Paradiso- Dante  (1321) 
Continuing through the third book (canticle) of the Dante’s Divine Comedy. 

Canto 13 
The fourth sphere: the Sun- the wise, cont. 
Dante kicks the canto off with a word picture that, I can only assume, he THINKS will help me get a clearer idea of what he is seeing. But it didn’t…at all. The basic idea is that these two circles of 12 souls each are dancing, then they surround him and stop. Thomas Aquinas again picks up to resolve a question he knows Dante has: how can Thomas have claimed Solomon was the wisest ever, and no other would arise that would be his equal? Certainly Adam and Jesus would be more perfectly created and wiser.  
Thomas explains that creation all has some measure of the splendor of God in it because God is the prime mover of everything, but as it filters down through the spheres, the influence is weakened until it creates only brief contingencies on earth. Depending then on the amount of influence imprinted on the individual elements in creation, there will be more or less of the divine imprint. Whatever God directly creates will be fully perfect, whatever is created through the intermediary of the spheres will have less.  
As such, the earth in its original state, including Adam and Eve, and Jesus himself, having been divinely implanted in the Virgin Mary, were perfect. In this sense, Dante is correct in that Solomon would not have been superior to them. But the distinction Thomas claims Dante missed, was that Dante should have considered who Solomon was, and what his motives were for asking for wisdom when the Lord granted him anything he desired. Solomon was a king, and he desired wisdom so he could govern rightly. Dante should note that Thomas said an equal had not “arose”, meaning that Thomas was speaking of kings, not all humans. It seems to me that “arose” might also include humans born in the normal course of secondary creation, not the direct creation of God, but that point, if it was thought by Dante, wasn’t explicitly named in the text. 
Thomas exhorts Dante to let this discourse act as lead to Dante’s feet whenever he is tempted to run to a conclusion that hasn’t been thought out. He gives a few examples of men who laid claim to truth without having fully thought out the premises they were operating on, and states that those who would do so, are worse than those who never seek answers in the first place, since their errors will prejudice their minds from accepting the truth once it is revealed to them. He also warns against judging divine motives since humans cannot fully comprehend what God knows. 

Canto 14 
The fourth sphere: the Sun- the wise, cont. 
Dante leads off with a word-picture to let us know there is a real similarity between Thomas’ words and Beatrice’s. She chimes in and articulates a thought she knows Dante has, even though he doesn’t yet know it: Will these saints retain their brightness when they get their glorified bodies? And if so, how will their eyes be able to handle the brightness? 
Though it is never stated outright, King Solomon steps up to field this one and states that the brightness will endure since it comes from love, which comes from seeing God, which comes from His grace beyond all merit. When they receive their glorified bodies, they’ll be fully unified again, which will be even more pleasing to God. This light will in fact grow, since it disposes them to see God. Solomon gives an earthly example: take a piece of charcoal that gives off a flame. You can still see the coal as it burns inside the fire. And as for how they’ll be able to see with physical eyes, Solomon simply says the glorified body will be strengthened for every such thing that could please them. 
At this explanation, the two rings are excited for their new bodies and then Dante sees what seems like myriad more spirits coming to  encircle these 24 already here. Then the brightness grows and Dante realizes that he and Beatrice have been ‘translated’ to the next sphere. 

The fifth sphere: Mars 
In Mars, Dante notices things are now more red than before. He offers up a praise to God, and before he even finishes, he knows it has been accepted because he sees two spirits, as if they were inside two rays. These two rays cross each other, making the sign of the cross. The lights move across their rays and whenever they cross each other, it’s like lightning striking out, at which Dante can swear he sees Christ himself within it. Again, we are given and earthly example of dust particles that one would see within a ray of light, moving in various ways. From within the cross, there is a sweet song. Dante is unable to really distinguish the song, but he again likens this to a chord on a stringed instrument being struck: you don’t hear the individual notes, but the overall effect is sweet. Dante does here the words “Arise” and “Conquer”, though, so he surmises it is a praise. He notes that he, at that moment, falls in love with it as something more beautiful than anything he has ever seen, though, he excuses himself to us, he had not yet looked at Beatrice’s eyes since coming up to Mars, which have grown more beautiful with the ascent. 

