God loves Imagination

Our imagination is a powerful tool that can be used to image almost everything. We are not able to imagine things that we have never seen but we can piece things together to see things never seen before. Even by putting images together that we have seen, it is extremely hard to imagine what Heaven will be like. There are many phrases that are coined when people think about Heaven; they think of “pearly gates”, “roads made of gold”, and “paradise”. Heaven is challenging to imagine because we have never seen something as magnificent as Heaven will be. In Paradise, Dante tries to help the reader conceptualize and imagine how Heaven could be by using earthly aspects. Dante bases the spheres of paradise on the solar system, uses Beatrice to guide him, and uses music and light throughout his journey through paradise. 

Dante uses the solar system to base the spheres of paradise because it is a widely known system that has been extensively studied. The planets can also be connected with roman mythology in which Dante uses in structuring paradise. All of the spheres of paradise are named after both planets and roman gods. Understanding the role of the roman gods is crucial to understanding the structure of paradise. The third sphere of paradise is venus which is the goddess of beauty and love. “Dante and Beatrice rise to the third sphere, Venus, where they meet souls who were too ardent in their attachment to fleshy love” (75). Dante names a sphere after Venus and places these souls here so that we would be able to understand and conceptualize how the structure works. The first sphere of paradise is named after mercury which is also the closest planet to the sun. Since Mercury is the closest to the sun and a small, it is often overpowered by the light of the sun. Esolen says, “They enter the second sphere and meet spirits, represented by Mercury, who paid attention to wordly honor when on earth” (45). Dante places these souls here because even though they had the good works and the belief to get to heaven, they still paid too much attention to earthly praise which sometimes overpowered their belief of God. These important features allow the readers grasp the structure of paradise. 

Dante also uses a friendly face to help guide him through paradise. Beatrice uses moments among the way to be a teacher to Dante. Dante occasionally will just think of a question and she will be able to answer him without him even speaking. Dante says, “‘I see your love for me is well portrayed!/ But she is silent, she from whom I’ve sought/ the how and when to speak or to be still./ I wish to ask — it's better I do not.’/ Whereupon she who saw my silent will/ through the sight of the One all-seeing said,” (225). This is a very helpful tool because the reader often has the same questions. She is able to answer both Dante and the reader’s questions which makes it easier to understand the journey through paradise. Another way that Beatrice helps Dante and the reader is that looking at her helps Dante know how to react. Dante writes, “I turned right, to see/ whether what I should do now might appear/ sealed upon Beatrice by a sign or word,/ And saw her brilliant shining eyes so clear,/ so filled with joy, the beauty of that sight/ defeated all the rest I’d had of her” (193). Beatrice shows Dante how he should react to what he is seeing throughout this journey. This also helps the reader learn the emotions that the souls can have in Heaven. 

Dante uses music and light throughout his journey to put what he sees in terms that we can visualize. Dante describes paradise as being a source of harmony and unity. Dante writes, “Various voices make the sweeter song: here in our life the various thrones endow the wheels of Heaven with sweet harmony” (63). Dante uses music in this passage to show how all of the people in the kingdom in Heaven work together with all of their various gifts to glorify God. Dante uses music as a vision for harmony and unity because it takes many people to create harmony. He does not only use music but also uses light when describing paradise. Throughout the book, Dante uses light and it gets progressively more intense as he gets closer to the source of all light which is God. Dante says, “Summit of light that lift yourself so high/ above the mind of mortal man, restore/ some slightest shade of your theophany,/ and grant them to my tongue sufficient power/ to leave the palest flicker of your glory/ to readers of a late day and hour” (355). When Dante sees God, his light is too profound for the mortal mind to comprehend. Dante uses light when describing the effect of God because light has the capability to blind and that is the effect that God had on Dante. The effect of God is not exactly known but He is often described as being a light and Jesus even said that He was the light. In John it says, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life’” (John 8:12; ESV). Dante uses the vision of light to describe light to help us conceptualize how God is and it also aligns with scripture. 

Dante is able to use certain aspects in Paradise to help the readers understand and visualize how Heaven could be. He is able to use the roman gods and astronomy to assist in the reader’s understanding of the structure of paradise. He also uses Beatrice to help him through paradise and also help the reader journey through paradise. She is able aid Dante and the reader by knowing when Dante has a question and how to answer and by showing the emotions that Dante should feel. The last aspect that Dante uses is the use of music and light. Throughout the book, music was used to describe the unity and harmony that was in paradise by the combination of the souls; light was used to describe the presence of God and also His power. These aspects of Paradise allowed the reader to better imagine how Heaven could be.