The Once and Future Blog

Being hit by a truck was probably the most interesting thing in my life, though maybe I just think that because it just happened. Being dead hasn't really been all it was cracked up to be, but then again, the beings I've been dealing with have said that I'm not actually dead, just liminal. It's a weird phrase for that state being dead and alive, so they tell me. These beings call themselves psychopomps, which is another weird phrase they keep throwing around here. They seem to really like those. Alright, I guess some more explanation is in order. I'm not freaking out at the moment since I've had some time to get over the panic-about-being-dead part, and move on to try-to-understand-what-these-specters-are-saying part. Currently, I'm stuck in an uncomfortably cold hospital waiting room, with no decorations, furniture, doors, or other people, except for the beings that just show up every now and again. The first one I talked with scared me to the point where ...

Satan. The devil. Lucifer. The Grand Evil. All speak differently, but each tells the same name - the chief demon of Christian belief. He is believed to be (in some sense) the origin of all temptation, sin, and evil, and seeks to corrupt man and bring him low, away from God. The idea of Hell, the land of dead sinners, was wrought around him, creating a prisoner for the most great of all sinners. Dante walks us through the fiery plane, guided by the poet Virgil, king of journeymen, and shows us the torments that lie within. At the very core, we find its most important prisoner. As we descend to the lowest planes of the Inferno, even our narrator comes to a loss of words at the fear shown within himself and throughout the plane. His description of the centerpiece, "the emperor of the sorrowful kingdom" Satan, almost lauds and laments his grandeur, and exposes the sheer monstrosity that lies at the darkest core of the universe. His three heads chew on the three greatest traitors...

Welcome to the first reading notes of the last week of the class! Today we're going to be discussing one of the most central works in Christian literature, Dante's Inferno. The Inferno has been the source of much Christian (or even beyond) mysticism and artwork since its creation in the Middle Ages, its longevity proving the strength of its writing and relevance to the religious mindset. One of the thoughts I had for my own storybook was to create a sampling of stories about psychopomps and liminality - those who guide you after death, and the realms between life and death. These stories have interested me heavily since I was younger, hearing stories about Charon, or the angels that guide lost souls, and the idea of Limbo and Purgatory. Dante's imagery is what he is most well known for. His descriptions of realms beyond our own goes right in with his narrative perspective - being the person dragged through the exterior realms personally by the legendary storyteller of jour...