Canto 15 
The fifth sphere: Mars- warriors of the faith 
A group of souls has come towards Dante, and in the cross that he saw, he sees one come from the right arm of the cross down to the bottom where he is tenderly greeted as a member of the family. Dante is bewildered by this and turns to Beatrice, whose own smile seems to allow him to see deeper into glory and blessing. The spirit at first speaks things so deeply that he couldn’t comprehend, and then, as his speech come down to Dante’s level, he understands that the spirit is blessing God for being so generous towards his descendants. Dante has no idea why he is being welcomed this way, but, encouraged by Beatrice to interact, he goes on to ask the spirit to please explain because he, Dante, is lacking in some facts that would give him context for the nature of this spirit’s welcome. The spirit explains that he is a Dante’s great-great grandfather, and that Dante took his surname, Alighieri, from his great-grandfather’s wife. The spirit discourses about the change in Florence, which used to be more modest and noble, but such persons would be out of place in today’s Florence. He finally states his name: Cacciaguida, and says that he had followed Emperor Conrad on the second Crusade, where he was killed by the Muslims. 

Canto 16 
The fifth sphere: Mars- warriors of the faith, cont. 
Dante continues the conversation with Cacciaguida. He is so happy about his ancestry that his own human pride in his bloodline comes out and he starts to use high language with Cacciaguida. Beatrice is amused by this but only gently reminds him that she is there. Dante asks about Cacciaguida’s ancestors and the date of his birth. Cacciaguida gives an odd description that there have been 580 revolutions of the sphere of Mars since Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary about Jesus’ birth, until he was born. Given that Mars ‘year’ is 687 days, it works out to Cacciaguida being born in 1091. They dwelt in the area of the Porta San Piero, but will say no more about this. 
The rest of the canto is spent detailing people and families which would mean nothing to us at this point. But in general, the lesson Cacciaguida means to put forward is essentially that the growth of Florence has been a problem. More and more people have been added in, which has weakened Florence by increasing divisions. It is the opposite of the modern wisdom that “diversity is out strength”; in fact, diversity introduced division rather than strengthening the city by uniting behind a more singular purpose.  
Cacciaguida chronicles some older families that are no longer there, which goes to show that all human endeavors have their end. Of course, sometimes it’s hidden from us because the endeavor may last many generations, while our individual lives are short. It thus gives the impression of being more permanent. But as the history of Florence shows, human affairs are in flux.  

The canto ends with a lament over the current strife that has grown to the level of civil war and expulsions.  

Canto 17 
The fifth sphere: Mars- warriors of the faith, cont. 
Dante has some more questions for Cacciaguida. Beatrice sees this and encourages him to voice them, even his saying them out loud doesn’t alert them any more to his desires, which they already know. But this is a likening to prayer- in which learning to articulate the desires, aids in searching yourself to understand what it is you really seek after. 
Dante mentions that he has heard, in both hell and purgatory, prophecies of his future, so he would like to know more so he can be better prepared through foresight. Cacciaguida is pleased with this and starts by noting that these difficulties aren’t caused by God, they are simply known by Him because all of history is known in an eternal present.  
Dante will need to run from Florence because the Pope is working against his party. The White Guelphs will be blamed for the troubles because they lost, but the divine judgment coming on the Pope and those that caused the trouble will make clear who is to blame. But leaving is only the first arrow shot from the bow of exile. Dante will be galled at the stupidity and malice of those he is exiled with. They will end up lashing out at him, so he will separate from them, but ultimately, it will be them that lose face, not Dante. Dante will find refuge in the home of CanGrande della Scala, and they will have an exceptionally close relationship. CanGrande is known for his martial deeds, such that even his enemies can’t ignore his virtues. Dante is encouraged to rest his hopes with CanGrande, and not envy those around him who seem to have won, because their victory will be shortlived, and there shame obvious when it’s all over. 
Dante asks then if he should fully reveal everything in his work, since he understands it will likely piss a lot of people off. Cacciaguida tells him to be fully truthful, and in doing so, this will cement him as one of the greats. While people might initially take offense, afterward, they will see the work as vital nutrition for their souls. 
It is also explained that all throughout, notable people have been shown to him as examples since those who will listen would only listen if they were told of people they knew of. Otherwise the work would not carry any weight. 

