[Dennis Slattery]

Another provocative response, Marianne.  Your journey of discovery is very enjoyable to read. Let me share a story that connects with yours. Years ago at Pacifica I taught Dante’s Inferno to the MA Counseling students as a third of a course on the Mythology of the Underworld. At the break a student came up to me, told me she had been sober for 2 years and then the following:

“When I read Dante, who I struggle to understand, I nonetheless feel that I have read him before. It is as if while I grasp only parts of his poem, I feel I know the whole poem as it resonates within me.” ‘Well that is the analogical imagination at work. She has never read Dante but feels his story is her story in many essential parts. I find it fascinating that if one’s myth is ready and open to receive what it needs, then those writers, painters, people will step forward. Truly miraculous if we can just open our eyes to see it. Thank you so much Marianne.