Paradiso Archives - Reading Dante

The Beatific Vision: What Dante Sees at the End of Paradiso and Why It Matters

Lucy Bamboo · July 12, 2026

The Beatific Vision: What Dante Sees at the End of Paradiso and Why It Matters

I spent months reading Paradiso without understanding where the poem was actually going. Canto after canto of Dante ascending through spheres of light, meeting saints and theologians—it felt magnificent, but untethered. Then I grasped the Beatific Vision, and everything clicked. The entire Divine Comedy—all three canticles—points toward this one moment: standing face-to-face with God. What … Read more

Return to God

Lucy Bamboo · June 30, 2026

Return to God — watercolor of a figure ascending a spiraling arc from darkness toward golden light

We say “return to God” the way we say “return home” — as if it’s obvious where you started. But notice what the word assumes. You can only return to a place you’ve already been. Dante’s entire cosmos rests on a claim most of us never examine: that the soul is going back, not forward … Read more

What is Faith?

Lucy Bamboo · June 28, 2026

What is faith — a figure in watercolor reaches toward golden light at the threshold between reason and the unmappable

Faith, in the version most people inherit, is the assumption you start from — the floor you stand on before any of the hard questions begin. Dante’s poem says something harder: faith is what’s left over after thinking has gone as far as it can and discovers it isn’t far enough. That’s not comfort. That’s … Read more