Canto 18 
The fifth sphere: Mars- warriors of the faith, cont. 
Dante is taking in Cacciaguida’s words. Cacciaguida is content in the glory of God’s plan, but Dante’s mind is concerned with his exile, so there is the bitterness of the message with the sweetness of God’s plan. Beatrice tells him to snap out of it and notice instead where he is. At this point he is drawn to the beauty of Beatrice and his attention is pulled to her. Again she tries to move him from his thoughts, this time back to Cacciaguida, who wishes to introduce him to some of the other souls in that sphere. 
He sees Joshua, Jude Maccabee, Charlemagne, Roland, William of Orange, Reynard, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Robert Guiscard. Then Cacciaguida rejoins them. 
At this point, Dante turns again to Beatrice to see what he should do, and notices that she is again, miraculously even more beautiful than just moments before.  

The sixth sphere: Jupiter- justice 
He and Beatrice have now ascended to Jupiter, where he sees thousands of lights flying about and forming letters, all while they sing. They spell out the Latin phrase “Diligite iustitium, qui iudicatis terram”, “Love Justice, you who govern the earth”. Then an eagle is drawn. Dante grasps that our earthly justice is inspired from this sphere, but he asks that God would take note of where that justice is being obscured (The Papacy), and would once again, as Jesus did, get angry about the buying and selling in the Temple (the Church) that is leading astray so many people. Dante notes that war used to be waged with the sword, now it’s done through excommunications decreed then rescinded, and denying the Eucharist, something the Father would never condone. But this is because the current Pope loves money more than anything else and wouldn’t know Peter or Paul, the practical founders of the Vine (the Church) that he presumably presides over. 

The WEIRDest People in the World- Joseph Heinrich  (2020) 
WEIRD is an acronym for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic.  

The study for this book was prompted by the fact that most psychological studies have been done in the West. But it has become clear that the West is ‘weird’: historically, and even in modern day, an anomaly. And this fact means that so many of our insights into psychology are skewed towards western ways of thinking. So how did the west get its peculiar psychology? 

The book first looks at what has been the world historical norm for societies: intensive kin-based relation groups, or clans. In clan thinking, one gets by in life by developing the psychological tools that will help him navigate the web of relationships in which he finds himself. 

But within Europe, between the breakup of the old Roman empire and the Renaissance, the Catholic Church had gained ascendency and imposed biblical views of marriage and the family wherever it could, that broke down those clan relationships. Marriage policies forbid cousin marriages, which began to force the search for partners outside the clan. Alongside that, marriages were further separated from clan control by pushing for nuclear families. These changes loosened families from clan control and that effect rippled into banding together through voluntary association. This fostered trust among strangers, where clan structure fostered in-group trust, but distrust of those outside the clan. 

Through centuries of conditioning, Europe began to develop all kinds of voluntarily association institutions, which then began to push psychologies into behaviors that would help those engaged in it to successfully navigate their realities. These included better time management, honesty and trustworthiness to everyone, and reliance on commerce and trade.  

This new psychology brought about the Protestant reformation, which positively reinforced it. Abstract rights and principles were developed from the new psychology, and hard work, commerce, and personal character were stressed, leading to the widespread democratic institutions we have today in the western world. 

Reader, I Married Him- Tracy Chevalier  (2016) 
Anthology of short stories “inspired by Jane Eyre”…. says the cover, and so was the impetus for my buying it.  

I was hoping to get some writers takes on backstories of various characters, etc… basically hoping to add some depth to my understanding of the story. What a disappointment. 

Three of the 21 stories attempted such a thing, most of the rest just took the time to write stories about marriage in general, and several didn’t even bother with that. I’d be interested in hearing what some of the authors’ own explanations were for what they did, but then again… I probably don’t really care. Gave the book a 1 star on goodreads.  

History of the Lombards- Paul the Deacon (c. 790)  
The Lombards, or Langobardi (the long beards), were a Germanic tribe originally from up near Denmark, who migrated down and ended up settling in northern Italy. Milan today is in the territory of Lombardy. Paul the Deacon was an actual Lombard, and wrote his history, from the viewpoint of the Lombards. The basic history can be summed up as A attacked B, who then attacked C, and on through the alphabet.  

I will follow this up with a history of Milan later. 

