Paradiso, Canto 30 with Josh Gibbs 

Mr. Gibbs' thoughts on Confession are a fitting triumph to this wonderful body of commentary. Well done!

You guys are doing GREAT with this series! Looking forward to the final sprint to the triumphal end.

Thank you, Mr. Gibbs, for presenting on Canto XXX. We're getting so close to the Vision!!! This is a Canto where incomprehensibility is brought into our understanding in a way that we can poetically grasp without truly seeing what the Pilgrim-Poet had seen. This is a sweet Canto that is lovely to the tongue and sweet in the stomach. It feels somewhat like an intermediate stage, but it is a necessary part of the whole that flows straight into what comes next. The river of light shimmers with prefaced truth. Visual jazz, man. As in Canto XXVIII, a double image is employed, but in a more comprehensible manner. The transfiguring into the celestial rose captures the previous Marian image as the Rose and the previous mirror images of the blessed creatures in Heaven surrounding the One Point. As with Dante's words, notes also fail to capture this Canto. Tis better just to read it again and ponder it. Memorize? Maybe later. The only critique I would levy against this presentation is that the description of Inferno is not true to what Dante presented in the first Canticle. God crafted Hell by Love and Justice. The claim that words are absent in Inferno only applies to the Pilgrim's weakness when torn by pity and horror. Words are stamped on the Gates of Hell. Symbols are prevalent throughout. Descriptions are vivid. God is not absent from Hell. Even the frozen pit of Hell is rich with symbols and names that remain. We must meditate more on Inferno and Purgatorio before making statements like this. The thesis is interesting and well-intended, but it falls short of serious explanatory power. However, he is speechless in Heaven for the reasons described, so that is correct. The One is Incomprehensible! Sad to leave Beatrice, but it was a beautiful journey. Goodbye, sweet Lady with eyes so knowing and words so sweet. Enjoy eternal brightness and love! Thank you!

Wow! That ending! Chills…

Canto 30: As the stars fade from the sky and the auroral dawn arises, Dante turns from his fixation on the dimensionless Intelligence of God to be enraptured even more by the effulgent beauty of Beatrice, who calls his attention to new revelations of which he is to become a part. He seems like a candle about to catch its full flame. He is aware they have begun an ascent towards the summit of the Ninth Sphere, the absolute Empyrean. The point of light expands, in a linear fashion, to become a river of liquid light, passing through a field of rubiesque flowers, showered by topazed sparks. In a modernized metaphor, his sight has expanded from the infra-red to the ultra-violet limits of the visual spectrum! Beatrice urges him to drink deeply with his eyes from this unnamed river of Paradise. As he lifts his face from this river of grace-filled light, its linear waters morph into a circumference, forming an amphitheater of light whose seats are occupied by all of the saints of heaven, including those Illuminations he had observed previously and had desired to view in their total reality. He can now see them, each in perfect focus, regardless of their distance from where he is standing. The seats of the stadium appear as petals of an immense white rose, tinged with specks of gold. The center of the bud they form contains an empty position which may have been reserved for Emperor Henry, who (Dante hoped) would bring the city-states of Italy into a peaceful existence, whereby eliminating the corruption introduced by the villainous popes Benedict VIII and Clement V, now to be found in Hell, upside-down, with burning feet, a position diametrically opposed to what he now envisions.

Another fabulous presentation from this particular speaker. Absolutely love his insights!

Beautiful explanation of why Dante was struck speechless both In the Inferno and Paradiso. From this Canto, the idea that explaining God necessarily limits him, and Dante finally realizes that speechlessness is a gift, not a failure of poetic imagination. I will be thinking about those two points for many weeks after we finish this journey. Thank you, Dr. Gibbs.

Excellent; prepared us for the end to Dante's indescibable experiences...

Professor Gibbs, words cannot express how much I enjoyed your presentation. May God hear your confession and grant you peace in your heart. I go my way feeling blessed by my experience of following this series and especially after listening to you.

Thank you for adding your own personal experience to this

I have so enjoyed this journey. Thanks to all the presenters.

Awesome! Thank you!

Beautiful, touching and relevant ending. I understand now.

Splendid! Thank you Mr. Gibbs!

Well presented and engaging speaker. Thank you.

That was magnificent! Thank you!

Excellent

What a beautiful presentation. I loved it. Thank you, Dr Gibbs.

🤔Interesting!

Truly a remarkable - indeed, even genius interpretation of Dante, particularly the contrast of wordlessness in Hell v wordlessness in Heaven.

I liked this. It reminded me of a sermon. But no talk of the end of the canto with Henry the VII? More could have been said regarding the content of this canto while also expanding on the themes that he did expand on. Ideally, both the dialectical ruminations and the content in this canto could've lengthened this video by another 3-4 minutes, which would've been the norm. Not a huge complaint, just an observation.

Wow.