Coming Full Circle
One of the most famous pieces of literature in history is The Divine Comedy, a lengthy work written by Italian poet/author Dante Alighieri. The actual story was used to cryptically promote Christianity at a time (late 1200s, early 1300s) when persecution still threatened to dissolve the controversial faith.
Dante originally titled his work Commedia, an Italian word indicating "happy ending," unlike the tragedies that were popular in those days as well. A friend added the word Divinia to it so as to elaborate more on the premise of the story.
So what is the story's premise? In a nutshell, it combines Biblical texts as well as works from Virgil, Cicero, and Aristole to derive his view of the afterlife. Dante, the main character in the story, takes a tumultuous journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, or Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, respectively. He's led by two different "tour guides": one is the clear-thinking Virgil, and the other is Beatrice, who--in real life--was Dante's secret lover. She takes him through Heaven, thus becoming a symbol of love and God's grace.
All right, enough background. What exactly were House and Wilson getting at then when they mentioned "circles of Hell"?
The first section of The Divine Comedy consists of Dante's journey south, way down south, as he encounters the land of eternal condemnation and witnesses the troubled conditions of unsaved souls. There are Seven Circles, each for different levels of sins:
1st Circle: Limbo. Here, good people who were not baptized must spend the rest of their lives. Although they never accepted Christ, they are not persecuted here like some other levels will be. Dante mentions a castle and sprawling fields, so it's not a place of pain--only a place distant from God and true happiness.
2nd Circle: Lust. It's interesting that Dante put this group here, still relatively far from the gruesome conditions that Hell eventually gets to. Apparently, he wanted to continue to love Beatrice without condemning himself in written-form to a particularly low level of punishment.
3rd Circle: Gluttons. Forced to live as pigs, these sinners must forever lie in the mud and bear the horrific weather conditions.
4th Circle: Materialism. All those who valued materialistic items more than the treasure of God's salvation must stay here. This is what House refers to when he says "useless labor." Two groups--the Hoarders and the Wasters--would surge towards one another while being tied to enormous weights, over and over again, without ceasing. Yes. Just like clinic filing.
5th Circle: Anger. Again, this group is broken up into two sections: The Wrathful continue to fight in the swamp while the Sullen are trapped under the water of the River Styx, the stream that leads to the depth of Hell.
6th Circle: Hereticts. For a lifetime of blasphemy, they're now restricted to occupying fiery tombs.
7th Circle: Violence. This also is eparated to three groups: First, the people who were destructive to other people and property occupy the Outer Ring, which is bubbling with blood. Second, suicidal people are forced to take the form of thorn trees in the Middle Ring. Finally, those who acted negatively toward God, art, or nature must live with fiery sand and flames from the sky.
Whew, that's a lot of circles. Seems like House went easy on himself when he picked out the 4th one--useless labor is like a vacation compared to the later circles!
Dante originally titled his work Commedia, an Italian word indicating "happy ending," unlike the tragedies that were popular in those days as well. A friend added the word Divinia to it so as to elaborate more on the premise of the story.
So what is the story's premise? In a nutshell, it combines Biblical texts as well as works from Virgil, Cicero, and Aristole to derive his view of the afterlife. Dante, the main character in the story, takes a tumultuous journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, or Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, respectively. He's led by two different "tour guides": one is the clear-thinking Virgil, and the other is Beatrice, who--in real life--was Dante's secret lover. She takes him through Heaven, thus becoming a symbol of love and God's grace.
All right, enough background. What exactly were House and Wilson getting at then when they mentioned "circles of Hell"?
The first section of The Divine Comedy consists of Dante's journey south, way down south, as he encounters the land of eternal condemnation and witnesses the troubled conditions of unsaved souls. There are Seven Circles, each for different levels of sins:
1st Circle: Limbo. Here, good people who were not baptized must spend the rest of their lives. Although they never accepted Christ, they are not persecuted here like some other levels will be. Dante mentions a castle and sprawling fields, so it's not a place of pain--only a place distant from God and true happiness.
2nd Circle: Lust. It's interesting that Dante put this group here, still relatively far from the gruesome conditions that Hell eventually gets to. Apparently, he wanted to continue to love Beatrice without condemning himself in written-form to a particularly low level of punishment.
3rd Circle: Gluttons. Forced to live as pigs, these sinners must forever lie in the mud and bear the horrific weather conditions.
4th Circle: Materialism. All those who valued materialistic items more than the treasure of God's salvation must stay here. This is what House refers to when he says "useless labor." Two groups--the Hoarders and the Wasters--would surge towards one another while being tied to enormous weights, over and over again, without ceasing. Yes. Just like clinic filing.
5th Circle: Anger. Again, this group is broken up into two sections: The Wrathful continue to fight in the swamp while the Sullen are trapped under the water of the River Styx, the stream that leads to the depth of Hell.
6th Circle: Hereticts. For a lifetime of blasphemy, they're now restricted to occupying fiery tombs.
7th Circle: Violence. This also is eparated to three groups: First, the people who were destructive to other people and property occupy the Outer Ring, which is bubbling with blood. Second, suicidal people are forced to take the form of thorn trees in the Middle Ring. Finally, those who acted negatively toward God, art, or nature must live with fiery sand and flames from the sky.
Whew, that's a lot of circles. Seems like House went easy on himself when he picked out the 4th one--useless labor is like a vacation compared to the later circles!
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