Paradiso, Canto 26 with Dr. Brendan Case 

Wow I found this to be one of the most fascinating videos to date! Thank you for shedding light on the E/El interpretations. “True self-knowledge is to know oneself as one is known by God.”

Thank you, Dr. Case! This feels like a classic Canto for its representation of the themes of Love and Knowledge. Clearly, the connection here is something that our Poet wants to hammer into our heads and hearts. I think it was right to focus on Adam, however much I want to understand St. John and Dante's answers. Adam seems to provide answers to the fundamental questions that Dante could not even try to answer. A primordial sense of reality and relationship with God comes out of the words of the Father of our race. It is all about knowledge, which is the beginning of love. (sorry, Franciscans) Reading vertically to see Ulysses is absolutely necessary. We see the vice of curiosity in pagan and saintly contexts, and hopefully it is clear that virtue lies in moderation and acceptance of God condescended to us. True Knowledge that leads to Love is not found or explored by human hands and heads. It comes to us by the Word of God, and the Word became flesh. The Beatific Vision is the ultimate gift of Grace. Let us receive, O Lord. Thus, this Canto XXVI on Love is put in its proper, glorious place with the rest. It is as if Dante still must ask us, "Do you really know what love is? Speak to St. John and listen to Adam. See the whole. See Everything. See the One." Beatrice is God's instrument here to clear his sight and brush away his blindness. She is the Pilgrim's ikon of Grace. Thank you!

This was packed with so much good and thought-provoking detail. Thank you Dr. Case!

Canto 26: Dante has been blinded by the glory of St John, who suggests that Beatrice can restore his sight just as the blindness of St Paul had been cured by Ananias. In reply to John’s inquiry, Dante says that the goal of his soul is to acquire and show forth the love which is God. When John wants an elaboration, Dante replies that his philosophy (reason) and the scriptural revelation of God’s truth underlie his love. The world’s existence and the Passion of Christ speak of this “just” love. Love is the result of experiencing God’s presence as he “passes by” Moses rather than by the Laws given to Moses. Love comes more from faith than from reason. Beatrice’s sanctus-chant awakens Dante’s sight, in a manner similar to Adam’s awakening to see God for the first time. In accord with this meditation, Dante beholds the illumination of Adam who, in response to Dante’s questions, describes his long wait before entering the new Eden, having been exiled from the first. His exile was due, not to the action of disobedience, itself, but rather to its “motivation” or cause: a desire to do what is beyond the limitations imposed upon him by God, thus using his free will to go counter to God’s will and plan. In summary, canto 26 concludes Dante’s disputation examination. He passed. He can now commence the rest of his life, having heard Adam deliver a commencement address!

I'm still confused as to why both Ulysses and Adam committed the same sin and one ends up in Hell and the other in Paradise. Both died before the Crucifixion so hows did Adam end up in Heaven?

They should have moved his cue cards up so that when he was reading he wasn't looking down. Beyond the way in which he presents. The speaker makes a mistake in equating Ulysses and Adam. Adam says that he crossed the boundary. Unless I am missing it, he does not say he longed for knowledge which is what Ulysses did. IT was Eve that sought knowledge. Not Adam. The serpent said to Eve that she would gain knowledge, not Adam. When God asked Adam why he ate, he said because the woman gave it to him.

This is the most enlightening of all videos so far! Great!

Wow. Self knowledge is what Adam sought but could not find outside of God. Such a contrast to Jordan Petersons view of the Fall in which self knowledge is worth the penalty of death.