Dante VI Canto XX Scene 1

 Canto XX

Fifth Terrace; Avarice and Prodigal

Scene I

“The wolf is in us.” Dante sat there at the break of dawn. It was still dark to walk on and he had remained seated. Virgil heard the Poet but he kept his silence. It was silent during the dark, and Dante had moved a distance to seat by himself. With no materials to write on, he used his right index finger to scribble on the ground. There was not much sand but etchings were seen. Virgil standing guard during the night saw the Poet painstaking in his effort then.

“Penance is the retribution for the sins we commit. Yet why were sins there for us to commit? If there were none, we will not have retributions.” Dante was muttering. “That was the way of the world for the night followed daylight. Or was it daylight who followed on with dark?”

The Poet was in his literary mood; with more questions than answers.

“Why stop when we can move? Why move when we can stop?” Dante kept on his muttering and was getting to the core of Virgil’s routines.

“Born and to die, you might as well don’t be born.” Dante was into his new verse. It was then Virgil snapped in.

“Life and Death are one, a continuum, and they are not separated and there is no dividing line between them (as, indeed, there is no dividing line between anything, there only seems to be – divisions are arbitrary and made to enable us to function in the finite world, what Zen calls ‘the world of the form’). All is one. Also, there is no ‘Soul’, or even a permanent ‘Self’ (higher, or lower) – this is considered illusory.” (https://cedareducation.org.uk/thinking-differently-about-death-a-zen-practice/)

Dante looked at the construct.

“That is Zen; a form of Buddhism teaching.” Virgil added on.

“‘If you die before you die, then when you die, you don’t die’! Of course, this means that if when you are alive you can truly see (not just hold an opinion, a belief, or think) that the sense of self is illusory, then at the point of death (that is, when the organism, the body dies) what, who is there to die? Also consider the Biblical ‘Unless a man shall die unto himself, he shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven’. I read it before.”. (https://cedareducation.org.uk/thinking-differently-about-death-a-zen-practice/)

“Then why are you questioning the cycle of life and death, Poet?” Virgil asked.

“I was not. I was trying to understand the logic of it. I have been questioning it for years but my approach was from the writings. I will begin with Plato and Aristotle for they held contradicting views and explanations as to the fate of the soul.” Dante explained his thoughts.

“Plato argued that the soul is immortal and therefore survives the death of the body. In contrast, Plato argued that the soul cannot exist without the body and it, therefore, perishes together with the body at death. He based his argument on several points; good people receive rewards both in this earthly life and in the afterlife. He argued that goodness was not a means to an end but an end in itself. This was one of the basics of his teaching of the immortality of the soul. He believed that the association between the soul and the body served to deform its pure state. Despite the deformation, the soul retained a certain portion of its real nature with its expression in the longing for wisdom.”

“Secondly, Plato used reincarnation to advance his stand further. At the time, the Greeks held a belief that everything that was in existence was in a recurring cycle that was eternal. As such, Plato believed that death and life were complementary and one came after the other. He gave the example of sleep. After sleep, a person wakes up and after waking up, sleep follows. The same was with death and life: they were cyclic and therefore one came after the other. As such, the soul cannot die because there is life after death.”

“Thirdly, he argued that the soul existed before the body. He supported this statement by observing that humans possess a special kind of knowledge in the ability to draw comparisons. This is evidence of a pre-existent soul. He however claims that this knowledge is lost at birth and retraced with the special help of an instructor. However, Aristotle’s views were the unity of the soul and the body was crucial and therefore, the soul cannot exist alone without the body. He argued that the soul’s main purpose is the development and that this is only possible in association with the body; the sole purpose of the soul is dependent on the body and if the body dies, then the soul succumbs to the death too because it cannot exist alone.”

“Aristotle further held the belief that the soul was responsible for the existence of the body as the source of locomotion and other changes. Based on this claim, he stated that the soul could not survive death since it was the source of locomotion for the body. The view that substances possess specific body forms enhanced Aristotle’s claim. He claimed that an inward soul that these substances possessed maintained them in existence. He viewed the soul as a collection of reason moved by a need for significance.”

“As such, different life forces that served different purposes made up the soul. Upon the death of the body, these forces returned to their source leading to the disintegration of the soul. In addition, he believed that the body came into existence before the soul. This implies that the ability to reason developed before the ability to feel. As such, the body must have initiated the development of the soul hence its immortality.”

“On the other hand, religion has maintained that the soul is immortal and survives the death of the body. Plato and Aristotle had their contribution on the issue and it is still today a matter of either faith or speculation.” (https://ivypanda.com/essays/plato-and-aristotle-the-fate-of-the-human-soul-after-death/)

“In religion, all of these were interpreted into its teaching. We have lived at the beginning and death will be the end. Each of the religions spoke of good to be done during the living lifetime, and the punishment after death for the unresolved sins. Hell was portrayed in many different forms but they served on purpose; penance on the sins. And Heavens awaits thereafter.”

“Virgil, you are a construct. What is your perception of life and death?” Dante asked.

“There is no life and death. We get created and terminated or in some form of shut down when our core circuits terminate.”

“What of your data? The accumulated analysis in your databases? They are to my knowledge stored in the external storage via backups or retained inside you.” Dante queried the construct. Virgil acknowledged with a slight nod.

“Your frame after the shutdown will be destroyed as in the physical form of the living, but the data lives on like our soul. We are alike in many links for we are created by the creator but there is no Heaven or Hell for you. Or there is. You do have sins, Virgil?”

“I do not. I am a construct.” Virgil replied. “If there were any malicious intent of mine, it was ---”

“Programmed to you by your creator. So, could we then have that too? It was in our ‘program’ in the so-named free will of the soul? We are after all in many similarities the same as you, a construct too. We inherited the data of our previous in the DNA.”

“And what was the logic of your questions, Poet? Are you affected by the sins of avarice now?”

“I am not. I am just questioning the process of creation ---- and free will.” Dante sighed. “We may never be rid of sins for all of us held the intent to perform it regardless. It may be suppressed by the threat of Hell or in physical terms imprisonment, we are still attempting it willingly or unconsciously, for it lived vicariously within us.”

“You are sounding ---alike to been infected by the sins of avarice.” Virgil gave his view. “Poet, we are not in Hell or Heaven. We are in a virtual prison.”

“Is Hell, and Heaven our virtual imprisonment after death?” Dante asked. “Let me answer for you. It’s embedded in our thoughts. I shall question this more when I am out of this place.”

“Shall we get the Hell out of here?” Virgil did wait for the reply and turned to walk. “Prodigal---- Unappreciative.”