[Dennis Slattery]

James:

Thanks for the video of Joseph and his delineation of the spiral. What a rich way to think about Dante and Beatrice. I love the Commedia’s spiralic world: 67 of the 100 cantos that comprise the poem are spiralic journeys. In Inferno Virgil and Dante travel a sinestra–to the left in a downward spiral. Those who were left handed were considered sinister individuals. When they begin to climb Mt Purgatory, they travel a destra–to the right, the direction of righteousness. So the spiral is the geometry of the journey down and up. Jung also thought that all psychic development was spiralic because we are always folding back on ourselves in a spiral, but never landing on the same spot. Very rich is this geometry.