It’s not philosophy
For Dante, We don’t get to paradise by becoming good moral philosophers (Though everyone in heaven is kind of a doctor of the church)
But it comes from experiencing things. Acting according to our beliefs.
So it’s that idea that it’s something you have to experience in your body
Key insight
Dante’s key insight Is that you can’t think your way through You have to experience your way through
This is what it means to suffer to experience Passio- to undergo to experience
In the body
I remember this idea that you have a body thus your suffering is more valuable. You can do more. It is worth more
Purgatorio
Whereas since in the purgatory They are all shades They cannot suffer in the same kind of way The suffering of the body Transforms you faster than thinking and in the mind
The body is the vessel for transformation
Links to James clear’s steps to change How you have to deal with your body
You can’t just “think” your way into transformation You have to experience your way into transformation
Pass through the body
If you want to change your identity Pass through your body The body is the vessel
Bring the body and the mind will follow Twelve Steps Concept of Bring the Body
Fake your way into a new way of being If you can act it, you will eventually become it
Aristotle and Virtue Ethics By acting, it affects the kind of person that you become.
Dante knew this
Whether it’s Dante or James Clear or Aristotle
This idea is timeless and it works across all sorts of genres You can’t read your way through and you can’t think your way through
You just have to do it. Experience it
One step at a time!
With a Virgil
With a guide Someone you look up to Someone who you idolize Someone whose work you do
And you’ll be able to surpass your mentor that’s the point
The mentor vanishes and you can ascend
The coach vaults you up and the coach steps back and disappears Just like Virgil