All I ever dream about is Lady Ga Ga.

[Peony to Lady Ga Ga's man]

Well, hello to you there, too!

You may as well know that your thing with Lady Ga Ga has been brought to my attention before. And, I have stopped to wonder, what could it mean? What could it all mean, Mr. Croner? :)

Oh, Oh, La La La, I am in Bad Romance

Cheer me up, Don-- tell me how cold it is there. Would you believe it is raining in LA today?

[Don Croner]

Actually we are having a heat wave at the moment. It is only minus 14°F / -26°C. Yesterday at this time is was minus 26ºF / -32ºC. The wolves on the Hill Behind My Hovel are howling at the Balsamic Moon. And I am not just into skinny chicks. I also have a thing for Yang Guifei.

[Peony to Lady Ga Ga's man]

You realize that I already know that, don't you? I think someone might have mentioned to me once something to the effect that you might very well have a thing for most any chick who happens to have a belly button...Of course this is all hearsay but yes, I am sure someone told me that once.

**

-32ºC, did you say? God, I hope your hovel has a heating system! Enjoy the howling and enjoy the balsamic moon...

[Manyul Im]

Delightful; I was just discussing Dante (about what is so much worse about the longing in the Paolo and Francesca passage, which is also a longing with no hope) with Lee Yearley a couple of days ago, over dinner in Hong Kong. There must be a Dante wind blowing through the East.

I've always wondered why Aristotle should be in Dante's Limbo but not Aquinas, since there isn't much, if anything, to Aquinas's God that Aristotle's lacks.

[Peony]

Welcome home, Manyul! That was a whirlwind trip. I hope you had time for 飲茶！Your question is fascinating... you are the Aristotle expert, but do you think what Aristotle lacked was this idea of true faith=Love; I don't think Aristotle had this concept of faith (where the opposite of Faith is apostasy).... Paolo and Francesco had faith but their faith was their lust-- not Love (love as the God of the fedeli d'amore) And so, they are lashed by stormy winds in Circle Two of Hell (which is separated from Limbo by rocky stairs and a slope straight down.) I've always thought that the dazzling company of Limbo is perhaps only to be outdone by the fascinating charcaters in the Lustful (Dido is there, of course)

[Don Croner]

There are many different translations of the above quotation by Ibn Arabi. My favorite translation of the last two lines is:

My only religion, my only belief is Love
Wherever Love’s Caravan goes there I go also.

[Peony]

My only religion, my only belief is Love
Wherever Love’s Caravan goes there I go also

I love that.

Fideli d'amore. Like the sufis and troubudors, that poem I put at the end of this post "Dante to the fideli d'amore" they say it was Dante's attempt to make contact with the group... in the days of coded poems, publishing poems was an effective way to try and connect with those people which you believe you belong.... Arsen might say this is not unlike our blogs maybe?

And everytime I read your blog I regret not having named myself Madame Blavatsky.

[Don Croner]

Who Are You, Madame Blavatsky?

[Manyul Im]

hey luv,

Re: "do you think what Aristotle lacked was this idea of true faith=Love; I don't think Aristotle had this concept of faith (where the opposite of Faith is apostasy)" -- I thought Aquinas's official position was that one could come to proper belief in God through reason OR faith; if I'm remembering correctly, that means Aristotle should be catapulted upward; I think Dante knows his Aquinas well enough, so...what do you suppose?