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.”
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