The Sheltering Sky- Paul Bowles  (1949) 
American couple, Port and Kit, are in Algeria as travelers, not tourists, who only temporarily visit someplace, to then return home. While in Algeria, Port wants to travel further in to the Sahara to experience the nothingness. But his wife Kit is disturbed by all this and really seeks to relinquish her freedom because it’s just overwhelming to her. They are traveling with Port’s friend Tunner, who Port suspects is interested in his wife Kit, and so Port attempts to abandon Tunner. As Port and Kit ditch Tunner at one city, then learn Tunner will catch up to them soon, Port desperately flees the city, but has contracted typhus and gets sick on the bus ride. When they arrive at the city, the hotel won’t let him stay there, and both are transported to a French foreign legion post some hours away. Port dies there, and Kit, running from any responsibility, locks the room and runs into the desert, where she flags down a caravan. There she is taken as something of a sex slave, but one of the masters takes her home and marries her. Kept at his house, and drugged every night, she finally escapes, is robbed, and eventually picked up by the American consulate. They are going to send her back to the states, but she disappears, and the book ends. 

Midnight’s Children- Salman Rushdie  (1981) 
I love this book. I didn’t even think I liked “Magical Realism” until this book, but, at least in Rushdie’s hands, I am actually a fan of the idea of using the interweaving of the supernatural into the natural to represent a broader picture.  

Saleem Sinai is born on midnight Aug. 15, 1947, the exact moment of India’s independence. There were 1001 other children born in that hour, and each have gifts, but the three born either right on the stroke of midnight, or just after, have the greatest gifts, and most difficult to bear. Saleem’s life represents the life of India as it grows through the years.  

Kim- Rudyard Kipling  (1901) 
Set in the late 1800’s, Kim is the orphaned son of an Irish solder and a poor Irish mother who died in poverty. Kim lives as a street urchin and runs errands in Lahore for Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun horse trader. Kim is so tanned and nativized that no one recognizes him as white.  

He meets a Tibetan lama seeking a river to wash away his sins, and Kim, feeling the older man will be completely taken advantage of, decides to watch over him and help him, and becomes his ‘chela’, or disciple. 

Kim is charged with delivering a message from Ali to a Colonel in the British Intelligence, and while on the road with his lama, he runs across his father’s old military regiment. He sneaks in to get a closer look and is caught, and discovered when the commander finds Kim’s father’s masonic amulet on Kim. The regiment cleans him up and offers to send him to an English orphanage, but the lama instead offers to pay Kim’s tuition to go to school. Kim hates it, but decides to go along with the lama’s wishes, and is eventually utilized in the “Great Game” of espionage between the competing Russians and British over control in the northern areas. 

Kim (Kimball O’Hara) is successful in all he does, but in one of the undercover missions, his lama is struck by a Russian, which sends Kim into a rage, and Kim beats the Russian. As the lama is spirited away by the locals, who are upset that the Russian would strike a holy man, the lama recognizes he has strayed from his own path of searching for enlightenment through the river. He returns to the search with Kim in tow. The novel ends with Kim handing over the things he took from the Russian, and the lama, having found his enlightenment, wants to share it with Kim. 

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New Century! (of Books I’m reading from)

A few years ago, while I was expanding my book list, I categorized the books by what century they were written in. I finally worked through my list of 20th century books, and starting with this book, am now in the 21st century. I’ve since added more books to the list from the 20th century, and have read a few books from the 21st  already, but at any rate, for probably the rest of the year, my novels will be more recent, but from a list I found of more modern great novels.  

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This Tender Land- William Kent Krueger  (2019) 
The story centers around two orphaned brothers, who were sent to an Indian poor school in Minnesota. The school is run by a husband and wife who treat the kids roughly, and one particular “teacher” who delights in strapping the kids and, while not stated directly, it is hinted at, sexually abusing them. The boys find some respite with one kind teacher and her 6 year old daughter, Emmy. Then with two incidents: the brute tries to harm one of the brothers, who ends up killing him in self-defense; and a tornado kills the kind teacher, prompting the principals to ‘adopt’ Emmy, the boys flee with another student, Mose, an indian kid whose tongue was cut out, and Emmy, and canoe down river.  
The adventures are enough to keep you interested in and of themselves, but the real power of stories is the way they can communicate deeper truths through narrative, and this story touches on some. The first is that Odie, the younger of the orphaned brothers, is mad at God for all the trouble they’ve encountered in life, and is convinced that God is the ‘Tornado God’- the God that takes things away and ruins things. But as he travels downstream, he begins to see things in a different light as he meets various people along the way.  
Mose, the Indian kid, wrestles with his people’s, and his own, history in a personal struggle.  
The characters all meet people along the way who are struggling in their own ways, and when they apply themselves to see things from the others’ points of view, they grow a little more understanding of how life affects as all. 

Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro  (2005) 
Set at an English boarding school in the 1990’s, the students are all clones, who are meant to serve as organ donors, and not expected to live much beyond thirty. Because of the cloning aspect, it’s part science-fiction…but there is no real time spent on the science part; it’s part horror-story, because the protagonists lives are being slowly eaten into; it’s part tragic love story because the interaction and feelings between the characters. But it is maybe mostly a tale of humanity, and how these lab-grown entities are not merely throw-away, but actual humans who are being treated as throw away. The donors have dreams and aspirations too, but they are brought up in a sort of submission to their overall purpose- which is to be the source of body parts when others need them. So their individual minds are of no consequence, they are only meant to be kept healthy to serve the government’s needs. 

There is a section after the students graduate from the school at 16 and move into “the cottages” where other graduates live. The narrative voice, Kathy H, notices that the ‘couples’ in the cottage, all take their relationship cues from television shows. The TV becomes their reference for how to act towards their partners. One instance is that when couple would part at the school, there would be a hug and kiss. But this wasn’t done at the cottages. Instead, the girls would lightly touch the elbow of the boyfriend. One of the couple’s fresh from the school: Ruth and Tommy, pick up on this. Ruth notices that hugging isn’t done and modifies her own behavior to fit in with the group. No one tells her to do this, she just picks it up that “this is what’s done”. 

On the heels of this though, Kathy notes that in one way, Ruth believed she was doing this on behalf of all the recent influx of residents. She was struggling to shed the school days and move into the new life… by scrupulously imitating what she saw around her. 

There is an interesting dichotomy between the inherent individuality of the characters, and yet there is also a clear element of mechanistic action too. 

The course of the clones’ lives was that, after school, they would first become carers- those that looked after the clones that had donated various organs, and then become donors themselves.  

Knowing they were clones of someone else, the residents were on the lookout for “possibles”- people they might have been clones of. It was thought that if they could find who they were cloned from, they’d be able to gain insight about what the future held for them. 

At the end, Tommy and Kathy get some answers. The school was built as an effort to set some of the clones apart and prove they were actual humans, with souls. But, in a “world requiring students to donate….there would always be a barrier against seeing you as properly human”.  

Tommy asks “So there was nothing more to it than that?” 
The answer is: “I can see that it might look as though you were simply pawns in a game. But think of it. You were the lucky pawns.” 

Recalling a teacher at the school who had thought it best to let the students know what awaited them in more detail, Tommy and Kathy are told that while the teacher was idealistic, and there’s nothing wrong with that, she didn’t grasp the reality. The school was able to give the students a childhood, only by sheltering them, which, yes, meant keeping things from them. If the truth had been put up front, the students would have figured out there was no point in the art, the lessons…. they would have told the teachers it was all pointless, and how could that be argued against? 

Tommy, right before the end, also mentions that Ruth was always different from Kathy and himself: there are people that want to find things out, and there are people that want to believe.  

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time- Mark Haddon  (2003) 
A “detective” story, written in the first person of a 15 year-old autistic boy, Christopher, who discovers his neighbor’s dog dead one evening. He decides he will uncover who killed the dog, and starts investigating methodically. He pesters the neighbors and his father tells him to drop it, but he doesn’t. While talking to his neighbor, he finds out that his mom, who he has been told is dead, was having an affair with his neighbor. His dad hears about this and takes away the ‘book’ Christopher was writing. Christopher looks for the book in his father’s room and discovers a box of letters that his mom had written to him. When his father finds out that Christopher now knows his mom isn’t dead, he tries to explain to Christopher, and confesses that it was he who killed the neighbor’s dog, in a rash retaliation. Christopher decides he is unsafe, and launches himself on a journey from Swindon to London to live with his mom, but his mom is unable to care for him. He stays in London for a few days before she takes him back home.  

In a Dark, Dark Wood- Ruth Ware  (2015) 
Crime drama. Not really anything to share from this one. Fun to read and 308 pages went by in a day and a half, but not what I’m usually looking for in a book.