When you start the Purgatorio , you'll also realize that when Dante leaves Hell through the lowest circle, he actually ends up in the opposite hemisphere. So sure, he's going down, but his descent will also be a kind of ascent.

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,

then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,

go to the limits of your longing.

Embody me.

Flare up like a flame

and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Don’t let... See more