Dante #7: Hell Cantos 10-19

I don’t normally comment on anything but I don’t think you can truly understand Dante just by reading him. I think at some point you have to live the experience he’s trying to describe. To me Dante connects strongly with Carl Jung’s individuation process and with a lot of other brilliant thinkers, faiths, and religions that are all trying to point toward the same eternal truth. The Divine Comedy I think it’s a description of the journey through life itself. The journey through hell is necessary because without suffering, loss, confusion, or darkness, what do we even compare heaven to? How can we understand love if we’ve never experienced its absence? I think our ability to imagine and connect with the divine is what allows us to reach those higher states Dante is trying to describe along with many other things that are too long for me to comment. One thing Jiang said that really stood out to me was the idea of channeling Dante. I think that’s something people overlook. That can give you an understanding that goes deeper than simply reading the words on a page. What’s strange to me is that before I knew Dante, I had already written a book touching on many of the same ideas. I’ve never considered myself a writer. I’ve always been more naturally gifted in math. But after going through a very difficult period in my life, ideas started coming to me and I felt compelled to write them down. It wasn’t something I planned. It felt like something I had to do. Looking back, the similarities between what I wrote and some of Dante’s ideas are honestly hard for me to ignore. I’m only 25 and these kinds of questions have consumed me for years. What’s even stranger is that I visited Rome and the Vatican about a month before writing down the ideas I had. Maybe it’s just coincidence, maybe not, but the whole experience had a profound effect on me. I’d love the opportunity to speak with you one day, just like I’m sure many others would. If you ever held a class in America I would gladly attend. And if the professor happens to see this comment, I would love to share some of my writing with him. My comment probably doesn’t capture these ideas as deeply as I feel them. Sometimes it’s difficult to put experiences like this into words. But hearing Dante for the first time was one of those rare moments where I felt like I was listening to someone who had touched the same truths I had been searching for. It resonated with me so strongly that it changed the way I looked at reality itself. Thank you for what you do. Very few people are able to communicate these ideas in a way that feels alive

It takes a great man to admit and correct mistakes. Keep up your great work.

A big thanks to the best reader, Carol. Seems such a nice lady. God bless her 😊

you are doing great professor! i really enjoy all your content, i admire you and i am inspired by you! thank you so much!

Professor just hopes you can be a really imaginative and love person .Numerous people pay more attention to the material world rather than the spiritual world. It is difficult for some students without related life experience to learn about divine comedy. i think that dante's work must be bring lots of hope to professor , he believes that he can arouse population to live a better life and that he wants to free people from the influence of Plato's cave. i would say that it's full of thistles and thorns. but i believe in you ,because you and your wife bring me hope. finally, my way of going out of hell is to judge myself through writing, i'm not a chrisitian, i succeed with tears. i love this world . thank you for your bring me a lot about Christianity and Dante. i must say,i'm jealous of the each student who in class . i will work hard to learn english well and join the class one day.

I always loved your English lectures

good to see you again!

thank you computah!

this class is getting wild and I truely cannot stop watching this Dante series. Love and respect to this Prof. Jiang

Sounds a lot better thanks